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Jim Hoy, author, educator, and Kansas native, sang “The Old Chisolm Trail” to launch his story about the American cowboy.  Cowboys were typically men between the ages of 19 and 22, he explained.  They managed the herds on the long, slow cattle drives from Texas to Kansas, work that was both boring and dangerous.  Cowboys sang to the cattle to calm them and to themselves to pass the time, generating a wealth of music and poetry.

Kansas is the home of the cowboy, Hoy says, a fact that often surprises people. Over 35,000 men and boys–and a few women–worked the Chisolm Trail after the Civil War, driving long horn cattle from San Antonio, Texas, to be sold in Abilene, Kansas.  It was entrepreneur Jim McKoy who took advantage of Kansas State law and talked the Kansas Pacific Railway into running a spur to Abilene so he could ship cattle East from there.  In the five years (1867-1871) that Abilene was the main Kansas cowtown, over 3,000,000 head went through the pens there. The era came to a close as the town of Abilene grew and changed, more farms developed in the area, and the residents began to resist the rowdy lifestyle that the cowtown fostered.

Kansas originated the cowboy boot with its high heel and pointed toe.  Even John B. Stetson’s ten-gallon hat has Kansas roots, according to Hoy.  Frank H. Maynard was a Kansas cowboy when he wrote “Streets of Loredo” or “Cowboy’s Lament.”

Hoy actively helps his son Josh and family who own and operate the Flying W Ranch in the Flint Hills.

Michael Church, Digital Initiatives Coordinator for the Kansas State Historical Society, spoke on the importance of managing and archiving personal digital content. Michael Church earned an undergraduate degree in English Literature, but it was a love of history that took him to a master’s degree and an archivist job with the State of Utah. His work at the Kansas State Historical Society includes the Kansas Memory photo archive and the nationally recognized digital collection of Kansas newspapers.

Paper records often require less preservation attention, but personal records are particularly vulnerable if steps are not taken to preserve them. Digital records must be located and identified, with the most important being tagged for preservation. Files should be constructed and saved with multiple copies. Files should be identified by name, date and other pertinent information. Multiple copies should be made for the computer, CD, DVD, thumb drive or internet storage. Check those files once a year and copy to new media every five years.

Michael Church recommends using an extended drive that can automatically back up your records to the cloud. There are numerous sites that identify and evaluate cloud services. Various resources on digital preservation are available through the work of the Kansas State Historical Records Advisory Board, of which our own Audrey Coleman is a member. Individuals may also obtain assistance from local computer businesses. Protecting your valuable digital records can be accomplished with some planning and diligence.

When you love both music and woodworking, what do you do when you want to slow down your career?  The Doug Marples answer:  Make violins!

When Doug Marples decided it was time to leave his internal medical practice in Garden City in 2005, he enrolled in a school to learn the craft of making violins, violas and cellos. Now he spends his time creating instruments in his shop in west Lawrence.

The process of making a violin, viola, or cello is much the same, Marples explains, although obviously the scale of each type of instrument is different. The first concern in creating a fine instrument is to select high-quality wood and to let it dry and season.

Using the classic Cremonese Method, Marples traces the shape of an instrument that he wants to use as a template and makes a inside mold of walnut. Willow blocks are placed around the mold to which the ribs or sides of very thin maple are glued. A heating iron bends the maple into the curved shapes necessary.

The top and back of an instrument are made from a single piece of wood. Marples splits the wood block and uses a gouge to create the arch in the wood on both the top and the bottom plates.  He then planes the wood to the opportune thickness. Inlay around the edge of the instrument is made of veneer. This purfling reinforces and increases the plates’ flexibility as well as adding visual beauty.

Next, the mold is removed, and the plates are glued to the ribs and blocks. F-holes are carved on either side of the top of the instrument. A sound post is positioned on the treble side of the instrument, and a bass bar supports the the lower strings. Creating the neck, fingerboard, and scroll for the instrument is another a carving job. Their alignment is important to the playability of the instrument. The mortise connects the neck to the body.

Once the instrument is made, Marples applies a gelatin-like sealer made of alum and protein. Then he applies a clear ground varnish of linseed oil and resins and often a colored varnish as well.

Marples says it takes about 4-5 weeks to carve a violin or viola and about twice that long to carve a cello. The varnishing process takes 2 to 3 months, no matter what type of instrument he is making.

Tom Schmiedeler, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Geography at Washburn University. Tom’s interest in historical, environmental, and regional geography led him to a study of “The Decline of the Village Pub in the Garden of England.”

Small pubs have historically been the community meeting place and the identity of a village, Schmiedeler points out. Social connection was the primary reason to go to the pubs; the drinking was secondary.  But over the past fifty years, British and Scottish pubs have been transformed by a number of factors:  Taxes on alcohol have risen, making a pint more and more expensive.  Inexpensive alcohol is available in grocery stores. Drinking and driving laws are now in place and well-enforced. Licensing for pubs has become more difficult and costly.  And the Internet and family commitments keep potential customers at home.

Honorable G. Joseph Pierron, a fellow Rotarian, Lawrence resident, and native Kansan, has been a judge on the Kansas Court of Appeals since 1990.  When he speaks to schools and civic groups, he brings along Spike the Dog to assist him in explaining the court system.

The role of the courts is to interpret the law, Pierron emphasized.  In the Kansas judicial system, there are numerous municipal courts, 79 district/magistrate courts, 167 district courts, the Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court.  The fourteen judges on the Court of Appeals sit in panels of three to hear about 1600 cases each year. All seven members of the Kansas Supreme Court sit together to hear cases, typically 300 cases each year.

Judge Pierron told the story of the “Kansas Triple Play,” a political manuever in 1956 that allowed incumbant Governor Fred Hall to be named to the Supreme Court.  As a result of that situation, the legislature made a change to the Kansas constitution requiring that an independent panel select three nominees to fill Supreme Court vacancies from which the governor can choose.  The same process was used to select judges for the Court of Appeals until 2016 when the statute was changed to allow the governor to appoint Appellate Court judges without a panel review of candidates.

The criminal incarceration rate in Kansas has risen from 1:1000 in 1960 to 3:1000. Pierron indicated that the reason for the change was tougher law enforcement, especially for drugs and child abuse.  Mandatory sentencing has not been issue in Kansas, according to Pierron.  Kansas recently won an award for reducing the backlog of cases in the courts.

Judges are advocating for higher pay for the 1,600 non-judicial personnel supporting the courts in Kansas.  Although pay for judges is also extremely low compared to national averages, the immediate need is to hire and retain well-qualified people in support roles.