#HistoryTime
A Newsletter for Kansas Educators

October 2020
Martha Farnsworth: An Everyday Revolutionary
Student Photo Contest
2019 First place winner
Students from first through twelfth grade can enter up to five photographs in the annual Happy Birthday, Kansas! Student Photo Contest.

“Learning in Kansas in 2020” is the theme for this year’s contest. The entry deadline is December 15, 2020. Prizes will be awarded to first and second place winners.
 
Photographs are one type of primary source. They can document people, places, events, social movements, and more. Students entering the photo contest will be creating primary sources that can be used in the future to learn about Kansas in 2020.
Documenting COVID-19 and
Social Movements in Kansas
Many of us are experiencing a unique and challenging historical moment as we respond to a global pandemic and social unrest. The Kansas Historical Society is collecting and preserving for future generations stories and items related to Kansans’ response to COVID-19 and concurrent social movements such as Black Lives Matter.

If you or your students have items or stories to share, or want to coordinate a group oral history project, please call 785-272-8681 ext. 283 or e-mail teresa.coble@ks.gov.
Family History Month
October is Family History Month. Family research is a great way for students to learn research skills. Lauren Gray, head of reference for the State Archives, provides resources to help you begin researching your family history.
Traveling Resource Trunks
Virtual and In Your Classroom
For those not teaching in person, several trunks can be adapted for virtual learning by using high resolution photos of objects in the trunks. Photos of objects and other primary sources, as well as lesson plans, are available online.

Traveling resource trunks bring hands-on learning to your classroom. Trunks explore twelve topics ranging from Plains Indians to Kansas settlers and from the Civil War to archeology.

There are multiple copies of each topic, which means over 50 trunks are available to borrow. Trunks are available for loan with isolation and cleaning taking place between reservations. 
Virtual Classroom
Rural School Days
Rural School Days is a virtual living history program. Students experience a day as a Kansas pupil attending a 1920s one room school. Miss Drown welcomes students to the Stach school, stokes the coal stove, conducts a spelling bee, and teaches the proper way to practice penmanship.

Recommended for grades four through seven. Email joy.brennan@ks.gov to receive the special access code for the Rural School Days program available Wednesday, October 7.
Make and Take
Dwight D. Eisenhower: Five Star General, U.S. President, and Cook
Not many people know that Eisenhower loved to cook. If you are interested in a different way to learn about the 34th president, and the only Kansan to hold this highest honor, the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood home in Abilene can supply you with an interesting list of recipes. We recommend Fluffy Turnips!
From the Collections
November 3 is Election Day! Everyone 18 and older has the right and responsibility to vote.

This was one of 300 voting machines purchased by Shawnee County in 1964. It was used through April 1985. 

Take a close look. Can you find three ways this voting booth differs from those used today?
American Indian Pumpkin Mats
Save your pumpkins. We will teach you how to make historic pumpkin mats next month.
Shop online at our Museum Store and discover a variety of Kansas made items and historical resources.
Consider becoming a member of the Kansas Historical Society to receive free admission to the Kansas Museum of History and our 16 historic sites.