A.A. Rassicot family
Date: Between 1870 and 1899
This photograph shows the A.A. Rassicot family leaving Ransom, Kansas in a covered wagon heading to St. Anne, Illinois.

Address before the Old Settler's Reunion, Lincoln, Kansas
Creator: Stanley, Arthur Jehu, 1874-1967
Date: September 17, 1915
An address given by Arthur Stanley before the Old Settler's Reunion in Lincoln, Kansas. Stanley recounts life in Lincoln, of living in a dugout, the fear of prairie fires, prairie schooners passing through, the naming and meaning of places in Lincoln, and many other stories of the county and prairie life in general.

Alfred M. Landon's Notification Day Parade, Topeka, Kansas
Date: July 23, 1936
View of an unidentified marching band in the Notification Day Parade celebrating Kansas governor Alfred M. Landon's notification of his nomination to run as the Republican party's candidate in the 1936 presidential election. Also visible are crowds of spectators, automobiles, flags and bunting, utility poles and power lines, Welcome GOP banners, and buildings and businesses along the city streets. Landon was defeated in November by a landslide vote for incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Along the trail west of Ingalls, Kansas
Date: September 5, 1914
This is a colored photograph of a covered wagon traveling along the trail west of Ingalls, Kansas. Next to the trail is one of Soule's irrigation ditches.

Arrival of the Caravan at Santa Fe
Date: Between 1844 and 1845
This illustration from Josiah Gregg's Commerce on the Prairies depicts a caravan of Americans arriving in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Santa Fe Trail, opened in 1821 by William Bucknell, served as a freight route and passed through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and New Mexico.

A wagon train on the Solomon River, Sheridan County, Kansas
Creator: Pratt, John Fenton, 1856-1937
Date: 1892
This photo shows people posed with their covered wagons and horses on the Solomon River east of the Studley depot, Sheridan County, Kansas.

A wilderness Family
Creator: Albert D. Richardson
Date: 1867
This is a sketch of a "Wilderness Family" from Albert D. Richardson from "Beyond the Mississippi" (German edition).

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.

Bison in Kansas
Date: Between 1910 and 1915
This is a postcard showing two bison and an illustration depicting Kansas in 1861.

Boomer Camp on Walnut River, Arkansas City, Kansas
Creator: Mitchell & DeGroff
Date: 1889
This sepia colored photograph shows a "boomer" camp on the banks of the Walnut River in Arkansas City, Kansas. The "boomers" were white settlers who were attempting to settle in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma. Some of the "boomers" would camp near the Kansas and Oklahoma border waiting to enter the territory to claim land that had not been assigned to Indian Tribes. Many of the settlers believed that the unassigned land was in the public domain under the Homestead Act of 1862, despite the fact that the lands were assigned for the settlement of Native Americans.

Border ruffians invading Kansas
Creator: Share
Date: 1880
Illustration of presumed pro-slavery supporters entering Kansas during the 1850s. The illustration appeared in the 1880 edition of William Cullen Bryant's "A Popular History of the United States."

Bull train crossing the Smoky Hill River at Ellsworth, Kansas. On the old Santa Fe crossing 508 miles west of St. Louis, Mo.
Creator: Gardner, Alexander, 1821-1882
Date: 1867
This stereograph shows a bull train and cattle crossing the Smoky Hill River at Ellsworth, Kansas. Visible in the photograph is a covered wagon. It is from Alexander Gardner's series, Across the Continent on the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division.

Camp Comanche
Creator: Gregg, Josiah, 1806-1850
Date: Between 1831 and 1840
Camp Comanche, an illustration copied from Commerce Of The Prairies by Josiah Gregg.

Cattle fording the Smoky Hill River at Ellsworth, Kansas. On the old Santa Fe crossing 508 miles west of St. Louis, Mo.
Creator: Gardner, Alexander, 1821-1882
Date: 1867
THis stereograph shows cattle crossing the Smoky Hill River at Ellsworth, Kansas. Visible in the stereograph is a covered wagon. The image is from Alexander Gardner's series, Across the Continent on the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division.

Chimney Rock, near Waynoka, Oklahoma
Date: Between 1880 and 1890
This photograph shows a horse-drawn wagon that may be the photographer's wagon. Along the rock formation an individual is seated along the upper portion of the rocks. Information provided by a patron suggests this is a photograph of Chimney Rock near Waynoka, Oklahoma. The original donor identified the photo as near Medicine Lodge, Kansas. An article in the Enid News and Eagle, March 7, 2009, notes the formation collapsed in 1973 and nothing remains.

Cimarron Crossing Park, Cimarron, Kansas
Date: Between 1950 and 1959
These are four photographs of Cimarron Crossing Park in Cimarron, Kansas. The park is located at the site where pioneers crossed the Arkansas River on the Santa Fe Trail.

Clown band and bandwagon, Sylvan Grove, Kansas
Date: 1909
View of band members, dressed as clowns, in an elevated bandwagon at an unidentified carnival. Also visible are a child, a man standing next to the bandwagon, two horses pulling the wagon, and buildings in the background.

Covered wagon, Greenwood County, Kansas
Date: Between 1890 and 1919
This black and white photograph shows a woman wearing a sunbonnet serving lunch to a man seated by a covered wagon in Greenwood County, Kansas. The canvas covering is pulled open so items in the wagon are visible. The individuals have been identified by patron Bette Branscum as possibly being her grandparents Orville Alva Young and Bessie McCain Young traveling from the Oklahoma Territory to Wakarusa, Kansas to visit his grandfather James Wiley Young.

Covered wagon, Minneapolis, Kansas
Date: 1899
This black and white photograph shows a family in a covered wagon getting ready to leave for their new home in Colorado. The photograph was taken in front of the Lewellen Blacksmith shop in Minneapolis, Kansas.

Covered wagon, Republic County, Kansas
Date: 1906
This sepia colored postcard shows a group of men gathered around a covered wagon, pulled by a horse, mule and two cows, during the Pawnee Village celebrations in Republic County, Kansas.

Covered wagon at Fort Hays
Date: Between 1850s and 1890s
This is an unmounted tintype of a covered wagon at Fort Hays, Kansas.

Covered wagon crossing the Arkansas River at Great Bend, Kansas
Date: 1872
Covered wagon crossing the Arkansas River at Great Bend, Kansas.

Covered wagon pulled by an ox.
Date: Unknown
Photo of two unidentified men standing next to a covered wagon pulled by one ox, location and date unknown. This photo appears to have been enhanced or "doctored."

Covered wagons
Date: Between 1890 and 1910
This photo shows an unidentified family in their covered wagon in Comanche County, Kansas.

Covered wagons, Manhattan, Kansas
Date: 1910
This photograph, taken by an unknown photographer in 1860, shows a train of covered wagons, oxen, and men on horseback setting out from Manhattan, Kansas. These wagons were a common form of transportation on the plains.