Kauffman Museum

Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum: "Free Did Not Mean Welcome," Dr. Carmaletta Williams, Chief Executive Officer of The Black Archives of Mid-America
2025-02-09 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago) | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
This program will be available to watch via Zoom. You can join by clicking here.
Millions of African Americans walked away from the South after Emancipation looking for freedom. For some it meant a journey to Kansas, believing “free state” meant free of racial discrimination. Discover how many realized that for Black people in Kansas “free” did not necessarily mean “welcome.”
Dr. Williams is a former professor of English and African American studies at Johnson County Community College. She is currently the executive director of the Black Archives of Mid-America in Kansas City.
“Free Did Not Mean Welcome” is part of Humanities Kansas’s Speakers Bureau and “21st Century Civics,” a collection of resources that invite Kansans to participate in community discussions and learn more about the history of American democracy and the shared responsibilities of citizenship. “21st Century Civics” is made possible with support from “A More Perfect Union: America at 250,” an initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Programming assistance courtesy Humanities Kansas Speakers Bureau program.

Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum: "The Impact of Immigration on Mennonite Churches Today," Michelle Armster, director, MCC Central States, and Heidi Regier Kreider, conference pastor, Western District Conference
2025-03-30 15:00 - 16:00
Join us on Sunday, March 30 at 3 pm at the Kauffman Museum auditorium and Michelle Armster, director of MCC Central States, and Heidi Regier Kreider, conference pastor of Western District conference, give a presentation titled “The Impact of Immigration on Mennonite Churches Today.” This Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum program is free and open to the public.
Armster and Regier Kreider will offer a theological and biblical context for considering immigration, and explore the ways their faith-based organizations have been shaped by immigration and are responding to immigration-related concerns.

Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum: "Re-membering the 1870s Migration," John Thiesen, Co-director of Libraries / Archivist, Mennonite Library & Archives at Bethel College
2025-04-13 15:00 - 16:00
The popular understanding of the immigration of Mennonites from the Russian Empire to the Plains states in the 1870s has a rather weak relationship to the actual events of the 1870s. It is only natural that a popularized explanation of the story would be very abbreviated and rather formulaic, compared to a more in-depth examination. Many of the themes that usually appear in popular accounts are at best half-truths. The story of Mennonites bringing winter wheat is probably the most widely known stereotype. Others might include an exaggerated sense that the immigration process was unified and well-organized the lack of a sense of the context into which migration entered. Unpacking some of these stereotypes can broaden our understanding of the 1870s migration and identify other unexplored aspects of the story.

Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum: "Stories of Mexican Migration to Kansas," Valerie Mendoza, Historian and Lecturer, Kansas City Kansas Community College
2025-05-11 15:00 - 16:00
Stories of Mexican Migration to Kansas explores how and why immigrants from Mexico came to Kansas. Different waves of immigration to various parts of the state from the early 20th century to the present are discussed. The discussion focuses on community formation and culture. Valerie Mendoza weaves in stories from her own family experience. This includes name changes, curanderas, a 40-year-old tradition and NASA. These lived experiences show how her family members–immigrants and children of immigrants– have been trailblazers, culture bearers and firsts. Come and be inspired to learn stories of your own families and their immigrant experiences!

Book Signing: "The Spoils of Victory," Daniel J. Markowitz
2025-11-09 15:00 - 16:00
Join us as Daniel Markowitz reads from his book The Spoils of Victory, the story of “a battle-hardened German POW and a devout Mennonite woman discover[ing] the contours of forgiveness and love in America’s heartland.”
The Spoils of Victory, Markowitz’ first novel and book one in the Prisoners of War series, focuses on a largely forgotten aspect of the history of World War II – the confinement and employment of hundreds of thousands of German POWs throughout the United States from 1943 to 1946.
A book signing will follow the reading. Kauffman Museum will also feature a pop-up of POW artifacts from our collection.
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Daniel J. Markowitz is a descendant of German and Slovenian immigrants who came to America in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Born in 1954 and raised in Olpe, Kansas, at the edge of the Flint Hills, he grew up listening to his grandparents’ and other beloved elders’ stories of their home countries, traditions, and the hardships and joys experienced on their way to stability and prosperity. His love for history and storytelling grew out of their often humorous and sometimes hyperbolic oral chronicles.

“Deutsche Weihnachtslieder/German Hymn Sing” – Drs. William Eash, Merle Schlabaugh and Karen Schlabaugh, professors emeritus, Bethel College
2025-11-30 15:00 - 16:00
Join us on Sunday, November 30 at 3 PM as we sing traditional Christmas hymns accompanied by the Museum’s historic Teschemacher organ and led by former Bethel professors Bill Eash, Merle Schlabaugh and Karen Schlabaugh. The Deutsche Weihnachtslieder (German Hymn Sing) has become a favorite holiday tradition of late, and we hope you’ll join us to sing along, or just listen!

"Songs of Protest: A Sampling of Music that Defies and Dissents,” Holly Swartzendruber, professor of vocal music, Bethel College
2026-01-22 19:00 - 20:30
For millennia, people have utilized the arts to describe and comment on reality, as well as call for change. This lecture will examine the use of music as an expression of social protest for such issues as women’s suffrage/rights, antiracism, and antiwar. A variety of musical styles will be explored including: classical, jazz, folk, and rock.
This presentation contains language intended for mature audiences.

POSTPONED — Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum: "The Dockum Drugstore Sit-in," Prisca Barnes, founder, Storytime Village
2026-02-08 15:00 - 16:00
Kauffman Museum at Bethel College will host Prisca Barnes for a presentation and discussion of “The Dockum Drugstore Sit-In,” on February 8 at 3 pm in the Kauffman Museum auditorium. Members of the community are invited to attend this free program! Contact director Andi Schmidt Andres at asa@bethelks.edu for more information.
Prisca is a passionate advocate for equity and social justice. In 2009, she founded Storytime Village, Inc., a nonprofit organization with a mission to serve low-income Kansas children and families. Prisca has published three children’s books, including People Pride and Promise, the story of the Dockum Sit-in, America’s first student-led lunch counter sit-in.
This program is being held in conjunction with Kauffman Museum’s current special exhibition, “Voices of Conscience: Peace Witness in the Great War,” with parallel themes of non-violent protest and dissent from the status quo.
The program is made possible by Humanities Kansas.

Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum – "Caught in the Middle Between Voices of Conscience and Voices of Patriotism," Carolyn Zeisset, author
2026-03-22 15:00 - 16:00
Author Carolyn Zeisset will explore the ambiguities of conscientious objection and religious exemption during World War I, and the added complexities of generational identities and socio-economic conditions during that time. Zeisset will also note parallels in her historical novel Caught in the Middle with the stories of conscientious objectors told in the traveling exhibit “Voices of Conscience: Peace Witness and the Great War,” currently on view at Kauffman Museum.
Zeisset’s novels — Then the Rules Changes and Caught in the Middle — are available for purchase at the Kauffman Museum store.

Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum – "The Cost of Conscience: One Mennonite Family's Experience in World War I," Sara Judge Keckeisen, Kansas State Historical Society (retired)
2026-05-24 15:00 - 16:00
When the United States entered World War I and instituted a military draft, and federal and state officialdom instituted heavy pressure to support the war effort, the homes, lives, and safety of members of the pacifist Mennonite communities in central Kansas, and of one family in particular, were put in extreme danger. This is the story of how one family coped when their Constitutional rights were violated at every turn.
Sara Judge Keckeisen grew up in western Pennsylvania and northeastern Wisconsin. She has a bachelor’s degree in history and library science from the University of Wisconsin: Eau Claire and a Master’s in Library Science from the University of Denver. She worked at the Kansas State Historical Society as a reference librarian, family history librarian, and cataloger for thirty years, retiring in 2019. She is the author of numerous articles on Kansas history and archeology and five family history books (the sixth one is in the works), including a history of the Koop family of western Oklahoma, singer John Denver’s Mennonite ancestors. Her husband, Bob Keckeisen, was the director of the Kansas Museum of History for over 30 years until his retirement. Sara is an avid walker, traveler, reader, and genealogist though most of her and Bob’s time currently is taken up taking care of their two grandchildren, Ben and Bea. They live in Topeka.
