A majority of people continue to go east via Sidney on the Union Pacific Railway
Date: Betweem 1870 and 1890
This Union Pacific Railway poster promotes travel east from Sidney, Nebraska, on the Union Pacific Railway. It claims the Sidney and Black Hills Stage line passes over the best roads and has the best Concord Coaches. The stage line connects with the palace cars of the Union Pacific Railway to travel to all points east or west, crossing rivers on great iron bridges. At Omaha, Nebraska, or St. Joseph, Missouri, connections could be made to all points east, north, or south.

Benjamin Stringfellow
Portrait of Benjamin Stringfellow, attorney and pro-slavery activist. In 1838, Stringfellow settled in Missouri, where he served in the house of representatives, and was attorney general for four years. After moving to Weston, Missouri, he became a member and officer of the Platte County Self-Defensive Association (an aggressive pro-slavery organization). He wrote a pamphlet entitled "Negro Slavery No Evil, or the North and the South." In 1858, Stringfellow moved to Atchison, Kansas Territory, where he helped build the town and was an attorney for the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad.

Brewery album
Date: Between 1906 and 1911
A photograph album containing 37 photographs of saloons, Turner Halls, breweries, Shawnee County Courthouse, and shipping and delivery of beer in northeast Kansas.

Compliments of the Great Rock Island Route
Creator: Rock Island Railroad Company
Date: 1890
This is a Rock Island Railroad promotional advertisement in the form of a monthly calendar detailing the various major routes of the line. The first image shows a photographic transparency of the poster taken in the 1960s when the poster was still in good condition. The second image shows a recent scan of the original poster and the resulting deterioration over the last forty years.

Ed Russell to Franklin Crane
Creator: Russell, Ed
Date: July 2, 1857
The letter was a follow-up to Franklin Crane's presentation in St. Joseph, Missouri, about efforts to build the St. Joseph and Topeka Railroad. Russell wrote to inquire what progress Crane had made to raise money to build the railroad. [Russell lived in Elwood, Doniphan County, and lobbied for the railroad to pass through that community.]

Ephraim Nute to Franklin B. Sanborn
Creator: Nute, Ephraim
Date: March 22, 1859
Ephraim Nute's efforts on behalf of "4 more fugitives," including Charley Fisher of Leavenworth, and the activities of "manhunters" in and around Lawrence are the main focus of this letter to F. B. Sanborn, but Nute also mentions the continuing need for money to pay for Doy's defense. The trial was to begin at St. Joseph the next day.

Grand Tour of Colorado for forty-five dollars
Date: Between 1870 and 1890
This poster advertises tours originating in Omaha, Nebraska, Kansas City, Missouri or Leavenworth, Kansas to Denver, Colorado Springs or Pueblo, Colorado. The Union Pacific Railroad, Kansas Pacific Railroad, Colorado Central Railroad, the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, and the Kansas City, St. Joseph and Council Bluffs Railroad are included. Five grand tours are advertised.

History of Kansas and emigrant's guide
Creator: Chapman, J. Butler
Date: 1855
The title page of the printed volume indicated that it contained "a description geographical and topographical--also climate, soil, productions and comparative value with other states and territories, including its political history, officers-candidates-emigrant colonies-election, abolition, squatter and pro-slavery contentions and inquisitions; with the prospects of the territory for freedom or slavery." Mr. Chapman was a resident of the territory and the information in the booklet was compiled by traveling through Kansas Territory in 1854. The description covers most of the territory and includes information about Native American tribes and lands.

Invitation to a Grand Celebration in Atchison City
Creator: Atchison Committee on Invitations
Date: June 13, 1860
An invitation extended by the citizens of Atchison, Kansas Territory, to attend a celebration of the "extension of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad" to Atchison, and to witness the ground-breaking ceremony for the Atchison and Pike's Peak Railroad. The invitation entitled the bearer to a free pass on various railroads for travel to Atchison.

Ku Klux Klan
Date: 1924
Topeka Ku Klux Klan members posed by an automobile at a rally in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Leavenworth, Kansas, Ku Klux Klan
Date: 1924
Leavenworth Ku Klux Klan members posed by a passenger car at a rally in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Murl Higgins video interview on experiences in World War II (transcript)
Creator: Higgins, Murl
Date: 8 December 2006
Private First Class [PFC] Murl Higgins was drafted into the Army (Infantry) in 1942 and served until September 26,1945 in the Company B & Hdqtrs, 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment. He was trained in heavy weapons but ultimately worked as a barber. Higgins served in the Pacific going from Hawaii to Australia to New Guinea and then the Philippines. He talked about a friend (Sgt. James McFarland from Kentucky) who was killed. He was born near Ponca City, Oklahoma on December 30, 1910, and his family moved to the Pittsburg, Kansas, area when he was about 4 years old. His grandparents lived in Doniphan County, Kansas, and his family moved there when he was approximately 8 years old. He graduated from Severence High School in 1930. He attended barber school in Kansas City but he did not finish. After he got out of service, he worked in a service station, sold used cars, and ultimately worked as a barber for 17 years in St. Joseph, Missouri. He was interviewed by Suzette McCord-Rogers on Dec 8, 2006. The 2005 Kansas Legislature passed a bill funding the WWII Veterans Oral History grant program. This transcript is from one of the nine community institutions that received these grants. The transcript from the interview is presented here; the original video copy of the interview is available through the Doniphan County Historical Society (Troy) and through the Kansas State Historical Society.

Radio equipment
Date: December 07, 1928
This postcard, postmarked in St. Joseph, Missouri, was sent to Alstead Radio - Electric Company in Topeka, Kansas. It shows the HAM radio equipment used by the amateur radio station W9CSJ inside the living room of an unidentified home.

Remember when you go to St. Louis
Creator: Missouri Pacific Railway Company
Date: 1880s or 1890s ?
Missouri Pacific Railroad promotional advertisement encouraging travel on its line between St. Joseph and St. Louis, MO, and other points in between.

Shareholders in the Topeka and St. Joseph Railroad Company
Creator: Topeka and St. Joseph Railroad Company
Date: Around 1858
Prepared by the temporary treasurer [perhaps Franklin Crane], this list identified the individuals who pledged capital to the Topeka and St. Joseph Railroad Company, the number of shares each held, and the communities each represented.

St.Joseph, Missouri
Date: 1854
An illustration of an early view of St. Joseph, Missouri, taken from the book United States Illustrated: In views of City and Country by Charles A. Dana.

William H. Russell
Date: Around 1860
A formal portrait of William H. Russell, who was a proslavery supporter and businessman. In the winter of 1858-1859, Russell, with Alexander Majors, William Waddell, and John Jones, founded the Leavenworth and Pike's Peak Express Company, a freight and stage company that operated between Leavenworth and Denver, Colorado. In February, 1860, it was reorganized as the Central Overland California & Pike's Peak Express Company. In 1860, Russell, with partners Majors and Waddell, created the first Pony Express, which connected St. Joseph, Missouri, across 2,000 miles to the state of California.