New Additions to Our Collections

This wall pocket is part of a larger donation of Native American ethnographic items from Alice Lueck of Abilene. The leather item is beaded in colorful floral motifs characteristic of the woodland Indians.

The donor was the daughter-in-law of Henry Lueck, who was a partner in the Johnson and Lueck Store in Netawaka, Kansas, at the turn of the 20th century. The store had many Native American customers, particularly from the Potawatomie and Kickapoo reservations. Some of the items may have been traded for store goods, but the donor reports that most of the items were purchased outright. In addition to the beaded items, Alice Lueck donated two store ledgers that recorded transactions with Native Americans from 1893 to 1897. View a pair of moccasins also donated by Lueck.

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In 1998, the Society received its first donation of manuscripts from The Land Institute, and since that time has received periodic accretions. The Land Institute, founded in 1976 by Wes and Dana Jackson, is a non-profit research and educational organization. Established near Salina, Kansas, the Institute is committed to developing alternative forms of agriculture that mimic the native prairie of Kansas, do not deplete natural resources, and promote prosperous communities. Major programs include natural systems agriculture research, Sunshine Farm, rural community studies, and graduate research fellowships.

Nikaela Zimmerman, the 2002-2003 Lela Barnes Intern, organized and prepared a finding aid to the collection. The Land Institute Manuscript Collection No. 777 contains two subgroups with 9 series. Researchers may view the finding aid online or access the collection at the Society's Reference Room at the Center for Historical Research.

View an image of Wes Jackson, co-founder and president of The Land Institute.

Over 100 pieces of exceptional hand-painted china were donated to the Kansas Museum of History by the daughter of the artist, Gertrude Anderson Armantrout. A Topeka native, Armantrout painted these striking pieces using both original designs and commercially made patterns. Like many other women of her time, she enjoyed painting china as an opportunity to both express herself creatively and to create functional items for her home. Armantrout painted china most prolifically from 1914 to 1936, at a time when the popularity of porcelain painting was at its height.

The chocolate set pictured here is signed "April 1915" and was a "blank" (undecorated, ready to paint porcelain) purchased by Armantrout and hand-painted by her.

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