Cool Things in the Collection, Kansas Museum of History
Summary: Get an insider's perspective on the most interesting objects in the collections of the Kansas Museum of History. Each biweekly episode features a different curator talking about a different object, always something featured on our web site. It's the best of our nation's history--not just Kansas, but important events for the whole United States. There's something for everyone, from the Civil War to the Cold War, Abraham Lincoln to Amelia Earhart, tornadoes to travel. You can access the full stories (with images) on the Web at http://www.kshs.org. Just look for the Cool Things link.
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- Artist: Kansas Historical Society
- Copyright: Copyright 2011 KSHS
Podcasts:
A powerful icon of the Cold War, this telephone with a red receiver (Warning!) rode out the threat of nuclear disaster two floors below ground at Topeka's Shawnee County Courthouse.
Money is hard to come by these days, but it was even more difficult to get in 1850s Kansas. This episode deals with failed bank notes not worth the paper they're printed on.
Harriet Beecher Stowe had to sit somewhere while getting ideas for her masterpiece, Uncle Tom's Cabin. This sofa was one of the lucky furnishings that supported the best-selling author. Perhaps this couch helped set the stage for the Civil War.
Margaret Usher dazzled other dancers at Abraham Lincoln's 1865 inaugural ball with this militaristic yet feminine ball gown.
A Union chaplain from Kansas picked up this slouch-style hat on a Civil War battleground in Arkansas. This little-known western battle involved Native Americans, African Americans, and whites.
Between setting flight records and circumnavigating the globe, Kansas aviator Amelia Earhart found time to send out these Christmas cards.
This ticket commemorates a monumental match at a Kansas City golf course between Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson, and Jug McSpaden.
Our Thanksgiving episode focuses on a uniquely North American tool. Pipe tomahawks symbolize the blending of two cultures--European and Native American.
The biggest killer on the Oregon Trail was cholera. Hear how one Kentucky man was stricken in the morning and died that afternoon. He was buried in Kansas.
Neewollah is Halloween spelled backward. Hear how one Kansas community launched a festival to keep kids off the streets on Halloween night.
Barbed wire has separated neighbor from neighbor, marked boundaries, and divided nations. But first it fenced in cattle in the West.
Martin and Osa Johnson indulged their passion for travel by filming the South Seas and Africa in the 1920s and 1930s.
During the 1950s, this Kansas studio promoted our youth's mental hygiene by producing such films as "The Bully" and "What About Prejudice."
This nearly indestructible Frigidaire Custom Imperial Flair stove from 1968 made efficient use of space in the kitchen. Only a remodeling project and difficulty in getting replacement parts brought an end to its use.
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865. Just a few months later, four of the conspirators were hanged in Washington, D.C. So how did a piece of the gallows end up in Kansas?
