$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.

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.

A local history of Jerome Township, Gove County, Kansas
Creator: Baker, Fred
Date: 1918
This is a local history of Jerome Township, Gove County, Kansas, as recollected by Fred Baker, Gove City, Kansas. Baker wrote this sketch and submitted it in March 1918 to the Golden Belt Educational Association at Hays, Kansas, and was awarded a prize. Also included is a letter from Judge J.C. Ruppenthal, Russell, Kansas, to William Connelly, Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, Kansas, who received the sketch from Baker and wished for it to be donated into the Society's holdings.

Arizona interests via the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: 1882
This brochure encourages travel and immigration to Arizona via the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad. Arizona's history, its various mines, crops, cities, livestock and lumber are detailed. There is a large map of Arizona as well as one of the United States and Mexico showing the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad routes.

Arkansas Valley Guide, Southwest Kansas
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: 1878
This circular would be free to any address. Its purpose was to promote the development of the Arkansas River Valley in southwest Kansas. It tells of the agricultural progress of the nine counties in the Valley from 1872 to 1878. These counties are Harvey, McPherson, Sedgwick, Reno, Rice, Barton, Pawnee, Edwards, and Rush. Statistics shown for grain crops are for wheat, corn, rye, oats and barley. For livestock, statistics are for horses, mules, milk cows, other cattle, sheep and swine. Other subjects covered are timber, fruit trees, and hedges; water power; climate, and fruit growing. Examples of purchase prices and terms of sale are presented.

Arthur Capper and Harold Staadt
Creator: Wolfe, Harold B., 1898-1966
Date: 1930
An informal portrait of Kansas Senator Arthur Capper with Harold Staadt and his prize winning corn at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson, Kansas. Capper, 1865-1951, a native of Garnett, Kansas, served Kansas as Governor from 1915 to 1919, and U. S. Senator from 1919 to 1949.

A. W. Johnson and Isabella Johnson to Robert S. Wickizer
Creator: Johnson, A. W.
Date: March 24, 1875
In this letter to his cousin, A. W. Johnson relates news from his homestead near Osage Mission, Neosho County. Johnson describes the grasshopper plague in vivid terms, and also mentions how the recent hard times in Kansas should not discourage emigration into the state. In fact, he goes so far as to state that now is the time to come, since land is cheap and the spring weather is "deliteful[sic]." Johnson also states, however, that the price of corn is high, and that high prices on goods make it difficult for him to support his family.

Bismarck fair, Lawrence, Kansas
Date: September 7 - 12, 1885
This poster announces the Bismarck Fair to be held in Lawrence, Kansas.

Bringing in the sheaves
Creator: Martin, William H., 1865-1940
Date: 1908
This photomontage or exaggerated postcard shows a man and woman standing on top of a giant ear of corn while it rests on a horse-drawn wagon. In the background and foreground oversized heads of cabbage, pumpkins and corn cobs are visible.

Car load of Kansas corn
Creator: Cornish, George B.
Date: 1907
This photomontage or exaggerated postcard shows a giant ear of corn on a flatcar from the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company.

Chapter IV: Destructive effects of undesirable tendencies, in The future of the Great Plains: Report of the Great Plains Committee
Creator: Great Plains Committee
Date: December, 1936
This report was created by the Great Plains Committee, which had been called by President Roosevelt to investigate the effects of drought and wind erosion in the southwestern United States. Chapter IV of the report, titled "Destructive Effects of Undesirable Tendencies," outlines some of the major problems in this region, composed of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. These problems included the decreasing amount of range land, soil erosion, and the depletion of ground water. A large part of the chapter deals with relief efforts and homestead rehabilitation. It also contains illustrations and tables that provide comparative data on the situation in each of these states.

Clara Frost to Joseph Snell
Creator: Frost, Clara
Date: May 05, 1978
This is a letter from Clara Frost, Seattle, Washington, to Joseph Snell, Kansas Historical Society, Topeka, Kansas. In the letter, Frost recounts what her childhood was like growing up in the late nineteenth century in Hugoton, Kansas. NOTE: In the letter, Frost refers to the election of David Overmeyer as Governor of Kansas but that is incorrect. He was a candidate for that office several times.

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.

Corn Carnival, Junction City, Kansas
Date: 1907
This sepia colored photograph shows the winning float from the Corn Carnival at Junction City, Kansas. The individuals on the float known as the "Pioneers" are identified from left to right as: George Dixon, Helen Ritter, and Mr. & Mrs. Filby.

Corn field, Kansas
Creator: Keystone View Company
Date: Between 1900 and 1915
Men standing in an unidentified Kansas corn field.

Corn field, Logan County, Kansas
Date: Between 1980 and 1989
This photograph shows two girls showing off healthy ears of corn from a corn field in Logan County, Kansas.

Cornfield, Shawnee County, Kansas
Date: 1936
This black and white photograph shows severe drought damage to a cornfield in Shawnee County, Kansas.

Corn stalks, Jewell, Kansas
Date: Between 1890s and 1910s
This black and white photograph shows corn stalks twenty feet tall, grown on the Henry Boag farm in Jewell, Kansas. Standing beside the vegetation are three men who are comparing their heights to the elongated stalks.

Corn, wheat and oats on farms in the states on the tributory to the Union Pacific Railroad, March 1, 1913
Creator: Union Pacific Railway Company
Date: August 14, 1913
Union Pacific Railroad Company Agricultural Bulletin (No. 109). Union Pacific Railroad promotional advertisement showing aggregate yields for specific crop categories from 1912 and early 1913 for areas west of the Mississippi River.

Cyrus Kurtz Holliday to Franklin Loomis Crane
Creator: Holliday, Cyrus Kurtz, 1826-1900
Date: November 24, 1856
Cyrus Holliday wrote from Meadville, Pennsylvania, to Doctor Franklin Crane, an influential citizen in Topeka, Kansas Territory. Holliday stated his opinions about the prospects for Kansas entering the union as a free state, and about the stand of the Democratic party. He also discussed the sale of part of his corn crop in Kansas.

Cyrus Kurtz Holliday to Mary Dillon Holliday
Creator: Holliday, Cyrus Kurtz, 1826-1900
Date: July 29, 1855
Cyrus K. Holliday wrote letters from several cities to his wife, Mary Holliday, after leaving their home at Meadville, Pennsylvania to return to business at Topeka, Kansas Territory. Once in Lawrence, K. T., he reported the political situation to his wife. Governor Andrew H. Reeder, who expected violence, and the fraudulently elected Territorial Legislature were at loggerheads. (Holliday had been elected to the Legislature in a reelection called by Governor Reeder during Holliday's absence, but the reelection results were rejected by the Legislature). Holliday also mentioned the good corn crop and warm weather and expressed his love for his wife and daughter, Lillie, born March 18.

Drought report to Governor Landon
Creator: Kansas. State Board of Agriculture. Division of Water Resources
Date: August 28, 1936
This report by Ogden Jones, a geologist for the State Board of Agriculture, includes detailed information about the effects of the drought that struck Kansas during the 1930s and spawned the Dust Bowl. Jones cites precise figures about water levels in major rivers and wells, in addition to information about crops such as winter wheat, sorghum, oats, hay, rye, and fruits (apples, grapes, etc?). The report also contains maps.

Edmund Burke Whitman to Franklin B. Sanborn
Creator: Whitman, E. B. (Edmund Burke), 1812-1883
Date: November 15, 1860
In this typically long letter/report to Franklin Sanborn in Boston, Whitman wrote from Lawrence on November 15, 1860, regarding the difficult situation facing Kansas settlers/farmers as another winter approached--as "the stock of old corn is exhausted and the grass fails, the prospect is dreary enough and without aid from abroad in some form to supply bread stuffs many of our people must suffer severely for want of food."

Edmund Burke Whitman to National Kansas Committee, expense sheet
Creator: Whitman, E. B. (Edmund Burke), 1812-1883
Date: February 28, 1857 - August 14, 1857
This expense sheet, which was in account with E. B. Whitman, an agent of the committee, lists expenses and supplies sent to aid the free state inhabitants of Kansas. The items sent include (among others) wheat, oats, corn, beans, potatoes, garden seeds, bedding, and clothing.

Edna Heim to Clarice Snoddy
Creator: Heim, Edna
Date: August 31, 1938
Tenant farmers Bill and Edna Heim of Kensington, Kansas, wrote this letter to farm owner Clarice Snoddy of Topeka regarding drought conditions and government soil conservation programs on the farm. The letter demonstrates the use of local and federal government programs to counter the removal of a dangerous amount of topsoil from farms on the southern Plains. Kansas began appealing for emergency federal aid in 1937 to counter sever drought and wind erosion in what is commonly known as the Dust Bowl.