Wichita’s Old Cowtown Museum will once again offer a lecture series on various aspects of our town’s history.
The lectures are held in the Visitors Center on select Sunday afternoons from 2-3 p.m. and cost only $3 per person plus tax. Cowtown volunteers and members get in FREE.
The Old Cowtown Museum grounds will not be open to the public during lectures.
Old Cowtown 2020 Winter Lecture Series
So far, the 2020 schedule includes:
January 12 Wyatt Earp –
To help celebrate Wichita’s 150th Birthday the first lecture is on Wyatt Earp’s time in Wichita. Keith Wondra, assistant curator, will talk about Wichita’s most famous lawmen and his time in Wichita.
January 26 Kansas Day – Kansas Immigration and Emigration
After the Civil War, there was a need to increase the state’s population and make it economically viable. Find out about the different forces that helped Kansas grow and flourish.
February 9 Photography in Victorian Wichita
At the beginning of the Victorian era photography was an experimental science that was being perfected. By the end of the era photography was an every man affair. Find out how Historians use these frozen moments in time as a tool to accurately bring the past to life. Presented by Anthony Horsch, Director of Education and Interpretation at Old Cowtown Museum.
February 23 Catholics in Early Wichita
Did you know the first Mass celebrated in Wichita was located at the home of the Meaghers in the summer of 1869, yet the Diocese of Wichita wasn’t established until 1887? In February, curator James Vannurden will discuss the early history of Catholics in Wichita not only including churches, but also schools, people, celebrations, and a hospital.
March 8 Coloring the Victorian World: Lithography and Louis Prang
In the modern era there is color on everything from packaging to newspapers. In the black and white world of the early Victorian era, enterprising men used new processes and techniques to make color a daily part of everyone’s lives.
Presented by Anthony Horsch, Director of Education and Interpretation at Old Cowtown Museum.
March 22 Vice in Early Wichita
Wichita in the 1870s was no different than the other western towns scattered on the map that developed around the cattle trade and farming. While many prominent business men and women struck their claim along the Arkansas River, other businesses prospered around less than admirable cravings.
Businesses existed that centered on such vices as gambling, alcohol, and prostitution. These establishments sprinkled in the city landscape alongside the doctor’s offices, general stores, and banks. While some of them tried to keep a low profile, others flaunted their excitements to the population with those hopes of gaining clientele. Keith Wondra, assistant curator, will talk about Wichita’s vice scene ranging from the cattle drives to state prohibition in 1880.
