For those of you who are looking for inspiration on how to observe the World War I Centennial or just want to a starting point for understanding the role of Kansas in the Great War, may I recommend the Autumn 2006 issue of Kansas History:  A Journal of the Central Plains?

This special issue includes articles on the “All Kansas” 353rd Infantry; Camp Funston at Fort Riley; Kansas Nurse Florence Edith Hemphill; Henry Allen defending Kansas troops; Kansas football played among the troops; and Kansas World War I memorials.

The authors include past and present staff of the National World War I Museum and Memorial, Eli Paul, Jonathan Casey and Doran Cart; additional articles by Sandra Reddish, Robert H. Ferrell, and Steven Trout.

For more information and to read the articles online, click here:  http://www.kshs.org/p/kansas-history-autumn-2006/12428

Blair Tarr is the Museum Curator of the Kansas State Historical Society. He oversees the three-dimensional collections of the Society, but has special interests in the Civil War, Wichita-made Valentine diners, and Leavenworth's Abernathy Furniture. In the last few years he has also done a lot of cramming on The Great War. He is a past president of the Kansas Museums Association and the Civil War Round Tables of both Kansas City and Eastern Kansas. He is currently a board member of the Heritage League of Greater Kansas City.