Member Profile: Kauffman Museum at Bethel College

Kauffman Museum at Bethel College is a natural and cultural history museum that explores the immigration experiences of those who settled south-central Kansas with a particular emphasis on the story of the Mennonites. The museum's 4.5 acre site includes an interpretation building, a tallgrass prairie reconstruction, a heritage flower/vegetable/herb garden, and historic farmstead with barn, frame house with adobe wall, and outbuildings. The last Saturday in January the entire 4.5 acre site comes alive with demonstrations, performances, and activities as we celebrate the day Kansas became a state. This annual celebration regularly draws 600-1000 visitors to the museum.
 
Special exhibition themes have emerged from the Museum's mission (Shards, Trails, and Trees: A Landscape's Hidden History), research on items in our study collections (Mennonite Furniture: A Migrant Tradition, 1766-1910), our goal of reaching new audiences (Recuerdos de Newton: The Mexican American Community of Newton, Kansas), and guest curators sharing their expertise and personal collections (Better Choose Me: Collecting and Creating with Tobacco Fabric Novelties, 1880-1920). Recent special exhibitions have explored issues of social justice and conscience (Sorting Out Race: Examining Racial Identity and Stereotypes in Thrift Store Donations and the forthcoming exhibit Voices of Conscience: Peace Witness in the Great War.)

Learn more at www.kauffman.bethelks.edu