Tag Archives: Kansas

A Visit To The Gordon Parks Museum

June 13, 2024 Tom Dills 4 Comments

The Gordon Parks Museum at Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, KS

Yes, I’m sort of working backwards through my (4,888!) photos from this trip, because there are so many from Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. It’s gonna take me a while to get through them all!

Hoping for extra credit in Professor Curto’s History of Photography class 😉 Kathy & I visited Fort Scott, KS to see the Gordon Parks Museum. We had previously been to Fort Scott in 2020 to visit the Fort Scott National Historic Site, but the museum had been closed.

From the Museum website:

After Gordon Parks attended the first-ever Gordon Parks Celebration in 2004, he gifted the Gordon Parks Center with 30 of his photographs. This spectacular group includes many of his iconic works such as American Gothic, Tuskegee Airmen, Flavio, Ali Sweating, Ingrid Bergman on Stromboli and many others.

In 2006, after his death, his personal effects and other memorabilia, per Gordon’s wishes, were given to the Museum. This valuable collection included many of his awards and medals, personal photos, paintings and drawings of Gordon, plaques, certificates, diplomas and honorary doctorates, selected books and articles, clothing, record player, tennis racquet, magazine articles, his collection of Life magazines and much more.

Since that time, more gifts have been given by his family and friends such as his camera, gifted by his daughter Toni Parks; his film camera and tripod, donated by his son David Parks; a collection of photographs of Gordon donated by Patricia DuBose Duncan, and much more. These gifts have made this collection substantive and significant and we are proud of Gordon’s faith in us to preserve and protect his legacy.

The museum houses a nice collection of Parks memorabilia, including a number of prints, some cameras, numerous awards and displays chronicling Parks’ life and work. I knew him as a photographer and film maker but didn’t realize that he was also a talented musician, composer, writer and poet.

Photos of Gordon Parks on display at The Gordon Parks Museum at Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, KS

Selected prints of Gordon Parks’ photographs. The Gordon Parks Museum at Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, KS

Photo Project: 50 States

It’s A Wrap – Our Pacific Northwest Road Trip

December 28, 2020 Tom Dills 4 Comments

I’ve finally finished processing all of my picks from our Pacific Northwest road trip!

The last two stops were Fort Scott National Historic Site in Fort Scott, Kansas and George Washington Carver National Monument near Diamond, Missouri.

The two things we most wanted to do in Fort Scott were (1) visit the fort and (2) visit the Gordon Parks Museum. The trip from Fort Larned took longer than we expected, so we arrived at the fort just as they were shutting down for the day. Fortunately, a kind ranger was able to arrange for Kathy to get her Passport book stamped, and we were only able to see the outsides of the buildings.

The Gordon Parks Museum is part of Fort Scott Community College, and the college was closed at the time we passed through. So that will need to be reserved for a future trip. The town of Fort Scott was very quaint with a number of interesting looking shops and restaurants, so it’s likely that we’ll make a point of getting back there at some point.

After spending the night in Joplin, MO we stopped at George Washington Carver National Monument the next day enroute to our last overnight in Clarksville, TN. We had always thought of Carver as the “peanut guy” but he did far more than that. It was another unexpectedly educational visit. After our night in Clarksville we “took the last train” and drove home through Tennessee while (unsuccessfully) dodging heavy thunderstorms!

George Washington Carver National Monument near Diamond, Missouri

All in all we drove a total of 8,230 miles over 25 days, and I took nearly 4,500 photos. My picks brought the total down to 1,745 and there are just over 800 photos in the 10 online galleries.

I now have a complete collection of photos from our road trip in my Adobe Portfolio page here.

Photo Project: 50 States

A Truly “Distanced” Visit – Fort Larned, Kansas

December 22, 2020 Tom Dills 2 Comments

Entrance to Fort Larned National Historic Site near Larned, Kansas

Fort Larned National Historic Site in Kansas was our final major stop on our way toward home from Fort Collins, CO. We had spent the previous night in Hays, Kansas and stopped for a picnic breakfast at the picnic area just outside the entrance to the park. While we were there, we only saw one car drive in, and it was a guy with a dog, both of whom needed to use the “facilities” but neither went to the fort.

Fort Larned National Historic Site near Larned, Kansas. Flag was at half staff due to the recent passing of Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg

Officers’ quarters at Fort Larned National Historic Site near Larned, Kansas

When we arrived in the parking lot for the fort, there were a few cars in the parking lot, but I have no idea who they belonged to. Other than a groundskeeper, who we only saw a few times and from a distance, we didn’t see another soul the whole time we were there. The metadata from my photos shows an hour and fifteen minutes between the first and last pictures. But all of the buildings were open for viewing, and the rangers had set up a little table to get stamps for our National Parks Passport.

We visited a number of different historic sites on our western loop, and three of them were forts. Interestingly, all three of them were from different periods in our history, and each one served a unique purpose in its time. Fort Clatsop in Oregon was established by the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805 and was their quarters for the winter of 1805-1806. Fort Scott, which we visited later the same day as Fort Larned, was established in 1842 as one of a chain of forts intended to protect settlers from the Plains Indians, as well as to protect the Indians from the settlers’ encroachment.

Troop barracks at Fort Larned National Historic Site near Larned, Kansas

Medical facilities and infirmary at Fort Larned National Historic Site near Larned, Kansas

Fort Larned was originally established in 1859 as The Camp on Pawnee Fork. It was renamed Camp Alert in 1860 then moved to the current location and renamed Fort Larned, after Colonel Benjamin F. Larned, the paymaster general of the United States Army at the time the post was established. Fort Larned’s purpose was to protect traffic along the Santa Fe Trail.

Shop areas at Fort Larned National Historic Site near Larned, Kansas

The park is very well done, with numerous buildings all restored and preserved in near-original condition and is a fine representation of a complete and authentic army post from the 1860s -1870s. This well-preserved fort on the Santa Fe Trail shares a tumultuous history of the Indian Wars era. The sandstone constructed buildings sheltered troops who were known as the Guardians of the Santa Fe Trail.

Food, clothing, supplies and munitions storage at Fort Larned National Historic Site near Larned, Kansas

I’ve added a gallery of more photos from Fort Larned on my Adobe Portfolio site for anyone who wants to see more. Enjoy! 🙂

Fort Larned National Historic Site near Larned, Kansas

Roadside Finds

The Barn That Talked To Me

September 25, 2020 Tom Dills 2 Comments

Old barn along US-183 near La Crosse, Kansas

Kathy & I had just left our motel in Hayes, Kansas and were speeding down the highway when I spotted this barn alongside the road. It had a very interesting character to it, the light was beautiful and I knew immediately it would make a nice photograph. But I didn’t stop.

I don’t know how it did it, but soon after I passed the barn I started hearing this voice. It said, “hey dumba$$, come back here and take my picture.” It took nearly 2 miles, but eventually I started slowing down and told Kathy, “I’m going back.”

As I was walking back to the car the farmer drove by in his pickup. I waved at him and he waved back. Maybe he had heard the voice, too. 😉

A few days earlier I had passed another barn in Colorado where there was no safe place to pull off the road, and I stewed about it for a long time. So I didn’t really want to pass this one by. But I was already in “Get There Mode” and almost let it go. I’m glad I didn’t!

Postcards

Postcard From Fort Larned National Historic Site, Kansas

September 23, 2020 Tom Dills

Interesting history to this fort, which was established in 1859 and whose role consisted of guarding the transport of the US Mail as well as general traffic along the Santa Fe Trail.

The best part for us was that we spent over an hour at the fort and the only other person we saw was the caretaker, who we saw only from a distance. A very quiet and peaceful experience!

Roadside Finds

Roadside Finds: Sorghum!

September 22, 2020 Tom Dills 2 Comments

Sorghum fields along US-183 near La Crosse, Kansas

Driving through Nebraska and Kansas we kept seeing these interesting plants but didn’t know what they were. The bottoms look like corn stalks but the tops were definitely not corn – more like big bushy cattails. Finally Kathy consulted the interwebs and discovered that the plant in question was sorghum. I’ve eaten sorghum but didn’t know what the plant looked like. News you can use!

Photo Project: 50 States

The Merry Old Land of Oz

October 19, 2019 Tom Dills 4 Comments

One our stops in Kansas was at the Oz Museum in Wamego. Kansas=Oz, right? It was a very well-done museum, with lots of movie and book memorabilia as well as displays documenting various scenes and characters in the movie. While I knew that the movie was based on a book by L. Frank Baum, I didn’t realize that the tale was actually comprised of a series of 14 books. Now I’m going to need to read them all!

As I’ve been doing, there are a few highlight photos here in this post, and anyone interested can see more at this link: Wizard of Oz Museum in Wamego, Kansas.