Baptist Mission near Topeka

Margaret Evelyn Whittemore, artist

1897–1983

Baptist Mission near Topeka, 1930s

Where object was made: Topeka, Kansas, United States

Material/technique: offset lithograph; watercolor

Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 8 x 10 7/8 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 203.2 x 276.22 mm
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 14 x 19 in

Credit line: Source unknown

Accession number: 0000.0551

Not on display

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Between the 1930s and 1950s, Topeka-based artist Whittemore created numerous drawing and prints of historic landmarks in Kansas, including the Baptist and Shawnee Missions. Established in 1839, the Shawnee Indian Mission
was the first residential school for Native students in Kansas. At the height of its activity, the mission encompassed more than 2,000 acres and 16 buildings. By its closure in 1862, hundreds of students from more than 20 tribes had attended the school, learning basic academic subjects, agricultural skills, and the tenets of Christianity. The Pottawatomie Baptist Mission, located 5 miles west of Topeka, opened its doors in 1848. During its 13 years operating as a manual labor school, it regularly had 30 children in daily attendance. When Kansas became a state in 1861, the Potawatomi reservation was dramatically reduced in size, leading most of the tribe to relocate to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. The Baptist Mission closed that same year.