A handbook of useful information for immigrants and settlers
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: 1880-1889
Published by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, this pamphlet encouraged agricultural settlement on railroad lands in Kansas by glorifying the state's natural resources including water, soil, mineral deposits and plant life. Printed by the Kansas Farmer in Topeka, Kansas.

California calls you
Creator: Union Pacific Railway Company
Date: 1920s
This Union Pacific Railroad Company promotional advertisement describes the beauty and tourism features of California.

Castle Bluffs in Gove County, Kansas
Date: Between 1908 and 1910
This is a photograph of Castle Bluffs in Gove County. Edwin Boyer and his Buick are on the far right. A couple of men are standing on some of the bluffs.

Castle Rock, Kansas, on the Smoky Hill
Creator: Gardner, Alexander, 1821-1882
Date: 1867
This is a photograph of Castle Rock located near the Smoky Hill River in Gove County, Kansas. Castle Rock was a landmark on the Butterfield Overland Dispatch route. The chalk was deposited in the area by an ancient inland sea. The formation was formed by the weathering of the chalk by wind and water. It received its name because it is said to look like a castle rising above the prairie. Alexander Gardner photographed the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division, as it was being built across Kansas. Along the route, he documented towns, forts, rivers, wildlife, plants, and landscape. This image is from a series Across the Continent on the Kansas Pacific Railroad.

Castle rock in Gove County, Kansas
Creator: Gardner, Alexander, 1821-1882
Date: 1867
This photograph shows Castle Rock in Gove County, Kansas. It is part of Alexander Gardner's photographic series Across the Continent on the Union Pacific Railway.

Chimney Rock, near Waynoka, Oklahoma
Date: Between 1880 and 1890
This photograph shows a horse-drawn wagon that may be the photographer's wagon. Along the rock formation an individual is seated along the upper portion of the rocks. Information provided by a patron suggests this is a photograph of Chimney Rock near Waynoka, Oklahoma. The original donor identified the photo as near Medicine Lodge, Kansas. An article in the Enid News and Eagle, March 7, 2009, notes the formation collapsed in 1973 and nothing remains.

Colorado for the tourist
Creator: Union Pacific Railway Company
Date: 1920s
This Union Pacific Railroad Company promotional advertisement describes the beautiful scenery provided to the tourist in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

Cyrus Kurtz Holliday to Mary Dillon Holliday
Creator: Holliday, Cyrus Kurtz, 1826-1900
Date: January 30, 1859
Cyrus K. Holliday wrote from Lawrence, Kansas Territory to his wife, Mary Holliday, who, accompanied by Mrs. Edward C. K. Garvey, had returned to Meadville, Pennsylvania to give birth to her second child. Meanwhile, Cyrus Holliday (who was Vice President of the upper territorial legislative body, the Council) had passed four bills, including one establishing Topeka as the Shawnee county seat. He bought new clothes for the session, since Lawrence had become more refined, with a new hotel. Holliday mentioned emigration to Pikes Peak, the Topeka bridge, trouble in L[i]nn county, and meeting three women, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. [Robert] Morrow, and Mrs. O'Donell (possibly Mrs. William O'Donnall) in Lawrence. He proposed that Liz, Mary Holliday's younger sister, return with her.

Dam on the Avery ranch near Englewood, Kansas
Creator: Steele, F. M. (Francis Marion), 1866-1936
Date: Between 1891 and 1903
A typical scene in western Kansas, where canyons were dammed to hold water for livestock. This view was taken on the Avery ranch near Englewood, Kansas. Two horse-drawn carriages are visible in the background.

Devil's Coffee Mill rock formation
Date: Between 1890 and 1920
This is a photo of the Devil's Coffee Mill rock formation in Logan County, Kansas.

Devils Bake Oven on Alum Creek, Kansas. 7 Miles east of Fort Harker & 496 miles west of St. Louis Mo.
Creator: Gardner, Alexander, 1821-1882
Date: 1867
This stereograph shows Devils Bake Oven, a rock formation, on Alum Creek, Kansas. There are people standing next to the rock. It is from Alexander Gardner's series, Across the Continent on the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division.

Edwin Boyer and family at Chair Rock Castle Garden in Gove County, Kansas
Date: Between 1908 and 1910
This is a photograph of Edwin Boyer and family members posed in a Buick automobile at Chair Rock Castle Garden, in Gove County, Kansas.

Edwin Boyer and family members at Castle Rock in Gove County, Kansas
Date: Between 1908 and 1910
This is a photograph of Edwin Boyer and family members in his Buick automobile in front of Castle Rock, located in Gove County, Kansas.

Edwin Boyer and family members at a rock formation in Gove County, Kansas
Date: Between 1908 and 1910
This is a photograph of Edwin Boyer and family members sitting near at a rock formation in Gove County, Kansas. The people are quite small in this image.

El Capitan in Yosemite National Park
Creator: Adams, Ansel, 1902-1984
Date: Between 1945 and 1959
View of two women and a man on an elevated wooden walkway near the base of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, California.

Fishing in Colorado and Wyoming
Creator: Union Pacific Railway Company
Date: 1912
This Union Pacific Railroad Company promotional advertisement describes the beautiful and rustic scenery enjoyed in camp life and fishing as experienced in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming.

From the river to the mountains via the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad
Date: 1876
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad promotional advertisement encouraging travel on its western line to the Rocky Mountains from the east. Includes timetable and illustrations by Topeka artist Henry Worrall.

Hand book for the Kansas Pacific Railway
Creator: Kansas Pacific Railway Company
Date: 1870
This Kansas Pacific Railroad publication advertises good abundant and cheap land readily available on its rail line between Kansas City, Missouri, and Denver, Colorado. The booklet contains descriptions of the country and cities and towns along the Kansas Pacific Railroad and its branches.

Indian Hier[o]glyphic Rock on Smoky Hill River, Kansas
Creator: Gardner, Alexander, 1821-1882
Date: 1867
This stereograph shows Indian Hieroglyphic Rock on the Smoky Hill River, Kansas. The photo was taken fifteen miles northeast of Fort Harker and 496 miles west of St. Louis, Missouri. Fort Harker was located in present day Kanopolis, Kansas. It is from Alexander Gardner's series, Across the Continent on the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division.

Kansas Film Commission site photographs, subject feedlots - grain elevators
Creator: Kansas Film Commission
Date: 1980s-2000s
These are panoramic photographs of locations in Kansas created by the Kansas Film Commission to promote scenes to film companies. The panoramics were created by taking individual photos and taping them together. The photographs are arranged alphabetically by subject and then location. The subjects included in this part of the collection are feedlots, festivals, fire stations, forts, geological formations, golf courses, and grain elevators.

L. W. Halbe collection
Creator: Halbe, L. W. (Leslie Winfield), 1893-1981
Date: 1908-1912
The L. W. (Leslie Winfield) Halbe photo collection consists of 1500 glass plate negatives produced by Halbe during his teenage years. Halbe lived in Dorrance, Russell County, Kansas, and began taking photographs of the region with an inexpensive Sears and Roebuck camera when he was fifteen years old.

Marriage ranch, Kiowa County, Kansas
Creator: Steele, F. M. (Francis Marion), 1866-1936
Date: Between 1891 and 1903
View of cattle protected from the winter winds by canyon walls on the Marriage ranch of Kiowa County, Kansas.

Monument Rocks, Gove County, Kansas
Date: Unknown
This is a view of the Monument Rocks formations in Gove County, Kansas.

Monument Rocks and Smoky Hill Trail
Date: Unknown
This is a view of the wagon wheel ruts of the historic Smoky Hill Trail running near the site of the Monument Rocks formations in Gove County, Kansas.

Mushroom Rock on Alum Creek, Kansas
Creator: Gardner, Alexander, 1821-1882
Date: 1867
This stereograph showis Mushroom Rock, a rock formation, on Alum Creek, Kansas. There is a man and a horse and rider next to the rock. It is from Alexander Gardner's series, Across the Continent on the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division.