Cool Things Podcasts - 2008
Get an insider's perspective on interesting objects selected by curators at the Kansas Museum of History.
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MUSE Award Winner (Honorable Mention) for 2008,
American Association of Museums Media and Technology Committee
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A Union chaplain from Kansas picked up this slouch-style hat on a Civil War battleground in Arkansas. This little-known western battle involved Native Americans, African Americans, and whites. |
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Between setting flight records and circumnavigating the globe, Kansas aviator Amelia Earhart found time to send out these Christmas cards. |
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This ticket commemorates a monumental match at a Kansas City golf course between Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson, and Harold "Jug" McSpaden. Who was Jug? Listen and learn! |
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Our Thanksgiving episode focuses on a uniquely North American tool. Pipe tomahawks symbolize the blending of two cultures--European and Native American. |
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The biggest killer on the Oregon Trail was cholera. Hear how one Kentucky man was stricken in the morning and died that afternoon. He was buried in Kansas, where this tombstone marked his grave. |
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Neewollah is Halloween spelled backward. Hear how one Kansas community launched a Neewollah festival to keep kids off the streets on Halloween night. |
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It has separated neighbors, marked boundaries, and divided nations. But first it fenced in cattle. |
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Martin and Osa Johnson indulged their passion for travel by filming the South Seas and Africa in the 1920s and 1930s. They collected this barong (a jungle knife used by members of the Moro people) on their first trip to Borneo. |
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During the 1950s, this Kansas film studio promoted mental hygiene among America's youth by producing such films as "The Bully" and "What About Prejudice." |
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This nearly indestructible Frigidaire Custom Imperial Flair stove from 1968 made efficient use of space in the kitchen. Only a kitchen remodeling project and difficulty in getting replacement parts brought an end to its use. |
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The exciting story of the hours following Lincoln's assassination involves this piece of wood, removed from the gallows on which the conspirators were hanged. |
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The goal of the game Monopoly is to become a real estate tycoon. But originally it was designed to teach the evils of monopolies and the virtues of something called the Single Tax. |
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Wichita's oldest family-run Mexican restaurant is Connie's Mexico Café. These objects were used by its founders, Concepción "Connie" Lopez and her husband Rafael. |
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This group of girl cadets, armed with broomsticks and rifle parts, produced a patriotic quilt while defending Topeka at the turn of the 20th century. |
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Hear about two battle flags carried in the Civil War by Kansas boys fighting in Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Yes, the Civil War was fought in states west of the Mississippi, too! |
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Looting of Native American artifacts has been a problem almost since Columbus first stepped off the boat in the New World. Meet Dolores Purdy Corcoran, a Topeka artist who argues for repatriation through her paintings. |
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Kansas ranchers get to indulge their pyromaniacal tendencies every spring when they light the grasslands on fire with homemade incendiary devices called firesticks. It's an accepted technique for managing the prairie. |
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This revolutionary plow was invented by a farmer from Plains, Kansas. It worked well, maybe too well. Some people believe it was responsible for the Dust Bowl. |
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In the Future Farmers of America, blue corduroy is the fabric of success. This particular jacket was worn by Wes Jackson, a former FFA member who today is recognized as a visionary leader in agriculture. |
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Submerged under seven feet of floodwater in a small Kansas City cafe, this clock quietly documented the rising tide of one of the most destructive events in the history of the central plains. |
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How do you drive across Kansas on Interstate 70 during a blizzard? You don't. Hear about a gate used to close the highway during severe winter weather. |
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Find out what it takes to crumple street signs like pieces of tin foil. These signs survived a massive tornado that destroyed the town of Greensburg in May 2007. |
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This bookcase symbolizes a tragic period in Native American history. Were the missionaries who used it trying to improve the lives of their Indian pupils, or wipe out their culture? |
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Topeka's first African American mayor used this unassuming office chair. James McClinton felt his appointment to the mayorship reflected the positive impact of the nation's civil rights movement, and a sign that Topeka was moving ahead. |
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Every territory needs a constitution to become a state. Kansas had four of them. What a political nightmare! Hear about Kansas' complex constitutional history, closely related to the nation's tense pre-Civil War politics. |
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Disease was the deadliest enemy during World War I. In this podcast we examine a quarantine sign used in Bushong, Kansas, during the greatest pandemic in history. Also, learn the history of Kansas Day--our state's birthday. |
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The road between Abilene and San Antonio could get a little rough in the 1870s. This saddle cushioned the ride for Kansas cowboy Gus Bellport.
Check out our award winning Cool Things podcasts from other years. |
The Slouch
Amelia Earhart Christmas Cards
Golfing Buddies
Smoked Turkey
Travel in the Time of Cholera
A Very Merry Neewollah
Barbed Wire
Adventure
Centron
Space Age Stove
Lincoln Log
Monopolize
Connie's Café
Boyd's Girls
Flagged
Modern Ledger Art
Firestick
Plowed
Blue Jacket
Clocked
Snow Gate
Cyclone Stop Sign
A Civilized Bookcase
Seat of Government
Quadruple Constitutions
Funston's Flu
Saddle Up!
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A Kansas Memory Podcast: Another podcast from the Kansas Historical Society sharing stories of Kansans -- some famous, some infamous, and some just average folks.
Entry: Cool Things Podcasts - 2008
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: June 2014
Date Modified: July 2021
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.
