Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: between 1890 and 1903
This silk and straw hat was made by Sarah Pettigrew McWilliams (1872-1958), who in her late teens operated her own dressmaking and millinery (hat-making) business in Washington, Kansas. At that…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: Between 1879 and 1884
2nd Model 1873 Winchester rifle. Citizens of Caldwell, Kansas, presented the rifle to Henry N. Brown on January 1, 1883, in appreciation for his services as their marshal. With personal…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: 1960
Hand-carved and painted wooden figure of a boy (possibly Pinocchio) on a square wooden base. The figure was made by Gust Andrew Sands and given to the donor’s son around…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: between 1899 and 1901
An inmate of the Kansas State Penitentiary at Lansing carved this fake pistol out of wood, and then used it in an aborted escape attempt. The prisoner covered the “pistol”…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: 1948
This cast aluminum and wooden slot machine was manufactured by Mills Industries, Incorporated, of Chicago, Illinois. The upper half is painted maroon and gold and the lower half is painted…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: 1929
Stella Miller of Topeka wore this orange georgette dress to her high school graduation in 1929. It is typical of 1920’s fashion, which reflected the decade’s relaxed morals. Those women…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: between 1820 and 1900
Scarificators appeared in the early 1700s and were used for blood letting. The lever on top of the brass box releases a set of blades that snap out of the…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: February 1893
Turned wooden club with a faint inscription. George Hill Fair carried this club while acting as a deputy sheriff of Shawnee County during the 1893 siege of the House of…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: 1936
This is a Friendship Fan quilt pieced of cotton fabrics, many of them feed sacking. Quilt is made up of 30 square blocks, each featuring a fan with eight arms…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: 1932
This portrait of John R. Brinkley was drawn by Herschel C. Logan, who was born April 19, 1901 in Magnolia, Missouri , and shortly after his birth the family moved…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: 1999
The time capsule for the 2000 millennium includes an instruction booklet, stickers, and plastic sleeves for mementos at a cost of about $10.00. Time capsules are used to contain cultural…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: between 1916 and 1975
Oil painting of bison by Louis ShipShee, a Potawatomi Indian chief and artist. ShipShee was born August 11, 1896, on the Potawatomi Reservation near Mayetta, Jackson County, Kansas. He was…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: between 1917 and 1918
This kit is an intelligence-measuring test developed by William Healy in 1917 and manufactured by the Stoelting Company in Chicago. It is designed to test cognitive abilities through non-verbal means.…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: between 1955 and 1959
Electric lawn sweeper for removing leaves and other debris from a yard. An electric motor drives brushes located within the housing. The brushes sweep waste into the canvas catcher. This…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: between 1861 and 1864
This flag was presented to General Blunt by a group of ladies from Leavenworth. This group purchased the banner from a New York firm.
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: between 1870 and 1900
This counter-weighted Christmas tree candleholder was originally owned by Katherine and Albert Stehwir, who emigrated from Germany in 1879 to a farm near Midland, Kansas. The wire beneath the candle…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: between 1950 and 1960
Carol L. Johnson (1916-2003) painted this interior scene in the mid-1950s from a snapshot of his uncle’s hardware store in Alta Vista. Wolgast hardware store was opened in the 1920s…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: between 1956 and 1959
The car was given to Danny R. Sevy by his grandfather, John Henry Sevy, in 1959. It was purchased new from the Pontiac dealer in Louisburg, Miami County, Kansas. These…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: between 1890 and 1900
This was piece of furniture was made by Charles A. Calwell (1873-1975). Calwell lived with his wife, Nancy Ellen, in Wetmore, Kansas. He gathered horns from Texas Longhorns that were…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: between 1863 and 1865
Presented to Major General James G. Blunt by Merritt H. Insley and Alexander McDonald, two of Blunt’s wartime associates. Blunt was the first Kansan to achieve the rank of major…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: 1926
One-way disk plow manufactured by Charles Angell of Plains, Kansas. Angell, a wheat farmer, developed a plow that set all disks at the same angle, or “one-way,” to increase tilling…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: between 1865 and 1915
Made by Josiah Thomas Genn (1832-1924), a Civil War veteran, who developed rheumatism after his service. Because of his illness, which restricted his movements, Genn dedicated his time to the…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: between 1925 and 1927
The state banner pictured here was donated to the Kansas Historical Society in 1960 by the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic. It was used from 1925 to…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: 1811
This baby carriage was made in 1811 for George Geiger from a design drawn by his father, John, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. John Geiger had been apprenticed to a carriage maker…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Date: 1899
Margaret Long Stanley donated this wood inlaid table that had been presented to her husband, William E. Stanley, during his term as Governor of Kansas (1899-1903.) The table was made…
