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Road construction, Beloit, Kansas

This photograph shows men building roads on a Good Roads Day, Beloit, Kansas.

Hauling dirt for the railroad bed

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

This is a view, presumed to have been taken in Haskell County, Kansas, of rail workers using horse- and mule-drawn wagons to haul dirt for a railroad bed.

People on a flatbed railroad car

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

This is a view, presumed to have been taken in Haskell County, Kansas, of a large group of people (men and women) on a flat railroad car being pulled by a locomotive. Also visible are a horse-drawn wagon and its driver.

A. E. Blake and others on the plains in Seward County, Kansas

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

In this photograph, A. E. Blake is seated in an automobile, a man is standing next to that automobile, a man is seated in the driver's seat of a horse-drawn wagon, and two young girls and a dog are standing next to the wagon. All are present in an unidentified field in Seward County, Kansas.

Children's wagon pulled by turkeys

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

Swedish pioneers in Greeley County, Kansas

This sepia colored photograph shows a group of Swedish pioneers and a horse drawn wagon in Greeley County, 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.