Exhibits at the National Archives at Kansas City
Welcome Center and Theater
Curious about what the National Archives is and what it does? Learn about the National Archives and its role in preserving America’s heritage in the short film Democracy Starts Here.
Make souvenir rubbings of famous signatures from the archives. Use the interactive kiosk to learn about the National Archives across America, and get information on upcoming special events, lectures, genealogy classes, book-signings, and programs for children.
It’s Big in the Concourse Gallery through – January 23, 2010
Do you know what’s in your National Archives at Kansas City? A 10-foot long chart of the Missouri River flowing through the Kansas City area in 1879; audio clips of Kansas City mobsters discussing the betting on the 1970 Superbowl, counterfeit Disney merchandise, signatures of individuals as diverse as Abraham Lincoln and the Birdman of Alcatraz, and much more!
It’s Big reflects the history of Kansas City and the surrounding region through archival documents, photographs, and artifacts. Documents such as the ink-stained affidavit of Kansas homesteader Bridget Menihan and the fill-in-the-blank ransom note designed by a gang of enterprising kidnappers bring historical themes and events to life. Artifacts and photographs include an antique clock-face gas pump, a counterfeit fifty-cent bill, and an autographed picture of Russian Revolutionary Leon Trotsky posing with a group of young Americans.
Through its seven sections, the exhibit highlights the immense variety of events and people chronicled in the archives. The sections focus on some of the big themes, big events, and big personalities that appear in the history of our area: transportation, westward expansion, the break-up of Standard Oil, Brown v. Board of Education, the 1918 flu epidemic, personalities, and crime.
See more about the It's Big exhibit.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act in the Regional History Gallery through – January 23, 2010
“Bleeding Kansas,” the 1854-1861 era of violent confrontation between pro-slavery and free state settlers began with the passage of a law: the Kansas-Nebraska Act that created Kansas Territory.
By leaving the question of slavery in the future state to be decided by popular vote, the Act set the stage for battles, massacres, fraudulent elections, dueling territorial legislatures, and even an assault in the U.S. Senate. Other documents on display include a docket book showing charges of treason and “assuming the office of governor” lodged against abolitionist leader and future Kansas governor Charles Robinson, and a page from the indictment of suffragette Susan B. Anthony’s brother, Daniel R. Anthony, for assisting a fugitive slave.
