These are the stories and tall tales of one boy and his friend who started out in life a little bit out of the ordinary! He was brought into this world by Stork-37 during cold, wintry blizzard conditions in a small village in west-central Kansas farmland called Dundee and had to endure hardships that allowed him to grow up quite quickly. Entrepreneurial and inquisitive by nature, he had abilities and foresight that few boys his age had. That inquisitiveness helped teach him important lessons in life. “Live to learn. Learn to live” was one of his favorite sayings. Living the farming lifestyle in the 1929s, he quickly learned how to save resources and use material and tools at his disposal for creating and building small projects such as beehives, chicken and turkey shelters, and small rabbit hutches, at the same time out for taking walks and discussing life with his friend, Walking Crow. His family, especially his grandpa, encouraged his growth and assisted him with his ideas and abilities. Whistling was an art in those days, and many men made a profession of whistling and singing as groups or doing solo acts. Although well-known for his whistling and singing voice, Grandpa just whistled and sang for pleasure and the freedom to create tunes as he worked at smithin’! Together, one boy and one blacksmith, along with family, toured the Great Depression year of 1929 and made it a fun year!

The book is one of twelve books of the Black Children Speak Series. The books are compiled of the interviews taken from slaves by the interviewers of the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 19361938. The most of the ex-slaves giving the interviews were children, who gave some during slavery and gave interviews of their experiences and insights about living on plantations. The ex-slaves answered questions on all aspects of the plantations in seventeen states of the United States before the Civil War. African Americans were freed from slavery after the Civil War in 1865. The series is dedicated to all people of the world.

This one-stop reference work is a governors’ hall of fame—a compendium of information about the 51 men who have held the chief executive post since the opening of the Kansas Territory in 1854. Using both primary and secondary sources, historian Homer Socolofsky sketches a concise biography of each governor and compares their roles in Kansas history. He also provides comparative election and demographic data, as well as suggestions for additional reading. Supplementing the text are 93 historic photographs, including each chief executive’s portrait and autograph. Twelve maps and tables depict and compare aspects of the governors’ lives, showing occupational background, birthplace, and residence. Kansas Governors brings together in a single volume a far more complete treatment of both territorial and state governors—as well as acting governors—than can be found in other biographical dictionaries. It will be a useful tool for Kansas history buffs, and an essential reference for school and public libraries.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1874.

Spanning decades with great columns from renowned writers, this time capsule recounts the greatest moments in Kansas lore and tracks the chronological progression of sports writing styles from the esoteric to the ultra-modern. The account details the Jayhawks from their roots of glory to their modern-day triumphs.