Art aNd Events
American Indians of the past who resided in Kansas have created and been depicted in artwork found at various locations in the state. Current artwork can be seen at geological features, public buildings, festivals, art gallery exhibits, and Wichita's Mid-America All-Indian Center. Until 2022, the American Indian Art Center in Abilene showcased more than a hundred native American artisans from 30 tribes with art such as this image to the right.
Village of WHite Hair (Oswego)
Village of White Hair by E. Marie Horner and Joan Allen. Oswego. 1998
Yamparika Comanche (Medicine Lodge)
Village of White Hair by E. Marie Horner and Joan Allen. Oswego. 1998
Earthworks
Satanta
Kansan Stan Herd used a tractor to create a portrait of Kiowa chief Satanta on 160 acres near Jetmore in 1981.
Little Girl in the Wind
Created in 1990, this earthwork portrays a Kickapoo girl and was inspired by a Costa Rican Francisco Amighetti studio visit. Image: Stan Herd Arts.
Medicine Wheel
This four-acre earthwork was created in 1992 by Stan Herd at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence to represent equinoxes, solstices, the four stages of human life, the four winds, and the ancestral wisdom of four grandfathers. Access at the intersection of 23rd Street and Massachusetts Street, take Massachusetts into the Haskell Campus where it turns into Perimeter Road. At the Perimeter intersection with Barker Avenue, park, and walk south on the gravel road to the Medicine Wheel Earthwork.
WPA Dioramas
As part of the 1930s Works Progress Administration, the Museum Project hired unemployed artisans to produce visual education aids for schools, including the dioramas shown to the right and below, which are part of the Harvey County Historical Society Museum and Marysville Pony Express Museum collections. Scenes depicted (in order, left to right) are Four Horses Trading Post, Coronado's expedition, travois use, buffalo hunting, Kansa harvest, Osage elk hunt, Commanche, Kiowa eagle dance, and pottery making.
Much about the petroglyphs of central Kansas remains uncertain. We may not know who created all of the carvings or exactly when they were created.”
Petroglyphs of the Kansas Smoky Hills
Petroglyphs
Created by carving or scratching rock surface, petroglyphs presumably in Kansas were made by the American Indians who lived here long ago. Most are on private property in Comanche, Ellsworth, Greenwood, Kiowa, Lincoln, Montgomery, Ottawa, Rice, and Russell counties. Vandalism and erosion have damaged several petroglyphs also known as rock art. Read more about the following petroglyph sites in this National Register Nomination.
1. Big Gyp Cave Pictograph Site (14CM305) (Buttermilk)
2. Cave Hollow Petroglyph Site (14EW33) (Carneiro)
3. Circle Rock Petroglyph Site (14RU10) (Dorrance)
4. Elm Creek Petroglyph Site (14EW14) (Carneiro)
5. Haberer Petroglyph Site (14RU314) (Russell)
6. Hampl Petroglyph Site (14RU315) (Dorrance)
7. Haystack Mound Petroglyph Site (14EW303) (Ellsworth)
8. Hildebrandt Petroglyph Site (14LC306) (Sylvan Grove)
9. Indian Hill Site (14EW1) (Marquette vicinity)
10. Indian Spring Petroglyph Site (14GR320) (Fall River)
11. Katzenmeier Petroglyph Site (14EW401) (Ellsworth)
12. Lookout Station Petroglyph Site (14MY1385) (Liberty)
13. Owl's Nest Petroglyph Site (14EW403) (Carneiro)
14. Paradise Creek Petroglyph Site (14RU5) (Russell)
15. Petroglyph Site 14EW404 (Ellsworth)
16. Petroglyph Site 14EW405 (Ellsworth)
17. Petroglyph Site 14EW406 (Ellsworth)
18. Petroglyph Site 14MY1320 (Liberty)
19. Petroglyph Site 14MY365 (Liberty)
20. Petroglyph Site 14OT4 (Minneapolis)
21. Petroglyph Site 14RC11 (Little River)
22. Peverly Petroglyph Site (14RC10) (Little River vicinity)
23. Purma Petroglyph Site (14RU316) (Dorrance)
24. Red Rock Canyon Petroglyph Site (14EW304) (Carneiro vicinity)
25. Roth Petroglyph Site (14KW302) (Belvidere)
26. Russell Petroglyph Site (14RU313) (Russell)
27. S&S Ranch Petroglyph Site (14RU324) (Russell)
28. Star Petroglyph Site (14KW301) (Belvidere)
29. Treaty Rocks Petroglyph Site (14MY1) (Liberty)
30. Ward Petroglyph Site (14EW17) (Ellsworth)
Learn More
The image above is believed to be the same one at the mouth of the Nemaha River near Troy, Kansas, mentioned in journals from the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In their travel, the explorers saw many petroglyphs, for example, wrote William Clark, "Passed a projecting rock on which was painted a figure." Image: National Archives.
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders
Venues performed in Kansas
Abilene: September 16, 1912
Arkansas City: September 18, 1912
Atchison: October 10, 1881; February 9, 1886; September 20, 1898; September 15, 1911
Chanute: September 2, 1915
Clay Center: September 15, 1915
Columbus: September 1, 1915
Concordia: September 29, 1900
Dodge City: September 9, 1915
Eldorado: September 17, 1912
Emporia: September 17, 1898; October 3, 1900; September 20, 1909; September 1, 1911; June 24, 1914
Fort Scott: October 22, 1896; September 9, 1911; September 30, 1914; September 20, 1915
Garden City: August 28, 1911
Great Bend: August 29, 1911
Holton: September 16, 1915 (cancelled, train derailment)
Hutchinson: September 12, 1898; October 6, 1902; August 30, 1911; June 22, 1914
Independence: September 15, 1898; September 21, 1915
Iola: September 11, 1911
Junction City: September 28, 1900; September 16, 1909
Larned: September 10, 1915
Kansas City: September 17, 1915 (cancelled, train derailment)
Lawrence: October 12, 1881; October 2, 1900; September 14, 1909; September 3, 1915
Leavenworth: April 13-14, 1877; October 8, 1881; February 4, 1886; October 17, 1896; September 21, 1898; September 11, 1909; September 13, 1911
Manhattan: September 14, 1915
Marysville: September 26, 1900; September 14, 1912
McPherson: September 18, 1909; September 7, 1915
Newton: September 21, 1909; September 11, 1915
Ottawa: September 16, 1898; September 12, 1911; September 4, 1915
Parsons: October 7, 1909; August 31, 1915
Pittsburg: October 4, 1900; September 8, 1911; October 1, 1914; April 24, 1916
Pratt: September 8, 1915
Salina: September 27, 1900; September 17, 1909; September 13, 1915
Topeka: October 11, 1881; February 8, 1886; October 21, 1896; September 19, 1898; October 1, 1900; September 15, 1909; September 2, 1911; June 25, 1914
Wichita: September 13, 1898; October 7, 1902; September 22, 1909; August 31, 1911; June 23, 1914; September 6, 1915
Winfield: September 14, 1898; September 23, 1909; October 3, 1914
