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Thematic Time Period -- Age of Reform, 1880 - 1917 (Remove)
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Page 1 of 1, showing 3 records out of 3 total, starting on record 1, ending on 3

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Title | Creator | Date Made Visible | None

William Alfred Peffer

Leonard, J. H.

William Alfred Peffer was the first Populist senator elected to U.S. Congress. He was born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, on September 10, 1831. As a young man he traveled across the country, living in California, Indiana, Missouri, and Illinois. After the outbreak of Civil War, Peffer enlisted in the 83rd Illinois Infantry, entering as a private and working his way up to the rank of second lieutenant. He read law while still in the military, and after his discharge in 1865 he was admitted to the bar and began practicing law in Clarksville, Tennessee. Five years later he moved to Fredonia, Kansas, where he established another practice and edited the Fredonia Journal. Peffer served as a state senator from 1874 to 1876, and during his tenure he relocated to Coffeyville, Kansas, where he assumed editorial control of the Coffeyville Journal. Then, in 1881, he launched the Populist publication Kansas Farmer, one of his best-known contributions to this agrarian reform movement. Peffer was instrumental in the creation of the People?s (Populist) Party, serving as a Populist U.S. Senator from 1891 to 1897 and running again (unsuccessfully) for re-election in 1896. Two years later, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for Governor of Kansas, losing the election to Republican William Stanley. Peffer died in 1912 in Grenola, Kansas, at the age of 81.

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Eugene Ware correspondence

This is a series of correspondence to and from Eugene Fitch Ware (1841-1911). Ware moved to Fort Scott, Kansas, after the Civil War and became employed at the Fort Scott Monitor. In 1879, Ware began the first of three terms in the Kansas State Senate. During his terms of office, Ware introduced bills concerning railroads, life insurance, militia, and relief and support of the poor as well as bills of a more local nature. Ware moved to Topeka in 1893 to become a partner with Charles Gleed and his brother, James, forming the law firm of Gleed, Ware and Gleed. In addition to journalism, law, and politics, Ware used the pseudonym, Ironquill, for his literary and poetic achievements. His works include "Neutralia" and "The Rhymes of Ironquill". For a complete contents list of the papers of Eugene Fitch Ware, see the External Links below.

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December 1888-January 1889

Kansas. Governor (1885-1889 : Martin)

These letters, spanning December 1888 through January 1889, are from residents as well as state and federal offices regarding Kansas affairs to Kansas Governor John Martin. The letters discuss various topics including legislation, farming, finances, personal matters/opinions, railroads, appointments to positions, American Bar Association, and military affairs. John Martin served as 10th governor of Kansas: January 12, 1885, to January 14, 1889. He was fortunate to have acquired upon his inauguration in 1885 a state of affairs that was persistent in prosperous economic growth, and city and town expansion. But all that boom and extravagance changed in his last year of office when conditions gave way to severe drought and an economic recession.

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