Kansas suffered extensively through the financial depression and staggering unemployment of the 1930s. Severe drought took a toll on rural communities and state revenue. The infusion of millions of road and bridge building dollars and the employment of thousands of workers was a bright spot during these trying times.

Admitted to the Union in 1861 as the 34th state, Kansas was young, but determined to showcase her goods, products and resources by building her own exhibition hall that attracted large, enthusiastic crowds throughout the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.

In 1912, Anna Estelle Arnold self-published her first book, Civics and Citizenship. That same year her book was accepted as a textbook to be taught in Kansas public schools and Kansas granted equal voting rights to women. Arnold was an author and educator who championed the education of young people to value the relationship between government and people’s everyday lives.