Six communities will host The Way We Worked, a traveling Smithsonian exhibition about jobs and working. Through photographs from the National Archives, audio and video clips, and hands-on components, Kansans will discover how the workforce and workplace have changed over time. The exhibition will tour Kansas in 2012 and 2013. 

The six Kansas host sites for The Way We Worked are: Coronado Quivira Museum, Lyons; Stevens County Library, Hugoton; High Plains Museum, Goodland; National Orphan Train Complex, Concordia; Lumberyard Arts Center, Baldwin City; and Miners Hall Museum, Franklin.    

Each host site will contribute a unique local working story to be displayed alongside The Way We Worked. The tour will include stories of immigrants, women, men, and children, and the variety of jobs and workers that have kept Kansas afloat over time and across generations.   

For over ten years, the Kansas Humanities Council, in partnership with Museum on Main Street, has sponsored Smithsonian Institution exhibitions in small towns and rural communities across Kansas. Why do we do this? KHC believes that the Kansas tours of Smithsonian exhibitions  broaden public interest in history, develop a renewed interest and respect for local heritage, and encourage Kansans to think and talk about big ideas. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian, agrees.  

More information about the Kansas Tour of The Way We Worked can be found here.