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Thematic Time Period -- Indian Territory, 1820 - 1854 (Remove)
Business and Industry -- Media/Communications (Remove)
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Page 1 of 1, showing 4 records out of 4 total, starting on record 1, ending on 4

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Title | Creator | Date Made Visible | None

Shawnee Sun (Siwinowe Kesibwi)

Lykins, Johnston, 1800?-1876

This photo static copy of the Shawnee Sun represents the first newspaper printed in Kansas (then known as Indian Territory). The paper was written in the Shawnee alphabet created by Johnston Lykins, a Baptist missionary to the Shawnee Indians. The newspaper lists John Gill Pratt as publisher. The original paper copy of this issue is held by the LaBudde Special Collections Department, Miller Nichols Library, University of Missouri-Kansas City.

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Jotham Meeker to Rev. Lucius Bolles

Meeker, Jotham, 1804-1855

Jotham Meeker, a missionary to the Ottawa Indians, wrote this letter to his contact on the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, Reverend Lucius Bolles. From this letter, it appears that the Ottawa had become more interested in Christianity. Furthermore, Meeker wanted an assistant to help in printing evangelical materials; this would allow him to devote more time to religious instruction and language education.

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Ottawa Indian Mission balance sheet

Meeker, Jotham, 1804-1855

This balance sheet, prepared by Baptist missionary Jotham Meeker, outlines the income and expenses of the Ottawa mission during 1842. This mission was located near present-day Ottawa, Kansas. It includes information on expenditures for translations into native languages, native education, interpreters, and the printing office. These funds benefited the Ottawa, Potawatomi, Delaware, and Shawnee Indians residing in Indian Territory.

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Johnston Lykins

Johnston Lykins was a well-known missionary, physician, and translator who worked with the Pottawatomi and Shawnee Indians who had moved to Indian Territory (present-day Kansas) after the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830. In 1831, after serving as a missionary to the Indian tribes in Indiana and Michigan, Lykins and his first wife Delilah (McCoy) Lykins moved to Indian Territory. Lykins and his father-in-law, Isaac McCoy, established the Shawnee Indian Baptist Mission in present-day Johnson County, Kansas. In addition to his responsibilities as a physician, Lykins worked as a translator and developed a system of Indian orthography that allowed the Shawnee people to read and write in their native language. He edited and published the first paper printed in Shawnee, called the Sinwiowe Kesibwi (Shawnee Sun). In the spring of 1843, Lykins founded a mission among the Pottawatomi near what is today Topeka. Due, perhaps, to inter-denominational conflicts and other problems with the mission, Lykins left the Pottawatomi mission and moved to Kansas City, Missouri. He served as the second mayor of Kansas City in 1854, and he remained in residence there until his death in 1876.

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