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Dave Webb

Dave WebbKansas Historical Foundation
Board of Directors
Elected to board: 1994

Dave Webb is a fourth-generation Kansas who grew up in Protection where he attended school. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Southwestern College in Winfield in 1970.  All eight of his great-grandparents lived in Comanche County, and his family owns land that has been farmed since 1888.

From 1970 to 1992, he taught school in Scott City, Garden City, and his hometown of Protection.

He has a passion for railroad history; his Comanche County home is a refurbished 1887 Santa Fe depot, with a caboose in the back yard.

For 32 years, Webb wrote and designed learning materials published by the Kansas Heritage Center, part of USD 443, Dodge City Public Schools.  His publications included maps, posters, 399 Kansas Characters, an encyclopedia of noted and notorious individuals with Kansas connections, and activity books for children: Santa Fe Trail Adventures and Fort Larned Adventures.  In 2014 he coauthored 999 Kansas Characters:  Ad Astra, an encyclopedia featuring 161 adventurers, astronauts, discoverers, explorers, pilots, pioneers and scientists with Kansas connections.

He retired from full-time work at the Kansas Heritage Center in the summer of 2016,  but is currently working on a second book in the 999 Kansas Characters series, Movers and Shakers.

He has served on the boards of Comanche County USD 300, Comanche County Extension, Protection Township Library, Protection United Methodist Church, Gyp Hills Scenic Byway, Santa Fe Trail Association, Comanche County Economic Development Foundation, and Fort Larned Old Guard. He was the editor of the Fort Larned Old Guard newsletter for 20 years and has written a weekly historical column for the Protection Press since 1986.

Kansas' heritage is rich in “characters,” as Webb discovered when he researched this collection of biographies.  Webb says after researching his Kansas Heritage Center publications, "History is much more than dusty files full of forgotten facts.  It is people—intriguing personalities —just waiting to introduce themselves to current Kansas residents of any age."

Webb was first elected to the Kansas Historical Foundation Board of Directors in 1994. He has chaired the Edgar Langsdorf and Tihen grant awards committees, and served on the Langsdorf writing award and nominating committees.