1880 census of Rock Creek Township, Wabaunsee County, Kansas
Creator: United States. Census Office. 10th census, 1880
Date: June 11, 1880
This excerpt of a census schedule provides details--including the name, age, race, and occupation--of settlers in Rock Creek Township in Wabaunsee County, Kansas. The county included a black population (B=Black) who had settled there in 1879 with the help of the Freedmen's Relief Association.

Abbie Bright correspondence
Creator: Bright, Abbie, 1848-1926
Date: 1861-1903
Abbie Bright was born on a farm near Danville, Pennsylvania, on December 17, 1848. She had three brothers, Dennis, Hiram and Philip, all of whom enlisted in the army when the Civil War broke out. Abbie had three sisters, Rebecca, Peninah, and Mary, all of whom aided the war effort. In 1870 Abbie traveled to Indiana and Kansas to visit Hiram and Philip and wrote an account of her trip in a diary (also available on Kansas Memory as record unit 223662). While in Kansas she acquired 160 acres as an investment. This series of correspondence includes letters describing the brother's wartime activities. There are also letters to and from other individuals who were involved in the Civil War. These writings make a significant contribution to Civil War research. Other letters pertain to Philip and Abbie Bright's westward migration. Philip moved to Wyoming, Kansas, Texas, and Arizona but died in 1873 and the letters at that time mostly concern his death. The 1902 and 1903 correspondence apparently regards the sale of Abbie's land in Kansas. A complete transcription is available by clicking on "Text Version" below.

Adjutant General
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1879-1883: Glick)
Date: 1883-1885
These letters are in regards to the Adjutant General's department. They discuss the procurement of supplies from Indianapolis as well as the death of Edward D. Barnes. These matters have a corresponding letter from the Adjutant General, Thomas Moonlight, to Kansas Governor G. W. Glick. Additional letters discuss the appointment of Ketner, Insley, and Stadden to different positions within the department including Major General, Paymaster General, and Brigade General.

Annie B. Campbell to Governor John St. John
Creator: Campbell, Annie B.
Date: May 28, 1880
This is a letter to Kansas Governor St. John from Annie Campbell, a medical and temperance lecturer from out of state, who seeks the Governor's endorsement. She has been unsuccessful with her temperance work because, as she states, "the people seem afraid of me". She hopes his endorsement would help her get lecture commitments. She had worked in Indiana for ten years. The letter was written in Newman, Jefferson County, Kansas.

Applique quilt
Creator: Kramer, Maria
Date: between 1840 and 1899
Red, green, and white appliqué quilt. Unnamed block pattern features a large 8-lobed red rosette with seven radiating green leaves, a thick green stem, and a red bud on a side shoot. Wide red sashing separates the blocks. Appliqued vines on borders. Red binding is a replacement. Quilted in a grid on blocks, and diagonally on sashing and borders. This quilt was made and used by Maria Kramer of Evansville, Indiana.

A. R. Hearst to Governor John St. John
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1879-1883 : St. John)
Date: August 09, 1880
In this letter, A.R. Hearst of Indiana, introduces to Kansas Governor St. John, Hughes and Ward, two very successful temperance evangelists from the local college. He believes both will help the Governor win support for the temperance cause in Kansas.

Arthur Lamb video interview on experiences in World War II (transcript)
Creator: Lamb, Arthur W.
Date: September 27, 2007
Arthur Lamb enlisted in the Navy in 1942 and served until 1946 in the Amphibians. Interviewed by Pattie Johnston on September 27, 2007, Lamb talked about military experiences in the Second World War. The 2005 Kansas Legislature passed a bill funding the WWII Veterans Oral History grant program. This transcript is from one of the community institutions receiving grants. The transcript of the interview is presented here; the original video copy of the interview is available through the Watkins Community Museum of History (Lawrence) and through the Kansas State Historical Society.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company's famous passengers
Creator: Paramount Photo
Date: Between 1939 and 1940
This black and white photograph shows Gertrude the Cow who co-starred in the Paramount movie "Remember the Night," boarding an Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company's railcar to her home in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Blind, Kansas Institution for the Education of the
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1865-1868 : Crawford)
Date: 1867
This letter, dated September 6, 1867, is from G. M. Ballard regarding the Kansas Institution for the Education of the Blind to Kansas Governor Samuel Crawford. G. M. Ballard is the warden for the Institution of the Blind in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ballard wrote asking for the names and addresses of the commissioners for the Kansas Institution for the Education of the Blind, which was located in Wyandotte County Kansas.

Brown's Rotary Shuttle Sewing Machine Company stock certificate
Date: February 13, 1875
This stock certificate entitles H. B. Cullum, receiver for the First National Bank in Topeka, Kansas, to 165 shares in capital stock of Brown's Rotary Shuttle Sewing Machine Company in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Class at Central Normal College, Indiana
Date: 1881-1882
This is a photograph of the phonographic class at Central Normal College in Danville, Indiana, taught by Dr. C. F. Menninger.

Colonel A.C. Pepper to Robert Simerwell
Creator: Pepper, Abel C., 1793-1860
Date: April 11, 1833
In this letter to Robert Simerwell, Indian Agent Colonel A.C. Pepper tells Simerwell that he is preparing to lead a band of Native Indians led by Quea-Quea-Tah, west in the early part of June 1833, and that the Native Indians "express a wish" that Simerwell accompany them on their journey. Pepper also states that Simerwell should talk with the Native Indians in his area to see if they are interested in moving west with the others and, if so, to meet at Logansport, Indiana on June 10, 1833.

Commissioner of deeds : Indiana
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1869-1873 : Harvey)
Date: 1869
A letter from the State of Kansas Executive Department to tender Dudley H. Chase as Commissioner of Deeds in Indiana.

Coxcomb and Currents quilt
Creator: Stark, Elizabeth E.
Date: 1853
Elaborately quilted red and green appliqué quilt in Coxcomb and Currents pattern (also known as Flowering Almond). Embroidered at center in pale blue with maker's name and date: "ELIZABETH STARK 1853." Stark was born in Ohio in 1833, married John Whitlow in 1857, and came to Kansas with her young family around 1868. Elizabeth spent the majority of her life in Topeka, living well into the 20th century. This quilt was passed down to her daughter, Lillian Whitlow Johnson.

Cyrus Kurtz Holliday to Mary Dillon Holliday
Creator: Holliday, Cyrus Kurtz, 1826-1900
Date: January 28, 1861
Cyrus K. Holliday wrote from La Porte, Indiana to his wife, Mary Holliday, in Topeka, Kansas Territory. On his way to Washington, D. C. he planned to collect a debt. A friend had given him railway passes to Pittsburgh. The contrast between the quality of life in the northern states and Kansas Territory saddened Cyrus, who quoted a verse. He gave instructions to Mary concerning the livestock and farmland. In a postscript, he emphasized that she save the eyes of potatoes.

Dandridge E. Kelsey papers
Date: 1847-1903
This collection includes various letters, newspaper clippings, legal instruments and court records from cases in which Dandridge E. Kelsey was either plaintiff or defendant (including the 1890s case involving Kelsey and his son Scott in a dispute over ownership of title to the Shawnee County farm), records regarding Salida, and materials related to his membership in fraternal orders such as the Order of Odd Fellows and the Order of Good Templars. Kelsey served with the 83rd Indiana Infantry, Company B during the Civil War. He traveled around much of the country during his enlistment and then returned to Indiana, though he thereafter began taking exploratory trips out to Kansas. In 1868, after moving to Kansas, he continued his life as a farmer for the next ten years. In 1878, he joined a railroad surveying gang and went to Colorado. Between 1878 and 1892 he divided his time between Kansas and Salida, Colorado, where he was involved in mining, land subdivisions, and other speculative adventures, which apparently did not prosper. He returned permanently to Shawnee County in 1892 and died there in 1904.

Dandridge E. Kelsey's 1854 diary
Creator: Kelsey, Dandridge Eliphalet, 1818-1904
Date: 1854
Dandridge E. Kelsey's diary for the year 1854 is the first in a series that covers consistently the years 1853-1876. This 1854 volume begins with some personal and family history (D. E. Kelsey was born March 27, 1818, and had four children with his wife, Mercy Lacock, who had died the day before on December 31, 1853. The January 1, 1854, entry began: "Mercy Kelsey my Wife was buried and the funeral preached by the reverend Mr. Mellender at Coles Chapel . . . ). Kelsey had not yet moved to Kansas Territory in 1854.

Dr. Martha Cunningham
Date: Between 1880 and 1900
This black and white photograph shows Dr. Martha Cunningham, one of the first female doctors to practice in Kansas. Martha was born on January 1, 1854, in Greencastle, Indiana. She moved to Kansas with her parents, in 1865, to a farm near Birch Swith, four miles southwest of Garnett, Kansas. She taught school for a few years before devoting her life to the medical profession. In 1886, Cunningham graduated from the Women's Division of the Chicago School of Medicine. She practiced for over twenty-five years in the Garnett community.

E. B. Porter to Honorable J. M. Brown
Date: April 25, 1881
Letter written to Honorable J. M. Brown from E. B. Porter, Indianapolis, April 25, 1881, offering to lease his land in Wabaunsee County to establish an Exoduster colony. E. B. Porter was the son of Albert Gallatin Porter, Governor of Indiana from 1881-1885. A searchable transcription is available by clicking "Text Version" below.

Economy Patch or Thrift Block variation quilt
Creator: Newlin, Mary Elizabeth Maxwell
Date: between 1840 and 1846
Pieced quilt of red, green, and yellow fabrics on white ground. Pattern blocks are a variation of the Economy Patch or Thrift Block design. Hand-stitched and hand-quilted overall in grid, floral, and feather designs. Made by Mary Elizabeth Maxwell in Indiana during the early 1840s. Maxwell married Mahlon Newlin in 1846, and they moved to Kansas in 1867, settling first in Council Grove where Mahlon was a trader and Indian agent to the Kansa tribe. Eventually they moved to Lawrence. The couple was active in the Friends (Quaker) church.

E. G. Connelly to Governor John St. John
Creator: Connelly, E. G.
Date: March 29, 1880
A letter from a Republican temperance supporter in Indiana explaining to Kansas Governor St. John, the divisiveness and party bickering he has experienced in his efforts to pass a prohibition amendment in that State.

Garrad Riley descendents
Creator: Riley, C. W.
Date: September 04, 1893
This photograph represents sixty descendants of the Garrad Riley family taken at their reunion in North Indianapolis, Indiana. The individuals have been identified on the backside of the image.

General rules
Creator: Simerwell, Robert, 1786-1868
Date: February 15, 1822
This item, titled General Rules for the regulation of the Fort Wayne Mission Family, details the various rules adopted by the Baptist missionaries at Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the winter of 1822. Essentially, this document establishes the guidelines by which the Baptist missionaries at Fort Wayne are going to live by as they work to spread Christianity among the Native Americans in the area. Robert Simerwell was among the first group of missionaries to Fort Wayne, and he was part of the group that established the rules governing their actions at the fort.

George W.T. Cass to Governor John St. John
Creator: Cass, George
Date: January 27, 1879
George W.T. Cass, Professor of English Literature at Indiana University, in this letter, emphatically and eloquently expresses his thanks for Kansas Governor St. John's "firm......utterances" in support of the temperance movement.

Guide thru Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Kansas Showing the Township lines of the United States Surveys
Creator: J. H. Colton & Co.
Date: 1857
Map showing the township lines of the United States surveys by John Calvin Smith in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Kansas. The map has an inset table of census statistics for 1850, including population, number of livestock, principal crops, products, and state finances. This map is provided through a co-operative project between the Lecompton Historical Society and the Kansas Historical Society. Partial funding was provided by the Ross and Margaret Wulfkuhle Charitable Trust and the Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area.