Alexander Braun oral history
Creator: Keckeisen, Sara J. (Sara Ellen Judge)
Date: 2006
An oral interview with Alexander Braun conducted by Sara Keckeisen. He was born July 10, 1923 in Wernersdorf the Ukraine the son of Peter and Katharina (Braeul) Braun. After World War II, Mr. Braun fled west from the former Soviet Union. Eventually he immigrated to Canada (1949) on contract with the Canadian Government to work as a miner in Northern Quebec. After years of persistent attempts, in 1953 he was able to come to the United States from Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, to join his wife and her parents in Kansas. Alexander worked in auto body repair. He later was employed by the Kansas Neurological Institute (KNI) and the State of Kansas as a Master Electrician before his retirement in 1991. These are long clips. The first clip is sixty-three minutes, the second is seventy-three minutes. A searchable transcription of the interview is available by clicking on Text Version below.

Charles I. Baston interview
Creator: Baston, Charles I.
Date: May 14, 1992
Charles Baston was born in Lee's Summit, Missouri, on April 24, 1917. He attended grade school and junior high school while still living in Lee's Summit, and after junior high he moved to Topeka to attend the Kansas Vocational Technical School. He moved to Topeka permanently after his World War II discharge. Baston was a member of the executive committee of the local chapter of the NAACP during the Brown v. Board hearings. Much of his interview deals with the NAACPs role in finding plaintiffs in the Brown case, the problem with busing students to segregated schools, and other individuals who were instrumental to the success of this suit. Towards the end of the interview he also talks about how the Brown decision has not reached its full potential because of the racial prejudices that still exist today. Jean VanDelinder conducted the interview. The Brown v. Board oral history project was funded by Hallmark Cards Inc., the Shawnee County Historical Society, the Brown Foundation for Educational Excellence, Equity, and Research, the National Park Service, and the Kansas Humanities Council. Parts of the interview may be difficult to hear due to the quality of the original recording.

Christina Jackson interview
Creator: Jackson, Christina
Date: September 20, 1991
Christina Jackson was born on August 15, 1926, in Topeka, Kansas, to Georgia and Jess Edwards. In this interview, Jackson speaks about her experiences at the segregated Washington Elementary School and then at the integrated East Topeka Junior High and Topeka High School. According to Jackson, Washington had very strict teachers who emphasized the importance of learning about African American history. Her children attended Monroe School and, after desegregation, moved to State Street School, which had formerly been a school for white children only. Her children recalled that the faculty at State Street worked hard to integrate the black students, who were for the most part accepted by their peers. It was not until her children entered Holliday Junior High that they struggled with racial discrimination and derogatory comments. Jackson also discusses her work experiences and involvement in social clubs and volunteer organizations. This interview was conducted by Jean VanDelinder and Ralph Crowder. The Brown v. Board oral history project was funded by Hallmark Cards Inc., the Shawnee County Historical Society, the Brown Foundation for Educational Excellence, Equity, and Research, the National Park Service and the Kansas Humanities Council. Parts of the interview may be difficult to hear due to the quality of the original recording.

David H. Fisher Jr. oral history
Creator: Fisher, David H. Jr.
Date: April 4, 2008
Topeka, Kansas, resident David H. Fisher, Jr. relates his experience during the June 8, 1966, tornado in Topeka.

Everett Ray Call interviews
Creator: Call, Everett Ray, 1932 -
Date: 2007
Three interviews with former Emporia Gazette editor Everett Ray Call conducted by Emporia State University professor Loren E. Pennington. The first interview addresses Call's boyhood days in Sedan, Kansas, his early days as a newspaper photographer, and his commentary on William Allen White. The second interview continues Call's comments on William Allen White and follows with his commentary and analysis of the Emporia Gazette under William Lindsay White as editor and publisher. The third interview covers events of his own career with the Gazette, including famous murder cases, local, state, and national politics, and the newspaper's relations with Emporia State University and its presidents and with the Emporia Chamber of Commerce.

Fred Rausch Jr. interview
Creator: Rausch, Fred
Date: October 12, 1994
Fred Rausch, Jr. grew up in East Topeka and attended Parkdale Elementary School, Lincoln Junior High, and East Topeka Junior High. Rausch was elected to the Topeka School Board in 1957, shortly after the Brown v. Board Supreme Court decision that declared segregated educational facilities unconstitutional. He was partially responsible for the integration of teachers. When the school board attempted to place African American teachers in positions at formerly white schools they encountered harsh opposition from both white and black parents. He recalls that this furor died down after a few years. Rausch also discusses how the school districts were rearranged so that children attended a grade school that was no more than six blocks from their home, although he vehemently maintains that the school board never gerrymandered districts for racial purposes. While he admits that, sociologically, integration may have improved students' feelings of self-worth, he is not convinced that integration has improved students' learning abilities and overall education. Rausch left the Topeka Board of Education two years before the Brown case was reopened in 1979. Cheryl Brown Henderson conducted the interview. The Brown v. Board oral history project was funded by Hallmark Cards Inc., the Shawnee County Historical Society, the Brown Foundation for Educational Excellence, Equity, and Research, the National Park Service and the Kansas Humanities Council. Parts of the interview may be difficult to hear due to the quality of the original recording.

Governor John Carlin interview
Creator: Beatty, Bob, 1966-
Date: March 10, 2008
An audio recording of an interview with John Carlin discussing his experience as governor of Kansas from January 8, 1979 to January 12, 1987, and his 1990 re-election bid. Bob Beatty and Mark Peterson, Political Science Department, Washburn University, conduct the interview as part of the Kansas Governors Recorded History and Documentary Project, Dr. Bob Beatty and Washburn University, 2005. The interview took place in Manhattan, Kansas, in 2008. A complete transcript of the interview is available by clicking Text Version below. This and a previous interview conducted in 2004 are the basis for Beatty's article "'Be Willing to Take Some Risks to Make Things Happen': A Conversation with Former Governor John Carlin." Kansas History, v31 n2 (Summer 2007/2008). The 2004 interview is available on Kansas Memory as item #212931.

Governor Mike Hayden interview
Creator: Beatty, Bob, 1966-
Date: September 29, 2008
Click the thumbnail images below for different segments of an audio recording of an interview with former Kansas Governor Mike Hayden, who discusses his early life, military service in Vietnam, years in the Kansas Legislature, and experience as governor of Kansas from January 12, 1987 - January 14, 1991. Bob Beatty and Mark Peterson, Political Science Department, Washburn University, conducted the interview in Topeka on September 29, 2008; a complete transcript of the interview is available by clicking Text Version below. It and a previous interview conducted at Cedar Crest in 2004 are the basis for Beatty's article "'Being close to the People': A Conversation with Former Governor Mike Hayden," Kansas History, v32 n1 (Spring 2009). The 2004 interview is available on Kansas Memory as item 215739.

Judge Robert Lee Carter interview
Creator: Carter, Robert Lee, 1917-
Date: October 5, 1992
This interview with Judge Robert Lee Carter was conducted by Jean VanDelinder. Carter was part of the Brown vs Topeka Board of Education legal team. He assisted the Topeka NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) attorneys in developing their case against the Topeka Board of Education. Note: the audio quality of this recording is very poor making the interview difficult to hear. A transcription of the interview is available under "Text Version" below.

Lawrence Litwin oral history
Creator: Litwin, Lawrence T., d. 1989
Date: May 14, 1988
This is an oral interview with Lawrence Litwin, conducted by his family in Topeka, Kansas. The Litwin family owned and operated many businesses throughout Kansas, including businesses in Topeka, North Topeka, Lawrence, and Chanute. In addition to his business career, Litwin discusses his childhood, family history, military career, and his activity and involvement in the Jewish community.

Marlysue Esping-Holmquist oral history
Creator: Esping-Holmquist, Marlysue
Date: June 6, 2008
Marlysue Esping-Holmquist, wife of Thomas Holmquist, farms in Saline County, Kansas, near Smolan. She describes the history of their farm and the chance involved in its allotment in a flood plain near Dry Creek in 1868.

Ron Clayton oral history
Creator: Clayton, Ron
Date: April 16, 2008
A fireman in Mullinsville, Kansas, ten miles west of Greensburg, in Kiowa County, Ron Clayton describes his experience as a first responder to the May 4, 2007, EF5 tornado that destroyed Greensburg.

Teresa Bachman oral history
Creator: Bachman, Teresa
Date: April 3, 2008
Teresa Bachman of El Dorado, Kansas, gives a first hand account of the June 10, 1958, tornado in El Dorado. The tornado killed thirteen people and destroyed or damaged more than 100 homes.

Thomas Holmquist oral history
Creator: Holmquist, Thomas N., 1954-
Date: June 6, 2008
Thomas Holmquist describes a 2007 flood on his farm in Saline County, Kansas, near Smolan. A historian and educator, Holmquist is a lifelong resident of the Smoky Valley. He has written several books including Bluestem (c2000) and Pioneer Cross : Swedish Settlements along the Smoky Hill Bluffs (c1994).