Topics in Kansas History: Community & Daily Life

Arts & Literature

One of Kansas' most well-known artists, John Steuart Curry was born on a farm near Dunavant, Jefferson County, in 1897. Although he eventually left Kansas to attend art schools in the East and Europe, he never forgot his Kansas roots. Many of his most famous paintings, including Tornado Over Kansas and Baptism in Kansas, depict life on the Kansas farmlands. His style and subject matter made him a leader in the American Scene school of painting, along with Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton. read more

Find resources on the arts.

• Borglum, Gutzom
• Bosin, Blackbear
• Curry, John Steuart
• Douglas, Aaron
• Kansas State Capitol Art
• Kansas State Capitol Artist and Custodian

Letters, documents, objects, and photographs

• American Woman and Her Political Peers pastel by Henrietta Briggs-Wall
• Bison--Central Plains painting by Louis ShipShee
• Carry Nation sketch by Albert Reid
• Custer's Last Rally print by John Mulvany
• Dust Storm print by Herschel Logan
• Drouthy Kansas, painting by Henry Worrall
• Folk art carvings by Gust Sands
• The Garden quilt by Josephine Craig
• Iris Garland quilt by Hannah Headlee
• Grassland Rhapsody engraving by E. Hubert Deines
• Hello! Santy! cartoon by Albert Reid
• Platinum record from Kansas rock band
• Price Raid painting by Samuel Reader
• The Spirit of Kansas painting by Mary Weston
• They're Playing Our Song: Community Bands in Kansas (an online exhibit)
• Statehouse studies by John Steuart Curry
• Wolgast Hardware painting by Carol Johnson
• Wood carvings by German P.O.W.s, World War II

Bibliographies, finding aids, and guides to the collections

• Kansas Board of Review Records, 1915-1966
• Kanwaka Literary Club Record, 1992-1997
• McEntire-Brooke Family Papers, 1758-1982
• Pleasant Hour Club Records, 1902-1939

Kansas Heritage, our popular history magazine

• "In Search of Secrets in the Stone: Rock Art of Kansas," Summer 1998
• "Light Fantastic: A Kansas Stained Glass Sampler," Winter 1998
• "Patterns of History: A Century of Women's Fashions," Spring 1998

Kansas History, our scholarly journal

• "Civil War Valor in Concrete: David A Lester and the Kinsley Civil War Monument," Autumn 1999
• "Kansans and the Visual Arts Review Essay," Winter 2002
• "Kansas Literature, A Review Essay," Summer 2002
• "Kansas Settlers on the Osage Diminished Reserve: A Study of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie," Autumn 2001
• "A Review Essay: Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks and The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton by Jane Smiley," Winter 1998

Kansas Kaleidoscope, our children's magazine

• "Dress to Impress: A Century of Kansas Fashion Statements (1861-1961)," April/May 2002
• "Smarts: African American Creative Genius in the Arts," December 2001/January 2002

Find other Community & Daily Life topics.