History Time

A Newsletter for Kansas Educators

October 2024

Make and Take: Pressed Flowers

Kansas history has often been shaped by the natural environment. Explore our state’s prairie landscape with this pressed flower activity. For a more in-depth activity, conduct a plant study using local wildflowers. With this activity, students are encouraged to take a closer look at the native plants in their area. Connect it back to history by discussing how the native landscape has changed overtime. How has human activity altered the environment?  How has the environment impacted humans?

Standards Based Lesson:

The Issue of Suffrage

Standard #2: Individuals have rights and responsibilities.

This middle school lesson explores Kansas' fourth and final constitution, the Wyandotte Constitution. Largely due to the efforts of Clarina Nichols, the Wyandotte Constitution allowed women to participate in school district elections, own property, and provide for their equal rights in the possession of their children.

Read Kansas! lesson M-15 focuses on the civil rights of women and African Americans during the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention. Students use a speech by a delegate to the constitutional convention as a primary source and analyze it as a persuasive text.

Reform in Kansas Episode 3:

Women's Suffrage

The third installment of our series on reform movements in Kansas focuses on women's suffrage, the movement to grant women the right to vote. Kansas was a leader in establishing voting rights for women, starting with the Wyandotte Constitution 1859 and ending with an amendment in 1912 making Kansas the eighth state to grant women full voting rights.This was 8 years before the passing of the 19th Amendment in 1920, which prohibited the federal government and states from denying citizens the right to vote based on sex.

Stay tuned for next month's episode on Populism in Kansas!

Kansas Eco-Meet 2024

High school students around the state are putting their knowledge of Kansas wildlife and plants to the test at Eco-Meet competitions. The annual competition allows students to show what they know and potentially earn scholarships. Students compete in four areas: habitat, interpretation, a focus test, and scavenger hunt. A number of regional meets take place every fall. This year, the Kansas Museum of History will host the Lawrence/Topeka Eco-Meet on October 24th. For more information about this event and others across the state, visit the Kansas Eco-Meet website.

National History Day 2025:

Rights & Responsibilities in History

History Day is an opportunity for students in grades six through twelve to learn valuable research skills while exploring topics that interest them. Students choose a topic that best fits the annual History Day theme and then build a project through a careful analysis of primary sources. Kansas history is full of topics that meet 2025’s theme of Rights & Responsibilities in History.

The State Archives is a wonderful tool for research and has compiled a list of helpful topics, resources, and links to make History Day as easy as possible.Our archivists are also available to help students identify and access material for their History Day projects.

Don't Forget!

State Historic Sites now have free admission! Look for one in your area. Call ahead as some are only open seasonally.

Read Kansas! lessons are available free of charge for primary, intermediate, middle, and high school students while supplies last.

A variety of virtual tours, videos, and Nearpod lessons are available to use in your classroom. 

Traveling resource trunks are available to borrow. Reserve one now for the school year.

The Kansas Museum of History is closed for renovations. Although the museum is not available for field trips, our staff is here for you.

Zephyr, our newest publication, provides information on events, programs, updates on the museum renovation, and highlights a variety of state historic sites.