Ada and Burt McColl gathering buffalo chips
Creator: McColl, Ada
Date: 1893
Ada and her brother Burt McColl (in a dress) are gathering buffalo chips to use for heating and cooking fuel. An abridged version of this photograph without Burt is very common. For more information on this photograph, see the link to Reflections (Summer 2008) below. A family member confirmed that Burt (or Bert) was a boy.

Covered wagon, Greenwood County, Kansas
Date: Between 1890 and 1919
This black and white photograph shows a woman wearing a sunbonnet serving lunch to a man seated by a covered wagon in Greenwood County, Kansas. The canvas covering is pulled open so items in the wagon are visible. The individuals have been identified by patron Bette Branscum as possibly being her grandparents Orville Alva Young and Bessie McCain Young traveling from the Oklahoma Territory to Wakarusa, Kansas to visit his grandfather James Wiley Young.

Incidents of Pioneer Life in McPherson County
Creator: Wilson, Bessie Felton
Date: March 1926
This reminiscence was written by Bessie Felton Wilson in March 1926. Bessie's family moved to Osage County, Kansas in 1872, where she was born on February 20, 1873. In 1874, the family moved to McPherson County, Ks. Bessie includes some family history but the bulk of the reminiscence details the daily life of a pioneer family. She describes hardships such as prairie fires and rattle snakes. She recounts incidents and special events as well as activities of daily life. Some genealogical information is included. This story was written as part of the efforts of Lilla Day Monroe to collect reminiscences concerning the women's perspective in settling Kansas

Residences in Sheridan County, Kansas
Date: Between 1880 and 1900
These are two images of residences in Sheridan County, Kansas. The first photograph is of a sod house with a frame barn, stone fence, and a stone one-level house. Work horses are standing by the barn. The second photograph shows a group of people outside a wood frame two-story home with a lean-to. Visible are a barrel to catch rain water and a chicken coop.

Wichita Indian grass house
Date: Between 1890 and 1899
Grass house of the Wichita Indians near Anadarko, Oklahoma, is cone shape with a thatch of long grass laid in tiers that overlap like shingles. The Wichita have been identified historically with Quivirans that the Coronado expedition encountered in south-central Kansas in 1541. The group moved south into what is now Oklahoma early in the eighteenth century where they are located today.

Wichita Village
Date: Between 1860 and 1890
A sketch of a Wichita Indian village.