Kauffman Museum

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 (America/Chicago) | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
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 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
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 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
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 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
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.

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 | At Home
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 presentation will be delivered via Zoom. You can tune in here on March 22, starting at 2:30 pm: Caroline Zeisset SAAM.
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 Dockum Drugstore Sit-in," Dr. Prisca Barnes-Simmons, founder, Storytime Village
2026-04-26 15:00 - 16:00 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
Kauffman Museum at Bethel College will host Dr. Prisca Barnes-Simmons for a presentation and discussion of “The Dockum Drugstore Sit-In,” on April 26 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 – "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 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
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.

Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum: Unlocking the Past Mini-doc
2026-07-26 15:00 - 16:00 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
Come view the newly produced video production chronicling the Unlocking the Past: Immigrant Artifacts & the Stories They Tell exhibit. Exhibit curator and retired museum technician David Kreider and current collections manager Kristine Schmucker will be available to answer questions afterward.

Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum: Nightberries Book Talk with Translator Brad A. Schmidt
2026-08-16 15:00 - 16:00 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
Elina Penner, the author of Nachtbeeren (Nightberries), was born in the Soviet Union in a Low-German Mennonite family but immigrated to Germany in 1991 at the age of four. Her debut novel deals with family and immigrant travails in a new homeland. Bradley Schmidt was born into a Mennonite family, grew up in the Goessel, Kansas, community, and is a Bethel College graduate. Currently he is a translator and educator living in Leipzig, Germany. Join us for his discussion of Penner’s novel and the process of translating High and Low German into a text for English readers.

Exhibit Opening – Piece / Work: The Art of Mary Lou Goertzen
2026-08-30 15:00 - 16:00 | Kauffman Museum, 27th & Main St., North Newton, KS, 67117, United States
Kauffman Museum invites you to join us on August 30 at 3 p.m. as we celebrate the opening of our new special exhibit, Piece / Work: The Art of Mary Lou Goertzen, which takes as its focus an iconic Mennonite artist whose work spanned the deeply personal and broadly commercial.
The opening will begin with a presentation by exhibit curator Dr. Rachel Epp Buller, professor of visual arts and design at Bethel College:
Piecing Stories Together
Throughout her long life, Mary Lou Goertzen turned to different art forms as a way to tell stories–about herself, her surroundings, and her family and friends. In this presentation, Dr. Rachel Epp Buller will give a curatorial overview of Goertzen’s processes, artistic motivations, and unexpected commercial success.
We look forward to seeing you at the opening!
