Chapman Center for Rural Studies | Kansas State University

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Students of our undergraduate digital humanities research lab gain professional experience as they research, write, and publish Kansas history. Visit our digital archive of small town research papers here. Launch your research by visiting our resource page or arrange a visit to our Center at Kansas State University.

News & Events

New Video Trailers: "Going Home" Exhibit, September 24, 2016 - January 8, 2017

Laura Ingalls Wilder once said, "Home is the nicest word there is."
What if your home or hometown no longer stands?

The Chapman Center for Rural Studies will host "Going Home: Hidden Histories of the Flint Hills," an exhibit at the Flint Hills Discovery Center, starting September 24. You are invited to explore the histories of seven Flint Hills, Kansas, towns including: Broughton, the town which - when first studied - became the Chapman Center for Rural Studies! Kids will have a very special area dedicated to exploring how Kansas kids of the past played, learned, and more!

An interactive map of all verified towns will help you envision how the Flint Hills population waxed and waned. Vintage photos and video will be displayed throughout the exhibit where you can explore towns and ideas like communication, travel, and recreation of Kansas' past. Several iPad stations will be posted for more exploration of the seven featured towns.

Plan to stop at the Story Store, a place to record your memories of home throughout the exhibit. This is also where we will partner with nationally-recognized, StoryCorps, in November. "StoryCorps’ mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world." We hope to add Flint Hill stories to their archive housed in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

This exhibition represents the work of undergraduate students working with Chapman Center for Rural Studies faculty and made possible by an estate gift from Mr. Mark Chapman. The stories, images, sounds and exhibit films were written, discovered, and created by an amazing and talented group of young scholars who care deeply about the Flint Hills. (View more videos on our YouTube channel!)

The exhibition opens Saturday, September 24, at 10 am to the public.

Explore hidden places of the Flint Hills and their stories! You'll also be invited to tell us all about what 'Going Home' means to you.

Visit the Chapman Center for Rural Studies on YouTube for more video trailers, student-crafted multi-media projects, and discussions of rural Kansas history.

Have you visited our blog,"The Rural Telegraph," featuring original student research or swung by the Chapman Center for Rural Studies on Facebook and Twitter? #MakeHistory and come on by.

"On the Brink of Medical Change..." Lost Kansas Communities Student Returns to Serve. Meet Tyler Funke	Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? You'll find video trailers for the Going Home exhibit, historical conversations, student projects, and more! Join the Chapman Center for Rural Studies on YouTube
Chapman Center Intern & 2016 K-State Graduate Leaves Written Legacy Anthony’s study of the vanished community of Magic, Riley County, Kansas, appears in the May issue of Kansas Kin... Learn More!	Passion for History Evident in Student's Small Pox Research In “The End of an Old Enemy: Smallpox in Clay County from 1900-1925,” Shannon Nolan discusses the devastating effect the epidemic had on the small communities in Clay County Smallpox in Clay County
Spring Break in Western Kansas with New Friends While K-State students searched for their Spring Break refreshment, the Chapman Center’s Executive Director headed west to forge new connections on behalf of Chapman Center for Rural Studies’ research. What did she find?	Student's Determination Opens Doors in Research During the lengthy and complicated research process, all students are faced with obstacles of some form, but the roadblock Rachel surmounted was quite significant. She visited the Pearl three times... Read more
Oronoque: Out of the Ashes “What comes to mind when you think of northwestern Kansas? Is it the rolling hills, prairie grass, fields of wheat and corn, or flowing streams? This paints a scene of Oronoque, Kansas. Discover more	History in Action: Students help restore Maple City School House Students in Dr. Bonnie-Lynn Sherow's History of American Agriculture and Food class recently traveled to Maple City, Cowley County, Kansas, to help restore the town site's school house. Learn more here
Explorations in Public History Spring 2015 Dr. Lynn-Sherow led her Public History class through several collaborative projects exploring Lost Kansas Communities, historic preservation, digital humanities, museum curation, and even Wikipedia. Discover more	A Rediscovered Legacy Thanks to diligent research by Chapman Center Intern, Michael Spachek, the once forgotten history of a substantial group of Wabaunsee County black farm families has been brought to life. Read more
Adams' Collection Research Honors Family Jessica Hermesch worked with a donated collection of military records to build a service narrative of George Adams, Sr., World War I soldier. Read more	Field Research and the Chapman Center for Rural Studies Learn how History comes to life and students explore Kansas history. Read more

In Loving Memory of Mark A. Chapman (1943-2014)
We lost a very close member of the K-State family early April 18, 2014. Mark A. Chapman passed away at 71. Read more

The Chapman Center for Rural Studies is an undergraduate research-based center that provides hands-on experience in doing the real work of historians. We are located in 111 Leasure Hall in the heart of the Kansas State University campus in Manhattan, Kansas.

Office hours: Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Call us at 785-532-0380.

Search through the Chapman Center's on-going project, the Lost Town Digital Archive: Lost Kansas Communities.

For more information, email us or email the Executive Director, Professor Bonnie Lynn-Sherow.