Kansas City Area Research: Resources About the Area

Photography from around JCCC campus and college events. Named after Bret Gustafson, who spent over 30 years as the official campus photographer.

JCCC's student newspaper, available in full online!

A collection of meeting packets from the JCCC Board of Trustees monthly meetings. This collection is full-text searchable, and is still in the process of being uploaded to completion.

A Collection of more than 8,000 color slide transparencies that are aerial views of Johnson County.

Historical maps and narratives that trace the boundaries of land ownership and the development of townships and cities. Use these atlases to discover how Johnson County has changed over the last 150 years.

Begun in 1991, the Historic Preservation Survey is a collection of photos documenting the architectural style and condition of more than 10,000 pre-1950 homes across Johnson County.

Largely images from annual reports produced by County staff over the first half of the twentieth century, most notably the County Agricultural Agent and the Home Demonstration Agent. Numerous activities of those two offices are depicted, including programs with area farmers, homemakers, and 4-H clubs.

Explore more than 40,000 historical photographs documenting the people, places and organizations of Johnson County, Kansas from the 19th century to the present!

Over 100 images from the early years of the Johnson County Library, mostly the mid-1950s. Photos depict patrons, staff, buildings and collections.

The Johnson County Museum has a wide range of images dating from the late 19th century to the current day. A major focus of the collection centers on individuals and groups of people in domestic, recreational, scholarly, and business settings.

Find citations for obituaries from local newspapers dating from the late 19th century to the present.

Over 4,000 images documenting the history and culture of the Kansas School for the Deaf. The photographs depict student life, faculty and staff gatherings, school buildings, athletic teams, and auxiliary deaf activities in the region.

This collection is comprised of over 3,500 images relating to the history, development and people of Lenexa, Kansas. Particular strengths include area construction projects, photos of the Legler Barn Museum, the Lenexa Centennial celebration of 1969, and early landowners.

This collection contains a partial index of articles, clippings, pamphlets and other ephemera collected by the Johnson County Library's Regional Reference department in a local history vertical file over the course of many years.

A number of images from the Olathe Daily Mirror (published 1861 - 1959) and other local sources. The photographs date from the mid-twentieth century and depict scenes of daily life, including weddings, award ceremonies, and include a number of studio portraits of individuals.

Over 1,300 photographs documenting Overland Park life with special emphasis on local businesses, the Strang Line interurban railroad and school personnel.

The collection focuses on radio pioneer Arthur B. Church’s involvement with the KMBC radio station, primarily between the 1920s and the early 1950s.

Nearly 150 color and black-and-white photographs from the collection, dating 1900-1982 (the majority covering the years 1930-1945). The collection is arranged into seven series: Kansas City theater images, Fox Theater Group figures and staff, celebrities visiting Kansas City, Kansas City personalities, Kansas City images, film stills and promotional images, and miscellaneous photographs.

LaBudde Special Collections and the Marr Sound Archives have worked together to create online projects that include scanned photos, sheet music and texts, as well as streaming audio and multimedia exhibits.

Laurie Perry Cookingham was city manager of Kansas City, Missouri, from 1940-1959. Contains over 1800 images of prints, stereo slides, and single format slides from the collection, documenting Cookingham’s life and career from the 1890s-1990s.

Over 70 black-and-white images from a photo album titled R.A. Long’s City And Country Homes, capturing his palatial urban and rural estates circa 1916.

Over 2000 photographs, documenting Bolling’s life and career in the U.S. Congress from 1949-1983.

Captured from life, the Victorian Studio Portrait Photograph Collection is comprised of 229 Victorian and vintage original photographic prints dating from the mid 19th Century to the early 20th Century.

Over 1500 photographs, spanning Clayton’s life and career from 1928-1991.

This collection is intended to showcase a variety of media relating to the history of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas with particular attention to the CGSC. Books, pamphlets, photographs, and maps are included.

The library's impressive collection of art--which includes many pieces by local artists or with local themes--is in the process of being cataloged and digitized for public access.

KCResearch seeks to provide access to all kinds of data and research studies about Kansas City or produced by Kansas City researchers.

The Missouri Valley Special Collections (MVSC) consist of the non-circulating local history and genealogy resources of the Kansas City Public Library as well as the Library’s archives. Its mission is to preserve our area’s heritage and provide access in meaningful ways to the collections and materials.

The digital gallery features images of material from the Missouri Valley Special Collections. This link also provides access to the local history index, which contains over 36,000 entries.