A family dying of starvation in Black Jack, Kansas Territory
Creator: New York Illustrated News
Date: January 19, 1861
An illustration copied from the New York Illustrated News showing a family dying of starvation in Black Jack, Kansas Territory. Kansas experienced a long period of drought from June 1859 through November 1860 and as a result settlers suffered particularly in the rural areas. With failed crops and limited supplies, thousands of destitute people packed up and went back East.

All the world watches Dayton
Creator: Topeka Daily Capital
Date: July 16, 1925
A political cartoon titled "All the World Watches Dayton" that was featured in the Topeka Daily Capital on July 16, 1925. This political cartoon is centered around the trial of John Scopes, a high school teacher from Dayton, Tennessee, who was arrested for teaching the evolutionary theory developed by Charles Darwin.

Are these noble statesmen and lawmakers fighting for the interests of the workers? Oh, dear, NO
Creator: Walker, Ryan, 1870-1932
Date: June 1, 1912
Political cartoon drawn by Ryan Walker for the socialist newspaper, Appeal to Reason, which was published in Girard, Kansas. The cartoon depicts a concerned worker watching Republican presidential candidate William Taft and Progressive presidential candidate Theodore Roosevelt brawl and curse. Socialist candidate Eugene Debs and his running mate Emil Seidel received 6% of the popular vote in the 1912 election.

Barney Oldfield race car driver copied from the Wichita Beacon
Creator: Wichita Beacon
Date: October 11, 1915
This is a photograph of Barney Oldfield, a race car driver, copied from the Wichita Beacon, October 11, 1915.

Benjamin "Pap" Singleton scrapbook
Creator: Singleton, Benjamin, 1809-1892
Date: 1877-1886
Benjamin "Pap" Singleton compiled this scrapbook to document the immigration of many Southern blacks to Kansas during the 1870s and 1880s. Singleton is considered the father of the Negro Exodus, or Exoduster movement. The book contains newspaper clippings, handbills, circulars, and posters promoting the immigration and commemorating it. The marginal notes are from an unknown source sometime after 1950. Some notes give directions to continuing sections. The order and numbering of pages and inserts follows the 1950 KSHS microfilm publication. Some renumbering of pages had occurred since that time. Some page numbers on the original may not reflect the present page order.

Brass Band, Camp Lake Wellington Civilian Conservation Corps
Date: July 4, 1940
This is a photograph showing the brass band of Company 786 of the Civilian Conservation Corps, based at Camp Lake Wellington near Wellington, Kansas. The photograph was copied from The Observer, a supplement to the Wellington Daily News, July 4, 1940.

Children from Nicodemus, Kansas
Date: August 21, 1960
These children are from Nicodemus, Graham County. Nicodemus was settled in 1878 by black Exodusters from the South. Today Nicodemus is a historic site administered by the National Parks Service.

Church leaders of Nicodemus, Kansas
Date: August 21, 1960
These are church leaders of Nicodemus, Kansas, (L to R): Jerry Scruggs, Mrs. Homer White & Rev. J.D. Wilson.

Civilian Conservation Corps at Camp Lake Wellington near Wellington, Kansas
Creator: The Observer
Date: January 01, 1940
This is an aerial photograph of Civilian Conservation Corps, Company 786 at Lake Wellington near Wellington, Kansas. The photograph was copied from The Observer, January 1, 1940, a supplement to the Wellington Daily News.

Drouthy Kansas, How Crops In Kansas Panned Out In 1877
Creator: Worrall, Henry
Date: 1877
The illustration, Drouthy Kansas, How Crops In Kansas Panned Out In 1877, was drawn by Henry Worrall and published in The Kansas Farmer.

Economic circulating library
Creator: Heston, Watson
Date: October 3, 1892
The caption to this political cartoon charges the Associated Press with trying to discredit and marginalize the People's Party by not reporting on it. The cartoon attributes the success of the People's Party to a circulating library of pamphlets on economic issues and a "reform press" that raised public awareness of the Populist movement. The illustrated cartoon shows a group of reform newspaper men requesting publications from the "Economic Circulating Library." Created by controversial cartoonist Watson Heston, the cartoon was reproduced in the People's Paper published in Stafford, Kansas. The People's Party took control of the Kansas legislature in 1890 when ninety-two Populists were voted into office. Two years later more candidates from the People's Party were elected. These Populist candidates included Governor Lorenzo Lewelling and all other statewide officials.

Eight "Speed Kings" and their "Queen" here for races
Creator: Wichita Eagle
Date: July 02, 1916
This is a photograph showing the "Eight Speed Kings" and their "Queen", Elfrieda Mais, copied from the Wichita Eagle.

Engraving of and information about Lucy Stone
Creator: Illustrated News
Date: 1853
An engraving of Lucy Stone, one of the more noted and radical feminists, shown wearing bloomers. The engraving, which appears in the Illustrated News, May 28, 1853, was taken from a daguerreotype made by Mathew Brady. She journeyed to Kansas with her husband, Henry B. Blackwell, in April, 1867, to help launch the impartial-suffrage campaign.

Famine in Kansas
Creator: New York Illustrated News
Date: February 23, 1861
An illustration copied from the New York Illustrated News showing people and a covered wagon pulled by oxen struggling through the snow in search of provisions. Kansas experienced a long period of drought from June, 1859 until November, 1860 and as a result settlers suffered particularly in the rural areas. With failed crops and limited supplies, thousands of people packed up and went back East.

Great express enterprise! From Leavenworth to Sacramento in ten days!
Creator: Leavenworth Times (Leavenworth, Kan.)
Date: January 30, 1860
A newspaper illustration used with an article on the Pony Express. The article was published in the Leavenworth Daily Times.

Harper's Ferry, at the time of John Brown's raid
Date: 1859
A newspaper illustration of Harpers Ferry, at the time of John Brown's raid.

Inadmissable (sic) evidence
Creator: Topeka Daily Capital
Date: July 21, 1925
This political cartoon titled "Inadmissable (sic) Evidence" was featured in the Topeka Daily Capital on July 21, 1925. The cartoon is centered around the trial of John Scopes, a high school teacher from Dayton, Tennessee, who was arrested for teaching the evolutionary theory developed by Charles Darwin.

Kansas - views in the city of Topeka, capital of the state
Creator: Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper
Date: April 16, 1887
This is a two page spread from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper showing 1. Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad General Offices; 2. view of Topeka from the City Park; 3. Topeka Free Library; 4. view looking down Kansas Avenue; 5. Post-Office; 6. Shops of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad; 7. Proposed Capitol; 8. State Reform School; 9. Washburn College; and 10. Topeka in 1854.

Kansas Avenue, Topeka, Kansas
Date: 1896
A newspaper photograph showing Kansas Avenue looking north from the corner of Fifth Street in Topeka, Kansas. The photograph is captioned "The principal business street of Topeka twenty-five years ago."

Kansas Relief Committee storehouse at Atchison, Kansas
Creator: New York Illustrated News
Date: January 12, 1861
This illustration was copied from the New York Illustrated News showing destitute settlers waiting for supplies at the Kansas Relief Committee storehouse in Atchison, Kansas. The territory experienced a long period of drought from June 1859 through November 1860. As a result, settlers in rural areas suffered the most. With failed crops and limited supplies, thousands of people left the territory and returned to the East. S. C. Pomeroy was the agent for the relief committee.

Kansas has sent 1,400 Forts on raids into Jap homeland
Creator: Topeka Daily Capital
Date: June 15, 1945
This article from the Topeka Daily Capital addresses the importance of the B-29 to the U.S. war effort, as well as the Kansas workers that manufactured the huge airplanes. In addition, the article details the postwar plans of the Culver and Boeing airplane manufacturers.

Lena Hicks Penny
Date: August 21, 1960
This is a newspaper photograph of Lena Hicks Penny. She came to Ellis, Kansas, with the first African American colony of emigrants from Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky, in 1877.

"Little Mexico", Topeka, Kansas
Creator: Topeka Journal
Date: September 01, 1917
This newspaper illustration from the Topeka Journal shows a family gathered around their boxcar home in "Little Mexico" near the East Sixth Street viaduct in Topeka, Kansas.

Mary Elizabeth Lease
Creator: Kansas City Star
Date: March 29, 1931
A portrait of Populist "Mary Elizabeth Lease as she appeared in 1895 when she was at the height of her political activities in Kansas." The illustration was copied from the March 29, 1931, issue of "The Kansas City Star" newspaper, and is surrounded by a portion of an article written about Lease. A passionate speaker within the Populist Party, Lease, 1850-1933, urged Kansas farmers to "raise less corn and more hell" in their resistance to big business.

Monkey business
Date: July 14, 1925
An article titled Monkey Business from the Emporia Gazette, July 14, 1925, page 4. This political cartoon is centered around the trial of John Scopes, a high school teacher from Dayton, Tennessee, who was arrested for teaching the evolutionary theory developed by Charles Darwin.