8,000 students affected, state officials see no trouble adjusting schools to new rule
Creator: Topeka Journal
Date: May 17, 1954
This article discusses how the state of Kansas will work to conform to the ruling made in the Brown v. Board of Education decision on May 17, 1954. The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that the segregation of schools based on race was unconstitutional. Many cities in Kansas, including Topeka, Atchison, Salina, Wichita, and Pittsburg were already working to integrate their schools. Topeka had an estimated 625 African American students who would be affected by the court's ruling, and the article lists the numbers for other cities and towns in the state.

A.B. Campbell to Governor John Martin
Creator: Campbell, A. B.
Date: April 9, 1886
Adjutant General Colonel A. B. Campbell of Parsons, Kansas, writes Kansas Governor John Martin of Topeka. He informs the governor that citizens are putting together a force of fifty special police to respond to striking railroad workers. Railroad employees at Parsons were striking and the governor granted permission to provide citizens with arms to keep the peace.

A.B. Campbell to Governor John Martin
Creator: Campbell, A. B.
Date: April 4, 1886
The Kansas adjutant general at Parsons sends a telegram to Governor John Martin of Topeka asking the governor for permission to furnish the mayor of Parsons with one hundred guns to preserve peace in the city. A strike of railroad workers on the Missouri Pacific Railroad at Parsons led company and city officials to ask the governor to arm citizens and for call out the militia.

A.B. Campbell to Governor John Martin
Creator: Campbell, A. B.
Date: April 1, 1886
A.B. Campbell, Kansas Adjutant General, of Parsons, telegrams Kansas Governor John Martin, of Topeka, stating that another railroad engine has been killed and that he is leaving to investigate. This is in response to the local authority's request for National Guard troops during the railroad strike in the three state area.

An appeal for help in behalf of the colored refugees in Kansas
Creator: Rust, Horatio Nelson, 1828-1906
Date: January 22, 1881
This flyer, distributed by the Southern Refugee Relief Association of Chicago, Illinois, describes the dire situation of the African-American refugees relocated in Kansas. The secretary of this association, Horatio N. Rust, had taken this opportunity to pass along information relayed to him by Elizabeth Comstock, an aid worker in Topeka. Comstock was thankful for the donations of food and other goods, but asked for more assistance in feeding, clothing, and sheltering these refugees. The flyer also includes short excerpts of letters by agents of the refugee association who had direct knowledge of the emigrants' situation.

A.O. Brown to Governor John Martin
Creator: Brown, A.O.
Date: March 30, 1886
A.O. Brown, mayor of Parsons, Kansas, telegrams Kansas Governor john Martin, of Topeka, requesting immediate help from the "troops" over a labor dispute. Strikers had driven a freight train off the tracks near Parsons. In February 1885, railroad shop workers walked off the job because of a cut in pay and reduced hours of work. Governor Martin was able to negotiate a settlement to the strike but problems continued throughout Kansas, Missouri, and Texas.

Art Work on Eastern Kansas
Creator: Western Photogravure Company
Date: 1900
This pictorial book gives a brief overview of eastern Kansas. This is part nine of twelve. Views of Manhattan from Mount Prospect, the Jane C. Stormont Hospital and Christ's Hospital in Topeka, and Fort Scott National Cemetery are some of the featured photographs.

Art Work on Eastern Kansas
Creator: Western Photogravure Company
Date: 1900
This pictorial book gives a brief overview of eastern Kansas. This is part one of twelve. Views from Calhoun Bluff near Topeka, Argentine from the Kaw River, Fraser Hall at the University of Kansas, Labette Creek in Parsons, and Fort Leavenworth are some of the featured photographs.

Art Work on Eastern Kansas
Creator: Western Photogravure Company
Date: 1900
This pictorial book gives a brief overview of eastern Kansas. This is part twelve of twelve. Views of the Cottonwood River dam in Emporia, Kansas State Agricultural College in Manhattan, Haskell Institute in Lawrence, the rail yards in Atchison, and the Bourbon County courthouse in Fort Scott are some of the featured photographs.

Art Work on Eastern Kansas
Creator: Western Photogravure Company
Date: 1900
This pictorial book gives a brief overview of eastern Kansas. This is part eight of twelve. Views from Burnett's Mound in Topeka, the Republican River in Junction City, and the Goodlander hotel in Fort Scott are some of the featured photographs.

Art Work on Eastern Kansas
Creator: Western Photogravure Company
Date: 1900
This pictorial book gives a brief overview of eastern Kansas. This is part ten of twelve. Views of the Melan Arch Bridge in Topeka, Plymouth Congregational Church in Lawrence, Independence High School, and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad depot in Parsons are some of the featured photographs.

Await a Parsons Boom
Creator: Kansas City Times
Date: July 01, 1941
This article, from the Kansas City Times, details the often significant economic impact associated with the building of military or defense related facilities. In Parsons, Kansas, the most obvious impact of the decision to build a artillery munitions plant was on the area around Parsons where more than 300 homes were built to house the men and women who worked at the plant.

Bill to License Stationary Engineers
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1915-1919: Capper)
Date: February 11, 1915
This file includes a letter and an act by the Kansas State Association of the National Association of Stationary Engineers; the focus of the correspondence is to license stationary engineers. Stationary engineers in the letter refers to operating engineers of steam machines in Kansas. This file is part of a bigger collection of Governor Arthur Capper correspondence.

Booker T. Washington Club
Creator: Dandridge, Deborah L., 1946-
Date: 1952 - 1979
These photographs show the state meeting of the Booker T. Washington Club in Parsons in June of 1952 and a second meeting in an unidentified location in the 1970s.

Boom not all joy
Creator: Kansas City Times
Date: September 27, 1941
This article, from the September 27, 1941, edition of the Kansas City Times, addresses the concerns of the residents of Parsons, Kansas, following news that an artillery munitions plant will be built near their town.

C. B. Woodward to Governor John Martin
Creator: Woodward, C.B.
Date: March 13, 1886
Labette County sheriff, C.B. Woodward, tells Kansas Governor John Martin of Topeka he is unable to control the strikers who have captured the train engines by force. He is requesting military support. In February 1885, railroad shop workers walked off the job because of a cut in pay and reduced hours of work. Governor Martin was able to negotiate a settlement to the strike but problems continued throughout Kansas, Missouri, and Texas.

C.E. Faulkner to Governor John Martin
Creator: Faulkner, C.E.
Date: March 30, 1886
C.E. Faulkner, of Parsons, Kansas, writes Kansas Governor John Martin, of Topeka, stating the strike is not over. The strike had been settled and workers returned to work when trouble disrupted in Texas. Employees who had participated in the strike were not allowed to return to their jobs. Railroad workers in Parsons were informed of this and refused to end the strike in that area.

Child's quilt
Creator: Mary L. Wilson Carl
Date: between 1940 and 1943
This child's quilt features 15 small embroidered figures on a white cotton ground. The figures are all animals, some anthropomorphized (e.g., duck with top hat and cane). The quilt has a pale blue border, white binding and backing and is machine-stitched, with both machine- and hand-quilting. Mary Carl (1865-1943) made this baby quilt in Parsons, Kansas, probably for her only great-grandson, William R. Hunter (1940-1985).

Clyde Martin Reed
Date: Between 1929 and 1949
Clyde Martin Reed was elected the twenty-fourth Governor of Kansas from 1929 to 1931, and later served in the U.S. Senate from 1939 to 1949. He was the editor and publisher of the "Parson Sun" newspaper.

Colonel A. B. Campbell to Governor John Martin
Creator: Campbell, A. B.
Date: March 31, 1886
Kansas adjutant general Colonel A. B. Campbell writes to Kansas governor John Martin concerning striking railroad workers. The state militia had been called into service as a result of disruption of train service and alleged threats to public safety. Campbell explains that the "statements in the telegrams of the Mayor and Sheriff are not overdrawn. The sheriff was slapped in the face and spit upon. The mob undertook to drag Kimball from the engine and but for the timely arrival of the train of passengers and mail, there would have been a furious assault." Railroad strikers refused to allow freight trains to run following information received from Texas where several striking workers had not been rehired in that state, thus violating conditions of the strike. Federal and state law prohibited interruption of passenger and mail cars leaving freight cars vulnerable during the strike.

Commerical Bank, Parsons, Kansas
Creator: Commercial Bank (Parsons, Kan.)
Date: 1907-1918
These reproductions of photographs represent the Commercial Bank in Parsons, Kansas.

Correspondence to David Kelso from Governor John Martin
Creator: Martin, John Alexander, 1839-1889
Date: March 13, 1886
In this correspondence, Governor Martin tells David Kelso, attorney, that the sheriff of Labette County must exhaust all the civil powers of his office before military support can be sent.

David Kelso to Governor John Martin
Creator: Kelso, David
Date: March 30, 1886
In this telegram, David Kelso, attorney for the Missouri Pacific Railway, tells Governor John Martin the strike has become vicious. A mob has been involved in lifting rails, destroying property, and people are becoming afraid as local authorities cannot contain the violence. The railroad strike of 1886 occurred after reports of layoffs affecting Missouri Pacific workers in Texas reached the railroad engineers and shop workers in Kansas.

E. B. Reynolds to Governor John St. John
Creator: Reynolds, E. B.
Date: October 01, 1880
A letter to Kansas Governor St. John from temperance worker E.B. Reynolds, requesting renewal of his railroad pass and commenting on successful meetings in Oswego.

Fireman's Badge
Date: between 1886 and 1901
Badge for E.L. Skelton, Assistant Fire Chief of Parsons, Kansas. Gold. In three sections linked by small chains. Edward Lincoln Skelton (1854-1915) had become First Assistant Chief by at least 1898. Prior to his appointment as Assistant Chief he served as Foreman of Hook and Ladder Company Number 1.