Kansas Historical Notes - August 1946
August 1946 (Vol. 14, No. 3), pages 357 to 360.
Transcribed by lhn;
digitized with permission of the Kansas Historical Society.
Lawrence voters on April 2, 1946, approved a $325,000 bond issue for a new city building which will provide quarters for the Douglas County Historical Society as well as veterans' organizations and the fire and police departments. Sponsors of the project pointed out that the new structure will provide room for a museum to preserve items of historical value now scattered over the city.
A description of old Shawnee Friends Mission was given by Dr. Charles Loomis at a meeting of the Shawnee Mission Indian Historical Society at Merriam, April 22, 1946. The mission was located on property long owned by the Loomis family and the site is in the present Merriam community. Loomis also mentioned the town of Gum Springs, now Shawnee. The present name of the latter town was derived from the Indian tribe. Mrs. Pauline Van Hercke and others spoke on Catholic churches and schools of Shawnee township at the March 25 meeting of the society held at Shawnee.
Chancellor Deane W. Malott of the University of Kansas addressed a dinner of the William Allen White Foundation in New York City, April 24, 1946. Chancellor Malott said the foundation was planned to provide" realistic teaching material" for the school of journalism and public information at the University of Kansas. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was guest of honor at the dinner. Other speakers included Sen. Arthur Capper; Frank E. Tripp, general manager of Gannett, newspapers; A. D. Willard, Jr., executive vice-president of the National Association of Broadcasters, and Francis Hannon, vice-president of the Motion Picture Producers' Association.
The Ness County Historical Society is planningto erect markers in memory of Dr. George Washington Carver, one upon the quarter- section of land south of Beeler which the famed Negro scientist homesteaded in the late 1880's, and the other on nearby K-96 highway. Dr. Carver was for years head of agricultural research at Tuskegee Institute.
Preliminary steps for the organization of the Decatur County Historical Society were taken at a meeting at Oberlin, May 22, 1946. Temporary offIcers chosen were: H. Q. Banta, president; E. R. Woodward, vice-president; Ben Miller, secretary, and Dr. A. J. Thomsen, treasurer. Temporary officers plan to call a countywide meeting to complete a permanent organization.
The 100th anniversary of the arrival of theill-fated Donner
(357)
358 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
party at Alcove Springs in present Marshall county and the death of Mrs. Sarah Keyes was observed by the Marysville D. A. R. May 26, 1946, with commemorative services at the historic camping grounds on the old California-Oregon road seven miles south of present Marysville. In 1941 the Kansas state legislature memorialized the National Parks Board to make a national monument or historic shrine of the Alcove Springs area, but as yet no action has been taken.
A marker at the site of Lamb's Point, one-half mile east of Detroit, Dickinson county, was dedicated June 14, 1946, with Charles M. Harger of Abilene, former president of the Kansas Historical Society, giving the dedicatory address. Lamb's Point, named for William Lamb, was the seat of the county government for a time in the late 1850's, and was a stopping place on early stage lines. The memorial was erected by the Dickinson County Historical Society and members of the Lamb family.
Citizens residing in Riley county 50 or more years were honored at a basket dinner and program sponsored by the Riley County Historical Association at Manhattan June 16, 1946. The featured speaker, Alvin Springer, Manhattan attorney, discussed early days in Kansas. Walter E. McKeen is president of the association.
Former students of old Garfield University, 1887-1890, the predecessor of present Friends University, of Wichita, unveiled a bronze tablet at the university on June 18, 1946, commemorating the establishment of Garfield University. A bronze plate was fastened to the door of a room which is to serve as a Garfield memorial room.
The histories of Crawford county's Catholic churches and patriotic organizations and the story of Washington Irving's trip across the county were highlights of the summer meeting of the Crawford County Historical Society at Pittsburg, June 20, 1946. Dr. O. P. Dellinger is president of the society and Mrs. C. M. Paris is secretary.
Miss Stella B. Haines, president of the Augusta Historical Society, has announced that the society's museum will be open to the public each Sunday afternoon during the summer. New postal cards of the museum are on sale.
The Dodge City Historical Society has contracted for the purchase of show cases for its museum objects. They will be placed in a Southwest Fair building until permanent space is available in the new municipal auditorium.
KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 359
Plans are being made to organize a Shawnee County Historical Society. Paul B. Sweet, of Topeka, is temporary treasurer.
More than 100 articles from the museum of theUniversity of Wichita have been lent to the Wichita Public Historical Museum for display at the forum. Some of the larger pieces are an ox yoke, a wheel for fixing wool in strands, a cradle for cutting wheat and a loom with pedals. Museum hours are 1:30 to 4:30 p. m., Tuesdays through Saturdays. Mrs. Frank Slay is curator.
Aerial views of business districts and industrial sites in 16 Kansas cities are included in a 220-page, illustrated volume, Kansas Industrial Properties, recently issued by the Union Pacific Railroad Company. The book features pictures of buildings and maps of industrial sections, together with data on area and population, major industrial activities, labor, climate, railroads, industrial power, water and gas, financial institutions and natural resources. The state's general industrial activities, potential resources and transportation are also discussed. Kansas cities described in the volume are: Kansas City, Elwood, Leavenworth, Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan, Marysville, Junction City, Clay Center, Concordia, Abilene, Salina, McPherson, Russell, Hays and Ellis.
The new 136-page book, Wichita People, issued by the Wichita Chamber of Commerce, is an excellent review of Wichita in pictures and story. In addition to the sections devoted to the activities of Wichita citizens, there are thirty-two pages filled with photographs of articles manufactured or produced in the city's metropolitan area
Fifty Years of Secondary Education in Oxford, Kansas, is the title of a 151-page history of Oxford Rural High School prepared and written by members of the 1945-1946 offIce-practice class and E. Esther Griswold, teacher. The high school was organized as a twoyear course beginning in 1895. The school's 1946 annual, Oxford Wildcats, also observed the golden anniversary by publishing historical sketches of the athletic teams and pictures of teams and classes of earlier years. Views of the first school buildings were included.
Seventy-five Years of Kansas City Livestock Market History is the title of a 40-page booklet issued by the Kansas City Stock Yards Company. The growth and development of the livestock market is sketched in three 25-year periods and is illustrated with drawings and photographs of early structures and photographs of the present yards and offices.
360 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Kansas cities and towns are again issuing colored illustrated folders or booklets featuring their business and community life and historical background. Included among the cities whose booklets have reached this Society are Topeka, Smith Center, Lawrence and Phillipsburg.
An illustrated 52-page booklet, Wealth in Depth-The Minerals of Kansas, has been issued by the Kansas Industrial Development Commission, Topeka. The publication features pictures of mineral formations and products, and geological and ground water supply maps. A folder, Kansas Horizons, was also recently issued by the Development Commission. It contains pictures of the Kansas state flag, flower, bird, and state house incolors and discusses the state's productive record under the heading, "Kansas, the Balanced State."
Birds in Kansas is the title of a 340-page book published in March, 1946, by the Kansas State Board of Agriculture. The author is Dr. Arthur L. Goodrich, Jr., of the department of zoology of Kansas State College. In addition to six sketches of Kansas birds in color by Margaret Whittemore, there are numerous other illustrations. Also featured are a list ofcolloquial names and "finding lists," which consist of tabulations of more commonKansas birds by habitat, by time of year or residence, and by their major colors.
A 326-page book, General George Crook-His Autobiography, edited and annotated by Martin F. Schmitt, was published in'March, 1946, by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. General Crook spent his military career, excepting the four Civil War years, in Western United States and was commanding general of the Department of the Missouri, "the largest and most active of all frontier commands," at his death in 1890.
The Social Science Research Council of New York City has published a 177-page bulletin entitled Theory and Practice in Historical Study: A Report of the Committee on Historiography. Subjects include "Grounds For a Reconsideration of Historiography," and "Problems of Terminology in Historical Writing," by Charles A. Beard; "Controlling Assumptions in the Practice of American Historians," by John Herman Randall, Jr., and George Haines, IV; "What Historians Have Said About the Causes of the Civil War," by Howard K. Beale, and "Selective Reading List on Historiography and the Philosophy of History," by Ronald Thompson.
