Unlocking the Past:
Immigrant Artifacts & the Stories They Tell

September 29, 2024-May 25, 2025

Two significant commemorations sparked themes for this exhibition:

2024: the 150th anniversary of the 1874 mass migration of Mennonites from South Russia and Prussia to the central plains of North America, including south central Kansas.

2025: the 500th anniversary of the Anabaptist movement emerging in Europe in 1525, from which Mennonites are the faith descendants.

From the earliest days of the Radical Reformation, Anabaptists have been on the move–forced by persecution for their beliefs as well as chosen for new opportunities. Many items in the Kauffman Museum collections are reminders of these migrations and the reasons for seeking new homes. This special exhibition features artifacts donated to Kauffman Museum over the past decade that reveal stories about the people who carried them on their migration journeys.

There is no single immigrant story, but multiple stories that vary through time and space. As you engage with the exhibition and its themes, we invite you to:

Reflect

What are your own family stories of migration and journey?
Which artifacts have you held on to as you remember the past?
Why are these artifacts significant and how do they guide us to new understandings?
How do these histories influence your perception of immigration issues today?

Explore

migration themes at Kauffman Museum

the permanent exhibit “Of Land and People”: Original People, Immigrant People, Mennonite Life
Mennonite Immigrant Furniture
Mirror of the Martyrs
Heritage Farmstead

Attend

programming that digs deeper into migration stories.
(Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum programs and Oct 5 Fall Festival programs are free to the public)

Sept 29, 3pm	Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum – Mark Jantzen, professor of history, Bethel College: “Brief Imperial Russian Sojourn: Lasting Mennonite Memories”
Oct 5, 10am	Fall Festival – Roseann Penner Kaufman, minister of music and worship, Rainbow Mennonite Church, Kansas City, KS: “Organ Music at Home, Wherever that May Be”
Oct 5, 10am-4pm	Fall Festival – Carolyn Zeisset, author: Children’s Immigration Activities
Oct 5, 3pm	Fall Festival – Steve Friesen, retired director, Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave, Golden, CO: “Alps on the Plains: The Life and Work on Emil Kym”
Oct 25, 6pm	Living Endowment Dinner (by reservation) – Michał Targowski, assistant professor of history and archives, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland: “The First New Homeland: Mennonite Migrations to and from Polish Prussia in the 16-18th Centuries” Make a reservation
Nov 24, 3pm	Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum – Eric Anderson, professor of history, Haskell Indian Nations University: “Diversity and Complexity in Indian Kansas”
Dec 1, 3pm	Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum – William Eash, Merle & Karen Schlabaugh, retired faculty, Bethel College: “Deutsche Weihnachtslieder, German Christmas Carols”
Jan 12, 3pm	Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum – John Sharp, retired historian, Hesston College: “A Mennonite Sojourn in Central Asia, 1880-1935”
Feb 9, 3pm	Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum – Carmaletta Williams, executive director, Black Archives of Mid-America: “Free Did Not Mean Equal”
Mar 30, 3pm	Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum – Michelle Armster, executive director, MCC Central States, & Heidi Regier Kreider, conference minister, Western District Conference: “The Impact of Immigration on Mennonite Churches Today”
Apr 13, 3pm	Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum – John Thiesen, archivist, Mennonite Library and Archives: “Re-membering the 1870s Migration”
May 11, 3pm	Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum – Valerie Mendoza, lecturer and director of the Strengthening Institutions grant, Washburn University: “Stories of Mexican Migration to Kansas”

Exhibit Team

David Kreider: exhibit developer and designer

Rachel Pannabecker: curatorial assistant

Andi Schmidt Andres and John Fast: program coordinators

Nathan Bartel: graphic designer

Dianne Epp: collections assistant

Ben Friesen Guhr: exhibit assistant

Jim Mueller: exhibit assistant

Austin Prouty: website and AV designer

Chuck Regier: senior designer

Julie Robinson: exhibit assistant

Coralee Shenk: bookkeeper

Exhibit Support

The exhibition and public programs are funded by the Kauffman Museum Association, whose donors provide the foundation that sustains our collections, exhibitions, and programs. Join us today!