Podcasts about kansas history

Jeff Leiker with Eagle Radio chats with Adam Conkey with the Fort Hays Historic Site about some highlights of Kansas History on Kansas Day Listen Here

Did you know that Missouri is tied for 1st place (alongside Tennessee) as the state that borders the most states in the United States? For the second half of Season 7, Our Missouri heads out to the state line to talk with our neighbors about their history, culture, and historical organizations.  To open the State History series, Sarah Bell, Director of the Kansas Museum of History, joins host Sean Rost to discuss the Sunflower State. Episode Image: Friends of Ned Draper stop for a meal in Kansas on their way to Wyoming, date unknown [Draper-McClurg Family Papers (C3069), SHSMO] About the Guest: Sarah Bell is the director of the Kansas Museum of History. She attended the University of Kansas where she earned a Masters in Museum Studies and her PhD in History. Her dissertation analyzed the intersection of women's political activities with the Chautauqua Movement at the turn of the 20th century. In 2018 Sarah joined the Humanities Kansas Speakers Bureau and has enjoyed presenting to audiences across Kansas. She published an article in Kansas History in Spring 2019 that focused on the Ottawa Chautauqua.    

When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, all 48 states played a role in war mobilization and made unique contributions that reflected their histories, their politics, their natural resources and industries, and their military manpower. Kansas was a midwestern state that provided approximately 80,000 troops and, if not for his premature death, may also have provided its adopted son, “Fighting Fred” Funston, as the commander of the AEF instead of John J. Pershing. To discuss Kansas and World War I, the World War I Podcast hosted Blake Watson, author of Kansas and Kansans in World War I. Have a comment about this episode? Send us a text message! (Note: we can read texts, but we cannot respond.) Follow us: Twitter: @MacArthur1880 Amanda Williams on Twitter: @AEWilliamsClark Facebook/Instagram: @MacArthurMemorial www.macarthurmemorial.org

Send a message an d let us know what you think of this episode!In this episode, Ellie discusses 2024: The Year of the Cicada?! and Abby talks about 1874: The Year of the Locust.  Tangents include, but are not limited to: how much you'd need to pay us to eat bugs, being alive in the 1870s, disgusting Bug Goo, the Ancient Greeps, our own insect horrors, and more!  Which creature is scarier? The Locust or the Cicada? Find out on this episode of Queers for Fears! Content Warnings Episode #69:    Ellie's Content: insects, killing insects, dead insects Abby's Content: drought, insects, killing insects, dead insects, starvation, religious versesIn this episode, we're drinking:Abby: The GrasshopperEllie: The CicadaSources: For this episode, Abby pulled from: Wikipedia: Locusts and the Year of the Locusts 1874   , The National Archives, Kansas History,  & History NetAnd Ellie used: UConn, CBS, CNN, & WaPoFollow us on Social Media: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube: @queersforfearspodcastTwitter/X: @queersfearspodEmail: podcastqueersforfears@gmail.comTo support our show please subscribe, rate, and write reviews on Apple Itunes or wherever you listen to the podcast, it really helps us grow!  If you're feeling super generous you can buy us a beer here without any additional commitments, or you can support us on Patreon monthly and get access to all of our spooky  BONUS CONTENT.  Check out our merch here!    This podcast was produced, written, and directed by Abby and Ellie.  Podcast Art by Kateryna Kotsuiba, find her on Etsy @KKateArt.  Music by Robbie Edge.  Sound editing by Marvin Kuzia.  We are proud to have our show  sponsored by our Patreon supporters! Thanks for listening!   Stay queer! 

Former Kansas Attorney General Robert Stephan has passed away at the age of 89. Stephan served as attorney general from 1979 to 1995, when a sexual harassment scandal ended his political career.

Mr. Beat has just over 500 thousand subscribers on his History focused YouTube channel as we recorded this interview and has been on the platform for over 10 years! So it was exciting and a joy to talk to someone who has hit milestones that we are still aiming for. https://withkoji.com/@Walk_with_History (Walk with History & Talk with History) Find our Guest here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmYesELO6axBrCuSpf7S9DQ (Mr Beat on YouTube) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Want to have a question featured on our next podcast?⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Leave us a 5 star review and ask us your questions!! ------------------------------------------------------- This is a https://withkoji.com/@Walk_with_History (Walk With History production)

Nick opens the show by talking about Ochai Agbaji's legacy at Kansas and why he has an ironclad case to be considered a top-10 player in program history. Then Mitch Lightfoot joins the show to reflect on KU's championship run and how this team flipped the switch in the postseason.

Christopher W. Shaw in conversation with Ralph Nader, discussing his newly released book "First Class: The U.S. Postal Service, Democracy, and the Corporate Threat," published by City Lights Books. This event was originally broadcast live via Zoom, hosted by Peter Maravelis and moderated by Katherine Isaac. Christopher W. Shaw is an author, historian, and policy analyst. He has a Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Berkeley, and is the author of "Money, Power, and the People: The American Struggle to Make Banking Democratic" (University of Chicago Press, 2019) and "Preserving the People's Post Office" (Essential Books, 2006). His research on the history of banking, money, labor, agriculture, social movements, and the postal system has been published in the following academic journals: Journal of Policy History, Journal of Social History, Agricultural History, Enterprise & Society, Kansas History, and Journalism History. Shaw was formerly a project director at the Center for Study of Responsive Law. He has worked on a number of policy issues, including the privatization of government services, health and safety regulations, and electoral reform. He has appeared in such media outlets as the Associated Press, National Public Radio, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, New York Post, Village Voice, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Buffalo News, among others. Shaw lives in Berkeley, CA. Named by The Atlantic as one of the hundred most influential figures in American history, and by Time and Life magazines as one of the most influential Americans of the twentieth century, Ralph Nader has helped us drive safer cars, eat healthier food, breathe better air, drink cleaner water, and work in safer environments for more than four decades. Nader's recent books include "Breaking Through Power" with City Lights, "Unstoppable," and "The Good Fight." Nader writes a syndicated column, has his own radio show, and gives lectures and interviews year round. Katherine Isaac is the Executive Director of the Debs-Jones-Douglass Institute (DJDI) where she advocates for the public good, including a strong and expanded public Postal Service. Previously, Isaac coordinated the Campaign for Postal Banking and A Grand Alliance to Save Our Public Postal Service at the American Postal Workers Union. She currently serves as Board Treasurer of the Global Labor Justice/International Labor Rights Forum. Isaac is the author of "Civics for Democracy: A Journey for Teachers and Students." Sponsored by the City Lights Foundation.

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What was that from Kansas in the NCAA Tournament? On today’s SportsBeat KC beat writers Jesse Newell and Gary Bedore provide the autopsy for one of the ugliest losses in KU history, a 34-point pounding from Southern California in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Also we take a first look ahead for the Jayhawks with roster guesses and what might happen with the NCAA investigation. Here’s how it all went wrong for Kansas. Story links: Here’s what should sting Kansas most after NCAA Tournament loss to USC Historic blowout: Kansas Jayhawks knocked out of NCAA Tournament by USC KU’s worst NCAA Tournament loss (by far) and an uncertain future One year ago, KU seemed poised for a title run. Those dreams were long gone Monday Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Life was NOT easy on the American frontier for European and American settlers in the 19th century. You lived off the land or you died trying. You were always one wrong move from freezing or starving to death. You had to defend your property from horse thieves, bandits, and American Indian tribes understandably pissed off that you’d just settled on land they still felt belonged to them. And if you lived in or traveled around Cherryvale or the Osage Township in rural southeastern Kansas, you had another thing to worry about: being literally hammered to death by the Bloody Benders - a family of four killers. The Benders, sometimes called “America’s first serial killer family,” killed travelers that were unlucky enough to stop for the night at their tiny inn. As settlers swung through on their way to make a new life for themselves in the wild west, maybe carve out a small fortune, they were seated at a table, and the head of the murderous family, ol’ Pa Bender would beat their skulls in. Then daughter Kate would slit their throats, and then either Ma or John Junior would drop their body into the cellar via a trap door.  And later, one of the members of the Bender brood would bury the body in the orchard or vegetable garden out back. This tale is a straight up real life horror movie in this week's, is this a new Rob Zombie movie? or an actual historical examination? episode, of Timesuck. In honor of Veteran’s Day,  we made a Bad Magic Productions donation of $10,000 to https://veteransfoodpantry.org/. Thank you Space Lizards!  Also, through November 23rd, we are accepting Giving Tree applications to help give numerous Cult of the Curious families a holiday Bojangles would be proud of. If you have children, and due to financial hardships, are worried there will no gifts to open this holiday season, we want to help! Please - copy and paste the following email: (copy & paste address) givingtree@badmagicproductions.com You can remain anonymous if you wish. You can also email us here to donate yourself. We will match!  Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4ecBOw2rZdU Merch  - https://badmagicmerch.com/   Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v COTC private FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cultofthecurious/ For all merch related questions: https://badmagicmerch.com/pages/contact Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 9500 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast  Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. Royalty free Music by Giorgio Di Campo for @FreeSound Music http://freesoundmusic.eu https://www.facebook.com/freemusicfor... https://youtube.com/freesoundmusic original video: (link to original clip in our channel) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of Dylan's good friends, Austin Ledbetter, took on the task of creating a new hunter in John Mraz. 3 years in, 2nd deer down, and John Mraz had shot the 7th largest deer in Kansas History: a 239” GIANT! But the story gets better. Austin shot his biggest buck to date 2 nights before, and had a crazy close encounter!

Broadcasting from Kansas State University this is episode five: A Congress of Women: The Woman’s Council at the Ottawa Chautauqua, 1892-1914. In this episode, we discuss Kansas and its role in the women’s suffrage movement with Dr. Sarah Bell.For access to past issues online and more information about our editorial policies and how to submit articles for publication in Kansas History, see our website: https://www.k-state.edu/history/kansas-history/Music provided by: Kevin MacLeod

Kansas and Kansas State won non-conference games against Power 5 opponents for the first time since Gerald Ford was president, so it's pretty obvious what I'm talking about on this week's Big 12 Bullets podcast. I talk about some of the incredible numbers and streaks that Kansas broke with their road win over Boston College. Overall it was a good weekend for the Big 12, Iowa State losing to Iowa on a muffed punt notwithstanding.

The “Instigation of the Hide Trade” is part one of a six-part series entitled “Hide Business.” episode one written and produced by Mike King provides a partial background of what leads up to the Buffalo Hide Trade. The story narrated by Brad Smalley describes the beginning of the fur trade in Kansas and how the expansion West over this vast prairie becomes a slaughtering ground of the American Bison. The “Instigation of the Hide Trade” conveys how one hide dealer by the name of Charles Rath becomes one of the first speculators for securing hides for the development of factory belts. Through the speculation of the hide trade Charles Rath a future citizen of Dodge City establishes himself as a habitus to the birth of the industrial age.

We begin our story in early June of, 1872 two hunters are tracking a large herd of buffalo along the Smoky Hill River and its tributaries, between Fort Hays and Fort Wallace. The region was well known by experienced hunters as the special hunting grounds for the Cheyenne Indians. As hunters Hoo Doo Brown and Dave Morrow travel south to the Arkansas river Morrow an adventurous fellow begins to tell how he became an entrepreneur by raising prairie dogs – thus giving him his nickname "Prairie Dog Morrow." The story narrated by Brad Smalley and written/produced by Mike King is a part of a historical series about the early buffalo hunters in Kansas. You can purchase the book by clicking on the link Return of the Great Hunters: Tales of the Frontier. Learn more about this episode at Wild West Podcast Facebook Page.

This story starts with a tape that, until recently, was in a box at the Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas. Archiver historian Virgil Dean found it. 

Tonight show host Sarah Uthoff is serving as a roving reporter at the Little House on the Prairie Museum outside Independence, Kansas.

Kansas governor Mike Hayden held office from January 12, 1987 - January 14, 1991. Hayden grew up in Atwood in northwest Kansas and relied heavily on support from agriculture and the rural areas of the state in his 1986 campaign. During his administration a comprehensive state highway plan was passed and statewide reappraisal was implemented. Hayden lost his bid for re-election to Kansas' first woman governor, Joan Finney, largely because of the reappraisal controversy.

This features excerpts from the second interview with Kansas Governor John Carlin, who held office from January 8, 1979 to January 12, 1987. In 1978, in a surprise upset, he defeated the Republican incumbent Governor, Robert Bennett, in his bid for re-election. In this interview, Carlin recalls that Bennett initially won, not because he was a popular choice, but because his Democratic opponent was Vern Miller, the controversial Wichita sheriff and Kansas Attorney General from 1971-1975. Carlin ran for a third non-consecutive term as governor in 1990 in one of the most interesting Democratic primary races in Kansas history.

Kansas Governor John Carlin held office from January 8, 1979 to January 12, 1987. He was elected to the Kansas legislature in 1970 and was Minority Leader of the House from 1975-1977; then Speaker of the House from 1977-1979, when Democrats unexpectedly won a majority. In 1978, Carlin upset incumbent Governor Robert Bennett's re-election bid by only 16,335 votes. The interview is the basis for Dr. Bob Beatty's article, "Be willing to take some risks to make things happen," published in Kansas History, vol. 31 (Summer 2008). Video and a complete transcript of the interview is available on Kansas Memory.

William Avery would have never become a politician if not for a series of disastrous floods in Kansas in the mid 20th century. He was the third generation of Averys farming near Wakefield, in Clay County, when President Truman appropriated funds to build two dams in the Blue Valley that would inundate his farm. Avery became an opposition leader and was elected to serve in the Kansas Legislature from 1951-1955, and went on to serve in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1955-1965, though he was unable to stop the dam project. In 1965, Avery became Kansas 37th governor. Video and a complete transcript of the interview is available on Kansas Memory.

John Anderson Jr. was governor of Kansas from January 9, 1961 to January 11, 1965. Dr. Bob Beatty, professor of political science at Washburn University, conducted this interview as part of the Kansas Governors Recorded History and Documentary Project, 2005. In these excerpts, Governor Anderson explains his support for the death penalty during his tenure in office and the major changes he helped bring about in the Kansas public education system. Video and a complete transcript of the interview is available on Kansas Memory.

Robert Fonzo Layher enlisted in the U. S. Navy in 1939 and was assigned to the North Island Naval Air Station in San Diego, when he resigned his commission to join the American Volunteer Group. This was a covert operation that served with the Chinese Air Force under U. S. General Claire Chennault. Since it was organized before the U. S. declared war on Japan, the pilots were technically working for a private military contractor to guarantee that supplies reached the Republic of China's armed forces through Burma, during the Japanese occupation of eastern China. Hear Layher's story of flying with the secret air force that preceded the U.S.'s entry into WWII.

Arthur Jones served in WWII with the 219th Field Artillery, 35th Infantry Division of the Third Army. They landed in France shortly after Independence Day, 1944. Arthur's duty was to drive a Jeep that carried encoded messages back and forth between officers, under cover of dark. Hear his first-hand account of the 35th's push across France toward the German border, then their rush to Bastogne to assist the 101st Airborne during the Battle of the Bulge.

Raymond Brown grew up on a farm in Olpe, Kansas, during the 1920's and 30's. He was twenty-six when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and in 1942 he joined the newly activated 95th Infantry Division, part of General Patton's Third Army. On September 15, 1944, Private Brown landed on Omaha Beach with the 379th Infantry Regiment. They were in contact with the enemy over 100 days in a row and suffered enormous casualties. Hear his personal reminiscences about the "Victory" Divison's drive across France to the German border that fall. This interview is part of the WWII Veterans Oral History grant program that was funded by a bill passed by the 2005 Kansas Legislature.

Mabel Holmes, a longtime Topeka resident, kept a daily diary from January 1, 1935-December 31, 1939. During this time, storms resulting from the severe drought conditions blanketed the state in dust so thick that it could be pitch black in the middle of the day; Kansans were coping with an economic depression even worse than our current one; the threat of a second World War in Europe was looming. Against this backdrop, Mabel talks about the news, weather, shopping, outings with her sister, Elma and their friends and her volunteer work with her church and local women's groups. It's a personal time capsule of an era when Kansas and the nation was experiencing unprecedented change.

Mabel Holmes, a longtime Topeka resident, kept a daily diary from January 1, 1935-December 31, 1939. During this time, storms resulting from the severe drought conditions blanketed the state in dust so thick that it could be pitch black in the middle of the day; Kansans were coping with an economic depression even worse than our current one; the threat of a second World War in Europe was looming. Against this backdrop, Mabel talks about the news, weather, shopping, outings with her sister, Elma and their friends and her volunteer work with her church and local women's groups. It's a personal time capsule of an era when Kansas and the nation was experiencing unprecedented change.

In 1868, raids by hostile Indian bands on the western frontier increased as the white population of Kansas swelled after the Civil War and railroads were built father west. George Armstrong Custer and the 7th U. S. Cavalry were assigned to pursue the Indian tribes to their winter camps and force them to return to the reservations. In Kansas, Governor Crawford quickly raised a volunteer regiment, then decided to resign from office and lead the 19th Kansas Cavalry himself. They joined Generals Sheridan and Custer shortly after the attack on Black Kettle's Village. The troops accompanied Custer on his mission to retrieve two Kansas women, Anna Morgan and Sarah White, who had been abducted during the fall. George Jenness, the commander of Company F of the 19th Kansas, wrote this account of the winter expedition based on his diaries.

In 1868, raids by hostile Indian bands on the western frontier increased as the white population of Kansas swelled after the Civil War and railroads were built father west. That winter the U. S. Army, led by General Sheridan, decided to pursue bands of Cheyenne, Sioux and Comanche to their winter camps and force them to return to government reservations by destroying their food and horses. General Custer and the 7th U. S. Cavalry were chosen for this winter campaign. In Kansas, young governor Samuel Crawford, outraged by the continuing violence, received permission to quickly raise a regiment of Kansas men to assist the U. S. troops. At the last minute, Crawford decided to resign from office and lead 19th Kansas Cavalry himself. They marched southwest from Wichita to join Generals Sheridan and Custer. George Jenness, the commander of Company F of the 19th Kansas, wrote this account of the winter expedition based on his diaries.

Ned Beck continued writing in his diary throughout the summer of 1880, so we have his first-hand account of Holton, Kansas' 4th of July festivities. Holton planned to hold a community picnic on July 3rd, since July 4th fell on Sunday that year, but it was an unusually rainy summer and that Saturday was no exception, so the celebration was somewhat subdued. Just like kids today, Ned's favorite part of the holiday was the fireworks. Here's his description of the events of that week.

Another school year is coming to a close in Holton, Kansas. Final exams; class picnics; summer baseball teams forming--it could be May 2009--but 11 year old Ned Beck wrote this diary in 1880. This podcast features Ned's diary entries during late May. Moses and Mary Beck are enlarging their home to accomodate their full household: Ned, or Edward, their oldest son, his younger brother William, who is 7, and two daughters: Mattie, 9, and Clara, 3. In addition, they have a 17-year-old servant named Ida Walton living with them and two young male boarders, Charles "Ed" Rose and Fred Brown. Ned's father ran a drug store and published the Holton newspaper, The Recorder. Ned and his younger brother, Will, often helped out in their father's businesses, in addition to doing farm chores. Hear about the activities that filled Ned's summer days.

In the late 19th century, American tax laws favored Northeastern industrialists, who amassed enormous fortunes, while farmers in rural America found it harder and harder to make a living. The Farmer's Alliance, combined with other labor movements, formed The People's Party and took control of the Kansas House of Representatives in 1890. Kansas newspaper editor, William Peffer, represented the Populists in the U. S. Senate from 1891 to 1897. This podcast is drawn from his editorials, which championed the economic reforms the farmers called for.

The death penalty has always been controversial in Kansas. Executions were first halted in 1872, after the legislature passed a law requiring the governor to sign off on all execution orders. Capital punishment has continued to stir controversy, not only in the political arena, but in the hearts and minds of Kansans.

Since long before Euro-American settlement, strong winds have been a constant feature of the central plains region and the area now known as Kansas. The name Kansas was borrowed from the Kanza Indians who called themselves "the people of the south wind." This podcast features three stories about Kansas tornadoes recorded by visitors to the Forces of Nature exhibit at the Kansas Museum of History. These stories are also available on the Historical Society's website for primary sources, Kansas Memory, at http://www.kansasmemory.org.

Martha Farnsworth was a prolific diary writer, recording her daily experiences from 1882 through 1922 with only minor gaps. This podcast features entries from Martha's diary that describe her courtship and first marriage to John W. Shaw, a post man in Topeka, Kansas. In these entries, Martha is in her early twenties and describes her involvement with several boyfriends, including breaking off an engagement with one of them. She is very candid about her feelings and many of her diary entries are very emotional. At this point in time, it is difficult to determine if these accounts are her actual feelings, the highs and lows of young women, or if she is being flirtatious and melodramatic, which might have been part of the expected standards of courtship and marriage in the late Victorian era.

Martha Farnsworth was a prolific diary writer, recording her daily experiences from 1882 through 1922 with only minor gaps. Martha , with some assistance from her second husband Fred taught a Sunday School class of boys at the first Christian Church in Topeka. Martha taught the same boys year in and year out and these boys became their family. Martha recorded the impact of World War I on her life and on these young men, a number of whom served in WWI. This podcast will feature entries from Martha's diaries for 1917 and 1918 that record the activities of her "boys" serving in the military "over there", activities on the home front, and Martha's emotions about the this war.

In the mid 1870s, settlers trying to establish homes and farms in Kansas had to deal with grasshopper invasions that would destroy crops. This pod cast will feature excerpts from a reminiscence that provides a word picture of an invasions in 1874 and from a diary that contains numerous references to these insects in May of 1875.

After the treaty of 1825, the Shawnee Indians were removed from Ohio to the Indian Territory west of Missouri. In response, three Christian missions were built in the vicinity of the Westport Landing on the Missouri River. The records from these missions are some of the earliest manuscripts in the Kansas Historical Society collections.

From 1991 to 1996 the Kansas Historical Society participated in a grant project that funded eighty oral interviews with people involved in or affected by U.S. school desegregation cases that culminated in the U. S. Supreme Court case, Brown versus Board of Education Topeka. This podcast features excerpts from an interview with Christina Jackson, who grew up in Topeka, Kansas and raised her children there. She speaks candidly of her experiences going to a segregated school and her children's adjustment to desegration after the Brown decision.

From 1991 to 1996 the Kansas Historical Society participated in a grant project that funded eighty oral interviews with people involved in or affected by U.S. school desegregation cases that culminated in the U. S. Supreme Court case, Brown versus Board of Education Topeka. This podcast features excerpts from interviews with former Assistant Attorney General and Topeka School Board member, Fred Rausch, and NAACP Executive Board member, Charles Baston.

By the late 1800's the wild buffalo was nearly extinct. Listen to the stories of Harriet Bidwell, who witnessed a buffalo hunt while traveling on the Santa Fe Trail; and Henry Raymond, who hunted the shaggy beasts when massive herds still roamed the Great Plains.

No collection of state records can create as varied a snapshot of an era as the correspondence the governor receives. Constituents write about any current topic that they believe needs the governor's attention. These letters become part of the permanent collections at the Kansas Library and State Archives. Years later, the history of Kansas comes alive again through their words.

Harry Colmery, a Topekan, is credited with writing the initial draft of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the GI Bill of Rights. He was part of a committee formed by the national American Legion to secure benefits for those men and women who served in World War II. This pod cast features Colmery's testimony to Congress about what the United States owed to the men and women who had fought for the freedom and liberty of their country. Many historians credit the GI Bill with the rise of a college-educated middle class and with the increase in home ownership among U.S. citizens.

Harriet Adams wrote about her memories of the Christmas when she was seven years old. This story conveys her anticipation of this holiday in a delightful way. She outlines the families various traditions through her childhood eyes including the family Christmas tree, the reading of "Twas the night before Christmas," and her concern that Santa could not get down their chimney. This reminiscence is part of the Lilla Day Monroe Collection of Pioneer Stories.

Immigrants flocked to Kansas in the 1870s in response to the opening of vast tracts of land for white settlement. Their excitement was fueled in no small part by brochures the railroads were distributing, claiming the state had the "best and cheapest farming and grazing lands in America"; and touting Kansas as "the garden of the West."; Listen and marvel at the words these promoters used to lure settlers to the midwest!

Dwight D. Eisenhower--a sailor??? In 1910, Dwight D. Eisenhower requested an appointment to West Point or the naval academy from his U. S. Senator Joseph Bristow of Salina, Kansas. This podcast features the letters he wrote to Senator Bristow and allows the listener to speculate on how the course of history may have been changed if Eisenhower--the future Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force and 34th President of the United States--had served in the U. S. Navy rather than the U. S. Army. The text for this podcast was written by Jerry Veatch, KSHS volunteer.

In many ways, Elam Bartholomew was a typical Kansas settler as he encountered most of the challenges facing those settling on the Great Plains. He is an extraordinary Kansan because he recorded his life's events for 60 years in his daily diaries. He settled in Kansas in 1874. He returned to Illinois to marry and returned to Rooks County, Kansas, with his new wife Rachel in 1876. This podcast is based on excerpts from the diary for 1877 and 1878. It details his farming activities and those of his neighbors, with whom he traded work. It includes his comments on the birth of his first child, a land dispute among neighbors, organizing literary societies and a church, fighting prairie fires, and reports of an Indian raid. Though not documented in the diary, Bartholomew is also extraordinary because he was nationally known as a naturalist who studied fungi that grew on grain products. He is credited with identifying several hundred new species.