1962 Wichita Dreamliners baseball bat
Date: 1962
These photographs show the commemorative baseball bat received by Gil Carter as a member of the Wichita Rapid Transit Dreamliners semi-pro baseball team in 1962. That year, the Dreamliners won state and national semi-pro tournaments sponsored by the National Baseball Congress. Both tournaments were held in Wichita. In the state tournament, the Dreamliners defeated Wichita Instant Glass by a 2-1 score in the twelfth inning of the final game. In the 33-team national tournament, the Dreamliners advanced through the loser's bracket to win the title by defeating the Fairbanks Goldpanners, 7-6, in the championship game. Gil Carter, the Dreamliners' left fielder, had a .484 batting average and six home runs during the national tournament, which earned him a spot on the all-tournament team. Carter played for the Dreamliners again in 1963, when the team successfully defended its state and national semi-pro titles (see Kansas Memory number 310424). Digital images of the commemorative bat were created through a joint project sponsored by the Kansas Historical Society and the Shawnee County Baseball Hall of Fame.

1963 Wichita Dreamliners baseball bat
Date: 1963
These photographs show the commemorative baseball bat received by Gil Carter as a member of the Wichita Rapid Transit Dreamliners semi-pro baseball team in 1963. That year, the Dreamliner team successfully defended its state and national semi-pro titles by winning tournaments at both levels sponsored by the National Baseball Congress. In the state tournament, the Dreamliners defeated Wichita Service Auto Glassmen by a 6-5 score in the eleventh inning of the final game. In the national tournament, the Dreamliners bested Ponchatoula, Louisiana by a score of 5-4 in the title game. Both tournaments were held in Wichita. Gil Carter was an outfielder for the 1963 Dreamliners. He also was in the starting lineup for the Dreamliners in 1962, when the team won its first state and national semi-pro titles (see Kansas Memory number 310423). Digital images of the commemorative bat were created through a joint project sponsored by the Kansas Historical Society and the Shawnee County Baseball Hall of Fame.

34-star American flag playing cards
Date: between 1861 and 1863
This deck of thirty-five glossed paper cards depicts two 34 star American flags on the back. The reverse contains the suits with no numbers in the corners. Kansas is the 34th State admitted to the Union (in 1861), which dates these to the early Civil War between 1861 and 1863. Prior to 1880 playing cards typically did not have numbers in the corners.

African American doll
Date: between 1937 and 1945
Handmade African American cotton cloth doll. The doll has short, black yarn hair, and her facial features are embroidered. She wears a simple light green cotton dress. The donor received the doll when she was a child from an African American neighbor. Her family lived in Topeka at the time of her birth in 1937. They left Topeka for California in 1946. She believes that she received the doll between the time of her birth and her fourth birthday.

Apache Doll in Cradleboard
Date: Between 1900 and 1968
This Apache doll in its cradleboard was donated first to the Highland Mission (now called the Iowa Sac and Fox Mission) and then to the Kansas Historical Society in 1968. The doll has a face drawn with ink and black yarn for hair. She is tucked into the cradleboard with a white velvet blanket. The cradleboard is covered in finely tanned leather and trimmed in sequins and beads of assorted colors and shapes.

Architectural building blocks
Creator: American Manufacturing Concern
Date: 1914
The American Manufacturing Concern in Jamestown, New York made these wooden building blocks. Alice Elizabeth Bouse (1912-2002) of Centralia, Kansas received the set as a Christmas gift in 1914.

Astro Captain mechanical toy
Creator: DAIYA
Date: between 1950 and 1970
The Astro Captain's plastic arms and tin legs move when wind up key is wound. It is mostly made of tin and was made in Japan by DAIYA and imported and distributed by MEGO. It was made between 1955 and 1970. Japan dominated the production of toy robots after World War II. The U.S. "Space Race" to explore the solar system in the late 1950's to early 1970's generated huge public interest and a large market for space related products.

Autograph dog
Date: 1960
Stuffed dog made of heavy white cotton fabric. The dog has a dachshund-like shape, with short legs, a long body, and droopy ears. Facial features are painted in black. The donor received the dog as gift from a family friend, who probably purchased it at a store in Marysville, Kansas. The donor received most of the autographs while attending a Brownie Day Camp held in Marysville during the summer of 1960. Her family was preparing to move to New York, and her Brownie friends signed the dog. The most notable signature on the dog is that of Forrest C. "Phog" Allen, who was the basketball coach at the University of Kansas from 1919 to 1956. The donor's father played under Allen while attending KU in the late 1920s. He visited the family before they moved and signed the dog.

Autographed baseball
Creator: Wyeth Hardware & Manufacturing Company
Date: 1951
The donor purchased this baseball as a child to have autographed at a Topeka Owls game, possibly in 1951. The Owls won the Western Association pennant in 1951, the same year their field was severely damaged by flood. The white leather baseball has red stitching and five signatures in blue ink. The Topeka Owls were a minor league professional baseball team in Class C of the Western Association. The autographed names are not completely legible, but seem to represent the following men: Elmer Le Roy "Butch" Nieman (1918-1993), born in Herkimer, Kansas, played for the Owls from 1947 to 1951, acting as manager from 1948 to 1951. He played for Kansas State University from 1938 to 1939 and was an outfielder for the Boston Braves from 1943 to 1945. John Robert "Jack" Dean (1923-2004), born in Marion, Kansas, played for the Topeka Owls from 1949 to 1953, serving as co-manager in 1952. He previously served in the Navy Air Corps during World War II. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from KSU where he played basketball and baseball. He taught and coached at Topeka High School and at Salina South and Salina Central, retiring in 1985. Harry "Handsome Harry" Richard Suter (1887-1971) broke into the big leagues in 1909, with the Chicago White Sox. In 1932, he married Miriam Hanson in Assaria, Kansas, and, in 1933, while living in Salina, Kansas, was granted permission to form the Ban Johnson League of Kansas. He managed the Leslie Kreps Post American Legion baseball team in Salina, winning several state championships. In 1947 he moved to Topeka where he became a plumbing and heating engineer for the state architect's office, retiring in 1963. Tony Lucadello (1912-1989) worked as a scout for the Chicago Cubs from 1943 to 1957. The Topeka Owls were affiliated with the Cubs from 1951 to 1952. He worked as a scout with the Philadelphia Phillies from 1957 to 1989. During his career, he signed over 50 players to the major leagues. William J Prince (b. 1909) was a pitcher in the minor leagues from 1929 to 1942. He was a co-manager and manager of the Cedar Rapids Indians in 1953 and 1954. The team was affiliated with the Chicago Cubs at the time.

Baseball
Date: between 1910 and 1920
White leather baseball with red cotton stitching. Soldiers from the 139th and 140th Infantries used the ball in a game at St. Nazaire, France, in the spring of 1919. It was donated by Reverend A. Frank Johnson, who worked in Europe at the end of World War I. He reportedly served as the chaplain for the 140th Infantry, 35th Division. While there, he oversaw the baseball game between the two units. According to his application for a U.S. passport, Johnson traveled to England, France, and Italy with the Y.M.C.A.

Baseball bat
Date: 1869
This oversized pine baseball bat was presented to Dudley C. Haskell (1842-1883) in 1869 by residents of Lawrence, Kansas. Haskell was a local shoe merchant and a member of the town baseball team, the Kaw Valleys. He had a reputation for hitting home runs. After the bat was presented, Haskell allegedly hit a home run with it in a game. Haskell became a Congressman and secured the funding for the Indian School in Lawrence that today bears his name, the Haskell Indian Nations University.

Baseball bat
Creator: P. Goldsmith's Sons
Date: between 1919 and 1920
Small, dark-stained wood bat. Ione and Marie Kelly's parents purchased the bat for the girls in Ottawa, Kansas, around 1919.

Baseball card game
Creator: Aydelott's Baseball Cards Company
Date: 1910
This game contains cards with various playing situations, games pieces to act as base runners, a score sheet and instruction sheet. The game was made by Aydelott's Baseball Cards Company. Jake Aydelott played professional baseball as a pitcher with the Indianapolis Hoosiers in 1884 and the Philadelphia Athletics in 1886.

Bisque Doll Arm from the Jacob Creek Site, 14CS701
Date: 1880-1900
This doll arm was recovered from a farmstead in Chase County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 2005. The doll arm is made of bisque porcelain and has a realistic skin-like matte finish. Bisque dolls were very popular during the late 1800s. The site was excavated in 1980 during the Emporia State University's archaeological field school.

Bisque Doll from 14GR301
Date: Unknown
This bisque doll head and body was recovered from the Curry site in Greenwood County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1984. The Curry site was a multicomponent (multiple occupations) site occupied periodically during the Archaic, Early Ceramic and Middle Ceramic Periods. However, this doll shows that there was also modern material recovered at the site. The doll had jointed arms and legs and may have once had a painted face and hair, though, if so, no trace remains.

Board game set
Date: between 1942 and 1945
Portable cardboard game board for playing Chinese Checkers, chess, and checkers. Colonel James C. Hughes received the game in a Red Cross box while being held as a Prisoner of War (POW) by the Japanese during World War II. Born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1888, Hughes served in the Mexican Border Conflict, World War I, and World War II. In 1942, he was captured by the Japanese on the Bataan peninsula and spent the next 41 months in various Japanese POW camps. He was liberated by Russian forces at Camp Hoten, Manchuria, in 1945. Hughes died in 1964 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Bone Gaming Pieces from Fool Chief's Village, 14SH305
Date: 1828-1844
These bone gaming pieces were recovered from Fool Chief's Village, a Kansa village in Shawnee County that was the site of the 2012 Kansas Archeology Training Program after which excavations continued through 2013. Sometimes called a cup and pin game, the goal was to catch the deer phalanges, shown here, on a bone pin, scoring points for the number caught.

Bowling ball
Date: between 1900 and 1920
Oak bowling ball with two pairs of holes drilled on opposite sides. It was used at Peters Brothers Pool Hall in Burlingame, Kansas, around 1900. It features two sets of holes for different sized fingers.

Boxing gloves
Creator: Schmelzer's Sporting Goods
Date: between 1911 and 1923
Boxing gloves from heavyweight champion Jess Willard. Born in Pottawatomie County in 1881, Willard was crowned world champion in 1915, defeating Jack Johnson in a controversial boxing match. Willard held the title for four years.

Brist boomerang
Creator: Brist Manufacturing Company
Date: 1908
Wooden Brist boomerang. The boomerang is a component of Brist, a game in which a racket is used to catch boomerangs. It was invented by Sam Bristow and manufactured by the Brist Manufacturing Company in Topeka, Kansas, from 1904 to 1924. In 1915, the company employed between 30 and 35 people. The game sets sold for between $3 and $15.

Brist boomerang
Creator: Brist Manufacturing Company
Date: between 1902 and 1920
Wooden Brist boomerang. The boomerang is a component of Brist, a game in which a racket is used to catch boomerangs. It was invented by Sam Bristow and manufactured by the Brist Manufacturing Company in Topeka, Kansas, from 1904 to 1924. In 1915, the company employed between 30 and 35 people. The game sets sold for between $3 and $15.

Brist racket
Creator: Brist Manufacturing Company
Date: between 1902 and 1920
Wooden Brist rakah (racket) with white net. The racket is a component of Brist, a game in which a racket is used to catch boomerangs. It was invented by Sam Bristow and manufactured by the Brist Manufacturing Company in Topeka, Kansas, from 1904 to 1924. In 1915, the company employed between 30 and 35 people. The game sets sold for between $3 and $15

Building blocks
Creator: F. Ad. Richter & Co.
Date: between 1880 and 1900
Richter's Anchor [Anker] Box Containing Building Stones. Box No. 13. Contains 259 cast stone building blocks in three colors. Also includes wooden box with sliding lid and lift-out tray and five instruction books and sheets. The F. Ad. Richter & Co. first produced Anker blocks in the factory in Rudolstadt, Germany in 1880. The blocks were very successful, thanks in part to Richter's aggressive and innovative marketing, and were soon sold across Europe and America.

Cast Iron Horse from the Shawnee Methodist Mission, 14JO362
Date: 1890-1934
This cast iron horse was recovered from excavations by Kansas Historical Society archeologists and crew at the Shawnee Indian Mission in Johnson County. The Mission was established in 1839 and operated as a school until 1854. It then passed into private ownership and served different functions until it was acquired by the state of Kansas in 1927. Cast iron toys, like this half of a horse, were usually mass produced. This toy was cleaned by electrolysis which passes an electrical current through a liquid solution to separate the rust from the artifact.

Clay Marble from the Kaw Mission, 14MO368
Date: 1851-1951
This clay marble was recovered during excavations at the 2018 Kansas Archeology Training Program field school at the Kaw Mission. The clay marble is the size called "commies" or common and represents hours of fun. The Kaw Mission State Historic Site was built over the winter of 1850 - 1851 by the Methodist Episcopal Church South as a school for boys in the Kaw (or Kansa) tribe. The site was acquired by the state of Kansas in 1951 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.