In 1879 and 1880, freedmen (former slaves) from the South sent Kansas Governor John St. John around 1,000 letters seeking information on a possible migration to Kansas; a migration generally known as the Exoduster movement. Governor St. John responded to many of those letters. This epistolary exchange between Kansas’ highest official and the freed people of the South documents the hardships, hopes, and misconceptions of southern blacks at the end of Reconstruction. On a more mundane level, it provides insight into the letter writing customs at that time.

Most of the letters are seeking to corroborate rumors of free land in Kansas and incentives thought to encourage African American settlement in the state. Community and religious leaders penned many of the letters on behalf of larger groups of people, such as small communities or churches.

Though the envelopes of the letters have not survived, many were likely addressed to “John St. John” instead of the “Governor of Kansas.” Isaiah Montgomery explains: “note that I address you without prefixing title in order that the letter may not attract undue attention. Nothing is too hard to suspicion of this Country where it has been the custom for a century or more to ransack the mails to prevent the circulation of documents breathing the spirit of freedom.”

Upon receiving a letter, the Governor’s Office summarized its contents on a memo, noting the author’s name and date, and pasted the memo to the back of the letter. Staff filed the letters first by subject (i.e. “immigration – Negro exodus”) and then in chronological order. St. John or his secretary would then pen a response and “press” a copy of the reply into a letter press book. Pressing involved wetting copy paper (often referred to as “onion skin”) with water, interleaving letters between these wet leaves, and applying pressure to the whole until ink from the letters transferred to the copy paper. Too much or too little water could result in a poor copy.

Since many correspondents wrote the governor back after receiving his letters, it is obvious that many of the governor’s letters reached their intended audience. But did the governor intentionally conceal his title/office on the envelope as some of the letters request? Again Isaiah Montgomery: “Please address an answer (as early as convenient) with no mark on the Envelope to denote that it comes from the Capital or any official.”

Here at the State Archives & Library, we hold both the original letters sent to Governor St. John and copies of his responses “pressed” into letter press books. Some of the letters and responses are already available on Kansas Memory. We intend to add more of this correspondence to the site in the near future. See Governors for more information on our archives of Kansas governor's records.

In the annals of Kansas history no episode better proves the axiom “truth is stranger than fiction” than the bizarre story of Dr. John Brinkley. From goat glands to country music, Doctor Brinkley consistently challenged established notions of decency and prompted greater scrutiny of both medical practice and radio broadcasting. A growing number of Brinkley-related materials are available on Kansas Memory.

Brinkley's medical practice in Milford, Kansas (1917-1930s), championed the beneficial effects of goat glands when transplanted to humans.

While in Milford, he established radio station KFKB (i.e. Kansas First, Kansas Best) in 1923 to entertain his patients and promote his medical practice. Roy Faulkner (a.k.a. the Lonesome Cowboy) frequently appeared on Brinkley’s station.

Brinkley's several bids for governor of Kansas in the 1930s drew on the popularity of his medical practice and radio broadcasts.

Following the revocation of his medical and broadcasting licenses in Kansas, Brinkley relocated to Del Rio, Texas. There, among other things, he operated the cross-border radio station XERA in Villa Acuna, Mexico, powerful enough to dominate airwaves all across the Great Plains. Brinkley’s promotion of early country music acts, such as the Carter Family, introduced a national audience to music originally intended only for southern whites.

The international nuisance created by Brinkley's border radio station prompted the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (or Treaty of Havana) of December 13, 1937, a use agreement on international airwaves involving Canada, Cuba, the United States, Haiti, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.

Here at the State Archives & Library, we hold John Brinkley's personal papers donated to the Kansas Historical Society by his widow, Mrs. Minnie Brinkley of Del Rio, Texas, in 1977. We also hold the research collection of Gerald Carson, author of The Roguish World of Dr. Brinkley. Additional Brinkley materials are also available on Kansas Memory.

One of the great things about a digital repository like Kansas Memory is that it gives us the opportunity to feature materials that might not be noticed otherwise. A letter written by a poor farmer around 1900 just does not command the kind of interest and attention that letters by John Brown or Carry Nation do. Materials that reflect the lives of regular, everyday folk can be easily overlooked or under appreciated. Here are a few letters of regular people from different walks of life. They come from various collections but all of them reveal people coping with some type of hardship or difficulty.

This 1938 letter from tenant farmer Edna Heim describes the total loss of 125 acres of crops after a hailstorm. The farm was located in Smith County, Kansas, near Kensington. Mrs. Heim is writing farm owner Clarice Snoddy of Topeka. The letter comes from the Manuscripts Collection, Clarice Snoddy Papers, which includes many letters from the Heims describing daily farm operations and the environmental and economic hardships they faced.

This 1916 petition by Mexican railroad workers in Hutchinson, Kansas, appeals to the Mexican Consul for protection from threats of violence by local Americans. The threats followed the killing of sixteen Americans by Pancho Villa at Santa Isabel, Mexico. This letter is part of the State Archives, Records of Governor Arthur Capper, General Correspondence.

In this 1880 letter, from freedman Richard West in Barton Station, Alabama, West pleads with Kansas Governor John St. John to help him and others migrate to Kansas. West describes the hardships he faces as a black farmer and his, and others’, desire to leave the South. This letter is one of many letters Governor St. John received from potential Exodusters and is included in the State Archives, Records of Governor John St. John, Correspondence Received, Immigration – Negro Exodus.

In this 1914 letter, Legless Andrews, a self described “legless airnaut” from Kansas City, Missouri, writes the Kansas Department of the Grand Army of the Republic at Topeka, Kansas, offering to perform balloon accessions and parachute leaps for an upcoming celebration. This letter comes from the Manuscripts Collection, Kansas Grand Army of the Republic, Administrative Records, Correspondence.

Mrs. Isabella Barnes of Liberal, Kansas, writes this 1906 letter to Governor Edward Hoch concerning her wish to wear men's clothing. Mrs. Barnes describes being abandoned by her husband and the hardships she has faced since that time. She says she would like to wear men's clothing to help her obtain suitable employment and avoid unwanted insults from men. This letter comes from the State Archives, Records of Governor Edward Hoch, Correspondence Received.

For access to more letters on Kansas Memory, select the Objects and Artifacts - Communication artifacts - Documentary artifact - Letter category, then click additional categories to further refine those results. See Guides and Finding Aids for more information on our various document collections, including Governor's Records.

At noon on August 9, 1870, at the county jail yard in Leavenworth, the State of Kansas hanged convicted murderer William Dickson in a public execution before a large audience, including many children. State law forbid such public displays and the resulting controversy inaugurated a curious thirty-five year episode in Kansas history (1872-1907) in which death sentences were handed down but never ordered. Selected documents on capital punishment in Kansas are now available on Kansas Memory.

Following Dickson’s hanging, the 1871 Kansas legislature passed a bill revising the state’s punishment for murder but it failed to become law. In 1872 the legislature succeeded with Senate Bill 18 which made two major changes. It confined the convict to the state penitentiary for one year pending execution and it transferred the power to order the execution (the signing of a death warrant) from the trial judge to the governor.

But the law did not compel the governor to sign the death warrant, and from 1872-1907 no governor ever did. From governors James Harvey (1869-1873) to Edward Hoch (1905-1909) and the eleven other governors in between (be they Republican, Democrat, or Populist) all chose not to sign death warrants. Although the courts issued many death sentences during this period, the governors’ refusal to sign the warrants effectively banned all state authorized executions.

The law did require the Governor's Office to keep records of all death sentences and copies of all death warrants. The State Archives at the Kansas Historical Society holds these records in two bound volumes: “Death Sentence Warrants, 1872-1908” and “Record of Death Sentences, 1872-1906.” Both books were created by the Governor’s Office.

Dickson’s would be the last state-authorized execution in Kansas for more than seventy years, the next occurring in 1944 (Kansas repealed capital punishment for murder in 1907 but reinstated it in 1935). Although the state’s moratorium on legal executions lasted from 1872-1935, at least ninety illegal hangings or lynchings occurred during that period.

As Kansas continues to struggle with the question of capital punishment, the State Archives & Library at the Kansas Historical Society holds many documents demonstrating the history of the death penalty in the state. Selected documents of the principal changes and events related to capital punishment in Kansas are now available on Kansas Memory.

A special exhibit featuring the photographs of Kansas photographer Omar Hawkins is now on display at the Kansas Museum of History. The exhibit, Backward Glance: Images from Marshall County, is also available to view online at Kansas Memory.

Based in Marysville, Kansas, Hawkins captured scenes of his town and the surrounding communities in the early twentieth century. The images reveal the quaint pleasures of small town America and the emergence of the automobile, among other scenes.

Our new printing option delivers a pdf document that formats the item and description for easy printing. Now you can print multi-page items, like this rare Populist pamphlet, in its entirety with only a few clicks.

Just choose the print button on the item page, then select the sections you wish to print.

This feature requires the use of Adobe® Reader® software or another pdf viewer.

In 1912, Effie Frost was living in Verdi, Kansas, a rural village in southeast Ottawa County. Her home was in Junction City but she stayed in Verdi as a missionary to local residents who favored pool halls over churches. She even organized a Sunday school for the children to improve church attendance. Despite her efforts, the pool hall thrived and church attendance suffered. Then Kansans approved a proposition to give women the vote. Like many women, Effie understood that winning the vote was more than an accomplishment; it was an opportunity. Documents on women’s suffrage in Kansas are now available on Kansas Memory.

On November 6, Effie wrote Lucy B. Johnston, president of the Kansas Equal Suffrage Association, about the recent election. “Now that we have the weapon,” Effie wrote, “I pray that we may… use it in destroying all vice breeding places… [like] Pool Halls and such things.” Effie understood that what she could not change by Christian influence alone women could change together if they applied their values at the ballot box.

Echoing these sentiments, Genevieve Chalkley of Lawrence declared “women are now a factor” at the Women’s Kansas Day Club meeting, on January 30, 1913. Her speech “After the Ballot – What Next?” implored women to use their vote to “humanize our people” and push for “progressive laws” that would soften the impact of an increasingly urban and industrial America on the family. Women’s clubs, like this one, played a vital role in achieving women’s suffrage in Kansas and they would prove equally important in determining how women used the vote.

By 1914, the Kansas Good Citizenship League (successor to the Kansas Equal Suffrage Association) endorsed a series of measures calling for greater attention to childhood and adult education, health care for women and children, and community and financial support for women and children in need. Women did not achieve national suffrage until 1920 with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Selected documents on women’s suffrage in Kansas are now available on Kansas Memory.

During the 1930s, Frank Conard and other trick photographers poignantly captured the surreal character of the natural disasters then plaguing the southern Great Plains through a series of humorous, exaggerated postcards. Their giant grasshoppers and other pests dwarfed the human world and underscored the “larger than life” character of such plagues. But when it came to dust storms, they did not need tricks (or humor) to convey the magnitude of the tragedy. Rising what seemed thousands of feet above the ground, monstrous clouds of dust rolled over the Plains between 1932 and 1936, blotting out the sun in midday and earning the nickname “black blizzards.” Conard and others photographed these clouds, leaving us a vivid reminder why the region became known as the Dust Bowl. Selected documents on the Dust Bowl in Kansas are now available on Kansas Memory.

Black Sunday occurred on April 14, 1935, when a ferocious dust storm bowled through western Kansas. Pauline Winkler Grey, of Meade County, describes her preparation for the storm, the sixty miles per hour winds, and standing in her living room in “pitch blackness” at midday in one volume of the Pioneer Stories of Meade County.

Like many people during the Dust Bowl, these Liberal, Seward County, residents wear face masks to help them breath during a dust storm. In an oral interview, John Stadler, of Stevens County, recounts how the masks would get so full of dust that you would have to take them off and beat out the dust.

This article from the Topeka Capital prints excerpts of a letter from teacher Gertrude Fay Doane ofWinona, Logan County. Doane describes her experience with a dust storm during a school day. She tells how school closed early during the storm and the very next day school closed early again so the students could attend a rabbit drive.

The Kansas Historical Society holds many materials documenting the Dust Bowl in Kansas. A select number of these sources is now available on Kansas Memory.

In mid-December, 1905, a Professor E. H. S. Bailey of Lawrence, Kansas, received an express shipment from Topeka. The bundle contained two bottles of vanilla extract, multiple packages of ham sausage, Vienna sausage, Bologna sausage, corned beef, dried chipped beef, potted ham, potted tongue, veal loaf, beef loaf, and one bottle of water. A letter explaining the shipment jokingly noted “These I trust will arrive in time for your Christmas dinner. Of course we desire to have you make a careful analysis of them before proceeding with your dinner party… [Very truly yours], S. J. Crumbine, Secretary [Kansas Board of Health].” This and other letters by Samuel Crumbine are now available on Kansas Memory.

A pioneer in the field of public health, Dr. Samuel Crumbine of Dodge City, Kansas, used equal doses of humor and pragmatism to halt the spread of communicable diseases. His public health campaigns often used humorous illustrations, verses, and slogans to warn against unhealthy practices, but thier message was deadly serious. His campaign against houseflies urged screening windows and doors and used the slogan, "Swat the Fly."

Other targets of his campaigns were the common drinking cup or dipper and the exposed roller towel, often used on railroad trains and in other public areas. His success in this area was illustrated by the adoption of disposable paper cups and towels. Crumbine also warned against misleading labels on food and drugs. He became secretary of the Kansas Board of Health in 1904 and served approximately twenty years.

Selected letters by Samuel Crumbine are now available on Kansas Memory. For additional Crumbine materials on Kansas Memory go to People--Notable Kansans--Crumbine, Samuel Jay, 1862-1954.

For decades ragtime aficionados have been searching for a lost trunk supposedly containing unpublished music manuscripts by Scott Joplin. Edward Berlin, author of King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era, suggests Joplin may have lost the trunk in Pittsburg, Kansas, in 1903. Selected sources on Pittsburg and other cities and towns in Kansas are now available on Kansas Memory under the category Places--Cities and Towns.

Here’s the story. Joplin, the African American composer of the Maple Leaf Rag (1899) and other popular piano rags, had recently finished composing his first ragtime opera, A Guest of Honor. The year was 1903.

Joplin was on a Midwestern tour with his Ragtime Opera Company scheduled to play shows in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. A misfortune in Springfield, Illinois, possibly left Joplin without money to continue. But Berlin suggests Joplin may have continued the tour to recoup his losses. A poor showing at the Pittsburg [Kansas] Opera House, which Joplin was scheduled to play on September 17, may have left him unable to pay his hotel bill resulting in the confiscation of his trunk. According to Joplin’s wife Lottie, the trunk contained photos, letters, and unpublished manuscripts of a Guest of Honor and other music. Joplin never recovered the trunk. This photo shows the Pittsburg Opera House at left.

Berlin’s scenario is hypothetical, but it is a plausible explanation to a mystery that has confounded researchers for decades. Other accounts have placed the trunk in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, around the same time. This photo shows the Pittsburg National Bank located on the corner opposite the Pittsburg Opera House.

More than any other composer, Joplin raised instrumental ragtime, with its foundation in itinerant piano players and African American folk melodies, to the level of classical music and launched a craze for syncopation that dominated popular culture in the early 1900s. Still, Joplin’s success was continually dogged by the racial prejudices of his time and the stereotype of the blackface minstrel, as represented in this photo of Haverlaff’s Minstrels performing in a White Cloud, Kansas, opera house. James Scott and Brunson S. ("Brun") Campbell were but two Kansas ragtimers who had a close relationship with Joplin.

While we do not hold Joplin’s lost manuscripts (regrettably), selected materials on Pittsburg and other cities and towns in Kansas, music, and African American history are available on Kansas Memory.

Sources: Edward Berlin, King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994).

The KSHS staff are very excited to announce a new feature to Kansas Memory: Integrated Search and Browse.

This new feature allows you to search for a term, or choose a category from our category browser, and then continue to refine your results by adding search terms or choosing more categories.

Additionally, when you use our search engine, we'll try to suggest a few categories that may help you find what you're looking for. Keep an eye out for those, they'll be right above your search results.

Feel free to try it out.

Two new video selections are now available on Kansas Memory. Bob Beatty, Political Science Department, Washburn University, produced both videos as part of the Kansas Governors Recorded History and Documentary Project (Dr. Bob Beatty and Washburn University, 2005). The videos present raw footage of interviews conducted by Beatty with former Kansas governors.

The first presents an interview with Governor John Anderson discussing his experience as governor of Kansas from January 9, 1961 to January 11, 1965. The interview is the basis for Beatty's article "'For the Benefit of the People': A Conversation with Former Governor John Anderson, Jr.," Kansas History, v30 (Winter 2007/2008).

The second presents an interview with Governor William Avery discussing his experience as governor of Kansas from January 11, 1965 to January 9, 1967. The interview is the basis for Beatty's article "'You have to like people': A Conversation with Former Governor William H. Avery," Kansas History, v30 (Spring 2007/2008).

Additional videos will appear on Kansas Memory periodically as we upload new content. Use the category Type of Material--Film and Video to check back for new video uploads.

When the London Circus came to Lawrence, Kansas, on July 30, 1879, its most conspicuous guests were six Northern Cheyenne Indians: Wild Hog, Old Man, Blacksmith, Left Hand, Run Fast, and Meheha. The audience started at first sight of these men, and two women grabbed their children and rushed out of the tent. Seated in a row, a guard at each end, the six Cheyenne men puzzled over elephants, lions, tigers, and camels, laughed at the antics of clowns, and drank lemonade. But this moment of levity was a rare instance in a long train of unfortunate events. While in jail awaiting trial for their involvement in the “last Indian raid in Kansas” the previous fall, these men would leave an intriguing record of their people and culture at a devastating time in their tribe’s history. Select sources on the Cheyenne people and Native Americans in Kansas are now available on Kansas Memory.

The "raid" occurred in September 1878 when a band of some 300 Cheyenne, led by Chiefs Dull Knife and Little Wolf, fled sickness and starvation on a reservation in Indian Territory [now Oklahoma] for their homeland north of Kansas. On their flight through the state, forty settlers were killed and a great deal of property was stolen or destroyed. After surrendering to military authorities in Nebraska, seven of Dull Knife's followers were turned over to civilian authorities and taken to Dodge City, Kansas, to stand trial. The Dodge City jailers gave the prisoners notebooks, pencils, crayons, and paint to create ledger art – the drawing of pictographs on the pages of ledgers – a common practice among Native American men as Indians were being moved onto reservations by the federal government in the 1870s and 1880s.

The Kansas Historical Society holds two of these ledgers. The first came as a donation in 1922 from Sallie Straughn of Denver, Colorado. Mrs. Straughn was matron of the Dodge City jail in 1878 during the Cheyenne’s incarceration when her husband, John W. Straughn, was the Dodge City jailer. This notebook includes drawings of people in patterned blankets and headdress, men on horses, and animals.

The second notebook came as a donation in 1939 by Dora A. Clayton, also of Denver, Colorado.Her husband, James Clayton, was clerk of the Indian Claims Commission created by the Kansas legislature in 1879 to investigate the losses resulting from the 1878 raid. The drawings in this notebook are especially captivating with rich colors and textures, balanced arrangements, and stark forms; including people, hunters on horseback, various animals, and decorative tipi.

Both books are supposed to have been drawn by the Cheyenne prisoners during their incarceration in the Dodge City jail. The trial venue was later moved to Lawrence, Kansas, and the men were ultimately acquitted. Some acounts give the names as listed above, other accounts list the men as Wakabish, Maniton, Old Cow, Left Hand, Wild Hog, Old Man, and Muskekan, or Wild Hog, Run Fast, Frizzly Head, Young Man, Old Man, and Crow. Some accounts refer to six men, others to seven.

See People--American Indians--Tribes--Cheyenne to access additional sources on Cheyenne Indians in Kansas. See Native American Ledger Art and Modern Ledger Art for more information on this practice.

Sources:

Kansas State Historical Society, Twenty-Third Biennial Report, 1921-1922 (Topeka: Kansas State Printer): 50-51.

Kansas State Historical Society, Twenty-Fourth Biennial Report, 1923-1924 (Topeka: Kansas State Printer): 90.

Kansas Historical Quarterly, 10 (1941): 211.

Dora Clayton to KSHS, 6 August 1939, Administrative Correspondence, State Archives, Kansas State Historical Society.

When a flag appeared near the home of Phil Crab of Ada, Kansas, in 1918, it wasn’t in celebration. The flag read SLACKER and meant to shame Mr. Crab into a donation to support the war, a request he had earlier refused. When some residents threatened to paint his house yellow, a series of threats and allegations ensued between Crab and local patriots that ultimately involved Governor Arthur Capper. Though Ada was a small town on the western edge of Ottawa County in north central Kansas, it was not immune to the patriotic fervor and anti-German hysteria sweeping the country. With America’s entry into WWI, many people sought to root out the “anti-American” elements in their midst and in doing so uncovered deep divisions in their communities that may, or may not, have had anything to do with patriotism. Governor Capper’s “slackers” file is now available on Kansas Memory.

In this May 4, 1918, response to J. M. Best of Clyde, Kansas, Governor Capper outlines his approach for dealing with persons suspected of being disloyal to the United States government, an attitude he called “slackerism.” Best wrote the governor to inform him of disloyal citizens in his community.

Secretary to the governor, Charles Sessions, of Topeka, writes this July 6, 1917, letter to U.S. District Attorney Fred Robertson at Kansas City to request he send secret service agents to Wilson, Kansas, to investigate suspected German sympathizers.

Oliver Omunhenke of Haigler, Nebraska, writes this May 22, 1918, letter to Governor Capper to complain about threats from persons requesting a wartime donation to the Red Cross. He explains that he cannot afford such a donation and wrote of the group “If I did not write a check in 15 minutes they would attend to me.”

In this May 25, 1918, letter to Governor Capper, Dr. Charles Butcher, a veterinarian in Russell, Kansas, states that accusations against him by another resident were made “maliciously and revengefully” and have nothing to do with his loyalty to the U. S. government.He states “I will give to the Red Cross in due time just as soon as these Parisites [sic] quit trying to sting me.”

The entire “slackers” file from Governor Arthur Capper’s records in the Kansas State Archives is now available on Kansas Memory. For additional materials on WWI select the category Military--Wars--World War I.

For a more detailed analysis of this issue, see James C. Juhnke,“Mob Violence and Kansas Mennonites in 1918.”Kansas Historical Quarterly, Autumn, 1977 (Vol. 43, No. 3), pages 334 to 350.

The Forces of Nature exhibit currently on display through January 9th at the Kansas Museum of History in Topeka showcases our state’s extreme weather conditions--including tornados, droughts, floods, and fires--and how Kansans have responded to them. The exhibit features an audio booth where visitors can record their own Kansas weather stories. Five of these stories are now part of the Historical Society's permanent historical collections and are featured here on Kansas Memory. Click on the audio icons below to listen to the stories. For more audio and video recordings on Kansas Memory see Collections--Audio-visual.

Topeka resident David H. Fisher, Jr. relates his experience during the June 8, 1966, tornado in Topeka.

A fireman in Mullinsville, 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.

Thomas Holmquist describes a 2007 flood on his farm in Saline County near Smolan.

Marlysue Esping-Holmquist, wife of Thomas Holmquist, farms in Saline County 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.

Teresa Bachman of El Dorado 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.

Additional audio recordings will appear on Kansas Memory as we add new content. Use the category Type of Material--Audio or Collections--Audio-visual to check back for new audio uploads.

Hear the phrase “cowboy band” and you might think of singing cowboys like Gene Autry or maybe a western string band beating out jigs and reels on fiddles and guitars for a country dance. But in Dodge City in the 1880s the cowboy band was a whole different animal. Sporting cornets, tubas and other horns, the Dodge City Cowboy Band brought cow culture to the brass band craze of the late 19th century and drew both praise and criticism for its popularity. In its promotion of Kansas cattle interests, the band spread new myths about cowboys' genteel respectability and perpetuated old myths of cowboys as desperadoes. Selected materials on cowboy bands are now available on Kansas Memory.

This 1889 roster shows the band with twenty-three members and standard brass/wind instrumentation for the period, including many horns we would hardly recognize today.

This 1886 group photo shows the band flanked by its management with two young boys in the foreground. Notice how prominently members display their guns.

This photo shows some members of the Dodge City Cowboy Band on a round-up in Indian Territory, possibly in the 1890s. The photo may have been a publicity stunt meant to prove that band members were "real" cowboys.

Additional materials on cowboy bands are available by searching "cowboy band." See Community Life - Arts and Entertainment - Music - Musicians - Bands for more materials on bands in Kansas. See Business and Industry - Occupations/Professions - Cowboys for more materials on cowboys in Kansas.

For more information on the Dodge City Cowboy Band see Clifford Westermeier's article "The Dodge City Cowboy Band."Kansas Historical Quarterly v19 n1 (February 1951) : 1-11.

The archives of Kansas governors’ records held by the State Archives at the Kansas Historical Society are a great resource for primary sources on important issues in Kansas history. The Kansas State Archives houses the records of nearly all Kansas governors – a collection of materials totaling thousands of boxes.When compared to the collection's total volume, only a very small number of these records are currently available on Kansas Memory, but that number is steadily growing.

A few of these records have been featured in previous blog posts, like the Exoduster letters kept by Governor John St. John, the “slacker” file kept by Governor Arthur Capper, or the record of death sentences kept by governors from 1872-1908. To browse the many additional documents from governors’ records already available on Kansas Memory, select the category Collections - State Archives - Governor's Records. A few examples follow.

An anonymous Kansas resident writes the wife of Governor John Anderson Jr. of Topeka concerning a proposed atheist colony near Stockton, Kansas. The author expresses her opposition to the colony and regards it as a plot of communist Russia. August 20, 1963. Governor's records, Anderson, Box 37, Folder 7.

Governor Andrew F. Schoeppel of Topeka announces that Axis prisoners of war held at the "Camp Phillips Internment Camp" are available as laborers for farm or construction work. May 18, 1943. Governor's records, Schoepple, Box 64, Folder 6.

Robert W. Brown of Hill City, Kansas, writes Governor John Carlin of Topeka concerning Carlin's veto of a bill reinstating capital punishment. Brown expresses his disappointment with the governor's veto. April 4, 1979. Governor's records, Carlin, Box "Constituent Serices."

John L. Minck of Palo Alto, California, writes the Kansas Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, concerning the Board's decision to remove the teaching of evolution from the state's science curriculum. August 24, 1999. Governor's records, Graves, Box 7 (Constituent Services: Issues), Folder "Evolution."

The Southwest Regional Director of President Herbert Hoover's Employment Commission, J. F. Lucey, writes Governor Clyde Reed of Topeka to request that railroad companies operating in Kansas return all transient Mexican laborers to Mexico and give preference to American laborers. November 18, 1930. Governor's records, Reed, Box 3, Folder 8.

In this letter, P. J. McBride, the Commissioner of Labor and Industry, responds to Emma Grimm's letter to Governor Arthur Capper. Grimm had expressed her displeasure with the enforcement of the child labor law in her hometown of Sabetha, which had forced her 10-year old son Theodore to leave his job as a grocery delivery boy. December 12, 1917. Governor's records, Capper, Box 10, Folder 3.

H. C. Ericsson, special investigator into illegal liquor sales, reports his findings directly to Governor Walter Stubbs of Topeka. This report regards Ericsson's visit to Pittsburg, Kansas. The report lists five "places" at which he was able to purchase liquor or beer. March 27, 1911. Governor's records, Stubbs, Box 10, Folder 3.

Mrs. G. Monroe, of Topeka, Kansas, writes Governor John Martin, also of Topeka, requesting he veto a bill that would give women equal suffrage in municipal elections. Monroe claims women do not want additional rights and suggests that women should not participate in political affairs. February 11, 1887. Governor's records, Martin, Box 30, Folder 2.

The colored citizens of Winfield, Kansas, send Governor Henry Allen of Topeka a resolution condemning the racial discrimination then occurring in Kansas and the United States. October 6, 1919. Governor's records, Allen, Box 2, Folder 9.

To browse the many additional documents from governors’ records already available on Kansas Memory, select the category Collections - State Archives - Governor's Records. See Governors for more information on our archives of Kansas governors' records.

In 1919, A. M. Fury managed the Robinson Grain Company in Palco, a small town in northwest Kansas. On December 18, he wrote Kansas governor Henry Allen of Topekato say that his threshing operation would cease if he did not receive a shipment of coal soon. Many such letters reached the governor’s office that December from city mayors, teachers, and other residents all across the state. Just weeks before, 10,000 coal miners in southeast Kansas went on strike seeking better working conditions. Failed negotiations led the state to seize the mines and raise an army of volunteers and National Guardsmen to operate them. While the strike underscored the state’s dependence on coal and the mostly foreign-born labor force that mined it, it also led to the creation of an arbitration board that enraged labor organizations across the country and drew opposition from the US Supreme Court. Additional sources on the southeast Kansas coal strike of 1919 are available on Kansas Memory by selecting the category Business and Industry--Mining and quarying--Coal.

In this letter, Kansas governor Henry Allen of Topeka writes Adjutant General Charles Martin instructing him to take whatever means necessary to operate the coal mines in southeast Kansas with voluntary labor.

This document includes the names of some of the men reporting to work in the southeast Kansas coal fields during the state takeover of the mines.

In this letter, Colonel Hoisington, of the 4th Infantry, Kansas National Guard, informs the Kansas Adjutant General of supplies and costs related to the use of volunteers during the 1919 coal strike in southeast Kansas.

This photograph shows a national guardsman patrolling a southeast Kansas coal mine during the coal strike of 1919.

A.M. Fury of the Robinson Grain Company in Palco, Kansas, writes to Governor Henry Allen, of Topeka, requesting a car of threshing coal.

J. J. Bulger, counselor for the Wichita Trades and Labor Assembly, writes state senator O. W. Sparks, of Galena, Kansas, concerning pending legislation that would create an industrial court to mediate relations between labor and industry.

See Business and Industry--Mining and quarying--Coal for additional sources on the 1919 southeast Kansas coal strike and coal mining in Kansas generally. See Business and Industry--Labor or Government and Politics--Reform and Protest--Labor movement for additional sources on labor history in Kansas.

In May of 1912, the famed ex-Populist senator from Kansas, William Peffer, lay on a couch in Christ’s Hospital, Topeka, Kansas, dictating to a stenographer. With only a short time to live (he would die on October 6), Peffer was combating negative portrayals of the Populist movement by recording the “true” history of Populism for posterity. But his attempts to dispel misconceptions of the agrarian revolt stand in contrast to his efforts to preserve caricatures of the movement. Through scrapbooking, Peffer helped to preserve the very political cartoons that misrepresented him and his party in the colorful pages of the satirical Puck (Cleveland-Democrat) and Judge (Republican) magazines. Volume two of Peffer’s scrapbook is now available on Kansas Memory. For additional material on the Populist Party in Kansas, select the category Government and Politics - Reform and Protest – Populism.

Elected to the U.S. Senate by Kansas on a Populist Party ticket, William A. Peffer served only one term from March 1891 to March 1897. Peffer collected at least enough colorful political cartoons to fill three books. The cartoons appeared primarily in satirical weeklies such as Puck and Judge and most of them were published during his term in the senate. William’s son Douglas M. Peffer donated the first volume of Peffer's scrapbook to the Kansas Historical Society in 1921. Douglas donated two additional volumes in 1933 shortly before his February 1934 death in Frezno, California.

Victor Gillam’s “A Mighty Poor Exchange: From the Sublime to the Ridiculous” laments the exchange of political giants like William McKinley and George Edmunds for prairie populists like Peffer and “sockless” Jerry Simpson. Published in Judge, April 25, 1891.

Bernhard Gillam’s “Most Ripe” shows James Campbell, Shelby Cullom, Russell Alger, David Hill, President Cleveland, Arthur Gorman, and William Peffer salivating over the 1892 presidency. Published in Judge August 8, 1891.

C. J. Taylor’s “The ‘Peanut’ Hagenbeck and his ‘Senatorial Courtesy’ Animal Show” depicts Peffer in a circus ring commanded by New York Senator David B. Hill with other Senators who were against President Cleveland’s attempt to lower protective tariffs. Puck centerfold published February 7, 1894.

Volume two of Peffer’s scrapbook is now available on Kansas Memory. For additional materials on William Peffer and Kansas populism, select the category Government and Politics - Reform and Protest - Populism. For more information on the Populist Party in Kansas read An Essay on Populism.

Sources:

Roger Fischer, “Rustic Rasputin: William A. Peffer in Color Cartoon Art, 1891-1899,” Kansas History 11 Winter (1988-1989): 222-239.

“Loses Legs to Write History; Ex-Senator Peffer, Populist, Gains a Few Weeks and Works On,” Special to the New York Times (June 1, 1912): 22.

Kansas Governor Harry Woodring created the Kansas Federal Relief Committee in July of 1932 to obtain and administer federal emergency loans made available to states through Herbert Hoover’s Emergency Relief and Construction Act of 1932. President Franklin Roosevelt expanded on this act with the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) in 1933, leading the Kansas committee to change its name to the Kansas Emergency Relief Committee (KERC). Under the direction of Kansas’s new governor, Alf Landon, the KERC managed direct and work relief programs in Kansas including emergency education, transient relief, rural rehabilitation, drought relief, and a slew of public works projects including the construction of farm ponds and lakes, and the renovation and construction of public buildings, roads, and quarries. A movie made by the KERC in 1936 to highlight its accomplishments is now available on Kansas Memory as the Kansas Emergency Relief Committee accomplishments movie.

Chapter 11 documents women's work projects including the Pittsburg Sewing Rooms, the Wabaunsee African American Ladies' Exhibit, the Wichita Weaving Institute, and the Leather Coat Factory in Kansas City. This chapter lasts eight minutes.

Chapter 4 documents the creation of lakes through the water conservation program including the Bourbon County Lake, Paola City Lake, Atchison County Lake; Whiting City Lake, Holton City Lake, Wellington City Lake, Jetmore State Lake, Pleasanton City Lake, Anthony City Lake, Graham County Lake, Decatur County Lake, Yates Center City Reservoir, and Woodson County Mission Lake. This chapter is divided into two clips and lasts twenty-five minutes.

Chapter 6 documents transient services including the Eskridge Transient Camp, Wabaunsee County; and the Gardner Transient Camp, and Transient Hospital, Johnson County. This chapter is divided into two clips and lasts twenty minutes.

Chapter 12 documents recreational projects including parks in Wichita, Topeka, Manhattan, Chanute, Galena, Independence, Sterling, and Kansas City, and the Oswego Swimming Pool, Paola Athletic Field, and Wichita stadium. This chapter is divided into two clips and lasts fifteen minutes.

Chapter 5 documents the creation of farm ponds and shows the Elrick Smith farm in Barton County; the H.B. Stout and F.L. Oliver farms in Harper County; the Earl Davis farm in Stevens County; and the F. T. Ashcraft farm in Kingman County.  This chapter lasts two minutes.

 Additional materials on the New Deal in Kansas are available by selecting the category Thematic Time Period—Great Depression and Dust Bowl, 1929-1941. For more information on specific relief projects see the KERC bulletins Public Welfare Service in Kansas. For a history of the New Deal in Kansas see Peter Fearon’s “Kansas History and the New Deal Era,” Kansas History 30 (Autumn 2007): 192-223.