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.

Ada McColl gathering buffalo chips near Lakin, Kansas
Creator: McColl, Polly
Date: 1893
In this photograph, pioneer Ada McColl of Kearny County collects buffalo chips. In areas of western Kansas where trees were scarce, these chips were a convenient (and plentiful) source of fuel. This is an abridged version of an original photograph including Ada's brother Burt. The photograph was taken by Polly McColl, Ada's mother. For more information on this photograph, see the link to Reflections (Summer 2008) below.

Address before the Old Settler's Reunion, Lincoln, Kansas
Creator: Stanley, Arthur Jehu, 1874-1967
Date: September 17, 1915
An address given by Arthur Stanley before the Old Settler's Reunion in Lincoln, Kansas. Stanley recounts life in Lincoln, of living in a dugout, the fear of prairie fires, prairie schooners passing through, the naming and meaning of places in Lincoln, and many other stories of the county and prairie life in general.

A flock of turkeys
Creator: Steele, F. M. (Francis Marion), 1866-1936
Date: Between 1891 and 1912
This photograph shows a young girl standing near a flock of turkeys on an unidentified farm, presumed to be in Haskell County, Kansas. A farm building and cart are also visible in the photograph.

A good day for ducks
Creator: Martin, William H., 1865-1940
Date: 1909
This photomontage or exaggerated postcard shows two hunters with their results from a successful day of hunting.

A hold up on the Kansas Pacific 1869
Creator: Standard Photogravure Company, New York
Date: Between 1913 and 1914
This ink on paper drawing by M.S. Garretson depicts the artist's conception of a herd of buffalo descending onto railroad tracks as hunters attempt to kill the animals. In the background, a steam locomotive has been stopped as the killings take place.

Alysia Kysar to Governor Joan Finney
Creator: Kysar, Alysia
Date: March 19, 1991
Alysia Kysar of Liberal, Kansas, writes Governor Joan Finney of Topeka concerning a water rights conflict at Cheyenne Bottoms wetlands in Barton County, Kansas. Kysar is eleven years old. She argues that the importance of wildlife habitats and communal ownership of natural resources, like water, supercede the rights of individual water users along Wet Walnut Creek. Kysar further questions the suitability of irrigated agriculture to an arid environment. In Wet Walnut Irrigators v. Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area (1992), the Kansas Supreme Court ruled in favor of Cheyenne Bottoms, citing its earlier claim to water rights.

Antelope in Woodward County, Oklahoma Territory
Creator: Steele, F. M. (Francis Marion), 1866-1936
Date: 1897
View of two antelope standing near the Beaver River in Woodward County, Oklahoma Territory.

Beaver dam, Pawnee County, Kansas
Creator: Harpers Weekly
Date: 1867
Sketch from Harper's Weekly of a beaver's dam on Pawnee Fork between Fort Larned and the Cheyenne village, 30 miles west of the fort.

Billy Weldon and George Theis, Jr., getting ready for a wolf chase
Creator: Steele, F. M. (Francis Marion), 1866-1936
Date: Between 1891 and 1903
View of Billy Weldon and George Theis, Jr. on horseback getting ready for a wolf hunt. Also visible in the photograph are their hunting dogs.

Birds and Wild Life Protection
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1915-1919: Capper)
Date: 1915
This file includes general correspondence relating to wild life protection in Kansas. Topics included, but not limited to, in the correspondence is the organization of a State Bird Day, bird study courses in public schools, and bird conservation in general. This is part of a bigger collection of Governor Arthur Capper correspondence.

Bison on the Tall Grass Bison Ranch near Auburn, Kansas
Creator: Cooper, Craig
Date: October 2001
Twenty slides showing bison on Wayne Copp's Tall Grass Bison Ranch near Auburn, Kansas.

Black Friday meets its master
Creator: Garden City Daily Telegram
Date: April 10, 1935
Several articles about life in the Dust Bowl can be found on the front page of this newspaper from Garden City. Articles of particular interest include two articles on "raging dusters," one on the winter wheat crop, and a brief article discussing the postponement of community meetings to distribute aid under the soil erosion program. The newspaper also includes articles about other newsworthy events occurring in Garden City and around the state of Kansas.

Blanche Parks in India
Date: Between 1995 and 2005
A photograph of Blanche Parks of Topeka, Kansas, riding on the back of an elephant during a trip to India.

Boys! Girls! kill the flies
Creator: Kansas State Board of Health
Date: September, 1914
This advertisement encourages boys and girls to kill flies for a prize. The contest was sponsored by the Board of Health of Hutchinson. The ad was in a publication from the Kansas State Board of Health.

Boy with skunks, Logan County, Kansas
Date: Between January 01, 1940 and December 31, 1949
This black and white photograph shows a boy with two dead skunks draped over his bicycle in Logan County, Kansas. A gun is leaning up against his bicycle.

Buffalo
Creator: Webber, E. H.
Date: Between 1900 and 1920
View of a buffalo herd grazing in an unknown location.

Buffalo
Creator: Kansas Industrial Development Commission
Date: Between 1960 and 1966
A photograph of an adult buffalo.

Buffalo chips or Kansas coal, Ellsworth County, Kansas
Date: Between 1890 and 1899
This black and white photograph shows a pile of buffalo chips in Ellsworth County, Kansas. The text reads "Buffalo Chips or Kansas Coal." Buffalo chips were a convenient and plentiful source of fuel on the Great Plains.

Buffalo, Gage's Park, Topeka, Kansas
Date: Between 1911 and 1915
A postcard showing two buffalo or bison at Gage Park in Topeka, Kansas. The first herd of bison at Gage Park was delivered January 16, 1911. They were donated by Joshua Hill. Hill started his career as clerk for the Kansas legislature, and after the 1870 session, he moved to Fredonia, Kansas where he started an insurance and real estate business. Later Hill moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he purchased a stock farm. The bison were raised on his 400 acre farm near Pontiac, Michigan.

Buffalo herd
Date: Between 1950 and 1970
This sepia colored photograph shows a herd of buffalo in a unidentified location in Kansas.

Buffalo herd
Date: Between 1950 and 1970
This sepia colored photograph shows a buffalo herd at the Canton Preserve in McPherson County, Kansas.

Buffalo herd
Date: Between 1880 and 1899
This sepia colored photograph shows a buffalo herd in Ford County, Kansas.

Buffalo hides in Dodge City, Kansas
Date: April 4, 1874
This photograph, taken in Dodge City, Ford County, Kansas, shows a large pile of buffalo hides obtained from hunting expeditions in western Kansas. It is estimated that the pile contains around 40,000 hides. Charles Rath, who purchased the hides, is seated on the pile. The men in the background are operating a hide baling machine. Dodge City was located on the Santa Fe Trail. During the period in which these hides were gathered, American hunters decimated the bison heards in the West, leaving Native American tribes without one of their primary sources for food, clothing, and tools.

Buffalo hunt
Date: 1869
This photograph depicts a buffalo hunt along the Big Timber River, located in Ellis County south of Hays, Kansas. Some more well-known members of the hunting party include General George Armstrong Custer, Hill P. Wilson, Captain Tom Custer, and General Samuel D. Sturgis. In the years that followed this hunt, the Bison heards that roamed the U.S. were decimated. The death of so many Bison helped bring an end to the nomadic lifestyle of many Native American tribes in the U.S.