BLEEDING KANSAS
Kansas Memory is the location for finding online primary resources from the Kansas Historical Society. It's mission is to identify, collect, preserve, interpret, and disseminate materials and information pertaining to Kansas history in order to assist the public in understanding, appreciating, and caring for the heritage of Kansas. The value of the site is in its rich content that includes letters, diaries, photographs, government records from the State Archives, maps, museum artifacts, and historic structures in Kansas.
Explore more than 40,000 historical photographs documenting the people, places and organizations of Johnson County, Kansas from the 19th century to the present!
The Kansas Historical Society, established in 1875, is a state agency. Designated as the trustee of the state in 1879 and as the repository of official government records in 1905, the Historical Society collects and preserves the story of Kansas history.
Once upon a time, newspapers were a primary source of information. Now those newspapers are an irreplaceable source of hundreds of years of history featuring the most notable historical events, including the Civil War. Each title is available individually, and all are searchable via an interface that allows users to easily view, search, zoom, print, and save digital page images. Events between 1607 and 2015 have been preserved in various newspapers and can be researched using the collection of 2.18+ billion articles with detailed documentation.
Civil War Glass Negatives
and Related Prints
Provides access to about 7,000 different views and portraits made during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and its immediate aftermath. The images represent the original glass plate negatives as well as the photographic prints in the Civil War photographs file in the Prints & Photographs Reading Room. The Library purchased the negatives in 1943.
Transcripts compiled from the WPA Writer's Projects, 1936-1938. Narratives are presented here in text format. There are no photos or graphics in this portion of the collection. Hypertext markup was added to make it easier to move from one file to another. Narratives have been placed in alphabetical order with the narrator's place of residence at the time of the interview. Some files may include text from the writer; often describing physical attributes of the subject, the conditions in which they lived, and the circumstances in which the writer found them. It should be noted that some of the writers brought stereotypical views of blacks to their work.
This website provides vast troves of information on Kansas history, including Bleeding Kansas, Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence, a timeline of Bleeding Kansas events, Jessie James, and much more. One can also find information about James Lane, John Brown, and Charles Robinson.
Kansas State Libraries have collaborated to provide a one-stop-shop for student research resources. These resources include general knowledge research, historical databases, specified curriculum information, and standardized test preparation.
This website engages Civil War buffs, scholars, students, and local residents in research and discussion on the Missouri-Kansas Border War that shook the region from 1854 to 1865. Through a collaborative effort among libraries, museums, and historical societies across the greater Kansas City region, the project provides free access to selected primary source materials and adds unique interactive features and a thematic layer of original scholarly essays and topical encyclopedia entries.
The Douglas County Historical Society, a non-profit organization established in 1933, preserves the heritage of Douglas County and encourages civic engagement by sharing stories of the people and events that have shaped our communities. Since 1975, the Society has operated the Watkins Museum of History. The Watkins Museum, housed in the 1888 Watkins Land Mortgage and National Bank Building, provides educational resources and activities, programs and public events, and changing exhibits that explore the heritage of Douglas County and connect the past with issues that affect our communities today.
The “Bogus Legislature” refers to Kansas Territory’s first governing body, established in 1855. Free-Soil and antislavery supporters in the area provided the moniker after widespread accounts of fraudulent voting in the March 30, 1855, election that selected the assembly’s initial members. The nickname stuck, and the partisan rift surrounding the two-year legislative session played a prominent role in the early years of Bleeding Kansas. This website provides information on the places, events, and people involved.
The Missouri Valley Special Collections (MVSC), which came into existence in 1960, consist of the non-circulating local history and genealogy resources of the Kansas City Public Library as well as the Library’s archives. Over 11,000 images of archival material such as letters, photographs, postcards, and maps. This collection contains information from the border wars and Bleeding Kansas and Missouri.
CITATIONS
Kansas Historical Society (2016, July 1). Kansas Memory. Retrieved from http://www.kansasmemory.org/.
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Legends​ of America (2016, July 1). Legends of Kasnas. Retrieved from http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ks-mainpage.html.
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Johnson County Museum and partners (2016, July 1). JoCo History. Retrieved from http://www.jocohistory.net/.​
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Kansas Government (2016, July 1). Excellence in education: researching. Retrieved from http://www.kansas.gov/education/researching.html.
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Kansas Historical Society (2016, July 1). Kansas Historical Society. Retrieved from http://www.kshs.org/.
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Kansas City Public Library (2016, July 1). ​Civil War on the Western Border. Retrieved from http://www.civilwaronthewesternborder.org/.
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Newspaper Archive (2016, July 1). ​ Newspaper archive. Retrieved from http://newspaperarchive.com/.
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Douglas County Historical Society (2016, July 1). ​ The Watkins Museum of History. Retrieved from http://www.watkinsmuseum.org/.
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Library of Congress (2016, July 1). Civil War glass negatives and related prints. Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-war-
glass-negatives/articles-and-essays/does-the-camera-ever-lie/.
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Kansas Bogus Legislature (2016, July 1). Kansas bogus legislature. Retrieved from http://kansasboguslegislature.org/.
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American Memory (2016, July 1). American memory. Retrieved from https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snintro18.html.
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Kansas City Public Library. (2016, July 1) Missouri Valley Special Collections. Retrieved from http://www.kchistory.org/index.php.