The Bookmobile will not be at any stops this week for scheduled maintenance. We will resume a normal schedule Tuesday, May 28.

Genealogy and Local History

Tips and tools for tracing your family tree, upcoming cultural events, read about books with a Kansas connection, and meet our resident genealogy experts. Plus, stuff from our art/history vault.

Recent Genealogy and Local History Blog Posts

Summer Reading with Topeka Authors banner

Summer Reading with Topeka Authors

This summer the Topeka Room helps celebrate our summer reading themes of “Dig into Reading” and “Groundbreaking Reads” by featuring books by a variety of authors with Topeka connections in the display cases on the second floor.  A sampling of fiction, children’s books, poetry, graphic novels, and plays have been chosen from the Topeka Room [...]

Cathy Ramirez author talk about "Where's the Ghost?"

Kansas Author Cathy Ramirez

Join us in the Topeka Room (204) on Sunday, May 5, 2:00-3:00pm to hear Kansas Author Cathy Ramirez talk about her first book Where’s the Ghost? The Trials and Tribulations of Ghost Hunting. It tells the beginning of Cathy’s journey into the world of paranormal research. Through her own words and the stories of those [...]

Guardians of Havenshire

Kansas Author George Feliu on Writing a Series

Join us in the Topeka Room (204) on Sunday, April 21, 2:00-3:00pm to hear Kansas Author George Ismael Feliu, Jr. talk about the process of writing a series.  His series Guardians of Havenshire concludes with Triumph & Tragedy where each character’s journey comes to an end whether in triumph or tragedy. George Feliu has been [...]

Displays Spring 2013

Displays on the Second Floor Spring 2013

Next time you’re in the library, take time to come upstairs and explore our displays featuring items from our Special Collections. This spring we are featuring Early Kansas History, Rex Stout: Topeka’s Man of Mysteries, Peggy of the Flint Hills and Topeka Sheet Music. The “Early Kansas History” display case features the state seal of [...]

Kansas Author Phil Quinn

Kansas Author Phil E. Quinn

Join us in the Topeka Room (204) on Sunday, March 3, 2:00-3:00pm to hear Kansas Author Phil E. Quinn talk about his debut novel Release Point. Female athletes are an underserved literary market. Their participation in sports has increased dramatically over the past several decades in most countries while literary efforts to represent, document and [...]

Kansas Author Esther Luttrell

Kansas Author Esther Luttrell

Join us in the Topeka Room (204) on Sunday, February 24, 2:00-3:00pm to hear Kansas Author Esther Luttrell talk about her newest mystery. In Invitation to a Murder when Doug Stafford phoned in the dead of the night from Topeka, Kansas, Dena Brooke was sitting in her Florida beach cottage, trying to decide what to [...]

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Kansas History with Governor and Mrs. Robinson

On January 30 in Marvin Auditorium Room 101C, we celebrate Kansas’ birthday (January 29) with a visit from Kansas’ first Governor, Gov. Charles Robinson & his wife Sara. Join reenacters Steven & Suzanne Germes of the Lecompton Players as they bring the early history of Kansas to life through their portrayals of the Robinsons.

Winter Holiday Traditions Display for blog post

Winter Holiday Traditions Display

Do you participate in Hogmanay?  How about Kwanzaa or Ayyám-i-Há?  If you don’t know what these celebrations are all about, come to the second floor of the library to check out our display showcasing these and many other Winter Holiday Traditions celebrated in Topeka.  The display will be up until Sunday, January 6, 2013. OK, I [...]

Victorian Christmas Traditions

A Victorian Christmas Celebration

What are your favorite Christmas traditions?  How long have they been traditions for your family or in the American culture?  We owe a lot of our Christmas traditions to the people of the Victorian Era (1837-1901).  Come find out which traditions the Victorians either popularized or created in a special Topeka Room celebration from 2:00-3:00pm [...]

Mary Ann Wittman banner

Kansas Author Mary Ann Wittman

Join us in the Topeka Room (204) on Sunday, November 18, 2:00-3:00pm to hear Kansas Author Mary Ann Wittman talk about her new children’s books. The Little Christmas Tree, Muffy And The Big Pink Ball & Clemmie and the Mailman are delightful tales for children of all ages. Get a head start with a new [...]