The Kansas Historical Society is the official state

historical society A historical society is non-profit organization dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting, and promoting the history of a particular place, group of people, or topic. They play a crucial role in promoting historical awareness and understan ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. Headquartered in

Topeka Topeka ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeaste ...

, it operates as "the trustee of the state" for the purpose of maintaining the state's history and operates the Kansas Museum of History, Kansas State Archives and Library,

Kansas State Capitol The Kansas State Capitol, known also as the Kansas Statehouse, is the building housing the executive and legislative branches of government for the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in the city of Topeka, which has served as the capital of Kansas si ...

Tour Center, and 16 state-owned sites. It also serves as the State Historic Preservation Office, and works closely with the

Kansas State Department of Education The Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) is a state agency responsible for administration of the state's K-12 education system. It is governed by a ten-member board, the State Board of Education, which appoints the Commissioner of Educatio ...

to provide standards-based programs for

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

and

social studies In many countries' curricula, social studies is the combined study of humanities, the arts, and social sciences, mainly including history, economics, and civics. The term was coined by American educators around the turn of the twentieth century as ...

curriculum in the schools.KSHS Overview
Accessed 13 October 2013

History

The Kansas Editors' and Publishers' Association founded the Kansas Historical Society in 1875 to save present and . In 1879, the

Kansas Legislature The Kansas Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. It is a bicameral assembly, composed of the lower Kansas House of Representatives, with 125 state representatives, and the upper Kansas Senate, with 40 state sen ...

enacted legislation that recognized the Historical Society as "the trustee of the state" for the purpose of maintaining the state's history. Since then, the Historical Society has continued to enjoy the support of the state's newspaper publishers and has built one of the nation's most comprehensive statewide newspaper collections.Larry O. Jochims and Virgil W. Dean, "Pillars of Society: A Brief History of the Kansas Historical Society," Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains, 2 (Autumn 1995):142-163
Autumn 1995
Accessed 13 October 2013 For nearly 40 years, the Historical Society occupied a succession of quarters in the statehouse as its holdings steadily grew. In 1914, the collections were moved to the grand and newly constructed Memorial Building in downtown Topeka. In 1984, the Kansas Museum of History moved to an site in west Topeka near the

Potawatomi The Potawatomi (), also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River, and western Great Lakes region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, ...

Mission leaving the remaining agencies still housed in the Memorial Building. The historic Stach School later joined the complex. During July and August 1995, the vast collections of library, archival, manuscript, and archeological materials were moved to new facilities in the State Archives and Library on the west Topeka site. In this headquarters, the Historical Society was reunited at one location. The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency. Its sister organization, Kansas State Historical Society, Inc., operates as a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

membership organization. More than six million individuals benefit from the Historical Society's programs and services each year. All activities and programs are conducted by the private organization and the Historical Society's six divisions: Administration, Cultural Resources, Education and Outreach, Historic Sites, Museum, and State Archives & Library. The state agency operates with an annual appropriation of approximately six million dollars and approximately 100 employees. The executive director—who is nominated by the governor and approved by the state legislature—is responsible for the Historical Society's overall governance. The corporation offers membership to the public and institutions, manages grants for the state agency, operates the Museum Stores, and provides fiscal support for various programs, including the Historical Society's magazine, ''Reflections'', and its scholarly

journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...

''Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains''
The journal has won awards from the Western History Association and the American Association for State and Local History. Its editorial offices are now at Kansas State University, which has served as co-publisher since 2013. During the past century, the Historical Society's role expanded beyond its original emphasis on collecting and publishing research. The Historical Society continues these fundamental activities and has added a broad array of interpretive and educational programs that combine with historic sites, technical assistance, and field service programs. Through collections, exhibits, programs, and services, the Historical Society helps the public in understanding and valuing the heritage of Kansas. The Kansas Historical Society website was launched in 1993, through the efforts of Steven Chinn and Lynn H. Nelson. The site originally was hosted at the University of Kansas. Several websites were built as part of the Kansas Heritage Group and included the Kansas Historical Society, Kansas Pioneers List, One-Room School House project, Johnson County Genealogical Society, Sunflower Journeys, Early Kansas Imprint Scanners, Historical Directory of Kansas Towns, the Kansas Humanities Council, Abilene Community Network, and the Kansas Community Network. In 1998, the Historical Society began hosting its own site and the URL became www.kshs.org. The site has received numerous awards over the years.

''Kansas History''

''Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains'' is a quarterly

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...

that is published by the Department of History at

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant coll ...

with financial support from the society. It is included with membership to the Kansas Historical Foundation. The journal covers research on

and

western history Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US * Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia * Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that ...

. The

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

is Kristen Epps; former editors are James E. Sherow and Virgil W. Dean. The journal moved its offices to Kansas State University in 2013; prior to this date the editing and production process was headquartered at the Kansas Historical Society in Topeka. In recent years, the journal has won academic awards. In 2019, an article by Jay Price titled "Assembling a Buckle of The Bible Belt: From Enclave to Powerhouse" won the Arrington-Prucha Prize from the

Western History Association The Western History Association (WHA), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was founded in 1961 at Santa Fe, New Mexico by Ray Allen Billington, et al. Included in the field of study are the American West and western Canada. The Western History ...

for the best article on religion in the American West. In 2021, David Beyreis's article "'Meat as a Matter of Form': Food, Exchange, and Power on the Santa Fe Trail" won the "Coke" Wood Award for best historical monograph or article, given by Westerners International. Since its founding in 1875 the Kansas Historical Society has issued three major history journals: ''Kansas Historical Collections'' (1875–1928), '' The Kansas Historical Quarterly'' (1931–1977), and ''Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains'' (established in 1978). This journal continues the academic journal entitled ''

Kansas Historical Quarterly The Kansas Historical Society is the official state historical society of Kansas. Headquartered in Topeka, it operates as "the trustee of the state" for the purpose of maintaining the state's history and operates the Kansas Museum of History, ...

'' (, ). It was established in 1931 and continued publication until 1977. The ''Kansas Historical Quarterly'' in turn continued ''Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society'', and the society's other transactions, published by the Kansas State Historical Society from 1875 to 1928 (, ).Library catalog
Northeastern University
2009.

State Historic Sites

The Historical Society operates 16 state-owned historic sites throughout the state. Those sites are:Sites owned by the Kansas Historical Society
Accessed 13 October 2013 * Constitution Hall State Historic Site,

Lecompton Lecompton (pronounced ) is a city in Douglas County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 588. Lecompton, located on the Kansas River, was the ''de jure'' territorial capital of Kansas from 1855 to 18 ...

* Cottonwood Ranch State Historic Site, Studley * First Territorial Capitol State Historic Site,

Fort Riley Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in Ge ...

* Fort Hays State Historic Site, Hays * Goodnow House State Historic Site,

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

* Grinter Place State Historic Site,

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

* Hollenberg Pony Express Station State Historic Site,

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

Iowa and Sac & Fox Mission State Historic Site The Iowa and Sac & Fox Mission State Historic Site, also known as the Highland Presbyterian Mission, is the site of a mission that housed the children of two local tribes between 1845 and 1863. A historic Presbyterian mission building at the si ...

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

* John Brown Museum State Historic Site, Osawatomie * Kaw Mission State Historic Site, Council Grove * Marais des Cygnes Massacre State Historic Site, near

Trading Post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically a trading post allows people from one geogr ...

* Mine Creek Battlefield State Historic Site, near Pleasanton * Pawnee Indian Museum State Historic Site,

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

* Pawnee Rock State Historic Site,

Pawnee Rock Pawnee Rock, one of the most famous landmarks on the Santa Fe Trail, is located in Pawnee Rock State Park, just north of Pawnee Rock, Kansas, United States. Originally over tall, railroad construction stripped it of some 15 to in height for ro ...

* Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site, Fairway * William Allen White House State Historic Site, Emporia

Register of Historic Kansas Places

The Society also established a state

heritage register This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...

in 1977 called the Register of Historic Kansas Places. All Kansas listings on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

are automatically included but many additional sites are just on the state registry.

Awards

The Kansas Historical Society has received several awards and honors from other organizations and associations related to the history profession:KSHS Awards
Accessed 13 October 2013 * 1998: American Association for State and Local History * 1999: Santa Fe Trail Association * 2001: American Association for State and Local History * 2001: American Association for State and Local History * 2002: American Association for State and Local History * 2002: American Association for State and Local History * 2003: Travel Industry Association of Kansas * 2004: American Association for State and Local History * 2006: American Association for State and Local History * 2006: American Association for State and Local History * 2007: Family Tree Magazine Award * 2008: American Association for State and Local History * 2008: American Association for State and Local History * 2008: Western Writer's Association of America * 2009: Oregon-California Trail Association * 2011:

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation ...

Partners in Conservation Award

References

External links

Official website

Kansas Memory
the Society's digital portal
Register of Historic Kansas Places database

''Kansas History''
(journal) {{Authority control 1875 establishments in Kansas History of Kansas Historical societies in Kansas Organizations based in Topeka, Kansas Organizations established in 1875