News Release
November 16, 2009
McCaffery to be Featured
Speaker at Parsons’
Journey Stories Exhibit
Dr.
Isaias J. McCaffery will
be presenting the
Opening Day Program of
the Smithsonian Exhibit,
“Journey Stories” at the
Parsons Public Library
on Friday, November
20th. The exhibit,
which is being presented
in cooperation with the
Kansas Humanities
Council and Labette
County Tourism, is a
one-of-a-kind cultural
project and Parsons is
one of only six Kansas
stops the traveling
exhibit will make.
Journey Stories is an
exhibition that explores
transportation and the
American society while
examining the
intersection between
modes of travel and
Americans’ desire to
feel free to move.
The stories are diverse
and focused on
immigration, migration,
innovation and freedom.
McCaffery, Professor of
History at Independence
Community College and
Chairman of the
Humanities and Social
Science Division, will
be speaking on "People
in Motion: Migration and
Transportation in Kansas
History". The
presentation will be
given at 3:00 p.m. on
Friday, November 20th
immediately following a
2:30 p.m. reception at
the Library.
"The presentation will
take the
continental breadth of
the Smithsonian exhibit
and narrow the focus to
the story of Kansas,”
said McCaffery.
“The theme will be the
interplay between
migration and
transportation in the
"peopling" of Kansas, a
process that began with
early Native Americans
and continues into the
present. I will
suggest that distinct
phases in the regional
migration/transportation
narrative can be
observed, in some ways
differing from those
described in the
Smithsonian's national
perspective. A large
and colorful assortment
of communities have
called Kansas home, some
remaining and others
dissolving or eventually
moving on to other
destinations. With
a population now
approaching three
million, the state
possesses far greater
cultural complexity
than most people
suspect."
McCaffery earned his
Ph.D. in history at the
University of Kansas,
where his main research
interest focused on
immigration and ethnic
communities. The
Past President of the
Kansas Association of
Historians [KAH], he
published a collection
of 909 Mennonite Low
German Proverbs from
Kansas released by the
Mennonite Heritage
Museum in Goessel, KS,
in 2008. McCaffery
resides in Independence
with his wife, Dawn, and
two children.
The
exhibit will be in
Parsons from November 20
to January 3. Hours of
the display are Monday
through Thursday from 9
a.m. to 7:30 p.m.,
Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5
p.m. and Saturdays from
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The
Parsons Public Library
is located at 311 S.
17th Street in Parsons.
Admission to the exhibit
is free.
For
more information, call
(620) 421-5920 or visit
www.parsonslibrary.org.
