MUSEUM EXHIBITS
Main Gallery
The Story of Kansas
Gallery highlights
- 1880s steam locomotive
- 1890s printing press
- 1901 Carry Nation hammer
- 1914 biplane
- 1926 Angell plow
Special Gallery
Upward to Equality: Kansas Women Fight to Vote
January 1 - June 30, 2020
Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the courageous women who made it possible
For Kansas women the path toward suffrage was incremental.
Women began working for voting rights as they fought to keep Kansas free from slavery. Women like Clarina Nichols brought the topics of women's rights into the constitutional conventions. They ensured that Kansas women had opportunities other women in the nation did not. From the time Kansas was admitted as the 34th state, women had the right to vote in school board elections.
Women's organizations continued to push for the vote. When they gained the right to vote in municipal elections, Kansas elected the first woman mayor in the nation, and all women city councils.
The road to full suffrage brought women in partnership with political groups and organizations that shared both common and competing goals. It was an experience of successes, failures, and eventually the success that made Kansas the eighth state to provide full voting rights for women.
Virtual tour
