Main Gallery Exhibits
at the Kansas Museum of History
Early 20th Century
Experience the hard times lived by Kansans at the
Kansas Museum of History in Topeka.
You'll see:
The first decades of the 20th century were tumultuous
in Kansas as the state endured drought, war, intolerance, and economic
depression.
In the early 1900s, reform movements
were sweeping the nation because laws were not being enforced and, particularly
in cities, vice was rampant. There were no social agencies to help the
poor and addicted. Kansans, too, were caught up in the reform fervor
and were leaders in curbing the use of alcohol and tobacco.
Angry that prohibition laws were not being enforced, one Kansas reformer
took the law into her own hands. Carry
Nation used rocks to smash her first saloon in June 1900.
During the next six months she gained national attention for her campaign.
Unfortunately, most people today know her only as an oversimplified
stereotype, but Nation actually was acting within a mainstream reform
movement. "The Roaring Twenties" saw continued reform efforts
as the Ku Klux Klan attempted to spread its message of racial and religious
intolerance in Kansas. Through the combined efforts of Pulitzer Prize-winning
editor William Allen White and governor Henry Allen, Kansas became the
first state to legally oust the
Klan.
While hard times hit the nation with the 1929 stock market crash, many
Kansans had known difficulties since the end of World War I when reduced
demand for grain hurt the farm economy. Already suffering, farm
families were hit hardest by the Great Depression because of
a severe and lengthy drought. Dust storms became so frequent in the
early 1930s that parts of Kansas and surrounding states became known
as "The Dust Bowl."
To fight the depression, the federal government created relief agencies.
One of these was the Works Projects Administration (WPA) which supported
artists and trained unemployed workers in new skills. The WPA's Kansas
Museum Project provided training in various crafts and
produced artworks for use in schools and museums.
Many WPA projects can be seen around Kansas today. Besides art and
artifacts in museum collections, there are bridges, band shells, reservoirs
and roads still in use around the state.
"Ad astra per aspera"
(To the stars through difficulties)
-- Kansas state motto
Hours and Fees
Museum hours are 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and
1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Sunday. Closed Mondays and state
holidays. Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for members and seniors,
$2 for students, and $1 per student for school tours.
Information
For information on our facilities, see Visiting
the Kansas Museum of History. Contact us at KansasMuseum@kshs.org.
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