December 2002/January 2003
(Volume 6, Number 3)

What helps you remember special people or important moments in your life? Photographs, trophies, souvenirs and other objects can bring back memories. A certain toy may remind you of the grandparent who gave it to you. A team shirt may help you remember an important game.

Sometimes people create objects especially to help them remember. These are called monuments. They honor significant people, places or events in history. Sometimes monuments are called "memorials," which comes from the word memory. What special memories can Kansas monuments share with us today? Read on to find out!

For Parents and Teachers:
The Kansas curricular standards for fourth grade requires students to be able to explain how important buildings, statues, monuments, and place names are associated with the state’s history. We have selected some of the more famous Kansas examples for this issue. We also have tried to show the wide variety of shapes and styles that memorials come in. We challenge you to use this issue to take a closer look at your own town. We know you will find many interesting stories in these pieces of history placed there by previous generations of Kansans.

Life is full of change. As you get older, your life will be filled with events and individuals who are important to you. For many people, it is valuable to have something lasting to remember them by.

Monuments are made to last a long time. That is why they are often made of stone or metal.

Make a list of all the monuments you have seen or read about. These might be monuments in your town.

Monuments can help us look at our history. Historians study monuments and other things which people have made to learn about the past. Give it a try!

When Kansas was a new state, settlers had to work very hard to make a living. They didn’t have much time or money to build big monuments. As towns prospered, however, they became more interested in art.

Around 1900 factories also made statues. Stone or bronze sculptures could be ordered from catalogs.

Kansans built monuments to honor leaders. Statues help us to remember not only what they looked like, but also why their leadership was important.

State Statue Search!

Put on your detective hat and search your town. What memorials are there to leaders?

Kansans wanted to remember the courage and hard work of the pioneers. These monuments honor the efforts of early settlers.

Heralded Heroes

Many Kansas monuments remind us of our heroes. They can be someone for the past or people you know-firefighters, teachers, doctors, soldiers, or someone close who has made a difference in your life.

Families remember loved ones with monuments at their gravesites. Tombstones usually record the person's name and birth and death dates.

Monuments help us remember significant events in our history. For example, most towns in Kansas have a war statue.

Tributes in Time

Some of our country's most familiar monuments were built to honor the brave soldiers who fought and died in war. War memorials remember people in our towns who served during our nation's most difficult times.

Historic places teach us about important locations in our past. Many of these places are marked by monuments.

Outdoor monuments help bring Kansas history to life. But if they are to last, they need care and protection.

Designing a monument isn't always an easy task. Coming up with an idea that people can agree upon is often more difficult than making the monument itself.

Meet one of Kansas's best-known sculptors, Pete Felten.