5 big days chautauqua Redpath Vawter
Creator: Redpath Vawter Chautauqua
Date: July 08, 1923-July 12, 1923
This is a program for Redpath Vawter Chautauqua held in Laurens, Iowa. The program includes information on artists and acts including Phillips Sisters Orchestra, John G. Abraham, Edna Means, Black and White Minstrels Filipino Jackies, Governor George A. Carlson, Robert Burlen, Colonial Players and Singers, and Pattison Kline. The program also contains a performance schedule. Chautauquas brought entertainment and culture to communities featuring speakers, teachers, musicians, entertainers, preachers and specialists of the day. Chautauquas expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s.

Abbie Bright
Date: 1870
Abbie Bright at age 22 photographed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

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.

Agricultural development, wealth and rural population of the states on the tributory to the Union Pacific Railroad for the years of 1900-1910
Creator: Union Pacific Railway Company
Date: September 17, 1912
Union Pacific Railroad Company Agricultural Bulletin (No. 104). Union Pacific Railroad promotional advertisement showing aggregate statistical wealth values and population figures for areas west of the Mississippi River during a ten year period of time.

Albert C. Morton to Hiram Hill
Creator: Morton, Albert C.
Date: June 28, 1857
Albert Morton wrote from Quindaro, Kansas Territory, to Hiram Hill in Massachusetts. Morton informed Hill that the package containing money from him had been located in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and he expected to receive it soon. Morton also described various aspects of Quindaro's development, including the building of a new store, and confirmed that the railroad would in fact come to Quindaro.

Albert D. Searl to Thaddeus Hyatt
Creator: Searl, Albert D
Date: August 21, 1856
The author wrote from Tabor, Iowa to Thaddeus Hyatt, president of the National Kansas Committee. He began the letter by mentioning a skirmish between pro-slavery and free state forces somewhere between Lawrence and Topeka. This correspondence also deals with emigrant settlements within the territory, the shipment of weapons and provisions, and the morale among the emigrants as they struggled to make ends meet. Furthermore, Searl mentioned a great deal about James Lane and his activities within Kansas Territory.

Albert R. Greene to Franklin G. Adams
Creator: Greene, A.R.
Date: August 18, 1897
In this letter to Franklin G. Adams, Albert R. Greene explains that he recently met with Charles C. Haynes, with whom he discussed the waning days of the Overland Stage. Greene explains that Haynes was old but that his eye was as "keen as when he ran the gauntlet of hostile Indians and brought his coach into the home station bristling with arrows."

Alfred Mossman Landon
Date: September 03, 1936
Governor Alfred M. Landon in Des Moines, Iowa, with other dignitaries: President Roosevelt, Governor Hearring, Iowa; Senator Duffy, Wisconsin; Senator Dickinson, Iowa; Senator McGill, Kansas; Governor Cochran, Nebraska; Governor Peterson, Minnesota; and Senator Shipstead, Minnesota. The occasion is unknown.

A map of the route and land grant of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway
Creator: Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway Company
Date: 1871
A large, sectional map of the central United States showing the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway with its land grants plus the connecting railroads. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroad runs from Junction City, Kansas, and Sedalia, Missouri, to meet at Parsons, Kansas, and continue on to the Mexican border and Houston, Texas. There is also a small, inset map of the entire United States with the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway and its connecting lines shown.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company's depot & office building, Fort Madison, Iowa
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: April 01, 1968
This architectural drawing shows the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company's depot and office building in Fort Madison, Iowa.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company's passenger depot, Fort Madison, Iowa
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: Bulk October 07, 1944-October 30, 1945
These architectural drawings show the modernization of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company's passenger depot in Fort Madison, Iowa.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company's passenger depot, Fort, Madison, Iowa
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: August 13, 1957
This architectural drawing shows the hot water return lines for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company's express building and passenger depot in Fort, Madison, Iowa.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company's passenger depot, Fort Madison, Iowa
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: September 19, 1909
These architectural drawings show the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company's passenger depot in Fort Madison, Iowa.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company's passenger depot, Fort Madison, Iowa
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: January 02, 1888
This architectural drawing shows the first floor plan of the C. S. F. & C. Railway (a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company) passenger depot in Fort Madison, Iowa.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company's passenger depot, Fort Madison, Iowa.
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: September 05, 1888
This architectural drawing scaled at 1/4" to the foot shows the first floor plan of the passenger deport for the C. S. F. & Co. Railway (a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway) in Fort Madison, Iowa.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company bridge, Fort Madison, Iowa
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: Between 1940s and 1950s
This black and white photograph shows the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company bridge over the Mississippi River at Fort Madison, Iowa.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company bridge, Ft. Madison, Iowa
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: Between 1887 and 1897
This black and white photograph shows the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company bridge in Ft. Madison, Iowa. The city council of Ft. Madison passed an ordinance on December 31, 1886, granting the Chicago, Santa Fe and California Railroad the right to build the bridge over the Mississippi River.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company depot, Fort Madison, Iowa
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: January 18, 1961
This architectural drawing shows the air conditioning plan for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company depot in Fort Madison, Iowa.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company freight train, Fort Madison, Iowa
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: 1962
This slide shows an Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company freight train crossing the Mississippi River at Fort Madison, Iowa.

Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company freight train, Mississippi River bridge
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: 1960
This color photograph shows a west bound Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe freight train coming off the Mississippi River bridge at Fort Madison, Iowa.

Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company train, Fort Madison, Iowa
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: 1958
This colored shows a west bound Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company passenger train descending from the Mississippi River bridge in Fort Madison, Iowa.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company yards, Fort Madison, Iowa
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: 1910
This plat shows the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company yards in Fort Madison, Iowa. For this digital copy, a blue print copy of the original drawing was converted to a positive image to make it easier to read.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway freight train pulled by engine #169
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: Between 1950 and 1969
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway freight train pulled by locomotive engine #169. The freight train is crossing the Mississippi River at Fort Madison, Iowa.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Railway Company bridge, Fort Madison, Iowa
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: Between 1940s and 11950s
These two black and white photographs show the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company bridge over the Mississippi River at Fort Madison, Iowa.

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company Chief, Fort Madison, Iowa
Date: Between 1950 and 1960
This photograph shows the University of Iowa Scottish Highlanders and band members departing from Fort Madison, Iowa, to the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena, California.