Newsletter - Fall 2016
Robotics in Action!
Come play with us! Our recent exhibit, “Toys and Games for all Ages Through the Ages”, culminates with this program presented by Brian Petty on Sunday, November 20th, at 2:00 P.M. Brian could be found playing with Legos and radio-controlled cars from the time he was old enough to walk. He liked to experiment with his own designs and innovations. As a seventh grade student, he knew that he wanted to have his own business that incorporated these “toys”. By the time he graduated from Southwestern College in 1995, he had already established his own business designing and manufacturing robots for a multi-million dollar company. Today he owns Robotzone, a global company, serving businesses, government entities, and hobby lovers worldwide. He gets to “play” each day as he creates new action robots and new innovations for those currently manufactured. Come hear his story, see some of these incredible action robots and innovations, and have an opportunity to “play” with some of these robots yourself.
Voices from the Past – Twilight Tour
Sunday, October 23, “Voices from the Past—Twilight Tour” Highland cemetery
Tickets-- $10 4:30 or 5:00 start times (each tour lasts about 45 min)
CCHS is excited to announce a historic guided tour on Sunday evening, October 23rd, at Highland cemetery. “Voices from the Past” will feature fully costumed historic re-enactors bring to life six notable Winfield residents who rest in the cemetery; two of those are entombed in the mausoleum. Prior to the tour, re-enactors will share a brief history of Highland cemetery and early funeral practices. Costumed tour guides will lead you from one gravesite to another while sharing interesting information. Golf carts will be available on a very limited basis for those with disabilities. Please indicate need when purchasing a ticket. Refreshments and a question-and-answer session will conclude the tour.
Tickets can be purchased at the museum, Graves and the downtown location of the RBC bank. Tickets are limited, so get yours soon!
The mausoleum will be included in the tour.
Annual Meeting
Our annual business meeting begins at 1:45 P.M. on November 6th. We will give a summary of CCHS’s past year and elect board members.
From Campaign Buttons to the White House
The Presidential election is just a few weeks away. Are you one of those per-sons that collect or search for historic campaign memorabilia? Many of these pieces can easily date back to the early 1900’s. Roland Mueller has an extensive collection of Presidential campaign buttons. Many of these are quite old, represent both parties and are very collectible. He has volunteered to share his collection and highlight a few of the special buttons. He will also provide a brief history of when and how campaign buttons came into being. This should be a very interesting program as more folks have begun collecting these buttons in recent years. Feel free to bring some of your old campaign buttons to share that day as well.
Roland will present this program at 2:00 P.M on November 6th, after our annual business meeting .
Roland Mueller at a prior museum Celebration.
Vendors on the Grounds
We had lovely cool day for our second Vendors on the Grounds event!
We want to thank the vendors for bringing their goods, those of you who shopped and made purchases, and those who donated items to the museum’s booth. The assistance of the Museum Friends in preparing for and hosting Vendors was greatly appreciated.
We especially want to thank Walt and Cheri Nichols for heading up this event. It wouldn’t have happened without them! They both spent countless hours making sure that we had vendors selling a variety of goods and that our museum grounds were tidy.
Thanks to everyone for supporting our museum!
The Southwestern Girls’ Basketball team brought teamwork and muscle to set up our event.
Logo Contest
Next year, the Cowley County Historical Society will celebrate having a permanent home for 50 years (our historical society used to be nomadic, so to speak). To kick off the festivities, we would like a new logo that we may use on our newsletters, web site, etc… We will award a $50 prize to the winning logo. The deadline for the contest is November 1, 2016. For more information about the contest, check out the entry form on our website, www.cchsm.com.
Exhibit News
Some spaces in the museum have undergone some upgrades. The military hall has some new posters about the G.A.R. and Strother Army Airfield. The Walnut Valley Festival exhibit has been added to recently with the help of Emory Lewis and the Walnut Valley Festival Association.
The new special exhibit coming in January will be called, “Remembering Those Who Served”. In 1917, the United State entered WWI. We want to recognize all veterans, not just those that served during WWI. Veterans from the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korean, Viet Nam, Iraq, and Afghanistan will be recognized. We need your help to do this! Cowley County veteran’s stories, pictures, letters, and memorabilia will be displayed. If you would be loan any of these for this exhibit please contact the museum by January 5, 2017. These items will be displayed through December 2017.
Message from the Director by Shawn Marie Stover
To me, each newsletter seems to include less and less news. Anymore, as I’m compiling it, I always think to myself, “News-less newsletter.”
Why is my brain so tired when I go to write this? Most people that I talk to in person know how excited this job makes me. I love learning! I love helping people! I love growing and organizing our archival collections so that I can help more people!
A lot of times, this place does just leave me tired. There are never enough resources or enough hours in a day to make this place what I want it to be. I love the winter crowds, or lack thereof, because it helps me get more done. But the downside to the lack of researchers is that I can’t show them the glories of our archives. Yes, I do mean glories.
But sometimes I just get a visitor, a real character, who leaves me laughing—even days later—and I think that the visitors are the best part of my job.
Does my job exhaust me or exhilarate me? Maybe I’m just fickle. But either way, most days you’ll find me here.
From the Frankie Cullison Archives by Shawn Marie Stover
I just love to organize things. A few years ago, when we were doing our “Home Sweet Home” exhibit, we really began scanning and organizing our home pictures and newspaper articles on the computer. Prior to that, the pictures and articles were in very generic files in our archives and photo archives.
Last year, someone called me from California. She was a descendant of a prominent family from Winfield’s past. I immediately thought of one of the homes that she was looking for. It took one look in a city directory to place the other home that she was seeking. Both homes were so well known that we had pictures and a newspaper article or two – all already scanned. Since we had organized, to an extent, the homes on the computer, the information was quick to find. Similarly, since Lou Tharp had so well organized the obituary books that she gave us, it was no trouble to find obituaries of the relatives.
Left: 200 E. 5th Ave. with the brick bungalow at 404 Millington visible in the back-ground. These two houses are historically connected with Santa Fe Railway.
Right: Fire map from 1925 showing Schmidt green-houses behind the home at 3rd Ave. and Andrews Street.
Our digital archives have also grown, allowing us to help people quickly and even more completely. Between the efforts of Bill Bottorff and David Hudson, several old Winfield City Directories have been digitized with text recognition. This is particularly handy because in the oldest directories, there are no numbered addresses or a street guide section. It’s hard to find something if you didn’t know the exact name of the business (sometimes a business would change ownership and names often) or person that you were looking for. Prior to being digitized, you’d literally read most of the text in the directory, depending on how badly you wanted that information.
We continue to improve our archives and it’s all to help you. Visit our archives; we keep them for everyone!
Shown at right, a search in the Kindle edition, made by Bill Bottorff, of the 1880 Winfield City Directory
The Cowley County Historical Society dates from 1931 with a major reorganization and move to our present location in 1967. The CCHS's mission is to preserve and make available the colorful history of the county. We also support and encourage activities pertaining to local history throughout the county. Our bookstore makes available an assortment of items dealing with local history. The historical society also maintains a fine collection of historical records and vintage photographs.