Abbie Bright diary
Creator: Bright, Abbie, 1848-1926
Date: 1868-1921
Born in Pennsylvania in 1848, Abbie Bright traveled to Kansas in 1870 as a young woman and her diary is primarily an account of this trip. It gives excellent accounts of daily life and settlement activities. The "diary" is actually composed of two different manuscripts and both are presented here. The first is an eighty-six page loose-leaf diary with consistent entries from September 2, 1870 - December 20, 1871. The second is a bound composition book with 129 written pages. This book begins with a childhood reminiscence written in Iowa in 1914 (p1-23), followed by a reminiscence of her Kansas trip written in Iowa in 1921 (p24-36) that covers Aug 23, 1870 - Jan 30, 1871. The book then includes some recipes dated 1868-1871 and a receipt dated 1884 (p37-41), and finally consistent diary entries from February 2, 1871 - December 21, 1871 (p41-129). A complete, revised transcription of both manuscripts is available by clicking on "Text Version" below. A previous, annotated transcription that combines the 1870-1871 entries from both manuscripts was published in the Kansas Historical Quarterly in 1971 and is available through a link below.

Abstracts of title from the James Stanley Emery Collection
Date: 1869-1872
Abstracts of title from the James Stanley Emery collection. James was born in Franklin County, Maine in 1826. Educated at Waterville College, he was admitted to the bar in New York in 1854. He was involved with the New England Emigrant Aid Company, coming to Kansas with the second party of immigrants, and generally in free state activities in Kansas to ensure that it became an anti-slavery state when it entered the Union. Through the following years, he worked in numerous states for the cause. Emery was a member of the Leavenworth constitutional convention and served on the Kansas Legislature in 1862 and 1863. He was a lawyer and worked as a journalist for the New York Daily Times. President Abraham Lincoln appointed Emery U.S. District Attorney for Kansas in 1864. In 1891 he was president of the Kansas State Historical Society. Emery died in Lawrence in 1899.

Agricultural College, Kansas State
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1869-1873 : Harvey)
Date: February 10, 1869
An account of the sale of the Agricultural College Lands from September 24, 1868, to January 16, 1869. The report was audited and found correct by John Pipher Treasurer on the Board of Regents.

Allen County Jail
Creator: Kansas State Historical Society. Historic Preservation Office
Date: 2012
Allen County Jail is located in Iola, Allen County, Kansas. It was built in 1869 by White and Hays. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

Appointment file
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1868-1869 : Green)
Date: November 1868-January 1869

Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company depot, Topeka, Kansas
Date: 1869
This sepia colored photograph shows the first Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company depot at Fourth and Holliday streets in Topeka, Kansas. The two-story wooden structure completed in 1869 served as a passenger and freight depot. The Fred Harvey House was located on the second floor of the building.

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company depot, Topeka, Kansas
Creator: Feria, Julius
Date: Between 1869 and 1879
This photograph shows an illustration of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company depot in Topeka, Kansas at the intersection of Fourth and Holliday Streets. The station was built in 1869.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad time table no.3
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: September 23, 1869
This time table is in two parts. The first part is the schedule for trains numbers 1 and 3 (west bound) and trains numbers 2 and 4 (east bound) between North Topeka and Burlingame, Kansas, showing arrival and departure times. The second part of the schedule is the rules for running trains.

Attorney General's Office
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1869-1873 : Harvey)
Date: 1869 - 1872
The documents in this file pertain to matters of the Attorney General Office. A letter from the A. Danford, Attorney General in 1861, gives his opinion to the Governor regarding him being able to appoint officers for new counties. A separate letter from A. L. Williams, Attorney General in 1871, answers questions from Governor Harvey concerning unpatented lands and if they are taxable. A letter from Williams provides Governor Harvey with his opinion declaring the eligibility of women in the office of Notary Public in Kansas.

Auditor of State's Office
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1869-1873 : Harvey)
Date: 1869 - 1870
A semi-annual report from A. Thoman, on May 30th, 1870, of the condition of the State Treasury. The State Auditor examines records and documents to evaluate compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies; as a result, the State Auditor can recommend areas that need to be improved or provide assistance at a higher level.

Baseball bat
Date: 1869
This oversized pine baseball bat was presented to Dudley C. Haskell (1842-1883) in 1869 by residents of Lawrence, Kansas. Haskell was a local shoe merchant and a member of the town baseball team, the Kaw Valleys. He had a reputation for hitting home runs. After the bat was presented, Haskell allegedly hit a home run with it in a game. Haskell became a Congressman and secured the funding for the Indian School in Lawrence that today bears his name, the Haskell Indian Nations University.

Bird's eye view of the city of Atchison, Kansas
Date: 1869
This colored lithograph is a bird's eye view of Atchison, Kansas, the county seat of Atchison County. The legend at the bottom of the image lists the Court House, Jail, the Public School, St. Benedict's College (Benedictine), Turner Hall, the shops of the Central Branch of the Union Pacific Railroad, the Missouri Valley Railroad depot, and a number of churches. Two African American churches are included in the list. Several of the numbers from the legend are difficult to locate on the lithograph. The name of the artist and the publisher of the lithograph are not legible. The Missouri River forms the eastern boundary of Atchison and Winthrop, Missouri, is across the river from Atchison. A number of steamboats are shown on the river including the N. S. Turner.

Blind Asylum, superintendent of
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1869-1873 : Harvey)
Date: 1869 - 1870
The documents in this file pertain to matters concerning the appointment of Superintendent of the Blind Asylum. A letter from Minister James Lawrence requests Kansas Governor Harvey to reappoint Sawyer's position as the Superintendent. A separate letter suggests the Governor make changes in the management at the Asylum. Many letters are regarding efforts to remove H. H. Sawyer as the Superintendent, however, there is also correspondence from individuals who support Sawyer and attest to his management. A petition from citizens of Wyandotte, Kansas, asks that Sawyer be reappointed in his present position. Additional documents are petitions to have another person appointed Superintendent.

Bonds, State
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1869-1873 : Harvey)
Date: 1869 - 1871
A letter on February 11, 1869, from the commissioners of the State School Fund, accept the Governor's offer to sell $75,000 of State Bonds at ninety-two cents on the dollar. A letter from W. E. Suttiff asks Kansas Governor Harvey if he can use his influence to issue the bonds authorized for the payment of the militia battalion. Additional correspondence in this file pertains to the purchasing or inquiry of the bonds.

Buffalo hunt
Date: 1869
This photograph depicts a buffalo hunt along the Big Timber River, located in Ellis County south of Hays, Kansas. Some more well-known members of the hunting party include General George Armstrong Custer, Hill P. Wilson, Captain Tom Custer, and General Samuel D. Sturgis. In the years that followed this hunt, the Bison heards that roamed the U.S. were decimated. The death of so many Bison helped bring an end to the nomadic lifestyle of many Native American tribes in the U.S.

C.C. Whitney to Senator Edmund G. Ross
Creator: Ross, Edmund G. (Edmund Gibson), 1826-1907
Date: January 19, 1869
Letter written by Whitney informing him of a state senate resolution to censor him for his vote against impeachment of President Andrew Johnson and demanding his immediate resignation from political office.

Chief Abram B. Burnett
Creator: Knight, J. Lee
Date: 1869
This is a photograph of Pottawatomie Chief Abram B. Burnett in 1869. He weighed 450 pounds at the time this photograph was taken, and he died a year later in March, 1870.

Chief Abram B. Burnett
Creator: Knight, J. Lee
Date: 1869
This is a photograph of Pottawatomie Chief (Nan-Wesh-Mah) Abram Burnett. In 1838, Burnett and his Pottawatomi bride, Dah-Moosh-Ke-Keaw, were removed with other Mission Band Pottawatomi to a reservation in southeast Kansas. His first wife died in 1842 and in 1843, he remarried Marie Kofflock, a German Catholic immigrant. In 1848 Chief Burnett moved to the area that was later to become Topeka. In Topeka, he farmed a large plot of land near Burnett's Mound along Shunganunga Creek and traded horses. He was a physically large and powerful man, reportedly weighing more than 450 pounds in his later years. He dressed in a coat and trousers and wore a tie when occasions demanded. He often wore a hat and carried an elaborate cane with a handle of rose quartz with a silver collar and an ebonised hardwood shaft, as shown in this photograph. Chief Burnett died June 14, 1870 on his farm near Topeka and his wife and children moved to the Pottawatomi reservation in Oklahoma.

Claims, Price Raid
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1869-1873 : Harvey)
Date: 1869 - 1872
The following documents are related to claims made concerning the Price Raid. A telegraph on December 7, 1870, from Sidney Clarke, requests the Governor to come or send someone to Washington, D.C. immediately to aid in the passage of the Price Raid bill. A letter from W. Banks informs Kansas Governor Harvey he has some Price Raid scrip certificates and asks if they will be paid by winter. A separate letter from x inquires whether the gratuity of the Price Raid scrip will be paid under the recent legislation of Kansas. A message from James A. Hardie states that the Commissioners plan to meet in Topeka to audit the growing claims of the Price Raid.

Commissioner of deeds : California
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1869-1873 : Harvey)
Date: 1869 - 1872
An application from Edward Cadwalader to Kansas Governor Harvey for the appointment as Commissioner of Deeds for the State of Kansas in California. A separate submission from Frank V. Scudder of San Francisco, California, requests the Governor offer him the job.

Commissioner of deeds : Florida
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1869-1873 : Harvey)
Date: 1869 - 1872
A letter from W. C. Danelly requests Governor Harvey offer him the position as Commissioner of Deeds for the State of Kansas in Florida. Danelly explains that he has already secured the appointment as Commissioner for many states and is trying to acquire as many as possible. A separate submission from Joseph H Durkee applies for the opening as Commissioner of Deeds.

Commissioner of deeds : Illinois
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1869-1873 : Harvey)
Date: 1869 - 1872
A letter of application from William Andrews for the position as Commissioner of Deeds for Kansas at Chicago, Illinois. A document about the Appropriation Bill passed by Kansas Legislature to give funds towards the improvement and enlargement of the State Normal School. Additional letters are from other applicants requesting the Governor select them for the job.

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.

Commissioner of deeds : Louisiana
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1869-1873 : Harvey)
Date: 1869 - 1872
An application from Oren D. Bragdon for the position as Commissioner of Deeds for the State of Kansas, residence in Louisiana. An application from John M. Cooney of New Orleans, Louisiana, along with an endorsement for his appointment as Commissioner of Deeds for Kansas. A letter from William F. Robb asks the length of the term in the office of Commissioners of Deeds as this information was not provided to him when he was tendered the position.

Commissioner of deeds : Maine, Maryland
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1869-1873 : Harvey)
Date: 1869 - 1872
A letter from James O'Donnell asks Kansas Governor Harvey for the appointment as Commissioner of Deeds for the State of Kansas in Maine. A separate application from James H. Buchanan for Commissioner of Deeds in Maryland, along with an endorsement of Buchanan's qualifications. The following documents are from candidates applying for the appointment as the Commissioner of Deeds in the State of Maine or Maryland.