$190,235,814 For Dairy Products
Date: 1917
This promotional brochure was designed as a talk to encourage the construction of good roads in the state of Kansas. It described comparable rural roads in Wisconsin that promote crop and dairy production.

Adolph Duever farm near Bremen, Kansas
Creator: Hawkins, Omar F. (Omar Finlay), 1890-1967
Date: March 27, 1929
This is a view of people and dairy cattle on the Adolph Duever farm near Bremen, Kansas. A man and woman are each posed with cows, and a second woman is in the center of the photograph with a dog. Also visible are a milking machine, part of the barn, and dairy cows in a fenced corral to the right of the barn.

A handbook of useful information for immigrants and settlers
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: 1880-1889
Published by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, this pamphlet encouraged agricultural settlement on railroad lands in Kansas by glorifying the state's natural resources including water, soil, mineral deposits and plant life. Printed by the Kansas Farmer in Topeka, Kansas.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company's famous passengers
Creator: Paramount Photo
Date: Between 1939 and 1940
This black and white photograph shows Gertrude the Cow who co-starred in the Paramount movie "Remember the Night," boarding an Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company's railcar to her home in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Comparative Cost of Travel
Date: 1919
Promotional brochure exhorting the virtues of automobiles and trucks over team drive carriages in the hauling of agricultural products over good roads.

Cow milking contest, Topeka, Kansas
Creator: Alan Sells Studio; Topeka, KS
Date: Between 1900 and 1920
Cow milking contest at the Kansas Free Fair in Topeka, Kansas.

Dairy herd at Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas
Date: Between 1940 and 1945
This is a photograph showing the dairy herd at Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas.

Davenport Ranch in Wabaunsee County, Kansas
Date: 1912-1915
Seven photographs showing sheep and cattle on the Byron Davenport Ranch in Wabaunsee County, Kansas.

Dorothy Robbins Wick and Jessie Robbins Akers
Date: Between 1888 and 1892
Photograph of Dorothy Robbins Wick and Jessie Robbins Akers carrying milk cans at their farm near Topeka, Kansas.

"Dorothy Stories": growing up in Butler County, Kansas
Creator: Holt, Dorothy Bogue
Date: 1994-2000
In this photograph Dorothy "Dottye" Bogue Holt, born in 1925, stands in front of the Bodarc General Store building, which closed in 1951. Bodarc, also known as Bois d'Arc, was unofficially founded in 1875 in Butler County, and is now considered one of Kansas' "lost communities." Dorothy Holt moved from Douglass to a farm near Bodarc in 1931. Her four stories about growing up there in the 1930s are titled "One Fourth Of July (1933)"; "The Farewell Party (1930)"; "Riding The Bay (1933)"; and "A New School Start [1931]." Holt died in 2014 in Topeka, Kansas.

Governor John Carlin interview
Creator: Beatty, Bob, 1966-
Date: February 12, 2004
Click the thumbnail images below to play clips of Kansas Governor John Carlin discussing his experience as governor of Kansas from January 8, 1979 to January 12, 1987. Bob Beatty, Political Science Department, Washburn University, conducts the interview as part of the Kansas Governors Recorded History and Documentary Project, Dr. Bob Beatty and Washburn University, 2005. Carlin was serving as Archivist of the United State at the time, and the interview was recorded at his Washington, D.C. office. A complete transcript of the interview is available by clicking Text Version below. The interview is the basis for Beatty's article "'Be Willing to Take Some Risks to Make Things Happen': A Conversation with Former Governor John Carlin." Kansas History, v31 n2 (Summer 2007/2008).

Governor John Carlin interview
Creator: Beatty, Bob, 1966-
Date: March 10, 2008
An audio recording of an interview with John Carlin discussing his experience as governor of Kansas from January 8, 1979 to January 12, 1987, and his 1990 re-election bid. Bob Beatty and Mark Peterson, Political Science Department, Washburn University, conduct the interview as part of the Kansas Governors Recorded History and Documentary Project, Dr. Bob Beatty and Washburn University, 2005. The interview took place in Manhattan, Kansas, in 2008. A complete transcript of the interview is available by clicking Text Version below. This and a previous interview conducted in 2004 are the basis for Beatty's article "'Be Willing to Take Some Risks to Make Things Happen': A Conversation with Former Governor John Carlin." Kansas History, v31 n2 (Summer 2007/2008). The 2004 interview is available on Kansas Memory as item #212931.

Henry L. Denison to Joseph Denison
Creator: Denison, Henry
Date: May 11, 1859
Henry Denison wrote from Manhattan, Kansas Territory, to his uncle, Joseph Denison, who was traveling away from home. Henry reported that the cornerstone of Bluemont College had been laid the day before, and described the festivities, including speeches and the planting of a kind of time capsule behind the cornerstone. He added that crops had sprouted and were growing beautifully; emigrants continued to pass through on their way to Pikes Peak.

Ho! For the new Kansas! The Upper Arkansas Valley
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Company
Date: July 1875
This brochure from the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company is in the form of a newspaper. It advertises three million acres of land for sale in southwestern Kansas. The brochure explains the prices and terms of sale, and provides quotes from successful farmers in the area as to their ability to raise abundant crops. It lists where to get information about land sales in states east of Kansas, the local agents in specific Kansas communities, and the stations and the distances between stops on the AT&SF eastern division and the Arkansas Valley route

Ho! for the new Kansas! The Upper Arkansas Valley. The best thing in the west
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Company
Date: September 1876
Promotional flier featuring a map of Kansas titled, "The Finest Climate and Most Prolific Soil in the West." Map depicts the land granted to the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Rail Road by the U.S. government to encourage the development of railroads in the West. Shaded areas on the map indicate lands for sale by the railroad along the Arkansas River valley. Promotional text on both front and back markets the land to farmers as "the best wheat land known." It also includes detailed information on towns, schools, lumber, fruit growing, and livestock raising in the region.

Interior view of a creamery in Colby, Thomas County, Kansas
Date: 1910
In this photograph, a man works at his duties inside a creamery in Colby, Thomas County, Kansas.

Kansas. A complete and comprehensive description of the agricultural, horticultural, stock raising and mineral resources of Kansas
Creator: Union Pacific Railway Company
Date: 1903
This Union Pacific Railroad pamphlet promotes Kansas as an abundant and ideal place to settlement.

Kansas. Modern queen of the prairie
Creator: Moore, Roy R.
Date: Between 1940 and 1942
This silent film promotes the agricultural industries in Kansas. Clip one includes wheat and beef cattle. Clip two includes hogs, horses, dairy cattle and corn. Clip three includes grain sorghums, potatoes, poultry, garden crops (cabbage, watermelons, peas, and apples), hay, irrigation, and fish. Photographed by Steve Smith.

Kansas. Resources, population, industries, opportunities and climate
Creator: Union Pacific Railway Company
Date: 1909
This Union Pacific Railroad pamphlet highlights the natural and human resources found in Kansas at the time of publication.

Kansas. The land of golden horizons
Date: Between 1940 and 1960
This pamphlet lists the many attractions Kansas has to offer. A number of photos can be seen covering various subjects, from Kansas agriculture to Kansas' strides in technology.

Kansas Agricultural Summary, 1937-1938
Creator: Kansas State Board of Agriculture
Date: 1939
This published report contains information about field crop statistics, precipitation totals, yields from wheat, corn, oats, hay, alfalfa, and sorghum crops, and information about livestock. These statistics range from 1866 until 1938. The report is included in the Thirty-First Biennial Report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture (1937-1938).

Kansas Emergency Relief Committee accomplishments movie
Creator: Kansas. Emergency Relief Commission
Date: 1936
This motion picture film documents the various work projects completed in Kansas during President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. It begins with an introduction to the Kansas Emergency Relief Committee personnel, starting with the executive director, John G. Stutz. It then shows the various projects across the state, including the construction of farm ponds and lakes as part of the Water Conservation Program, the renovation and construction of courthouses, schools, libraries, and other public buildings, and the weaving and sewing rooms that produced clothing for needy Kansans. It also includes footage of rabbit drives, dust storms, and women sweeping piles of dust out of their homes. Click on the thumbnails below to play each clip. Click on Text Version for a detailed description of each chapter.

L. W. Halbe collection
Creator: Halbe, L. W. (Leslie Winfield), 1893-1981
Date: 1908-1912
The L. W. (Leslie Winfield) Halbe photo collection consists of 1500 glass plate negatives produced by Halbe during his teenage years. Halbe lived in Dorrance, Russell County, Kansas, and began taking photographs of the region with an inexpensive Sears and Roebuck camera when he was fifteen years old.

Man milking a cow, Greeley County, Kansas
Date: Between 1940 and 1950
An unidentified man milks a Holstein cow in a pasture near a barbed wire fence, Greeley County, Kansas.

Milk bottles
Creator: Kansas. State Board of Health
Date: Between 1900 and 1920
This poster issued by the Kansas State Board of Health shows important factors for ensuring safe milk for children.