Medium: PhysicalObject
Carry Nation portrait
Date: 1901
Pencil portrait of Carry A. Nation by Albert T. Reid (1873-1955). The title is the First Press Picture of Mrs. Nation. Nation met with Governor William Stanley at his office…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Trade stimulator
Date: 1902
Known as trade stimulators, these dispensers were once popular alternatives to gambling. They offered prizes in the form of cigars, stamps, or chewing gum rather than money. This trade stimulator…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Soapbox derby car
Date: 1973
Handmade soapbox derby car made of wood and iron. Made by Russell Dille of Topeka, Kansas, for a soapbox derby race near Lake Shawnee in August 1973. The local Chevrolet…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Prisoner doll
Date: between 1910 and 1920
This 22-inch-tall wood and cloth figure, affectionately known as “Flatty” Ingram, was made by prisoners in the Kansas State Penitentiary at Lansing, probably between 1910 and 1920. The wooden head…
Medium: PhysicalObject
New England Emigrant Aid Company quilt fragment
Date: 1855
The family story that has been handed down with this quilt indicates that it was made by the women of the Boston Emigrant Aid Society to be sold at a…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Quindaro desk
Date: between 1856 and 1861
This walnut desk was used by abolitionist Fielding Johnson in Quindaro, Kansas. The word “Quindaro” is painted on the back of the desk. The town of Quindaro was settled by…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Andrew Reeder’s dagger
Date: 1855
Many free-state leaders were charged with treason by the pro-slavery legislature in May 1856. Former territorial governor Andrew Reeder escaped arrest by leaving Kansas disguised as a woodcutter. Reeder carried…
Medium: PhysicalObject
World War II victory banner
Date: between 1941 and 1945
Ella Hughes Darrow Volkert made this victory banner in honor of her son, Otis Hughes Darrow, who served in the Army Medical Corps during World War II. Blind since the…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Pence Band baton
Date: between 1894 and 1940
This baton belonged to Charles S. Pence, who founded the Pence Band of Shawnee County. The group quickly developed a fine reputation and was in demand in communities throughout the…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Civil War Valentine
Date: between 1861 and 1865
Joseph Forrest sent Valentines to Elizabeth Ehrhart during the Civil War. They were residents of Macon County, Illinois, and became engaged in 1858. Joseph enlisted on July 25, 1861 at…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Custer’s Last Rally chromolithograph
Date: 1881
John Mulvany took this chromolithograph of Custer’s Last Rally from a painting. Mulvany created the painting around 1880, and it turned out to be so popular, he painted a second…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Radiation meter
Date: 1963
Radiation survey meter manufactured by Nuclear-Chicago Corporation, 1963. This meter was nicknamed “Cutie-Pie” and is one of a collection of radiation meters donated by the Kansas Department of Health and…
Medium: PhysicalObject
The Spirit of Kansas
Date: 1891
Mary Pillsbury Weston, a professional artist and a resident of Lawrence, Kansas, created the work especially for display at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Medium: PhysicalObject
Yacht model
Date: 1992
White painted wooden model of the the America³ (“America Cubed”), owned by Wichita native William Koch. The America³ won the prestigious America’s Cup competition on May 16, 1992. The America³…
Medium: PhysicalObject
American Woman and Her Political Peers
Date: between 1892 and 1893
This 58″ x 48″ pastel is titled American Woman and her Political Peers. Pictured at the center is Frances E. Willard, American educator and reformer. Portrayed around Miss Willard (clockwise…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Toy bus
Date: 1972
This toy bus was given to Lucile Widsteen in recognition of her heroism in saving a Continental Trailways bus after the driver suffered a heart attack on the Kansas Turnpike…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Spanish-American War flag
Date: 1899
Spanish flag signed by men of Company E from the 20th Kansas, Spanish-American War. Flag was captured by these men during the war.
Medium: PhysicalObject
1st Kansas Colored Infantry flag
Date: between 1862 and 1864
Blue silk regimental flag of the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry, the first African American regiment from a northern state in the Civil War. Recruitment began August 1862, although they weren’t…
Medium: PhysicalObject
B-M lawn mower
Date: between 1940 and 1957
Model VD 17 B-M Power Mower. The B-M Mower Company of Blue Mound, Kansas (Linn County), produced power mowers from the mid-1940s until 1957. The company promised customers that its…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Kansas territorial seal embossing stamp
Date: between 1854 and 1861
The Kansas territorial seal supposedly was engraved by Robert Lovett of Philadelphia from a design developed by Andrew H. Reeder, the first Territorial Governor of Kansas. The face features a…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Melodeon
Date: between 1857 and 1869
Abolitionist John Brown gave this melodeon to his daughter, Ruth Brown Thompson, as a wedding present. It was played at his funeral on December 8, 1859. Brown originally purchased the…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Albert D. Searl’s transit
Date: between 1845 and 1851
Solid brass Vernier transit on walnut tripod. Albert D. Searl used this transit to survey town sites in Kansas Territory. He came to Kansas from Massachusetts in 1854. He apparently…
Medium: PhysicalObject
Colonel Titus sword
Date: between 1850 and 1855
A gilded brass-hilted Artillery Officer sword and scabbard. This sword was taken from Colonel Henry Theodore Titus (1822-1881) during an attack against himself and 18 other proslavery men on August…
Medium: PhysicalObject
John Brown’s saber
Date: 1855
John Brown reportedly brought this saber to Kansas from Akron, Ohio, in 1855. According to the donor, Brown’s sons were in possession of the sword when proslavery men burned their…
Medium: PhysicalObject
John Brown pike
Date: between 1858 and 1859
John Brown ordered 950 iron pikes from the Collins Company of Connecticut for use during the hoped-for slave insurrection following his raid at the U.S. arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia,…