Free Program – Franklin County Historical Society

August 10: A Creative Guide To Writing Your Family’s Stories (in-person program)

June 4, 2024 Diana Staresinic-Deane

A family--including men, women, and teenaged children--sit and stand around, eating watermelon.

A Creative Guide To Writing Your Family’s Stories presented by Kim Stanley Saturday, August 10, 2024, 10 a.m. FCHS Archives & Research Center, 2011 E Logan St, Ottawa, KS We all love discovering a fantastic tale of our family’s past—whether it be the distant relative who journeyed on the Mayflower, or the grandmother riveted airplanes at a World War II factory. But how do we share these stories in engaging ways? This workshop provides the tools to enrich genealogical research with story and memory so that readers will feel what…

November 2 Program: Beyond the Veil: A History of Spiritualism

October 13, 2023 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Beyond the Veil: A History of Spiritualism Thursday, November 2, 2023, 7 p.m. In person: FCHS Archives & Research Center, 2011 E Logan St, Ottawa, KS 66067 Online: Zoom (registration required) or Facebook Live It seems one of the eternal questions that has plagued humanity centers around what happens to us when we die. Most modern religions try to tackle this question, but none did so with more fervor than modern Spiritualism. What started in a cabin in New York with two young girls quickly spread across the globe.…

January 29: John Brown and Lane, Kansas, subject of 86th Annual FCHS Meeting presentation

January 29, 2023January 29, 2023 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Foreground: Portrait of John Brown showing a man was graying hair, sharp facial features, a white shirt with collar, and dark jacket. Background: historic map showing Franklin County in the center.

John Brown and Lane, Kansas presented by Grady Atwater 86th Annual Meeting of the Members of the Franklin County Historical Society Sunday, January 29, 2023, 2 p.m. In person: FCHS Archives & Research Center, 2011 E Logan St, Ottawa, KS Online: Zoom and Facebook Live Handouts for this program: Annual Meeting program Wishlist Kansas-Missouri Border Map John Brown in Kansas Territory Map The Pottawatomie Massacre was over in a matter of hours, but it effects rippled throughout the world. Grady Atwater, site administrator for the John Brown Museum…

CANCELED: April 22: Unboxing History (Facebook Live Event)

April 20, 2020April 27, 2020 Diana Staresinic-Deane

CANCELED: Unboxing History Series (Online!) Wednesday, April 22, 2 p.m. Franklin County Records & Research Center We’re going to do this program via Facebook Live! Follow us on Facebook for details. The Franklin County Historical Society is home to more than 67,000 artifacts, including textiles, photographs, archives, and other objects. You’re invited to explore the hidden world of the FCHS collection–one box at a time! During each program in our new Unboxing History series, Collections Manager Gloria Kruse and Archives and Research Specialist Ashley Brannan will select one box of…

December 3 program explores heroism or villainy of abolitionist John Brown

November 18, 2019 Diana Staresinic-Deane

John Brown, as painted by John Steurt Curry.

160 years ago this December, John Brown was executed following the raid on Harper’s Ferry. On Tuesday, December 3, 7 p.m., Ottawa University Associate Professor Ryan Louis will present “Commemorating John Brown: Hero, Villain, or Neither?” at the Ottawa campus of Neosho County Community College, 900 East Logan, in Ottawa, Kansas. To say that John Brown is a polarizing historical character does not do justice to the sheer intensity with which people and communities remember him, says Ryan Louis. Brown is commemorated in more than a dozen states and around…

Diary of Reuben Smith, Kansas Settler and Civil War Soldier, presented by author Lana Wirt Myers October 21

October 14, 2018 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Lana Wirt Myers, author of The Diaries of Reuben Smith, Kansas Settler and Civil War Soldier

Neosho County Community College, 900 E Logan, Ottawa, KS Sunday, October 21, 2018, 2 p.m. In 1854, after recently arriving from England, twenty-two-year-old Reuben Smith traveled west, eventually making his way to Kansas Territory. There he found himself in the midst of a bloody prelude to the Civil War, as Free Staters and defenders of slavery battled to stake their claim. For fifty years, Smith wrote fascinating narratives about all he observed and experienced during territorial days, the border war, civil war, and early Kansas politics (he served three terms…