Browse Collections (37 total)
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2020 Coronavirus Pandemic
MHGS has started to archive materials related to the coronavirus pandemic in Sedgwick County.
View the items in 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic
Here are my thoughts on how this will work:
Scope
Strictly, ruthlessly focused on Sedgwick County. Even this is probably too big, but we'll see.
Materials
Newspaper -- I'm going to assume that the Wichita Eagle digital archive will be available in the future, and will not attempt to save Eagle articles
Facebook -- I'm only preserving things that relate directly to Sedgwick County (like ad images for special takeout menus). Although it might be fascinating for future researchers, I don't see any realistic way to preserve things like the comments on a post.
Radio and TV -- I don't know what to do about these. In many cases, they are either reporting on the same things the paper is, or the story is based on an underlying source, like a press release, which I have been able to find and archive. I am open to ideas here!
Websites -- This is where I'm getting the bulk of my material so far. Many organizations have created COVID-19 pages, and I will be taking periodic snapshots of these, as well as downloading any relevant supporting documents.
Photographs -- We need more images! I'd like pictures of interesting signs, people, and places that show the impact of the pandemic or the stay-at-home order.
Process
I am generating a list of bookmarked websites as I discover new pages. At least once per week, I return to each bookmarked website to see if anything has changed.
As to the dates on items -- the date on a website item is the date I looked at it, and not necessarily the date it changed. The date on, say, a press release, is the date on the release, not the date I found it. In general, if something has a date, I use it, otherwise, I use the date on which I archived it.
Formats
Webpages -- I am using Chrome's "Print to PDF" to create PDF files from individual web pages. I investigated fancier web archiving techniques, but decided on the fast and simple approach, both to let me work quickly now, and also to simplify future archive maintenance and access. These PDFs don't preserve the exact layout of a website, but they do get all the text and most of the images (those carousel things where several images rotate automatically don't get captured.)
Video -- I've found a little program that enables me to download YouTube and Facebook videos, so I am cautiously beginning to add those. They are real space hogs, so I'm trying to be judicious. The funny one from Cowtown was a no-brainer, of course.
Documents -- So far, all the documents I've found are either PDF or DOCX, so I'm keeping them in their original format. If something odd comes up, I'll try to convert to PDF.
Images -- As with documents, I'm keeping these in their original formats.
Negative Results
I've been collecting both passively, grabbing things as they get mentioned, and actively, searching for Wichita's major employers, retailers, churches, suburbs, etc. If I find something, I add it to the archive. I can't, however, add things to the archive that I don't find. So, here's a list of places I looked, but didn't find anything specific to both Sedgwick County and the Coronavirus. This, of course, doesn't mean they didn't do or publish anything, just that I didn't find it through a public website. Cessna, for example, probably has an employees-only site I couldn't access.
LDS Church
Jehovah's Witness Church
Cessna
Availability
Currently, only the photographs in the archive are publicly available. I don't want there to be any chance that someone doing a Google search for, say, information from the Wichita Public Schools, might accidentally land on one of our archived web pages and miss the latest information on their page. Once the pandemic has passed, we can open the archive for research. -
Bernstein Collection
These photographs were in the possession of a nun living at the convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Wichita, Kansas. It is believed that they relate to a Bernstein family from New Orleans.
View the items in Bernstein Collection -
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Contributions (on-going)
Digital images of these items have been contributed to the MHGS Digital Collections by community members. For the most part, MHGS does not hold the physical originals.
View the items in Contributions (on-going) -
Cossitt Collection
Photos of Wichita
Contributors: Sally Houston
View the items in Cossitt Collection -
Faye Wilson Leach Collection (in progress)
These items are from the personal files of Faye Wilson Leach.
The first set of items are from her membership in the social sorority XI Delta Pi. There are photographic slides, membership directories and event programs.
After that, the items are a bit more jumbled. Roughly, there are three kinds of materials:
1) Purely family items, including both printed items, such as letters, and photographs
2) Fairmount United Church of Christ items, including church directories and photographs
3) Wichita items, including materials about businesses and people.
Many of these items are recent, copyrighted, or refer to living people, so, while they are in the digital database, they are not available on the web-based interface. If you find something intriguing in this collection online, there is a very good chance that there are additional materials not online. You may search and view these in our library.Contributors: Megan Fields
View the items in Faye Wilson Leach Collection (in progress) -
Freida M. Wells Photograph Collection
These photographs were donated by Freida Wells in June 2008. Ms. Wells believed these photographs belonged to her mother.
View the items in Freida M. Wells Photograph Collection
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Gibson Photograph Collection
These photos were donated to MHGS in June, 2012, by Shirley Smith; there was no additional information from the donor. It appears that the photos belonged to Lorna Gibson, who was born in Vermont, lived several years in Palestine, with her mother, a missionary, and went into missionary work herself. The photos are very roughly grouped into three lots: Family photos from the Gibson and Cox families, snapshots taken in and around Palestine during the late 1920s and early 1930s focusing on Bernice Gibson, her work and her family, and snapshots taken in New England during the 1930s focusing on Lorna Gibson.
View the items in Gibson Photograph Collection
The first 25 photos were in a manilla envelope from "CAO TIMES, Box 75, Old Chelsea Station, New York, N.Y. 10113" (stamped) to "Mr. Curtis L. Gibson, General Delivery, Sulphur Springs AR 72768" post date unreadable
Items 26 through 37 were in a manilla envelope addressed to Bernice C. Gibson 412 Black Ave. Sulphur Spring, Ark, postmarked Chicago, Ill, no date.
Items 38 through 44 were in an unlabeled manilla envelope
Items 45 through 55 were in an unlabeled cardboard folder
Items 56 through 78 were in an unlabeled manilla envelope
7 copies of item 79 were in a manilla envelope labeled "Gibson Family Relatives & Friends. Mrs. Gibson, 412 Black Avenue. Sulphur Springs, Ark." No postmark
Item 80 was inside one envelope from "Lorna F. Gibson 29 Court Street Woodsville, New Hampshire" to "Moen Photo Service 867 Moen Bldg La Crosse, Wisconsin" postmarked August 11, 1943 and labeled "CBC senior graduation photo." This envelope was inside a second envelope from "19885 Wisteria St. Castro Valley, Calif." to "Mrs. Bernice C. Gibson Sulphur Springs Arkansas" and labelled "Lorna's Friends" and postmarked 1964.
The remaining items were in an envelope with a printed return address of "Spanish-World Gospel Mission, Inc. El Camino de la Vida, P.O. Box 542, Winona Lake, Indiana 46590" and a typed address of "Miss Lorna Gibson, Rt. 1 Box 199 Sulphur Springs, AR 72768"
The final item, oversized, was separate in the box.
The photos were processed by Julia Langel, June and July 2012.
Processing note: Several of the captions for the snapshots in these photos refer to "Mishlambs." After some investigation, the processor thinks that this may not be a family name; instead, it appears to be an affectionate collective nickname for the children of the missionary group Bernice Gibson belonged to.
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Jackson Collection
A collection of photographs from a real estate office
View the items in Jackson Collection