Get a Nose for History at the Watkins

Spring is a season for the senses: step outside and you’re likely to hear birds chirping, feel the sun on your neck, and smell flowers and newly cut grass.

But you can also get a sensory experience indoors at the Watkins. This week we unveiled a brand-new interactive display that allows young visitors to touch, smell, and see history like never before.

Interior of the Leeder store at 9th and Massachusetts streets in 1902. What did all this merchandise feel and smell like? Our new interactive display gives kids a sensory insight into early Lawrence. (Watkins collection.)

Located on the second floor and developed by Abby Magariel, Watkins education and programs coordinator, Life in Early Lawrence features six stations and a laminated guide designed for child visitors. Kids will pull out the original bank teller drawers and count old-fashioned money, learn about life as a Civil War soldier, and even smell some of the smells of 1800’s Lawrence! These are just a few examples of the sensory experience that awaits participants in this exciting interactive display.

Life in Early Lawrence offers ample opportunities for a unique learning experience, making it ideal both for class activities and free time with the family. So bring the kids to the Watkins for some hands-on (and nose-on) history!

Remedies and Memories: Changing Medicine in Lawrence

It’s no secret to supporters of the Watkins that Lawrence is an historic town–a place of enduring struggles for freedom since the days of Bleeding Kansas. But did you know that our city has also witnessed crucial advances in medicine?

Beginning tomorrow, you’ll have a chance to discover many fascinating stories from Lawrence’s medical past. Our new exhibit, Remedies and Memories: Changing Medicine in Lawrence, chronicles the evolution of care from home-based folk cures and patent medicine to modern hospitals and expert doctors.

Lawrence Journal-World headline of October 8, 1918, about the deadly influenza epidemic of that year.

The exhibit features a wide range of artifacts from our collections, including an 1880s dentist’s chair and a 1930s small pox quarantine flag. Photographs and profiles reveal the experiences of local medical pioneers like Lucy Hobbs-Taylor–the first female registered dentist in the United States–and the advent of hospitals such as KU Medical Center.

Chicken pox quarantine flag. (Watkins collections.)

Nor is that all. Our Final Friday opening on January 29 will offer not only an opportunity to absorb medical history, but to check up on your own health! We’ll have nurses from Lawrence Memorial Hospital on hand performing free blood pressure screenings. Join us during Final Friday for an evening of history and wellness.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

History museums like the Watkins specialize in opening a window onto the past and exposing people to the lives and stories of those who lived in earlier times. But this Saturday, the Watkins and our friends in local American Indian communities will connect history with the present and future in a program titled Looking Back, Looking Forward.

Last September, in partnership with the Franklin County Historical Society, we debuted Under Protest: Emigrant Tribes in Franklin County, Kansas. This exhibit on the history and struggles of several emigrant tribes has made history of its own, becoming one of our most popular displays ever.

 

 

Flutist and drummers at our September Final Friday opening of Under Protest.

 

Just as Under Protest brought history to life, Looking Backward will provide visitors with an understanding of current American Indian lives and cultures. Beginning at 1:15 PM, three expert speakers will discuss struggles for education and recognition. Then beginning at 3, the Watkins will resound with Native music and dancing. The American Indian Studies Club of Haskell University will also host a raffle, and refreshments will be available.

Join us for this unique, exciting, and immersive experience as we build a bridge between past and future.

“Everybody Loved It, Everybody Visited It”: The Wilder & Palm Windmill

If you had lived between 1864 and 1905 and heard mention of Lawrence, Kansas, there’s a good chance one image would have sprung to mind: a windmill! But not just any windmill. As shown in our latest exhibit here at the Watkins, the Wilder & Palm Windmill at 9th and Emery Road once stood as a famous symbol of our city.

Advertisement for Wilder & Palm. (All images from Watkins collections.)

 

Landmark History: Images of the Wilder and Palm Windmill–opening soon in our second-floor alcove–recounts the varied ways that people depicted the attraction in art. From models to watercolors and from photographs to newspaper tributes, the “Old Windmill” was clearly an object of veneration.

“Construction began on the windmill on July 1, 1863 and was ongoing at the time of William Quantrill’s destruction of Lawrence,” notes Brittany Keegan, Watkins curator and exhibit designer. “Standing as a large structure on the city’s highest hill, the windmill became a target for the attacking guerillas but was not fully destroyed as result of the raid. As with many citizens of Lawrence, John H. Wilder and Andrew Palm stood steadfast in their desire to build their industry and their lives in Lawrence.”

Swedish laborers completed the windmill in early 1864, and for 21 years it served as “its own industrial power house,” producing grain and powering a plow manufacturing business.

The Wilder & Palm Windmill ceased operating in 1885, but its popularity only grew thereafter. Local families picnicked on the grounds and gazed out on the surrounding countryside from the top floor, while countless artists depicted the landmark in paintings, drawings, and models.

An iconic piece of Lawrence history was lost in March 1905 when the Old Windmill burned down, probably thanks to an unknown visitor’s cigarette.

Two months after the Windmill was destroyed, the Lawrence Jeffersonian Gazette recalled: “Everybody loved it, everybody visited it, everybody remembered it. Two thousand miles from Lawrence, even on the other side of the world, the man from Lawrence would be met with the question “Is the Old Windmill there yet?””

The Old Windmill is no longer there, but our latest exhibit demonstrates that its memory lives on. Visit us to learn more about this Lawrence Landmark.

Wintry, Wondrous Lawrence

Lately we’ve been having unseasonably warm and un-holiday-like weather in Douglas County. So we of the Watkins staff have made it our mission to help our supporters get in the holiday spirit! To that end, enjoy these photographs from our collections of Lawrence winters past.

 

Just some Lawrence kids having fun in South Park behind the Courthouse, 1920’s or ’30’s.

Arlene Roberts enjoying snow behind the Unitarian Church near South Park, early 1900s.

 

Four stylish skiers, including Nell Dehart Weaver and A. B. Weaver (right), 1920s.

 

Green Bros. Hardware, 1920.

 

The famous Wilder & Palm Grist Mill, 1900-1905.

 

Backyard scene at 1307 New Hampshire Street, March 1912.

 

Banks house, 1345 Tennessee, early 1900s.

 

C. D. Bunker wood chopping.

 

Mass Street after a heavy snowfall, early 1900s.

 

Mister Guy on Mass Street on a snowy day, 1965.

Richard Shanafelt skating on the Kaw, ca. 1935-45.

 

Christmas display at Haskell Institute.

 

F. W. Barteldes takes his twin granddaughters for a sleigh ride, January 1925.

Big Changes in Store!

Here at the Watkins, we we not only teach history, we make history. As many of you are aware, the Watkins building has been a Lawrence fixture since 1888, when an ambitious businessman named J. B. Watkins built a large, eye-catching home for his bank and land mortgage company. Later, the Watkins building served as City Hall before reopening as a museum in 1975.

You may also have noticed that we’ve substantially altered the visitor experience over the past few years, rotating exhibits, hosting a wide range of programming, and in general evolving into a dynamic and visitor-friendly institution. And the results of these improvements and the tremendous support of our community have been encouraging: attendance has increased 300% since 2010!

And things are only getting better. For instance, the next time you visit the Watkins you’ll see several large panels on the staircase walls, each of them opening a window onto a particular aspect of Douglas County’s past.

New Douglas County history panels above the staircase.

But these new panels are only a sneak preview! On December 6, we’ll close the third floor for renovations and installations that will further enhance the Watkins visitor experience next year. Among these changes will be restorations to a staple attraction, our 1870’s playhouse.

Of course, none of this would be possible without community support. So thanks for your interest in the best–but constantly improving–local history museum around!

A Tale of Two Revolvers

Legend has it that a young Samuel Colt got the idea for a revolving-cylinder firearm by looking at a sailing ship’s wheel. However it happened, by the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Colt’s company was the leading manufacturer of pistols in America and its founder was one of the richest men in the country.

During the war and for decades afterward, Colt revolvers and knockoffs by other companies were issued to cavalrymen and artillerymen and purchased by officers. They were also prized by guerrillas, lawmen, and outlaws. A later Colt model, the 1873 Single-Action Army, became known as the “gun that won the West.”

This well-armed Union cavalrymen has a Colt Navy revolver stuck in his belt. (Library of Congress.)

Here on the second floor of the Watkins, visitors can now view a Colt 1851 Navy revolver and a Manhattan Firearms copy, just two examples of a mid-19th-century firearms revolution that helped make the Civil War the deadliest conflict in American history. The histories of these two particular pistols are unknown; were they witnesses to Quantrill’s Raid and the bloody battles on the Western Border? We may never know. But no matter who used these guns or where, they are valuable and informative pieces of firearms history.

Revolvers on display in the Civil War weapons case. (Watkins collections.)

A Long History of Service in Douglas County

As we observe Veterans Day 2015, we at the Douglas County Historical Society and the Watkins Museum invite you to view images from our large collections of Armed Forces-related local history. The eras, uniforms, and people vary, but each of these photographs tells a story of service and sacrifice for America.

J. A. Hamlin served as a landsman in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War and later was a member of Washington Post No. 12, Grand Army of the Republic, headquartered in Lawrence. (All images from Watkins collections.)

A strongly worded call from Lawrence Civil War veterans.

The 20th Kansas Regiment returns to Lawrence from the Philippines in 1899.  

Twin brothers Rollie and Roy Laster were Lawrencians who served in the Army during World War I. They later made their living as barbers in town.

Bessie Mae Fearing of North Lawrence served as a U.S. Army nurse in Nice, France, in 1918.

Gerald (Jerry) Lindenberger graduated from Lawrence High in 1942 and served with the Army in Italy during World War II.

Corporal Wesley Sims Jr., a Lawrence resident who served with the 92nd Infantry Division in World War II.

A Veterans Day ceremony at Haskell University’s World War II memorial. Haskell’s student body has a long history of military service.

The 312th U.S. Army Band marches in the 1976 Bicentennial Parade in Lawrence.

Kansas History Authors Day

Do you like reading? How about local history? (You probably do if you’re reading this blog!)

(Photos of Lawrencians reading are from the Watkins collections.)

The Watkins will host a free event this Saturday, November 7, 2015, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., titled Kansas History Authors Day. Seven well-known authors and historians from the area will give talks on their new books and have copies available for purchase and signing. This event will be co-hosted by the Watkins and the Raven Bookstore.

Participating authors explore a range of eras and personalities in American history—many of them Kansas-related—through the mediums of fiction and nonfiction. This program will feature the following authors and books: M. Linda Olsen, Prelude, an historical novel set in Bleeding Kansas; Dee Miller, Just Following Orders: Escape from Guerilla Warfare in 1863, a Civil War-themed young-adult novel; Virgil Dean, Lawrence, a new entry in Arcadia’s highly popular Images of America series; Shawn Alexander, W.E.B. Du Bois: An American Intellectual and Activist, a biography of the famous African American intellectual; Thomas Fox Averill, A Carol Dickens Christmas, a touching novel set in Kansas; and William M. Tuttle, Jr.,  and Kathryn Nemeth Tuttle, Transforming the University of Kansas: A History, 1965-2015, which chronicles the KU story in a rapidly changing world.

What’s more, our first fifty visitors can enter a free drawing to win gift certificates for the KU Bookstore and 23rd Street Brewery!

So join us on November 7 to meet these authors, hear their fascinating insights into the crafts of history and writing, and stock up on gifts for history-loving friends and family. Check out our event listing on the Watkins Facebook page for a schedule and more information.

Shared Spirits: Exploring Dia de los Muertos

Examine some of the objects in our new Dia de los Muertos display in the second-floor alcove, and you’ll see small skeletal figures coming to life, their spring-mounted heads nodding back and forth. Is it just an effect caused by floor vibrations–or are spirits greeting you to our newest exhibit?

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a festival that originated in Mexico and is growing in popularity in the United States. Drawing on age-old Indigenous and Catholic customs, Dia de los Muertos is all about honoring one’s deceased loved ones. Participants build altars in their homes to relatives who’ve passed and heap them with food, candles, and other offerings for spirits. Small, decorated sugar skulls are an iconic item in this tradition.

Participants believe that on November 1, the spirits of deceased children come down to reunite with their families, followed by adult spirits the next day. Later in the afternoon of November 2, people go to local cemeteries to continue the celebrations.

A skeletal, yet happy, bride and groom on a bicycle. (Courtesy of Spencer Museum of Art.)

You’re probably asking: what is the Dia de los Muertos connection to the Watkins? In the 1990s, the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas sponsored several collecting trips to the Mexican town of Oaxaca. As a result, the Spencer acquired a huge trove of Dia de los Muertos folk art. Now, the Spencer and the Watkins are collaborating to show off a portion of this collection.

Shared Spirits: Exploring Dia de los Muertos will be available for view at the Watkins until late November. You’re also invited to our Final Friday opening party from 5 to 8 PM on October 30. Come see the exhibit, enjoy chips and queso, decorate your own sugar skulls, and watch traditions (and spirits?) come to life.