1968 Excavations at Fort Hays, 14EL301
Date: 1968
These photographs were taken by Kansas Historical Society archeological staff during excavation at historic Fort Hays in Ellis County in 1968. The excavations took place in the area of the officer's quarters (Officer's Row). Shown are two views of the House 4 cellar excavation, the archeological excavations of the foundations for Houses 2 through 6 in progress, and a toy dish discovered in the House 5 excavations. Fort Hays was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and is a State Historic Site.

2nd Regiment Bugle Corps, Topeka, Kansas
Date: Between 1900 and 1919
This is a view of the two adult leaders and the eighteen boy members of the 2nd Regiment Bugle Corps standing in formation on the steps of the Kansas State Capitol building in Topeka, Kansas.

4-H Livestock show, Salina, Kansas
Creator: Marsh, C. W.
Date: Between 1940 and 1950
This photograph shows the 4-H Club Mid-America Livestock Show in the Agricultural Hall at Kenwood Park, Salina, Kansas.

A. A. Hamilton to Arthur Capper
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1915-1919: Capper)
Date: March 5, 1915
In this letter, A. A. Hamilton of Pittsburg, Crawford County, argues that Kansas does not need a child labor law. According to Hamilton, there should be limitations on the number of hours that children can work, but he does not see why able-bodied youth should be prevented from getting an after-school job. Attached to the letter is a clipping from the St. Louis Globe Democrat regarding child labor legislation. In 1915 the Industrial Welfare Act declared that minors could not be employed in any industry or occupation that may be detrimental to their welfare.

Abbie Bright diary
Creator: Bright, Abbie, 1848-1926
Date: 1868-1921
Born in Pennsylvania in 1848, Abbie Bright traveled to Kansas in 1870 as a young woman and her diary is primarily an account of this trip. It gives excellent accounts of daily life and settlement activities. The "diary" is actually composed of two different manuscripts and both are presented here. The first is an eighty-six page loose-leaf diary with consistent entries from September 2, 1870 - December 20, 1871. The second is a bound composition book with 129 written pages. This book begins with a childhood reminiscence written in Iowa in 1914 (p1-23), followed by a reminiscence of her Kansas trip written in Iowa in 1921 (p24-36) that covers Aug 23, 1870 - Jan 30, 1871. The book then includes some recipes dated 1868-1871 and a receipt dated 1884 (p37-41), and finally consistent diary entries from February 2, 1871 - December 21, 1871 (p41-129). A complete, revised transcription of both manuscripts is available by clicking on "Text Version" below. A previous, annotated transcription that combines the 1870-1871 entries from both manuscripts was published in the Kansas Historical Quarterly in 1971 and is available through a link below.

Abilene High School Band, Abilene, Kansas
Date: 1925
Members of the Abilene High School Band marching in a parade on 3rd Street, between Buckeye and Spruce, in Abilene, Kansas. Also visible are spectators, a horse-drawn carriage, automobiles, businesses, and buildings.

Abraham Coffman family in Topeka, Kansas
Date: 1923
This photograph from 1923 shows members of the Abraham Coffman family posing with the family automobile. Included are Abraham, his wife Lilly Mae, and their children Ted, twins Loyd and Floyd, Leavern, and Hazel. Coffman was a painter in Topeka, Kansas. Not pictured in the photo are the three youngest children, Ed, Abraham Jr., and Kenneth. The boys in the family would later become involved, to varying extents, in Topeka's baseball community. The Coffman name was especially associated with the Topeka Decker Oilers, a successful semi-pro baseball team in the late 1940s and 1950s. Vern Coffman was the team's manager, Ed was an outfielder, and Junior (Abraham, Jr.) was a mainstay in the pitching staff. Vern's sons, Harland and Burton, also played on the team. Digital reproduction of the photograph was accomplished through a joint project sponsored by the Kansas Historical Society and the Shawnee County Baseball Hall of Fame.

A child on horseback
This is a photograph of an unidentified Pottawatomie Indian child on horseback.

Ada and Burt McColl gathering buffalo chips
Creator: McColl, Ada
Date: 1893
Ada and her brother Burt McColl (in a dress) are gathering buffalo chips to use for heating and cooking fuel. An abridged version of this photograph without Burt is very common. For more information on this photograph, see the link to Reflections (Summer 2008) below. A family member confirmed that Burt (or Bert) was a boy.

Adolph Roenigk
Date: Between 1905 and 1910
A studio photograph of Adolph Roenigk with an unidentified boy holding coconuts. Roenigk includes a letter addressed to George W. Martin, secretary of the Kansas Historical Society, indicating the photograph was taken during a trip to the Tropics.

Advertising for Security Benefit Association in Topeka, Kansas
Date: 1920
This is an advertising card for joining the Security Benefit Association, an early social security system. There was a model hospital for the members who paid a nickel a month for hospital care. That fee also covered an orphanage for their children if the member died and an old folks home all centered around a model farm in Topeka, Kansas.

A. E. Blake and others on the plains in Seward County, Kansas
Creator: Steele, F. M. (Francis Marion), 1866-1936
Date: Between 1900 and 1912
In this photograph, A. E. Blake is seated in an automobile, a man is standing next to that automobile, a man is seated in the driver's seat of a horse-drawn wagon, and two young girls and a dog are standing next to the wagon. All are present in an unidentified field in Seward County, Kansas.

Aerial view of Menninger Clinic Children's Division, Topeka, Kansas
Date: March 1950
This is an aerial view of Southard, the Menninger Clinic's facilities for children. It shows the Carriage House in the upper center of the photo, the North House with the many dormers in the middle, and the South House and craft shop in the lower area of the photograph. Topeka's Sixth Street is the street running through the middle of the photograph.

A flock of turkeys
Creator: Steele, F. M. (Francis Marion), 1866-1936
Date: Between 1891 and 1912
This photograph shows a young girl standing near a flock of turkeys on an unidentified farm, presumed to be in Haskell County, Kansas. A farm building and cart are also visible in the photograph.

African American children, Topeka, Kansas
Creator: Gates, W.A.
Date: June 20, 1900
This sepia colored photograph shows a group of African American children gathered in front of a home in the Tennessee Town neighborhood in Topeka, Kansas. The neighborhood was located southwest of the Capitol building. Some "exodusters" settled in this area of Topeka.

African American musicians
Creator: Lawrence, A (Alfred), 19th cent.
Date: Between 1890 and 1919
This photograph, from a glass plate negative, shows a group of African American men holding musical instruments alongside two women and children. Alfred Lawrence's studio was located in Lawrence, Kansas, but the actual location of this photograph is not known.

African American pioneers in Graham County, Kansas
Date: 1917
This black and white photograph shows a group of African American pioneers from Graham County, Kansas. Many of the first black settlers in Graham County were part of the Exoduster movement, an effort to get southern blacks to settle on the farm land that was readily available in Kansas. Donor supplied information which indicates this is a photograph of the Wheeler, Tinsley and Schnebly families. People in the photograph are: Albert Wheeler (second from left) he was a descendant of escaped slaves who came to northeast Kansas in 1862 and lived in Brown and Nemaha Counties. Albert was a successful farmer in Logan County. Viola (Schnebly) Wheeler (third from left) is Albert's wife. The man beside Viola (4th from left top row) is Joseph Wheeler, Albert's brother, who died young. Mr. Schnebly (5th from left) is Viola's father, he lost a leg in a train accident near Hill City, KS. Anna Louise (Wheeler) Tinsley (far right holding Frank Tinsley, a baby) is Albert Wheeler's sister. Frank Tinsley was born around 1917.

African American school, Grasshopper Falls, Kansas
Date: Between 1920s and 1930s
This photograph shows a group of African American students and their teachers standing in front of the "first black school in Kansas," according to the handwritten caption on the back of the image. (This statement is incorrect.) The structure was located in Grasshopper Falls which is present day Valley Falls, Kansas.

African American school, Nicodemus, Kansas
Date: Between 1900 and 1910
This black and white photograph shows a group of African American students and their teachers standing in front of an unidentified school in Nicodemus, Kansas. Some of the individuals have been identified as Annabelle Taylor, Esther Pace, Jennie Vaughn, Clara Wellington, Cora Ward, Rose Sayers, Jessie Kirtley, Leonard Van Duvall, Arthur Pace, Montagne Loyd, Florence Page, Ira Hall, Charley Vaughn, Velda Van Duvall, James Kirtley, Harry Kirtley, Leroy Van Duvall, Johnson Kirtley, Hattie Burney, and Lula Craig.

Agnes Kelly Henry
Date: Between 1910 and 1912
This is a photograph of Agnes Kelly Henry, who was born October 18, 1902 in Wymore, Nebraska, the daughter of Nicholas J. and Elizabeth Freeman Henry. The family lived in Wymore until 1908 when they moved to Valley Falls, Kansas. In 1918, the family moved to Kampler Switch, close to Seneca, Kansas. Agnes was one of eleven children. Her siblings were: Mary Anna, twins Rose and Elizabeth, Cecilia, John, Agnes, Tim, Catherine, Anthony, and Joe. On October 11, 1921, Agnes married Leo Henry, a farmer and stockman. Agnes and Leo had eleven children: Rita Fienhage, Eileen Huls, Betty Kramer, Mary Chelemedos, James, Norma Heiman, Arlen, Cecil, Damian, Sonja and Nick. Agnes died September 8, 1994 in Seneca, Kansas.

Aidan Ives and the Midget 9 Blue Jays baseball team in Topeka, Kansas
Creator: Wichers Studio
Date: 2012
These two photographs show Aidan Ives, age 9, and the Midget 9 Blue Jays baseball team he played for in the Ken Berry League in Topeka, Kansas. Digital reproduction of the photographs was accomplished through a joint project sponsored by the Kansas Historical Society and the Shawnee County Baseball Hall of Fame.

Aileen Patton, Rossville, Kansas
Date: Between 1900 and 1935
This is a photograph of Aileen Patton standing in front of Walter Patton's barn across from the Oliver Nursery shed in Rossville, Kansas. This photograph is provided through a pilot project to host unique cultural heritage materials from local libraries on Kansas Memory and was accomplished by mutual agreement between the Northeast Kansas Library System, the Rossville Community Library, and the Kansas Historical Society.

Air Dome Theater, Ellsworth, Kansas
Creator: Lewis Photograph
Date: 1915
This black and white photograph shows three men and a boy in front of the Air Dome Theater in Ellsworth, Kansas. One man has a foghorn. Signs of the side of the structure indicate the theater shows "polite vaudeville and moving pictures" and it is "catering to ladies and children." Tickets are ten and twenty cents but only five cents for children under 8 years of age.

A joyful Easter
Date: Between 1900 and 1914
This German printed postcard wishes "A Joyful Easter" as a young boy dressed in a sailor's uniform sits on a wooden cage holding a baby chick. Brightly colored eggs and chickens are visible in the foreground.

Albert Andreson's map of Township 11 South, Range 9 West, Lincoln County
Creator: Andreson, Albert H., 1897-1957
Date: Between 1907 and 1914
A map drawn by Albert Andreson of Vesper, Kansas, showing creeks, railroads, school districts and a drawing of the "proposed Salina Tipton Northern Railroad" of Grant Township, Township 11 South, Range 9 West in Lincoln County. A legend has been provided on the back of the map. This is one of several maps drawn by school children for a contest organized by Judge J. C. Ruppenthal of Russell, Kansas. The maps were to meet a "requirement of presenting historical data, together with excellence and accuracy of drawing."