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Class: Census Research for Genealogists

Watkins Museum of History 1047 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS, United States

Federal and state census records are filled with useful information for genealogists. Understanding how to interpret and analyze these records is a key skill for building your family tree and learning more about the context of your ancestors’ lives. Alisa Branham's class presentation will show various census examples, including the recently released 1950 US Census; […]

$15 – $25

Showcasing a Collection: How to Effectively Display an Artifact

The Watkins Museum is partnering with the Douglas County Community Foundation on their year-end Giving for Good campaign to raise money to help us purchase display cases and custom mounts for artifacts. To donate online, click the donate button below. To donate via check, send and make checks payable to the Douglas County Community Foundation […]

Horsing Around Downtown: Holiday Scavenger Hunt

Downtown Lawrence

Announcing the return of this popular holiday event! From December 2-9, look for the famous Watkins Hobby Horses in the windows of businesses in the 700 and 800 blocks of Massachusetts Street. Bring your checklist downtown, write down locations for at least six out of the eight horses, then drop it off at the Watkins […]

Free

Ellie on the Shelf: A Kids’ Scavenger Hunt!

Watkins Museum of History 1047 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS, United States

Announcing an electrifying holiday game: Bring the kids into the Watkins on December 3, locate the miniature versions of our mascot Ellie the Electric Car on all three floors, and receive a Watkins Museum coloring book. Plus, you'll be entered in a drawing for a $50 gift card to The Toy Store! The drawing winner […]

Free

Genealogy + Local History Spotlight

Watkins Museum of History 1047 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS, United States

Due to the success of our January 10 Genealogy + Local History Spotlight, we're hosting another one! Researching your house’s history, delving into genealogy, or exploring Kansas’s storied past? Join us to get acquainted with resources for digging into local and family history. Meet Lawrence Public Library staff at the Watkins Museum for an introduction […]

Free

Class: Researching Your German Ancestors – Part 1

Watkins Museum of History 1047 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS, United States

German genealogy research is so complicated, expert researcher Alisa Branham will cover this topic in multiple classes. This introductory class will cover basics and the particular challenges of German history and genealogy record such as locating your ancestors, changing political boundaries, terminology, and reading old German script. A useful handout (or two!) will provided to […]

$15 – $25

Homeschool History: A Soldier’s Life in Pictures

Watkins Museum of History 1047 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS, United States

Looking for a fun event for your homeschool child? The Watkins Museum shares Lawrence history with homeschool students ages 5-12 every month throughout the school year. Each lesson studies a topic based on Lawrence and/or Douglas County History while spending time in the galleries and using artifacts to learn about past citizens and events. Lessons […]

Free

Haskell Exhibit Public Presentation

Watkins Museum of History 1047 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS, United States

Join us for a special event during this month's Final Friday. The museum will be open from 6:00-8:00 PM for visitors to explore the new exhibit From Then to Now: A Student History of Haskell Indian Nations University. Then from 7:00-7:30 PM, the exhibit's curators, Geoffrey Pate and Brittany Keegan, along with Travis Campbell of […]

Free

Researching Your German Ancestors: Part 1

Watkins Museum of History 1047 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS, United States

German genealogy research is so complicated, expert researcher Alisa Branham will cover this topic in multiple classes. This introductory class will cover basics and the particular challenges of German history and genealogy record such as locating your ancestors, changing political boundaries, terminology, and reading old German script. A useful handout (or two!) will provided to […]

Homeschool History: A Soldier’s Life in Pictures

Watkins Museum of History 1047 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS, United States

Looking for a fun event for your homeschool child? The Watkins Museum shares Lawrence history with homeschool students ages 5-12 every month throughout the school year. Each lesson studies a topic based on Lawrence and/or Douglas County History while spending time in the galleries and using artifacts to learn about past citizens and events. Lessons […]

Free

DNA for Genealogy Research

Watkins Museum of History 1047 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS, United States

DNA is a powerful tool for genealogy research, helpful for confirming your ancestry or identifying family members in situations like adoption. In this class, genealogy expert Alisa Branham will cover the various companies with a primary focus on AncestryDNA, and we will illustrate how to work with the “matches” to your family tree. Case studies […]

$15 – $25

Online Book Talk: Varmints and Victims: Predator Control in the American West

Join us on the Watkins Museum YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter as we chat with historian Frank Van Nuys about his fascinating book, Varmints and Victims: Predator Control in the American West. Varmints and Victims puts the debate over predator control into historical context, tracing the West’s relationship with charismatic predators like grizzlies, wolves, and cougars from […]

Final Friday: Amazing History at the Watkins

Watkins Museum of History 1047 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS, United States

Drop by the museum to view exciting local history exhibits, including From Then to Now: A Student History of Haskell Indian Nations University and Creatures From the Vault: Animal-Themed Artifacts from the DCHS Collection.

Free

Potter’s Field History Harvest

Lawrence Public Library 707 Vermont St.

Share your story at the next History Harvest for the Oak Hill Cemetery Potter's Field Remembrance Project. If you have a story, photograph, document, etc. about the potter’s field or someone buried there and would like to share it, please stop by the Lawrence Public Library's Videocasting Studio on Wednesday, April 5. If you have […]

Free

Book Event: The Life & Legacy of Elizabeth Miller Watkins

Watkins Museum of History 1047 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS, United States

Join us as we celebrate an exceptional Lawrence woman and the new biography written about her. In the engaging new book The Life and Legacy of Elizabeth Miller Watkins: A Pioneering Philanthropist, Mary Dresser Burchill and Norma Decker Hoagland’s extensive research paints a portrait of a remarkable woman whose generosity endures at KU and in […]

Free

Trails That Connect Us

1927 Moodie Rd.

Join us for the family-friendly Trails that Connect Us event! Come to the Free State Brewing Bottling Facility on the Burroughs Creek Trail Loop section, located at 1927 Moodie Rd., Lawrence. Enjoy a beer, brewery tour, trail information, food trucks, kid-friendly activities and more.

Online Book Talk: Native Americans After World War I

Drawing from archival sources and oral histories, author Thomas Grillot demonstrates how the relationship between Native American tribes and the United States was reinvented in the years following World War I in his book First Americans: U.S. Patriotism in Indian Country after World War I. During that conflict, twelve thousand Native American soldiers served in […]

The Munsee Tribe in Kansas

Watkins Museum of History 1047 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS, United States

Through a grant from Humanities Kansas, the Munsee Tribe in Kansas has embarked on “Niiloona Munsiiw: We Are Munsee,” a cultural preservation project and series of events that will protect archival materials and educate residents of Franklin, Douglas, Leavenworth, and Wyandotte Counties about the history of the tribe in those areas. Join us at the […]

Free

Swimming in Change: Researching Lawrence’s First Integrated Swimming Pool

Outdoor Aquatic Center 727 Kentucky St., Lawrence, Kansas

Join us at the Outdoor Aquatic Center as KU graduate student Maggie Brown-Peoples details her research into the issues around the creation of Lawrence’s first integrated swimming pool. From the protests of the Jayhawk Plunge in 1960 to the creation of the Lawrence Municipal Pool in 1969, university students, civic organizations, and others came together […]