Kansas: A Guide To The Sunflower State

American Guide Series

by Work Projects Administration

During the Great Depression of the 1930s thousands of writers were hired by the Works Project Administration to create hundreds of guidebooks on all of the states in the U.S. These volumes that were produced became known as the American Guide Series . This series has been described as the biggest, fastest and most original research job in the history of the world. No library collection in Kansas would be complete without a copy of A Guide To The Sunflower State.

Genres: Travel, History

580 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1939

Reviews

[Jon]

3.5-4 stars

A snapshot of Kansas from 1938 and before. Many anecdotes, some just paragraphs long, could easily be action adventure tales or movies. Rivalries for county seats often involved voter fraud and armed conflict, including cannons. Sites I wish to visit include Big Basin, the Kansas Sphinx, Saint Jacob's Well and see a blackjack oak in autumn.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice historical resource with stories and data on the major cities in Kansas.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I doubt this is at the top of everyone's reading list, but I'm researching some family history and I'm finding it very interesting. It ties in nicely with The Worst Hard Time (about the dustbowl), which I'm also reading. The WPA Guide was written in 1939 and while it has a new introduction, the rest of the text is the original. I'm enjoying reading the 1939 predictions for the future of Kansas as well as the authors' view of what were then very recent events and how they would shape the state in years to come. As a former farm girl, I'm finding the sections on agriculture to be most interesting. I'm no farming expert, but I think it's interesting how new agricultural technologies made such an impact on rural communities....and how current farm practices are changing this landscape again.