Riley County Historical Society

Goal: $20,000.00

Specific Need

This year, the funds raised for the RCHS during the Grow Green campaign will go toward general operating expenses. This includes upkeep and staffing at our historic house museums, preservation projects at any of our properties, funding of educational programs such as field trips, presentations, workshops, walking tours, and exhibits, the purchase of new collections storage materials, and more. We thank you for your ongoing support of the Riley County Historical Society!

Mission

The Riley County Historical Society collects, preserves, and presents the heritage of Riley County and the State of Kansas, supporting, advocating for and promoting an interest and awareness of our local history, and the Riley County Historical Museum for the benefit of all.

Profile

The Riley County Historical Society, founded in 1914, supports the work of the Riley County Historical Museum (2309 Claflin Road, open Tuesday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 2:00 to 5 p.m.) and Goodnow House State Historic Site (2301 Claflin Road, open the same hours as the Museum).

The Society also presents local history at the Pioneer Log Cabin (Manhattan City Park- open Sunday 2 to 5 p.m., April through October), the Wolf House Historic Site (Wolf House Museum, 630 Fremont St., open Saturday and Sunday 2 to 5 p.m.), and the Rocky Ford School (1969 Barnes Rd., open by appointment.) Admission is free at all properties. In addition, exhibits are offered in the Riley County Office Building, in the Riley County Courthouse, and occasionally at other locations throughout the County.

The Society owns or operates a total of eleven historic buildings, structures, or sites, and oversees and facilitates the preservation and maintenance of each of them.

The Riley County Historical Society has a collection of over 85,000 objects, a library/archives of over 4,500 books and monographs, 10,800 cubic feet of manuscripts and archives, and over 27,000 photographic negatives and images. The research library/archives is available by appointment at 785-565-6490.

A variety of educational and outreach programing is offered for childen and adults in the form of field trips, presentations, speakers' series, lectures, workshops, walking and driving tours, and much more. For more information, please visit www.rileychs.org .

The Riley County Historical Society is deeply grateful for the support (financial, volunteer, and in donation of objects and records) from the community over the last 100 plus years. We rely on, and appreciate, this support.