KU lectures mark sesquicentennial

Students sit on the front stairs of Old North College about 1890. In 1866, North College became the first structure to house the newly established University of Kansas. The building’s foundation was laid by Lawrence settlers beginning in 1859, five years after the city was founded. University Archives, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries

Series to commemorate territory’s anniversary

The Hall Center for the Humanities is hosting a September lecture series to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Kansas Territory.

All lectures will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church, 1011 Vermont St. Boxed dinners will be available with pre-registration and will be served at 6 p.m. The lectures and dinners are free; call 864-4798.

The series began Sept. 2 with Virgil Dean of the Kansas State Historical Society, who discussed “Political Characters in Territorial Kansas.”

The second lecture will feature Bill Tsutsui, associate professor of history, and Marjorie Swann, associate professor of English, presenting “John Steuart Curry’s Vision of Territorial Kansas” on Sept. 9. Curry was a Kansas-born regionalist painter who returned to his home state in 1937 with a commission to paint murals in the rotunda of the Capitol in Topeka.

On Sept. 16, Pat Michaelis of the Kansas State Historical Society will present “Life in Kansas Territory: Toil and Turmoil From the Letters of John and Sarah Everett.”

Based on letters written by a couple who settled near Osawatomie in 1855, the lecture will offer an unusual picture of a pioneer family struggling against the hazards of the frontier, nature and political turmoil.

Mike Hoeflich, the John H. & John M. Kane distinguished professor of law, and Susanne Valdez Carey, associate clinical specialist of law, will explore pre-statehood crime and punishment in their Sept. 23 lecture, “Crime and Violence in Douglas County, 1855-1865.”

Other KU sesquicentennial observances
Sept. 12
• 138th anniversary of first classes at KU
• Spencer Research Library, “In Her Own Voice,” the diary of Thankful Sophia Cobb Mayo, an early settler in Lawrence (through Oct. 29)
• Spencer Museum of Art, “Vanishing Voices,” “Windmills to Workshops” and “Quilts!” (through Sept. 26)
Sept. 13
• 2004 Dole Leadership Prize presented to Sen. George McGovern, 7:30 p.m. at the Lied Center. Free, but tickets required. Call 864-2787.
Sept. 18
• KU’s Marching Jayhawks will participate in the Sesquicentennial Parade beginning at 10 a.m., from Seventh and Massachusetts to South Park. Rain or shine.