Albert Henning to George W. Martin
Creator: Henning, Albert
Date: August 16, 1905
In this letter to George W. Martin of the Kansas State Historical Society, Albert Henning describes finding "the body of an indian with a number of bullet holes in his body." According to Henning, the Indian that he found was killed by a party of men from Oberlin who had gathered together in the aftermath of a March 1879 attack by the Northern Cheyenne under Dull Knife.

Ballot box
Creator: Dover Stamping Company
Date: 1865
Small, wooden container that originally held teaspoons. The box has been adapted for use as a ballot box. It was used in Rawlins County, Kansas, in 1880. James Matheny donated it to the Kansas Historical Society in 1881. Matheny, who came to Kansas from Indiana in 1869 and settled in Topeka and then Alma, was among the first settlers in Rawlins County in 1873. He and T.A. Andres laid out the plans for Atwood, the county seat, in 1879. In 1880 Matheny cast the first ballot in that year's election using this ballot box. That election resulted in the citizens of Rawlins County voting for James Garfield to serve as the President of the United States and against the "Prohibition" amendment to the state constitution. Matheny returned to Topeka in 1881 to allow his children to attend school there. He died in 1885 at the age of 43.

Bobbin lace making set
Creator: Beck, Anna
Date: between 1890 and 1920
Bobbin lace pillow, bobbins, and pattern. Bolster style pillow is tubular and stuffed with sawdust. A modern cloth cover has been added over the original ticking. A cardboard lace pattern, pricked with pinholes, is wrapped around the pillow's midsection and pinned in place. Steel straight pins protrude from the pillow's top through the cardboard pattern, holding in place a short piece of handmade linen lace (issuing from the back) and threads tied to 28 wooden bobbins (on the front). This set was passed down in the Beck family, who emigrated from Bohemia (Czechoslovakia) to the United States in 1894 and settled in Atwood, Kansas. The wooden bobbins belonged to Mary Dostal Beck. Her daughter, Anna Beck, made the pillow and taught her grandniece, Sonia Cloe Domsch, to make lace using this pattern. Sonia Domsch is a respected lace maker and the first Kansan to receive the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship honoring outstanding traditional artists.

Crazy quilt top
Creator: Wilson, Henrietta Elizabeth (Means)
Date: between 1899 and 1900
Unfinished crazy quilt without a backing or binding. Quilt features many irregularly shaped pieces of fabric stitched to a cotton foundation and outlined in multi-colored embroidery. Embroidered names include the maker's cousin, Foster Means. The quilt incorporates printed ribbon badges with marks indicating the Northwestern Kansas Teachers Association and the Freemasons. The quilter was Henrietta Elizabeth Means Wilson. She made this top before her marriage to Oren V. Henderson on July 17, 1901 at Atwood, Kansas. Henrietta was an elementary school teacher and Oren served as Superintendent of Schools for Rawlins County.

Incidents of the Dull Knife raid
Creator: Street, William D., b. 1851
Date: 1900
This item, written by William D. Street of Oberlin, Kansas, details the events surrounding the Dull Knife raid. According to Street, events began in the summer of 1878 while he was working as a cowboy in parts of Kansas and Colorado. Street recalls that he was first aware that something was wrong upon hearing women and children crying, something that he states was unusual because women and children "seldom frequented the cow camps." Street then asked a man named Sim Holstine what had happened, and Sim told him that an Indian raid had just occurred and the locals were preparing to assist the U.S. Army apprehend the offenders. The remaining seven pages of this item details the events that occurred after the party of men left to find the Northern Cheyennes responsible for the raid.

James Buck's Dodge Motor Car Company and Garage, Atwood, Kansas
Date: Between 1910 and 1919
This photo shows automobiles parked in front of James Buck's Dodge Motor Car Company and Garage building in Atwood, Kansas.

John Michael (Mike) Hayden, Kansas governor
Date: Between 1986 and 1990
This portrait shows Kansas Governor Mike Hayden sitting at the governor's desk at the statehouse in Topeka, Kansas. Born in Atwood, Kansas, Hayden entered politics after a decorated career in the military in 1962. Hayden was governor of Kansas from 1987 to 1991. Afterwards, he moved to Washington D. C. returning to Kansas in 2002, as the Secretary of Wildlife and Parks.

Kansas Film Commission site photographs, subject residences
Creator: Kansas Film Commission
Date: 1980s-2000s
These are panoramic photographs of locations in Kansas created by the Kansas Film Commission to promote scenes to film companies. The panoramics were created by taking individual photos and taping them together. The photographs are arranged alphabetically by subject and then location. The subject of this part of the collection is residences, arranged alphabetically by city.

Kansas Film Commission site photographs, subject schools
Creator: Kansas Film Commission
Date: 1980s-2000s
These are panoramic photographs of locations in Kansas created by the Kansas Film Commission to promote scenes to film companies. The panoramics were created by taking individual photos and taping them together. The photographs are arranged alphabetically by subject and then location. Schools, arranged by city, are the subject included in this part of the collection.

Kansas Film Commission site photographs, towns Ada - Bunker Hill
Creator: Kansas Film Commission
Date: 1980s and 1990s
These are panoramic photographs of Kansas towns beginning with Ada and ending with Bunker Hill. The Kansas Film Commission created the photos to promote Kansas locations to film companies. Many of the photographs show business districts and buildings. The panoramics were created by taking individual photos and taping them together. Towns and cities included in this part of the collection are: Ada, Agenda, Augusta, Alamota, Aliceville, Alison, Almena, Altamont, Altoona, Andale, Arcadia, Anthony, Arlington, Arma, Arnold, Ashland, Atchison, Atlanta, Atwood, Aurora, Barnard, Basehor, Bartlett, Beaumont, Belividere, Beloit, Belvue, Belleville, Bendena, Bentley, Beverly, Bird City, Black Wolf, Blakeman, Blue Rapids, Bloom, Bonner Springs, Brewster, Brookville, Brownell, Bucklin, Bucyrus, Buffalo, Burdett, Burden, Burdick, Burlingame, Burlington, Burns, and Bunker Hill. Some of the photos of communities show churches, grain elevators, water towers, parks, public/government buildings, railroad depots and tracks, and residences.

Kansas suffrage mass meetings for June
Creator: The Farmer's Wife
Date: May 1894
This article lists the upcoming suffrage meetings for June and their locations. The first section's meetings will have Carrie Chapman-Catt, Annie Diggs, and Theresa Jenkins as the speakers; the second section's meetings will be addressed by Susan B. Anthony, Anna Howard Shaw, Helen Kimber and Rachel Child.

Lace sample
Creator: Domsch, Sonia Cloe
Date: between 1995 and 2000
Bobbin lace sample made by Sonia Domsch (1934- ) of Atwood, Kansas. Design is a basket full of flowers. Domsch learned lace making from her great aunt, Anna Beck, as a young girl. Anna and her siblings had emmigrated with her mother, Mary Dostal, from the Bohemian region of what is now the Czech Republic in 1894. The family name was changed from Dostal to Beck after arriving in America. After living briefly in Oklahoma, the family relocated to Atwood. There Mary and Anna made and sold lace to help support the family. Sonia is also a dedicated teacher of her art, having taught lace making to her daughter and granddaughter and participated as a Master Artist in the Folk Art Apprentice Program co-sponsored by the Historical Society and the Kansas Arts Commission. In 1986 she became the first Kansan to receive a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Lance and Brenda Leebrick, Atwood, Kansas
Creator: Colcher, Larry A
Date: June 1998
These photographs are part of the Kansas State Historical Society's online exhibit, "Wheat People: Celebrating Kansas Harvest." This exhibit focuses on the people who have built Kansas' agricultural reputation. In June 1998, the KSHS staff followed harvesters from the Oklahoma border to far northwestern Kansas. They photographed and interviewed families from the top twenty wheat-producing counties in Kansas. The photographs featured here are of Lance and Brenda Leebrick of Atwood, Kansas.

Lawn sweeper
Creator: Parker Sweeper Company
Date: between 1955 and 1959
Electric lawn sweeper for removing leaves and other debris from a yard. An electric motor drives brushes located within the housing. The brushes sweep waste into the canvas catcher. This model was manufactured in the late 1950s by the Parker Sweeper Company of Springfield, Ohio, under the model name Electro-Sweep. It was used by Elna Ridgway of Atwood in Rawlins County, Kansas.

Rawlins County High School, Atwood, Kansas
Date: July 19, 1918
A postcard view of the Rawlins County High School, Atwood, Kansas.

Rawlins County courthouse, Atwood, Kansas
Date: Between 1920 and 1929
A postcard image of the Rawlins County courthouse in Atwood, Kansas.

Rawlins County organization records
Creator: Kansas. Secretary of State
Date: 1881
In order for an unorganized county to be recognized by the state of Kansas, a certain number of householders/legal electors had to petition the governor. The governor would appoint a census taker. Initially, unorganized counties were required to document that they had at least 600 inhabitants in order to be recognized as a county by the state legislature. Over time the number of residents needed to organize a county changed to 1500 and later to 2500 residents. The census was submitted to the governor who then issued a proclamation indicating that the requirements had been met, appointing county commissioners and a county clerk, and naming a county seat. Not all of these documents are available for each county. Included in this file is the governor's proclamation appointing county officials and designating Atwood as the temporary county seat.

Rawlins High School football team, Atwood
Date: 1917
This black and white photograph shows members of the Rawlins High School football team from Atwood, Kansas.

Report of Kansas U.S.O. Committee
Creator: United Service Organization
Date: 1941
This item details the amount of contributions to the United Service Organizations (U.S.O.) from cities and counties in Kansas during 1941. Totaling almost $90,000, the U.S.O. campaign in Kansas was quite successful and helped support a number of services for Americans serving in uniform during World War II. The report lists the contributions by city and the nature of the fund raising. There was a campaign in movie theaters that raised almost $9,000 from 84 cities. The list includes the names of the theaters. Local newspapers, which provided publicity, are often listed as well. The members of the local U.S. O. committees are listed, occasionally.

Sonia Domsch
Date: 1988-1989
Four color slides showing Sonia Domsch, a bobbin lace maker and samples of her work, at her home in Atwood, Kansas. Using fancy linen thread she has created doilies and decorative lace for use on clothing and handkerchiefs. Her love of bobbin lace making can be traced to her Czech family heritage. Sonia has served as a master artist in the Kansas Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program since it began in 1985.

Standard atlas of Rawlins County, Kansas
Creator: Geo. A. Ogle & Co.
Date: 1906
This atlas shows maps of each township with the names of landowners. It has a patrons' directory, portraits of patrons, and plats of towns as of the year of publication.

William D. Street and George W. Martin correspondence
Creator: Street, William D., b. 1851
Date: August 16, 1905-March 21, 1908
These two letters concern the raid led by Northern Cheyenne leader Dull Knife. According to Street, a number of "Indian men, women, and children" were killed fifteen miles to the south of Atwood, Kansas, in April 1875.

Women's Relief Corp, no. 175, Atwood, Rawlins County, Kansas
Date: 1908
The Women's Relief Corps, No. 175, Atwood, Rawlins County, Kansas, October 7, 1908. Only three of these women are identified: back row, first from left: Ida Bell Chambers (Mrs. John N.) Melugia; back row, sixth from left: Nette Chambers; middle row, fifth from left: Mary (Mrs. John H.) Chambers. The Women's Relief Corps was the official auxiliary of the Grand Army of the Republic for Union veterans of the Civil War.