Fall Festival | “The Oldest Books in the Museum's Collection” by Mark Jantzen, Bethel College Professor of History
2022-10-08 13:30 - 14:30 (America/Chicago) | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
Kauffman Museum owns a number of cuneiform tablets that are over 4,000 years old. These ancient writings provide insight into a culture that goes back to the very beginnings of organized, urban life in Mesopotamia, the ancient Near East. Hundreds of Bethel students have been introduced to these objects in the class History of Civilization instituted by Professor Keith Sprunger almost sixty years ago. This Fall Fest program will be led by Professor Jantzen (85’), the current instructor.

Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum | “Decommissioned Missile Silo Sites: Reminders of Our Past and Future” by Nate Hofer
2022-09-18 15:00 - 16:00 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
Following a short business meeting of the Kauffman Museum Association, World Peace Photo award winner Nate Hofer will discuss making photographs of decommissioned nuclear missile silos. Nate’s project included finding and traveling to the sites, talking with landowners, and considering why he takes the photos and whether he really is a legitimate photographer. This program is held in conjunction with the current special exhibition “The Magic of Things,” a collection of not often seen museum artifacts including a Nuclear Free Zone t-shirt from 1984 when North Newton, KS, officially became a Nuclear Free Zone.

View the event recording.

Kauffman Museum Strategic Planning Community Focus Group
2022-04-28 18:30 - 20:30 | Newton Recreation Center, 415 N Poplar St, Newton, KS, 67114, United States
This spring, Kauffman Museum will develop an action plan that will move the museum boldly into the 21st century, paving a way forward in our rapidly changing world. Your input as a community member is essential as we work through this process. You are invited to join us on Thursday, April 28 from 6:30 to 8:30 in the Newton Recreation Center, Sunflower Room, in a one-time focus group conversation open to the public.

In recent years, Kauffman Museum has aimed “to foster learning experiences rich in artifacts that promote aesthetic appreciation of critical thinking about and reflection on the people and the natural environment of the central prairies, with emphasis on the story of the Mennonites” (Board Approved mission statement, 2012). We hope to build on this legacy with a strategic plan that will shape the museum for the next 3-5 years. Any and all ideas are welcome and will be appreciated.

Please join us on April 28!

Celebrate Kansas Day!
2022-01-29 12:00 - 16:00 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
Celebrate Kansas Day! at Kauffman Museum. Mark your calendars for this free Kansas Day event at Kauffman Museum, happening on Saturday, January 29, 2022 from 12:00–4:00pm.
View the Celebrate Kansas Day! flier.

Food in the Museum Parking Lot, 11:30-4:30
LeJ’s BBQ • Hot chocolate, coffee and cinnamon rolls • Tacos Ana’s • Ken N Barbie’z Rollin Diner
Activities in and around Kauffman Museum
In the Museum auditorium

1:00 Gordon Parks: Renaissance Man, Kirk Sharp, Director, Gordon Parks Museum | View the recording
2:00 Meet Blackbear Bosin: The Man Behind the Keeper, Erin Raux, Director,
Mid-American All-Indian Center | View the recording
3:00 William Allen White: A Kansas Wonder, Bev Buller, Author and Librarian,
retired USD 373 | View the recording

Zoom link for all presentations: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83480322323?pwd=[REDACTED]
Presentations will also be live streamed to Kauffman Museum’s Facebook page and later archived to the museum YouTube channel.

Indoor Activities and Crafts
Craft a Car like Chrysler • Takeoff with Amelia • Laura’s Rag Doll • Famous
Kansans Cozy Book Corner • Parks Fashion Photos • Find the Famous Kansans
Book Signing

Roxie Yonkey, 100 Things To Do in Kansas Before You Die
Bev Buller, From Emporia: William Allen White
Gretchen Eick, They Met at Wounded Knee, Finding Duncan, Dissent in Wichita
Chuck Regier, No Recipe, No Problem
Warren Ashworth and Susan Kand, We, the House
Black Bear Bosin book (signed copies)

Outdoor Activities, Crafts and Demonstrations
Buffalo Chip Tic Tac Toe • Prairie Dog Corn Hole • Native American Teepee • Blacksmith Bill Moffet • Rope Making • Corn Grinding • Popcorn Popping • Vintage Washing Machines • Hay Rack Rides • Old-fashioned Schoolyard Games • Nothing but Naismith • Farmhouse open and heated • George’s Peanut Butter Bird Feeders

Bake Sale
featuring homemade baked goods

Raffle
for 12 pints of Salted Creamery Artisan Ice Cream

Five Places of Christmas at Kauffman Museum
2021-12-04 10:00 - 16:00 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
Newton-area museums welcome the public to “Five Places of Christmas” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 4. The annual holiday open house is a collaborative event among the Carriage Factory Art Gallery, Harvey County Historical Museum, Kauffman Museum, Warkentin House, and Bethel College Women’s Association. This year, Kauffman Museum will offer museum exhibits, gift shop discount tables, and refreshments while the Bethel College Women’s Association will host a Christmas sale featuring handmade crafts and baked goods at the Goerz House on the Bethel College campus. Warkentin House will showcase holiday decorations in every room and the Carriage Factory Gallery will provide materials for make-and-take ornaments from 10:00-12 noon. Harvey County Historical Museum invites guests to explore the videos, blogs and photos on its website. All participating locations will be open with free admission and COVID precautions in place. Be sure to contact each site for its safety requirements.

Humanities Kansas Poetry and Bird Walk
2021-09-04 09:30 - 11:30 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
Kauffman Museum normally offers a First Saturday Bird Walk. Beginning at 9:30 on September 4, the monthly walk will include poetry in an event sponsored by Humanities Kansas. Leaders Megan Kaminski and Molly Zahn, who both teach at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, will lead the beginner-friendly poetry and bird walk oriented to connecting participants to the natural bird habitat near Kauffman Museum and sparking conversation about our relationship with our common home. The event will begin at the Kauffman Museum front door and follow a handicapped accessible route along a 3/4-mile concrete path. For more information contact Kauffman Museum staff at kauffman@bethelks.edu or 316-283-1612.
Read more about this event here: https://www.bethelks.edu/article/first-saturday-bird-walk-will-include-poetry-ku-presenters

Earth Day Trail Walk
2021-04-24 13:30 - 16:30 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
Community participants will walk (or bike) to seven of the eight stations along the concrete North Newton trail from Kansas Avenue to Chisholm Trail park (north of Kauffman Museum). At each station they can stop to learn about local history and get a card stamped. Participants that walk the whole trail and get seven stamps may stop at the museum to pick up a packet of trail mix. Walkers and bikers may start at the Newton Dog Park or at Kauffman Museum where activity and maps cards will be available. The trail is 1.5 miles one way or 3 roundtrip.

Happy Earth Day!

Celebrate Kansas Day! “Cultural Crossroads: Our Stories, Our Foods”
2021-01-30 11:00 - 16:00 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
Celebrate Kansas Day! at Kauffman Museum. Celebrate our state’s birthday with this free Kansas Day event at Kauffman Museum! This year’s theme is, “Cultural Crossroads: Our Stories, Our Foods” to celebrate our vibrant community of makers! Kansas Day activities will be in-person AND online this year.

Kansas Day Schedule Update:

Outdoor stations canceled!
Food trucks not available.

Indoor museum exhibits available.
Limited entry due to COVID-19.
Kansas Day in a Box pick-up, cookie sales, take-home craft pick-up available inside the museum front entry.
Masks and social distancing required!

For the adventurous! Hike the trails in the rain! Maps available at the museum.

Online:
• A virtual presentation by Glen Ediger, on Mennonite ethnic foods, time TBA.
• A virtual presentation by Jenny Masias, “The Immigrants Who Built Newton: One Spike at a Time,” time TBA.
The museum will be open in a limited capacity showing the traveling Smithsonian exhibit, “Crossroads: Change in Rural America” and the local companion exhibit, “Of Land & People: Our Community at a Crossroads of Change.”

The exhibition will encourage you to:
• Take Another Look! at Kauffman Museum permanent exhibits with related themes.
• Take a Walk! outdoors to discover additional content along North Newton trails.
• Add your hopes, dreams and critiques to the Community Response wall.

"Mennonite - Food - Traditions" by Glen Ediger
2021-01-30 11:00 - 12:00 | KS
Celebrate Kansas Day! Virtual Event:

Join us online for “Mennonite – Food – Traditions” a virtual Zoom presentation by Glen Ediger.
Ediger will give a brief history of Mennonites who immigrated to Kansas and how foods enjoyed in Kansas today are influenced by that history. He will speak about the traditional foods of the Low-German Mennonites and discuss his 30 favorite foods. Sign up to attend on Zoom.

Ediger publishes a Mennonite Farmer blog on Facebook offering weekly posts about the history of Mennonite Farmers around the world, with over 5,000 followers in 45 countries. He was born on a wheat farm in western Harvey County, lived in Harvey County his whole life.

View the event recording.

Family Yoga with Erin Ulrich
2020-12-26 16:00 - 17:00 | KS
#Move with Erin Ulrich, owner and instructor at Bend and Breathe Yoga, Lawrence, during a virtual yoga class open to all ages. This event is free, with thanks to Humanities Kansas. Sign up to attend on Zoom.
This event is a public program to accompany the current special exhibition, Crossroads: Change in Rural America, a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition drawing on the history and culture of rural America to provoke fresh thinking and spark conversations about the future and sustainability of rural communities. As a host site, Kauffman Museum will display a complementary exhibition, Of Land & People: Our Community at the Crossroads of Change, and host public programs that spark conversations about life in rural Kansas and initiative healthy activities.
Crossroads: Change in Rural America is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and Humanities Kansas.

Five Places of Christmas at Kauffman Museum
2020-12-05 10:00 - 16:00 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
Newton-area museums welcome the public to “Five Places of Christmas” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 5. The annual holiday open house is a collaborative event among the Carriage Factory Art Gallery, Harvey County Historical Museum, Kauffman Museum, Warkentin House, and Bethel College Women’s Association. This year, the Bethel College Women’s Association and Harvey County Historical Museum will host virtual events while Kauffman Museum, Warkentin House, and Carriage Factory Gallery will be open with free admission and COVID precautions in place. Be sure to contact each site for its safety requirements.
The Crossroads exhibit will open during “Five Places of Christmas” at Kauffman Museum. Visitors to Kauffman Museum, located at 27th and Main streets in North Newton, can enjoy the museum as well as the Smithsonian exhibit, Crossroads: Change in Rural America, and the local companion exhibit, Of Land & People: Our Community at the Crossroads of Change. Masks are required when visiting the museum.
With thanks… To Newton.

Save the Date!
2020-05-09 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
May 9
Time TBD
Special spring museum event to be announced!

First Saturday Bird Walk
2020-03-07 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
TIME TBD
Join experienced birders as they spot feathered friends!
The walk departs from the kiosk in the museum parking lot for a mile-and-a-half hike through Chisholm Park and along the Sand Creek Trail. Be prepared for some unpaved/steep terrain. Binoculars and a bird book are recommended but not required. Children accompanied by an adult are welcome but should be able to remain quiet so they don’t scare away the birds!

Celebrate Kansas Day!
2020-01-25 11:00 - 16:30 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
Celebrate our state’s birthday with this free Kansas Day event.
• Presentation, Lecture Name, by Lecturer at the Luyken Fine Arts Center at Bethel College, 11 am
• Food trucks in the Kauffman Museum parking lot from 11:30 am to 4:30 pm
• Free Kansas Day activities at the museum, from 1 pm to 4 pm, including indoor crafts games for the kiddos, Kansas-themed talks in the auditorium, and outdoor activities and displays, old-fashioned schoolyard games, wagon rides, pedal-tractor racecourse, Native American teepee, and more!
• Bake sale and a silent auction of antiques
• Tour the restored farmhouse and view the museum exhibits.
Admission for this event is free and the Kansas Day celebration at Kauffman Museum is open to everyone.

First Saturday Bird Walk
2019-12-07 08:00 - 09:30 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
Join experienced birders as they spot feathered friends!
Our First Saturday Bird Walk departs from the kiosk in the museum parking lot for a mile-and-a-half hike through Chisholm Park and along the Sand Creek Trail. Be prepared for some unpaved/steep terrain. Binoculars and a bird book are recommended but not required. Children accompanied by an adult are welcome but should be able to remain quiet so they don’t scare away the birds!

Opening Reception: K is for Kansas
2019-08-18 13:30 - 16:30 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
Join us to celebrate the 20th Installation Opening Reception for K is for Kansas: Exploring Kansas from A to Z. Introductory remarks at 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM. Refreshments provided. Kansas “lawn games” available inside throughout the museum, for all ages!
