Junction City is one of eight pilot communities in Kansas that will get help from K-State graduate students this summer in planning for their future by enhancing their past. The work will be through the University’s Chapman Center for Rural Studies and its “making the Leap: The Future of Small Historical Societies and Museums” project.

The project is led by Chapman Center Director Bonnie Lynn-Sherow, who was awarded a $100,000 National Endowment for the Humanities’ Public Access Grant in 2017.

Jacob Allen, master’s student in history and Jessie Carmichael , senior in landscape archtecture, will working with the historical societies in Junction City, Dickinson County, Ellsworth and Wilson.

 

The Geary County Historical Museum in Junctiuon City has long served the county in collecting and disseminating its history. Curators are seeking to bolster fundraising opportrunities for the museum’s programming, digitizing and archiving collections, and planning for the preservation of the St. Joseph’s Church and Cemetery along Lower McDowell Creek.

The Dickinson County Heritage Center in Abilene has a reputation for its visitor experience in the historical life of the midwest. The center is planning a museum expansion with upgraded facilities to accomodate larger historical presentations for school group tours.

Other graduate students will serve as museum consultants for museums and historical facilities in Council Grove, Clay Center, Cherryvale and with a historic Flint Hills ranch near Matfield Green.