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Just in time for a big milestone for the state of Kansas, students from the University of Saint Mary and officials from the Lansing Historical Museum are digging into local history.
Kansas Day next year, on Jan. 29, marks the 150th anniversary of Kansas’ statehood. And the Kansas Campus Compact, the state chapter of a national program that awards grants to help link colleges and universities to their communities, is participating by offering three of their 12 Kansas member colleges a chance to celebrate their state.
“Every project is a little different,” said Matthew Lindsey, executive director of the Kansas Campus Compact.
One of the three recipients this year of a Kansas Campus Compact grant is the University of Saint Mary, who applied in coordination with the Lansing Historical Museum. Together, those parties will be working to create a history of Leavenworth County that will be the centerpiece of an event on Kansas Day.
Laura Phillippi, site supervisor for the Lansing Historical Museum, said that the project proposed by USM and the museum will have a local focus — a display for the museum that will look at five aspects of the history of Leavenworth County: Famous people, the area’s prisons, Fort Leavenworth, the area’s cemeteries and the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth.
“We’re celebrating that Kansas is turning 150, but we’re also celebrating local history,” she said.
Within the bilingual displays will be information that Phillippi said perhaps not every resident will know about the history of Leavenworth County. For instance, she said there are plans for a map showing the location of coal mines in the county, at one time mined by inmates of the Lansing Correctional Facility.
“That usually surprises people,” she said.
For the most part, University of Saint Mary history professor Ken Mulliken said the group’s prospective audience are those not familiar with the story of the community — including both young people and those newly stationed at Fort Leavenworth.
“We really have an opportunity here,” he said.
Work has already started, with students enrolled in Mulliken’s historical methods and Kansas and the American West classes from the University of Saint Mary working with Phillippi at the museum to research and create the displays.
Through the research, Mulliken said the students will earn service hours required for the class and get some hands-on experience in a museum setting.
“The purpose, at least of our type of service learning, is to implement and supplement what they are learning in the classroom,” he said.
The students will get an inside look at how small museums store, organize and display artifacts.
“It also helps, to a certain extent, our relationship with the community,” Mulliken said.
The Kansas Day material will be put up in the museum after the current exhibit is taken down on Dec. 19. After it closes, Phillippi said each element of the display will be kept and made available for display or use by area schools or other organizations.
“We wanted to make sure that we were going to apply for something that would benefit the community,” she said.
Just in time for a big milestone for the state of Kansas, students from the University of Saint Mary and officials from the Lansing Historical Museum are digging into local history.
Kansas Day next year, on Jan. 29, marks the 150th anniversary of Kansas’ statehood. And the Kansas Campus Compact, the state chapter of a national program that awards grants to help link colleges and universities to their communities, is participating by offering three of their 12 Kansas member colleges a chance to celebrate their state.
“Every project is a little different,” said Matthew Lindsey, executive director of the Kansas Campus Compact.
One of the three recipients this year of a Kansas Campus Compact grant is the University of Saint Mary, who applied in coordination with the Lansing Historical Museum. Together, those parties will be working to create a history of Leavenworth County that will be the centerpiece of an event on Kansas Day.
Laura Phillippi, site supervisor for the Lansing Historical Museum, said that the project proposed by USM and the museum will have a local focus — a display for the museum that will look at five aspects of the history of Leavenworth County: Famous people, the area’s prisons, Fort Leavenworth, the area’s cemeteries and the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth.
“We’re celebrating that Kansas is turning 150, but we’re also celebrating local history,” she said.
Within the bilingual displays will be information that Phillippi said perhaps not every resident will know about the history of Leavenworth County. For instance, she said there are plans for a map showing the location of coal mines in the county, at one time mined by inmates of the Lansing Correctional Facility.
“That usually surprises people,” she said.
For the most part, University of Saint Mary history professor Ken Mulliken said the group’s prospective audience are those not familiar with the story of the community — including both young people and those newly stationed at Fort Leavenworth.
“We really have an opportunity here,” he said.
Work has already started, with students enrolled in Mulliken’s historical methods and Kansas and the American West classes from the University of Saint Mary working with Phillippi at the museum to research and create the displays.
Through the research, Mulliken said the students will earn service hours required for the class and get some hands-on experience in a museum setting.
“The purpose, at least of our type of service learning, is to implement and supplement what they are learning in the classroom,” he said.
The students will get an inside look at how small museums store, organize and display artifacts.
“It also helps, to a certain extent, our relationship with the community,” Mulliken said.
The Kansas Day material will be put up in the museum after the current exhibit is taken down on Dec. 19. After it closes, Phillippi said each element of the display will be kept and made available for display or use by area schools or other organizations.
“We wanted to make sure that we were going to apply for something that would benefit the community,” she said.
