Facet Browse

Horse sale, Santa Fe, Haskell County, Kansas

Steele, F. M. (Francis Marion), 1866-1936

There was brisk trading in Santa Fe, Kansas, whenever a herd of sleek horses like these were offered for sale, as the pioneers were unaccustomed to the benefits of motorized farming, and even motor cars were a rarity. John Jacob Miller is shown facing the camera (sixth man from the right, dressed in a hat, tie, white shirt, and vest). Also visible in the photograph are the Haskell County courthouse, Cave's Store, and Frank McCoy Lands. Santa Fe was the first county seat of Haskell County, Kansas. In 1912, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad built a line from Dodge City, Kansas, to Elkhart, Kansas, that bypassed the town by seven miles. In 1920, the Haskell Country seat was moved to Sublette, which had prospered by being on the AT&SF rail line, and Santa Fe faded away into a ghost town.

Children's wagon pulled by turkeys

Two small children with a wagon full of gourds pulled by turkeys in Nortonville, Kansas.

Urbin I. Rudell photograph collection

Rudell, Urbin I., 1878-1966

Photographer Urbin I. Rudell, 1878-1966, was born in the Lenape community of Leavenworth County, Kansas. His family later moved to Loring, Wyandotte County, where he attended school. Rudell became interested in taking photographs at age 15 and taught himself the art of photography with a German-made camera he acquired. Rudell married Alice Mae Barry in 1903 and the couple moved to Bonner Springs in 1907. About this time, the city leaders were promoting Bonner Springs as a health resort. Rudell was hired to take photographs of Bonner Springs businesses, homes, and other points of interest, which were published in the booklet "Kansas Karlsbad." During the Depression, Rudell was hired to carry mail and parcel post between the post office and the Union Pacific depot, and he held that job for the next twenty years. He continued to operate his photography business and worked out of his home taking photographs when requested and whenever a major event occurred in town.

L. W. Halbe Collection

Halbe, L. W. (Leslie Winfield), 1893-1981

The L. W. (Leslie Winfield) Halbe photo collection consists of 1500 glass plate negatives produced by Halbe during his teenage years. Halbe lived in Dorrance, Russell County, Kansas, and began taking photographs of the region with an inexpensive Sears and Roebuck camera when he was fifteen years old.

Veselik-Gannon photograph collection

Gannon, Richard

The Veselik-Gannon photograph collection documents farming and ranching activities in Sherman County, Kansas, in the early twentieth century. The photographs include images of sod houses and other residences, barns and outbuildings, many children and farm and ranching families, tractors and other farm machinery, horses and cattle, people doing farm chores, cowboys, and early automobiles and motorcycles. The John L. and Mary Veselik residence near Ruleton appears in many of the photographs. The photographer is unknown. Richard Gannon donated copies of the photographs to the Kansas Historical Society in 1983 after discovering them in a building on his property.

Golden Charles Dresher photograph collection

Dresher, G. C.

This collection consists of 326 photographs taken by G. C. (Golden Charles) Dresher of Canton, McPherson County, Kansas. The photos mostly concern the Dresher family, their friends and the surrounding area. Photographs of McPherson College students and the flooding of Cow Creek are also included. Dorothy May (Dresher) Richards, the daughter of G. C. Dresher, donated the original glass plate negatives to the Kansas Historical Society in 1999.

Dr. Martha Cunningham, Garnett, Kansas

This black and white photograph shows Dr. Martha Cunningham, seated in the buggy, with her sister Belle. The buggy is in front of her office at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Oak Street in Garnett, Kansas. A graduate from the Chicago School of Medicine, Martha and her reliable horse Prince made house calls for over twenty-five years in the Garnett community. Her name and office hours are on the door in the background.

J.R. Watkins Medical wagon, Eureka, Kansas

This black and white photograph shows a couple standing beside a J.R. Watkins Medical wagon with sampling cases near Eureka, Kansas. The medical company, founded in 1868 by Joseph Ray Watkins from Plainview, Minnesota, sold medical liniments and salves from the back of a horse drawn wagon. The company may have sold supplies for animals as well as humans because a bucket in the front of the photograph is labeled "stock tonic" and the wagon has "stock and poultry tonic" on it.

Scenes of Sherman County, Kansas

Multiple scenes of Sherman County, Kansas.

Scenes of Sherman County, Kansas

Multiple scenes of Sherman County, Kansas.