In recent decades, historians have uncovered compelling evidence that the natural world greatly influenced events during the American Civil War. Dr. Lisa Brady, author of War Upon the Land: Military Strategy and the Transformation of Southern Landscapes during the American Civil War, will tell us about Americans' attempts to master the environment and how the war […]
Americans in the 19th century believed they were civilized and that war had to be conducted according to principals of restraint and honor. But the extreme violence and bloodshed of the Civil War--including raids, massacres, and prisoners used as human shields--prompted controversy between North and South over forms of retaliation and who deserved protection during […]
Prior to 1969, Lawrence, Kansas, did not have an integrated public swimming pool. The only option that non-white residents had was to swim in the Kansas River, which was dangerous and proved deadly for a number of unfortunate individuals. There was a concerted effort throughout the decade of the 1960s to get the City of […]
In February 1972, they took a stand. By occupying a KU building and demanding gender equity in policies that affected women students, faculty, and staff on campus, the courageous February Sisters spurred change locally and nationally. Join us 50 years later as Christine Smith and Kathryn Tuttle recreate these events with special readings, discuss the February […]
Join us on the Watkins Museum YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter as we chat with historian Frank Van Nuys about his fascinating book, Varmints and Victims: Predator Control in the American West. Varmints and Victims puts the debate over predator control into historical context, tracing the West’s relationship with charismatic predators like grizzlies, wolves, and cougars from […]
Share your story at the next History Harvest for the Oak Hill Cemetery Potter's Field Remembrance Project. If you have a story, photograph, document, etc. about the potter’s field or someone buried there and would like to share it, please stop by the Lawrence Public Library's Videocasting Studio on Wednesday, April 5. If you have […]