Great Plains Research

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Promoting research of the economic, martial, political, educational, agricultural, and cultural histories of the Great Plains with a concentration on central and western Kansas, these materials include primary source materials such as diaries and correspondence generated by homesteaders, photograph collections, newspapers from the African-American community of Nicodemus (the first black community founded west of the Mississippi River), genealogical materials, pamphlets published by radical presses, and a litany of scholarly and popular works.

Collection Strengths

Haldeman-Julius "Little Blue Books"
- Published by the Haldeman-Julius Publishing Company and immensely popular during the interwar years, these paperbacks, known as “Little Blue Books” due to their size and the frequent coloring of the cheap pulp paper they were printed on, were mass marketed to a working class audience as a “university in print” as they covered a myriad of subjects including freethought, birth control, self-improvement, philosophy, the Classics, and popular literature.
Tim Johnson Historical Kansas Collection
- Containing materials donated by FHSU alum Tim Johnson, this collection features letters, programs, and other memorabilia from the Kansas Territorial Days through the early 1900's. Many of the letters tell about life on the frontier, farming, and schools in Kansas. Programs for graduation ceremonies and school events are also included.
Tim Johnson Historic Postcard Collections
- Contains several collections of photographic and “real photo” postcards created by renowned national photographers, itinerant lensmen, and the local photographers who, during this period, could be found in most Kansas communities regardless of their size. The postcards in these collections capture unique private and public moments of ordinary Americans of the Progressive Era through the Great Depression engaged in their labor, leisure, commerce, and civic communalism. They include rare, "real photo” postcards taken by Liberal photographer Hal Reid documenting prairie life; carnival cards produced for Parker Amusement (formerly of Abilene and Leavenworth); and exceedingly rare “real photo” postcards of the vigilante AHTA (Anti-Horse Thief Association) along with related memorabilia.

Research Tips

Search the Forsyth Library Catalog. Begin by searching keywords for your research topic. From the results list, use the right sidebar to filter results under the “Location” heading to show only the locations designated with the prefix “Special Collections - Great Plains” or one of several derivatives.
The Kansas Heritage Research Guide was created in conjunction with the Kansas Heritage Project, this research guide provides an overview of the histories and cultural heritage of central and western Kansas counties.
Trails to the Past is a bibliography of primary sources found in Special Collections relating to various aspects of life on the frontier.
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Exhibitions and Featured Digital Content

Forsyth Library's exhibition program includes both site-based and online exhibitions that incorporate materials from Special Collections' Great Plains Research holdings. Additionally, select materials from the Forsyth Library Special Collections have been digitized and housed in its Digital Collections.