Kansas City Kansas Community College

Students in two American History classes at Kansas City Kansas Community College are learning about Wyandotte County history by doing research at the Wyandotte County Museum.

The Wyandotte County Historical Society, in cooperation with the Museum, is sponsoring various activities as Wyandotte County celebrates its 150th anniversary. Wyandotte County was carved out of Leavenworth County while Kansas was still a territory in 1859.

Roger Miller, president of the Historical Society, and other society members met with Dr. Charles Wilson, the Dean for Social and Behavioral Sciences at the college and other faculty members late last summer.

John Ryan, a history professor at the college, helped arrange for the American history classes to participate in the project. The instructors are Sherri Wildoner and Ed Peterson.

Miller said that the experience at the museum allows students to become familiar with an excellent resource when it comes to Wyandotte County History.

Trish Schurkamp, the director of the museum, showed the students how to do valid research by using the correct resources when they visited the museum April 22-23.

One of the major public issues during 1859 was whether Kansas would enter the union as a free or a slave state. President James Buchanan had urged Kansans to accept a constitution that was pro-slavery; Kansas voters rejected that.

The document Kansans did accept came out of a convention held during the summer of 1859 in Wyandotte County – called the Wyandotte Constitution. A copy of that document is on display at the museum.

The students will be looking at the various aspects of the Wyandotte Constitution including the provisions that gave women property rights in divorce proceedings and the right to participate in school elections. Those aspects made the constitution quite radical for that period. The constitution allowed Kansas to join the union as a “free” state.

The first objective of the project is to be a valid academic exercise for students. However, the society hopes that information students are gathering could be used in an audio-visual presentation.

In conjunction with this effort, the college will host a presentation by Diane Eickhoff, an author who will portray Clarina Irene Howard Nichols. Nichols was a resident of Wyandotte County during this era and worked for an early-day newspaper in the town of Quindaro. She was an abolitionist and a staunch supporter of women’s rights. She was one of the few women who attended the Wyandotte Convention.

Eickhoff will present the Nichols monologue at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, April 30 in the Intercultural Center at the college. Eickhoff wrote the book “Revolutionary Heart,” a biography of Nichols. The presentation will be free and open to the public. Eickhoff did much of her research for the book at the museum.

The Historical Society will sponsor an 1859 Chautauqua the weekend of June 6 and 7 on the grounds near the museum and George Meyn Community Center, Wyandotte County Park, Bonner Springs. Various community groups will participate along with re-enactors. Children’s games and food are planned.