Abbie Bright diary
Creator: Bright, Abbie, 1848-1926
Date: 1868-1921
Born in Pennsylvania in 1848, Abbie Bright traveled to Kansas in 1870 as a young woman and her diary is primarily an account of this trip. It gives excellent accounts of daily life and settlement activities. The "diary" is actually composed of two different manuscripts and both are presented here. The first is an eighty-six page loose-leaf diary with consistent entries from September 2, 1870 - December 20, 1871. The second is a bound composition book with 129 written pages. This book begins with a childhood reminiscence written in Iowa in 1914 (p1-23), followed by a reminiscence of her Kansas trip written in Iowa in 1921 (p24-36) that covers Aug 23, 1870 - Jan 30, 1871. The book then includes some recipes dated 1868-1871 and a receipt dated 1884 (p37-41), and finally consistent diary entries from February 2, 1871 - December 21, 1871 (p41-129). A complete, revised transcription of both manuscripts is available by clicking on "Text Version" below. A previous, annotated transcription that combines the 1870-1871 entries from both manuscripts was published in the Kansas Historical Quarterly in 1971 and is available through a link below.

Account of provisions and supplies issued to destitute Shawnees
Creator: Abbott, James Burnett
Date: 1861
This account book belonging to an Indian agent named James Burnett Abbott lists the names of Shawnee Indian heads of household, the number of family members within their household, and the amount of pork, corn, and meal provided by the government to each Shawnee. The Shawnee had emigrated to Kansas after the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Only an excerpt is included here.

A Cup and a Bowl from the Baker House, 14MO701
Date: 1862
This reconstructed cup and bowl was found in pieces during excavations in 1972-1973 by the Kansas State Teacher's College (now Emporia State University). The bowl has a red, black and green floral design, though difficult to see. The handless cup has a red, white and blue linear pattern. Both dishes were reconstructed by students at the 1972 - 1973 field school. It was donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1993. The archeological site, along the Santa Fe Trail in Morris County, was the location of the Baker House, which burned in 1862, along with the nearby store, during the murder of A.I. Baker.

A group of men at a cookout
Creator: Steele, F. M. (Francis Marion), 1866-1936
Date: Between 1891 and 1912
This is a view of a large group of men, some in suit coats, eating around a campfire in Seward County, Kansas. Also visible are a wagon, chuckwagon, and carriage.

Anna Laura Hittle Rings diary
Date: 1949-1961
One of three diaries of Anna Laura Hittle Rings of Topeka, Kansas. Anna was the live-in-housekeeper for Mr. Harry Imes at 1208 College Avenue from 1949 to her death in 1961. She was cook, gardener, housekeeper, and seamstress. The diaries tell of her daily life while in Mr. Imes' employ. The other diaries can be found with Unit ID 473076 and 473077.

Anna Laura Hittle Rings diary
Date: 1949-1961
One of three diaries of Anna Laura Hittle Rings of Topeka, Kansas. Anna was the live-in-housekeeper for Mr. Harry Imes at 1208 College Avenue from 1949 to her death in 1961. She was a cook, gardener, housekeeper, and seamstress. The diaries tell of her daily life while in Mr. Imes' employ. The other two diaries can be found at Unit ID's: 473053 and 473077.

Anna Laura Hittle Rings diary
Date: 1949-1961
One of three diaries of Anna Laura Hittle Rings of Topeka, Kansas. Anna was the live-in-housekeeper for Mr. Harry Imes at 1208 College Avenue from 1949 to her death in 1961. She was cook, gardener, cleaner inside and out, and seamstress. The diaries tell of her daily life while in Mr. Imes' employ. The other diaries can be found with Unit ID 473053 and 473076.

Apple peeler
Creator: Sinclair Scott Company
Date: between 1900 and 1940
Cast iron apple peeler by the Sinclair Scott Company of Baltimore. Hand crank. Clamp for mounting to countertop.

Artifact Collection from 14OB302
Date: 1000-1500 CE
Sometimes even a small collection of artifacts can help Archeologists learn about what activities occurred at a site. For example, the artifact collection from 14OB302 only contains three artifacts: a flake, an endscraper and a pottery rim. The flake is of Smoky Hill silicified chalk, which outcrops in western Kansas. The endscraper, however, is made Florence chert, which outcrops in the Flint Hills to the east of Osborne county. Finally, a rim sherd from a ceramic vessel was also recovered. The collared rim was cord marked on the exterior and had a series of parallel lines on the interior. Archeologists can use the rim sherd to date the site to the Middle Ceramic period. Perhaps the people at the site used (or lost) the endscraper to process a hide, in addition to making and discarding a large flake of the local material.

Artifacts from the Excavations at the Baker House, 14MO701
Date: 1972
Shown are five views of cleaned and reconstructed artifacts from the excavations at the Baker house in Morris County. Shown are a tablesetting, smoking pipes, a tintype frame, a bowl and pitcher, and a grouping of scissors, needle, thimble, and lens from a pair of spectacles. The slides were processed in 1972. The artifact collection, along with these photographs, was donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1993. The excavation was undertaken by Emporia State Teacher's College (now Emporia State University) in 1972. The house was burned in 1862 by "Bloody Bill" Anderson and his cohorts.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway's Scout dining car
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: Between 1950 and 1959
A photograph showing china used on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway's Scout dining car.

A wilderness Family
Creator: Albert D. Richardson
Date: 1867
This is a sketch of a "Wilderness Family" from Albert D. Richardson from "Beyond the Mississippi" (German edition).

Baker's Standard Flavoring Extracts bottle, 14MM327
Date: 1880-1962
A bottle recovered from the original site of the Adair Cabin in Osawatomie, Kansas. It's bold lettering announces that it once held Baker's Standard Flavoring Extract made by the Baker Extract Company of Springfield, Massachusetts.

Baker's Standard Flavoring Extracts bottle, 14MM327
Date: 1880-1962
A bottle recovered from the original site of the Adair Cabin in Osawatomie, Kansas. It's bold lettering announces that it once held Baker's Standard Flavoring Extract made by the Baker Extract Company of Springfield, Massachusetts.

Baking rolls and pies
Creator: United States. Works Progress Administration
Date: Between 1935 and 1943
Women baking dinner rolls and pies using a gas stove. This activity was part of the Works Progress Administration's domestic science and foods program.

Banded Ware Dishes from Constitutional Hall State Historic Site, 14DO321
Date: 1855-1930
Shown are examples of banded ware or annualarware decorated dishes. They were recovered from Constitution Hall, in Lecompton. The building was named a National Historical Landmark for its role in the 1857 Lecompton Constitution and is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The hall was constructed in 1855 and functioned in a variety of different roles. In the summer and fall of 1988 Kansas Historic Society archeologists excavated at the site, trying to trace construction history prior to renovation.

Barbara Thiele's diary
Creator: Thiele, Barbara R.
Date: January 13, 1949-December 31, 1949
This is a diary belonging to Barbara Thiele. In the diary, she writes about her first year of marriage to John Thiele, setting up a home, cooking, and attending classes the University of Kansas.

Barbecue, Hugoton, Kansas
Date: 1913
This photograph shows a group of men standing before an open barbecue pit as slabs of meat are being cooked for a celebration in Hugoton, Kansas. The event celebrated the completion of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company branch from Dodge City, Kansas, to Elkhart, Kansas.

Barbecue in Linn County, Kansas
Creator: Williams Photo. Co. K.C.
Date: 1916
This sepia colored photograph shows a group of people gathered behind a barbecue pit, as large pieces of meat are being cooked, in Linn County, Kansas.

Basket Impressed Pottery from the County Club Site, 14CO3
Date: 1400-1725 CE
This small pottery body sherd has an interesting story to tell. This sherd was impressed with basketry, either as a decorative technique or to serve as a basket liner. The sherd was excavated from a Great Bend aspect (ancestral Wichita) village in Cowley County during Phase IV archeological investigations in 1995. The site had been much impacted by a water line, golf greens, roads, and highways. Excavations had been occurring at the site since 1916.

Belle Jones Dresher
Creator: Dresher, G. C.
Date: August, 1907
An informal portrait of Belle Jones Dresher, kneeling before the open oven of her new stove. Also visible are two pie pans, a match holder on the door frame behind the stove, the stove's flue and gas line, a teakettle, a throw rug, patterned wallpaper and linoleum, and a pair of slippers that have been placed along the baseboard to the right of the stove.

Better Homes and Gardens
Date: 1955
This is the cover from Better Homes and Gardens magazine, February 1955.

Bone Fish Hook from the Kansas River Valley
Date: Unknown
This bone fish hook was recovered in the Kansas River Valley and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1925. The hafting portion of the hook was broken off prior to its donation.

Bone Fish Hook from the Lamar Site, 14OT304
Date: 1000-1400 CE
This delicate bone fish hook was excavated in 1935 from the Lamar site in Ottawa County and donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1971. The Smoky Hill phase site had a single, almost square, house and four cache pits.

Bowl from the Adair Cabin, 14MM327
Date: 1855-1912
This bowl or sauce dish was recovered during excavations in 2014 of the Adair cabin site, home of Reverend Samuel and Florella Brown Adair and their family, in Osawatomie, Kansas. Osawatomie and the Adairs were much involved with the abolitionist movement during the "Bleeding Kansas" years. The ten sherds were refit after the excavation. The bowl has a gray and pink floral motif with a silver band around the rim.