Medium: Text
Date: April 13, 1854
This law was passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives, declaring that the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company was an official company in the state of Massachusetts. It describes the purpose…
Medium: Text
Date: July 4, 1856
The Kansas Central Committee of Iowa suggests a different overland route to Kansas, recommending that emigrants travel through Iowa instead of Missouri (to avoid conflict with Missouri proslavery supporters). Also…
Medium: Text
Date: 1857
Organizational information about the Boston Kansas Club No. 1, which was formed to encourage and assist emigration from New England into Kansas during the spring of 1857.
Medium: Text
Date: 1858
This poster discusses the slate of candidates for a constitutional convention (Leavenworth?), cautioning free state men to beware of attempts to divide them and thus weaken their ability to challenge…
Medium: Text
Date: 1861
This is a list of the “members and officers of the legislative assembly of the territory of Kansas, session of 1861.” It identifies the members of the Council and House…
Medium: Text
Date: September 24, 1855
This broadside advertises a series of mass meetings in support of the free state cause, with Charles Robinson as the speaker.
Medium: Text
Date: June 7, 1860
Wanted poster offering a reward of $200 for the capture of two slaves from Saline County, Missouri. It includes the names and descriptions of the two slaves.
Medium: Text
Date: July 4, 1859
From Quindaro, Kansas Territory, Charles Robinson wrote to inform his wife, Sara, about matters of business pertaining to this young city on the Kaw River. He believed “railroad matters look[ed]…
Medium: Text
Date: March 9, 1859
In this typed “transcript” of a letter from Lawrence, Kansas Territory, dated March 9, 1859, Charles Robinson confirmed Morton’s apparent conclusion that Robinson preferred Governor Salmon P. Chase for president…
Medium: Text
Date: January 20, 1859
Mostly personal, this brief letter from Washington, D. C. to his wife, Sara, in Lawrence, Kansas Territory, announces Charles Robinson’s impending departure from Washington and his intention to provide his…
Medium: Text
Date: January 6, 1859
From Washington, D.C., Charles Robinson wrote his wife, Sara, back home in Lawrence, Kansas Territory, regarding land and railroad issues that he was working on behalf of in the capital.…
Medium: Text
Date: December 29, 1858
In this letter from Lawrence, Kansas Territory, Smith mentions a few business matters (e.g., the railroad convention) but concentrates on the border conflict, with specific criticism leveled at John Brown…
Medium: Text
Date: February 25, 1855
John W. Whitfield was a proslavery supporter from Tennessee who would subsequently move to Texas to fight for the Confederacy. He was a congressional delegate for Kansas Territory when he…
Medium: Text
Date: October 18, 1854
This certificate was identical was issued to C. A. Williams for “one share of the Town property of Leavenworth Association,” and on the reverse side it was transferred to Andrew…
Medium: Text
Date: January 14, 1861
From Salina, Alexander Carraway Spilman wrote “as one of your [Wood’s] constituents” regarding his opposition to a Junction City proposal that to change the boundary line between Dickinson and Davis…
Medium: Text
Date: January 14, 1861
S. P. Hartz, a medical doctor, wrote to Samuel N. Wood from Allen, Breckinridge (now Lyon) County, Kansas Territory, regarding the Woods’ “sick son,” but devoted most of his two…
Medium: Text
Date: September 19, 1860
Dated Sept. 19, 1860, from Topeka, Kansas Territory, this brief letter from Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway founder, Cyrus K. Holliday, urges Samuel N. Wood to garner support and…
Medium: Text
Date: November 14, 1859
Broadside announcing the opening of a new dry goods and grocery store in Palermo, Kansas Territory.
Medium: Text
Date: 1856
This is a copy of sheet music for the “Gov. Robinson’s Polka” as played by the Fitchburg, Massachusetts Cornet Band. It was written by Andrew Whitney and “respectfully dedicated to…
Medium: Text
Date: June 11, 1856
This flyer warned the citizens of Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, that the city marshal, William Shockley, would begin enforcing the ordinance against discharging firearms within the city limits. It had “become…
Medium: Text
Date: February 1857
This printed form letter was written by James Redpath of Boston, Massachusetts, to solicit money to build a church, school, and library for the people of Manhattan, Kansas Territory. Redpath…
Medium: Text
Date: July 28, 1857
This advertisement, issued by company president S. C. Pomeroy, announces a meeting of the Atchison and St. Joseph Railroad Company’s stockholders on August 8, 1857, in Atchison, Kansas Territory. The…
Medium: Text
Date: December 31, 1858
This announcement advertises a Grand Opening Ball to be held at the Eldridge House in Lawrence, Kansas Territory, on December 31, 1858. Music was to be performed by the Lawrence…
Medium: Text
Date: 1859
An invitation to a ball held on January 29, 1859, at the Free State Hotel in Lawrence, Kansas Territory, with proceeds going toward refurnishing the hotel “and in some degree…
Medium: Text
Date: January 14, 1861
This printed letter was written by Thaddeus Hyatt to B. F. Camp of Albany, New York. Hyatt’s eloquent plea for assistance spoke of the drought and famine in Kansas during…
