Augusta Bruchmiller memorandum book
Creator: Bruchmiller, Augusta
Date: Between January 1890 and March 1896
Augusta Bruchmiller recorded income and expenditures for the family farm from 1890 through 1896 in this ledger book. Otto (husband) and Carl (son) may also have made entries. Expenditures are very detailed and illustrate the types of products and supplies purchased by this farm family. Items purchased include fabric, furniture, magazines, shoes, toothpicks, photographs, soap, starch, and numerous other items. Food supplies that were purchased include baking powder, soda, cranberries, coffee, tea, chocolate, etc. According to the donor, in November 1895, daughter Vera died of "inflammation of the stomach" and entries in the book reflect expenses for a doctor and the graveyard. Income came from the sale of butter, eggs, and other items grown on the farm as well as money earned by the children. The family lived in Sarcoxie Township, Jefferson County, ten miles north of Lawrence, Kansas. Brookmiller was an alternate form of the surname Bruchmiller. This book was loaned for copying by family members.

Bert Floyd Rathbun journal
Creator: Rathbun, Bert Floyd
Date: 1909-1910
Bert Floyd Rathbun documented a trip he and his family made by covered wagon to Wyoming to visit his brother Martin Oliver Rathbun. Rathbun's father, John Russell Rathbun, suffered from asthma, and his doctor suggested he try living in a drier climate. The Rathbuns left Simpson, Kansas, on August 14, 1909, and traveled to St. Francis, Kansas, where they wintered. On May 5, 1910, they started their trip west. He kept the journal in a "Farmers Pocket Ledger" provided by the Deere & Mansur Company of Moline, Illinois. There is information about the company's products and agricultural information in the ledger.

Charles M. Sheldon memorials
Date: 1924-1984
Charles M. Sheldon (1857-1946) served as a minister of the Central Congregational Church in Topeka, Kansas from 1889 to 1920. He was also an author of the international best seller, In His Steps, which was published in 1897. A series of memorials, presented here, comprises part of the Charles Monroe Sheldon/Central Congregational Church Collection. A complete description of the entire collection is available through a link below. This series includes letters, a notebook, published articles, and assorted items surrounding Sheldon's death and memorials in his honor. The letters are to and from individuals and members or groups associated with Sheldon's study, the Altruist Club of Central Congregational Church organized by Sheldon, and exhibits related to Sheldon after his death. Correspondents include Carl K. Linge, Elsei Hobson, Hugh F. McKean, Charles W. Helsley, Howard S. Searle, Hermione Adams, Brewster Place, Catharine Brandenburg, Andrew K. Craig, John Goodin, Emma Crabb, Walter Earl Glover Architect, Bailey-Reynolds Chandelier Company, D. O. Coe Seed & Grain Company, Pilgrim Congregational Church in California, and First (Park) Congregational Church. Emma Crabb was in charge of the Sheldon Collection at the Central Congregational Church. The publication, Congregational KANSAS, published in 1946, provides his picture on the cover page and an article titled "Dr. Charles Monroe Sheldon, Congregational Minister." The topics of other publications, such as the Congressional Record of 1946, and PROGRESS, also published in 1946, include Sheldon's lifelong activities as a pastor and author.

Crossing the Plains, the journal of Harriett Bidwell Shaw
Creator: Shaw, Harriet Bidwell
Date: 1851
Harriett Bidwell Shaw started a journal in September 18,1851, when she and her husband, Reverend James Milton Shaw traveled in a wagon train via the Santa Fe Trail to New Mexico. Harriett was the only woman to accompany the wagon train. She documented their daily activities, the weather conditions, hardships on the trail, encounters with Indians, and buffalo hunting. When the Shaws passed through Kansas they stayed at Shawnee Baptist Mission, Council Grove, and Pawnee Rock and stopped near Fort Mackey on the Arkansas river. They reached Santa Fe on November 14, 1851, where the journal ends. The Shaws eventually went to Albuquerque and then Socorro to establish Baptist missions among the Spanish people. In sum, Shaws journal presents a remarkable picture of the difficulties and rewards of travel to the American West prior to the American Civil War.

Daily journal of Elisabeth S. Morse, teacher at Delaware Baptist Mission
Creator: Morse, Elizabeth Stevens
Date: February 13, 1866-July 14, 1866
This item is the 1866 daily journal for Elisabeth S. Morse who taught at the Delaware Baptist Mission near Edwardsville, Kansas. While a number of entries are fairly brief, the journal contains interesting information on Morse's daily activities at the Mission.

Economy Used Clothing Company, Topeka, Kansas
Date: 1935
This is a general business journal for the Economy Used Clothing Company, 308 Kansas Avenue, Topeka, Kansas. The business was owned by the Einstein family.

First Cherokee Regiment day book
Creator: Parks, Robert Calvin, d. 1864
Date: November 10, 1862-March 31, 1863
A semi-official journal covering the period Nov. 10, 1862-Mar. 31, 1863, during which time the author served with the 1st Cherokee Regiment (Confederate) in the Indian Territory under Colonel Stand Watie. It contains copies of general & local orders, movements of the unit, and events. Portions of the first few pages are missing. During the Civil War, most of the members of the Cherokee Nation who had been removed from Georgia to Oklahoma under the treaty of 1835 allied themselves with the Confederacy. The 1st Cherokee Regiment was organized in 1861. Robert Calvin Parks was a captain in Company B at the time he kept this day book. The regiment played an important role in several battles along the border of Indian Territory. References are made to Clara, Robert's wife; Sterling Price Parks, their son; Thomas J. (Jeff) Parks, Robert's brother; Aunt Susan Taylor, the wife of Richard Taylor, Robert's uncle & his mother's brother; the Riders & Albertys, relatives of Clara; and James Butler, husband of Robert's cousin and the man who shot & killed Robert.

Frank Volney Burroughs journal
Creator: Burroughs, Frank Volney, b. 1878
Date: February 24, 1899 to December 1901
A journal kept by Frank Volney Burroughs. It chronicles his participation in the Spanish-American War, his return to civilian life, and his struggles with an injury and illnesses contracted during the war. Burroughs came to Kansas in September, 1894 and lived on a farm in Cowley County. He enlisted in the 32nd Infantry Regiment at Fort Leavenworth on August 8, 1899 and fought in the Philippines. After leaving the infantry, Burroughs enlisted in the 4th U. S. Cavalry. A complete transcription is available by clicking "Text Version" below.

Franklin Loomis Crane Journal
Creator: Crane, Franklin L.
Date: January 16, 1856 - March 29, 1857
This journal, compiled by Franklin Loomis Crane, chairman and member of the Topeka Association, described the activities of the Topeka Association during 1856 and 1857. Some entries consisted of the minutes from town association meetings, while others identified those settlers who applied for town lots. Crane also wrote of his daily work for the association, including comments about the weather.

George Cutter, Kansas experience
Date: January 1, 1857
This reminiscence is presumably from the Journal of Investigations in Kansas, which was compiled by the National Kansas Committee under the leadership of Thaddeus Hyatt. George Cutter was with Frederick Brown shortly before the Battle of Osawatomie and, like Brown, he was wounded during an altercation with border ruffians from Missouri. While Cutter was not directly involved in this battle, this reminiscence is still a rather fascinating account of it.

James H. Holmes, testimony
Creator: Hyatt, Thaddeus
Date: December 8, 1856
This testimony of James Holmes is a portion of the Journal of Investigations in Kansas, a collection of personal stories recorded by Thaddeus Hyatt, president of the National Kansas Committee. Mr. Holmes had studied agricultural chemistry before entering Kansas Territory, and his initial reason for emigrating was his desire to undertake agricultural experiments. He had also intended to join with Clubbs Vegetarian Settlement, which was located on the Neosho River near the north line of the Osage Reserve. He goes into detail about the Neosho valley and its vegetation, mineral deposits, etc. The rest of his account deals with his involvement in the free state militia and his role in defending Osawatomie.

Johnston Lykins' Shawnee verb conjugations
Creator: Lykins, Johnston, 1800?-1876
Date: 1842
In his journal Johnston Lykins, a missionary to the Shawnee Indians in Kansas Territory, jotted down verb conjugations for the Shawnee alphabet he had developed while working at the Shawnee Mission. The notes include both singular and plural forms of the verb "to strike" in English and in Shawnee.

Johnston Lykins Journal Entries
Creator: Lykins, Johnston, 1800?-1876
Date: February 23, 1842-March 5, 1842
Dr. Johnston Lykins, a Baptist missionary to the Shawnee Indians in Indian Territory (present-day Kansas), edited the Shawnee Sun, a newspaper printed in the Shawnee language. In these journal entries from 1842, Lykins wrote about his efforts to teach Shawnee pupils how to read under this alphabet (the Shawnee language had no written system). Lykins also spent some time traveling to visit and treat the sick.

Johnston Lykins journal entry, July 18, 1831
Creator: Lykins, Johnston, 1800?-1876
Date: July 18, 1831
In his journal, Dr. Johnston Lykins, a Baptist missionary to the Shawnee Indians in northeast Kansas, recorded that many of the Shawnee villages were alarmed about an outbreak of smallpox. Lykins offered his assistance by vaccinating the natives.

Johnston Lykins journal entry, October 27, 1832
Creator: Lykins, Johnston, 1800?-1876
Date: October 27, 1832
According to this journal entry, Johnston Lykins and his fellow missionaries at the Shawnee Mission in Indian Territory (now northeast Kansas) had written to the school board requesting permission to provide meals for the students. Their request was denied, and the missionaries feared that their students would no longer attend classes.

Johnston Lykins journal entry, undated
Creator: Lykins, Johnston, 1800?-1876
Date: Between 1826 and 1842
In this undated journal entry, Johnston Lykins, a Baptist missionary to the Shawnee of northeast Kansas, gives his perspective on how the U.S. government and Indian agents have treated emigrant Indians in Kansas. He also discusses how many of these Indian tribes are suffering from starvation.

Josephine Blakely Martin material
Date: Between 1858 and 1881
Material relating to Josephine Blakely Martin and William S. Blakely. Included in this folder are journals, letters, appointments, and a diploma. Several pages of the journal have been skipped or cut out. Some of the letters discuss the Civil War, one noting a fight between troops of the Second Kansas Calvary and William Quantrill's men at David Tate's farm on March 22, 1862.

Jotham Meeker journals
Creator: Meeker, Jotham, 1804-1855
Date: September 10, 1832-January 4, 1855
The journals of Jotham Meeker, in three volumes, describe his daily activities as an Indian missionary, printer, and minister in Michigan and Kansas territories. In 1825 Meeker served as a teacher and preacher among the Pottawatomis, the Ottawas, and later the Chippewas in Michigan. The Board of Baptist Missions sent Meeker to Indian Territory in 1833 in an area that would later become Kansas. Due in part to the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the U.S. government was relocating many Eastern tribes west of the Mississippi River. Meeker was assigned to the Shawnee tribe as a printer-missionary. By February 1834 he had set up his printing press at the Shawnee Baptist Mission in present Johnson County, Kansas. In May 1837 Meeker began his own mission among the Ottawas near present Ottawa, Kansas. Meeker died at the Ottawa mission in January 1855. A full transcription (PDF) is available below under "External Links." Images of the original journals are followed by images of the typescript copies. Funding to digitize these journals was donated by Dr. A. Allan Schmid.

Journal of proceedings of the Grand Division of the Sons of Temperance of Kansas
Creator: Sons of Temperance
Date: 1878
A pamphlet that contains the annual, special, and semi-annual sessions, on October 24, 1877; November, 7, 1877; April 24, 1878 with reports and statistics. A. A. Stewart, from Manhattan, Kansas, was the organization's Grand Scribe.

Kansas Cycler
Date: May 20, 1895-February 01, 1897
This monthly bicycle journal published in Topeka, Kansas, in the late 19th century was associated with the Topeka Athletic Association Wheelmen and meant to advance the interests of cycling, increase the number of riders, and advocate for better roads in Kansas. The publishers sought "reliable correspondents in all parts of the state", encouraged submissions of stories about cycling, published stolen bicycle reports, suggested cycling routes, and encouraged women to participate by establishing a Ladies Department. Initially published by the McHenry-Chesney Printing Co., the publisher later changed to The Kansas Cycler Co. and began joint publication in Wichita.

Marshall's Band journal
Creator: Marshall's Band
Date: 1884 - 1903 (bulk 1884-1887)
This journal contains Marshall's Band meeting minutes, membership lists, officers, concerts and rehearsals, newspaper articles, financial reports, constitution, and by-laws. Marshall's Band was organized in the summer of 1884, at Topeka, Kansas, under the name of "The Republican Flambeaux Band," and played throughout the state during the presidential campaign of that year. After the election, it was reorganized and given its present name, in honor of its director, Mr. John B. Marshall. Also included in this journal is an agreement between Marshall's Band and E. W. Wilson, Pekin, Illinois, dated July 1903. The agreement committed the band to one concert on each Sunday at Vinewood Park. In turn, the band was paid $50.00 for each concert. For a complete, searchable transcript of the journal, click "Text Version" below.

Mary Magdalene Bellport journal
Creator: Bellport, Mary Magdalene Bower, 1849-1935
Date: Between 1877 and 1879
This journal was written by Mary Madgalene (Bower) Bellport, who was born in 1849 in Germany. After her family moved to Ohio, Mary met and married Augustine Bellport in 1877, the same year that she began this journal. Augustine had changed his last name, from Brulport to Bellport, when he moved to Kansas in 1865. Most of the entries in the journal deal with her travels through Kansas and Colorado. She also relates valuable information about frontier life in Kansas, including the near-fatal injury suffered by her brother-in-law, Steve, harsh summer heat, and a prairie fire that threatened to destroy their homestead.

Midwest Industry business review
Creator: Midwest industry magazine (Topeka, Kan.)
Date: January 1, 1962
This article from the Midwest Industry business review includes a black and white photograph of Lyle Yost of the Hesston Corporation. This publication funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission through the Kansas State Historical Records Advisory Board.

Notes by the Way
Creator: Goodnow, Isaac T. (Isaac Tichenor), 1814-1894
Date: July 3, 1851 - July 18, 1851
Three small notebooks kept by Isaac Tichenor Goodnow while on summer vacation from teaching at the Providence Seminary in Rhode Island. A searchable transcription is available by clicking "Text Version" below.

Outlook journal
Creator: Kansas City business journal
Date: February 1, 1978
This journal from the Kansas City Business Journal includes an article about the Hesston Corporation and the financial market in the farming community. This publication funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission through the Kansas State Historical Records Advisory Board.