Counties : Graham, affidavits of citizens
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1879-1883 : St. John)
Date: March 30, 1880
The following letters are affidavits from residents in Graham County informing Kansas Governor St. John that there was a misrepresentation in petitions for Roscoe and Hill City for Temporary County Seat. The letters explain that they thought the Roscoe and Hill City petitions were thrown out of the contest for Temporary County Seat by the Governor. A few of the citizens request to have their signatures on different petitions such as the Roscoe petition.

Dust storm in Hill City, Kansas
Creator: Robbins Studio
Date: Between 1935 and 1936
This photograph shows a young girl running on a street in Hill City, Kansas. In the background, is an approaching dust storm.

Graham County Courthouse, Hill City, Kansas.
Date: Between 1888 and 1899
These four photographs show the Graham County courthouse in Hill City, Kansas. Built around 1888 under the guidance of James P. Pomeroy, who donated the tract of land, and W.R. Hill who was the first settler and town founder of Hill City. The native limestone structure served the residents of Graham County until it was razed in October of 1959.

Hill City Parade, Hill City, Kansas
Date: Between 1890 and 1900
This is a view of a parade in Hill City, Kansas, led by John Legere, on horseback and carrying a large American flag. Also visible are members of a marching band, spectators, horse-drawn carriages, and businesses and buildings along the town street.

Kansas Film Commission site photographs, subject churches
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. Churches are the subject included in this part of the collection.

Kansas Film Commission site photographs, subject old west towns - prairie
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. Subjects included in this part of the collection are old west towns, parks, people, and prairie.

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.

Mid-Way Cafe, Hill City, Kansas
Date: Between 1940 and 1945
This black and white photograph shows employees standing behind the counter at the Mid-Way Café in Hill City, Kansas. In the background two customers can be seen sitting on stools at the counter.

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.

Residence, Hill City, Kansas
Creator: Western Photo Finishers
Date: Between 1940 and 1950
This is a photo of the exterior of an unidentified residence in Hill City, Kansas.

Robert W. Brown to Governor John Carlin
Creator: Brown, Robert W.
Date: April 4, 1979
Robert W. Brown of Hill City, Kansas, writes Governor John Carlin of Topeka concerning Carlin's veto of a bill reinstating capital punishment. Brown expresses his disappointment with the Governor's veto. He claims that while capital punishment will not deter other people from killing, it will stop killers from killing again. Kansas reinstated capital punishment in 1935 after banning it in 1907. A 1972 U. S. Supreme Court decision invalidated many state death penalty statutes. Kansas did not successfully reinstate capital punishment until 1994. In contradiction to a campaign promise, Governor Carlin vetoed death penalty legislation passed by the state legislature four times between 1979-1985.

Standard atlas of Graham 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, and plats of towns as of the year of publication.

Street scene in Hill City, Kansas
Date: 1890
This photograph shows an exterior view of Chipman's Drug Store on North Pomeroy Avenue in Hill City, Kansas. The sign for the drugstore includes the traditional mortar and pestle pharmacy symbol. To the left of Chipman's is the Elm House building. Several men and women are posing for the photograph in front of the buildings.

The advantages Northern Kansas offers to home seekers and land buyers
Creator: Northern Kansas Immigration Association
Date: 1888
This booklet was prepared by the Northern Kansas Immigration Association for home seekers and land buyers looking for opportunities in Northern Kansas.

Thomas I. Beecher, World War soldier
Date: 1918-1919
Around 1919, the Kansas State Historical Society and the American Legion solicited biographical information from returning veterans (primarily members of the 35th and 89th infantry divisions) and the families of those who died in service, notably from the Gold Star Mothers. Each veteran or family member was asked to provide letters, photographs, a biography, and military records. This file contains information on Thomas I. Beecher, Headquarters Company, Field Artillery. Thomas died in France on October 5, 1918 from wounds he received in action.

Union Pacific Railroad Company depot, Hill City, Kansas
Date: Between 1950 and 1969
This photograph shows the Union Pacific Railroad Company depot in Hill City, Kansas. The one-story wooden structure was torn down in the 1990s. In the background the Farmers Lumber Company is visible.

U.S. 40. The main street of America
Creator: U.S. 40 Highway Association, Inc.
Date: 1920s
This pamphlet by the U.S. 40 Highway Association promotes U.S. Route 40 as the trans-continental highway from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to San Francisco, California. At the pamphlet's creation, the highway had not yet been completed and reached to eight miles west of Topeka, Kansas. Raymond M. Sawhill of Glasco, Kansas, was the secretary of the local organization. The pamphlet contains a map of the route and there are charts listing the distance between all the cities through which the highway would pass. The charts also list the population of each of the cities. This pamphlet proposes a northern and southern route through the middle and western portions between Manhattan, Kansas, and Limon, Colorado.

William Lincoln Sayers
Date: Between 1900 and 1914
This photograph shows William Lincoln Sayers, (1872-1956), attorney from Graham county Kansas. He migrated to Graham county between 1887 and 1888 from Fall City, Nebraska with his six siblings and widowed mother. With an ambition for education he graduated at the age of fifteen with a teaching certificate and began teaching at age sixteen. As he taught school in Graham county he also "read law" in his spare time. In 1898 he began his career as a public servant as Clerk of the Court in Nicodemus, Kansas. Although he never graduated from law school, he was elected county attorney for Graham county in 1900, 1912, and 1914. He was only the second African American to be elected Graham County Attorney, the first being George Washington Jones. Sayers practiced law for more then fifty years in western Kansas and the Kansas Supreme Court. On March 26, 1956 he passed away at the age of eighty-four.

William L. Sayers in Hill City, Kansas
Date: Between 1915 and 1920
These two photographs show William L. Sayers, an attorney, in his office in Hill City, Kansas. Sayers was born around 1872 in Nebraska and moved to Hill City, Kansas, with his family in 1888. There at the age of 15 he earned a teaching certificate, however, he had to wait until he turned 16 to teach. After teaching school for several years, he became clerk of the court for Graham County. Sayers used his spare time to read law books. In 1893, he was admitted to the bar and took classes at the University of Kansas. Although he never graduated from law school, he was elected county attorney for Graham county in 1900, 1912, and 1914. His younger brother John followed him in this position in 1918. He was the second African American to be elected Graham County Attorney; the first was G. W. Jones who was elected in 1896. The Sayers brothers practiced law in Graham County for their entire careers.

W. R. Hill
Creator: McLeod, Donald
Date: Between 1888 and 1890
This is a portrait of W. R. Hill, who came to Graham County, Kansas, in 1876 and founded the town site which was named for him. Hill City was platted on June 16, 1879. After several elections for the county seat which Millbrook, 3 miles to the southwest, had won, Hill City won the right to be the county seat in an election held on March 16, 1888.