By Hannah Palsa and Holly Hill April 19th is National Cat Lady Day – and the Chapman Center is full of us! In the past, the “Cat Lady” title was meant as an insult; however, we’re reclaiming this title for ourselves. We’re all proud cat lovers, and we’re excited to show off our very own…
Riding trains with Jiminy Cricket: Ward Kimball, Disney, and Parsons, Kansas
Written by Hannah Palsa Chapman Center Scholar Student Curatorial Assistant – Beach Museum of Art “Oh, Cricket’s the name. Jiminy Cricket,” chirped the suave cricket in the Walt Disney Productions’ 1940 adaptation of Pinocchio. The sharp dressed cricket acted as Pinocchio’s conscience throughout the film, and sang the well-known Disney classic, “When You Wish Upon…
History and Historical Romance in Manhattan, Kansas
Written by Holly HillMA Student – Department of HistoryHGSO Vice PresidentHelp Desk Student Specialist – Hale Library To get into the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I turned to my favorite genre of fiction: historical romance. I know I’m not the only one: romance is the most popular genre of fiction, and historical romance is its most…
Tin Elephants Bring Lots of Joy
Written by Hannah PalsaChapman Center ScholarStudent Curatorial Assistant – Beach Museum of Art On November 10, 2023, Chapman Center for Rural Studies Director Dr. Mary Kohn, office manager Kim Wescott, and graduate student assistants Hannah Palsa and Holly Hill traveled to Concordia, Kansas to visit the National Orphan Train Complex. The Chapman Center agreed to…
Lending Toys, Mending Hearts: The WPA’s Toy Lending Library and Kansas
Written by Hannah Palsa Chapman Center Scholar Student Curatorial Assistant – Beach Museum of Art The community house in Manhattan, Kansas transformed in December 1940 into a place of childlike wonder. Children lined up early before the store’s opening at 9am on December 15, 1940. Upon descending into the basement, children and their parents were…
Author Spotlight: Taylor Brorby
We’re back with another author spotlight, this time featuring the writer Taylor Brorby. Taylor’s most recent book, Boys and Oil: Growing up gay in a fractured land, was published on June 7th, 2022, and is a beautifully written memoir of his experience as a queer person living in rural North Dakota. I had the chance…
Seek Special: Behind the Scenes with the Chapman Center for Rural Studies
Malorie SougeyCommunications and Events CoordinatorKansas State University, College of Arts & Sciences The Chapman Center for Rural studies is a thriving center of excellence in the College of Arts and Sciences at Kansas State University. With a focus on strengthening rural communities and advancing student learning, the Chapman Center’s faculty, staff, and students produce high-quality…
Interview: Jim Hoy, Author, Historian, Professor
The Rural Telegraph’s mission to highlight rural writers continues in this interview with Jim Hoy. Jim is a retired professor of English at Emporia State University, where he also served as Director of the Center for Great Plains Studies. Jim is also the author of nineteen books, (two of which you can find in the…
Film Analysis: Rural Representations in “Capote”
“It’s the hardest when someone has a notion about you and it’s impossible to convince them otherwise.” These words are spoken by Philip Seymour Hoffman, as famed author Truman Capote, in the 2005 film Capote. Though Capote is the author of several well-known works—the novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the short story “A Christmas Memory”—arguably…
Introducing The Chapman Center’s Re-Organized Library
This summer, I took on the task of re-organizing the Chapman Center’s library. This included collecting the Library of Congress call numbers for each book, generating labels for each book, and organizing the shelves according to these numbers. It was a large undertaking; though I have previous experience working in both a bookstore and library,…
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