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Exhibits at the National Archives at Kansas City

Welcome Center and Theater

Curious about what the National Archives is and what it does? Learn about the National Archives and its role in preserving America’s heritage in the short film Democracy Starts Here. Make souvenir rubbings of famous signatures from the archives. Use the interactive kiosk to learn about the National Archives across America, and get information on upcoming special events, lectures, genealogy classes, book-signings, and programs for children.

Divided Loyalties: Civil War Documents from the Missouri State Archives in the Concourse Gallery in the Concourse Gallery

December 27, 2011 – April 28, 2012

Divided Loyalties examines the upheaval and uncertainty that characterized Missouri during the Civil War era. As Missourians divided their loyalties between the Union and the Confederacy, many found themselves facing dire consequences for their decisions. This exhibit focuses on the social conflict that permeated the state for the two decades that followed the Kansas border wars of the mid-1850s. Going beyond the stories of battle and military strategy, original documents demonstrate how even those Missourians who did not serve in the military could be subjected to suspicion, discrimination, and violence.

Divided Loyalties opens with a look at pre-Civil War Missouri and the role that the institution of slavery played in the state’s culture and economy. Highlighting original documents, including the famous court case brought by Dred and Harriet Scott and two 1850s-era sale bills for slaves, this section shows how slaves were treated as property that could be bought, sold, and distributed by the courts. Divided Loyalties also reveals how the issue of slavery split Missouri’s population, resulting in deep-seated tension and opposition in government, business, military, and social life.

Missourians continued to face many challenges after the war as a result of sectional differences.  Individuals who had supported the Confederate cause suffered discrimination, the loss of civil rights, and seizure of their property and goods. The exhibit examines how the court system was used to resolve disputes and settle grievances over crimes committed during the war, including murder, theft, vandalism, and slander. It also features court documents relating to post-war vigilante groups like the, Bald Knobbers and Frank and Jesse James, who resorted to violence and crime when the court system failed.

Divided Loyalties offers visitors the chance to examine letters, court cases, enlistment papers, field reports, maps, and photographs from the Civil War-related holdings of the National Archives at Kansas City, including:

• A Muster Roll for the Missouri Volunteers at the Saint Louis Arsenal, the first record made of Federal enlistments in Missouri.
• The Colored Volunteer Enlistment for Harrison Small, a slave who enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1863.
• A letter giving a first-hand account of Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence.
• Arrest warrant for William Quantrill.
• Court cases documenting seizure of property and effects from Confederate sympathizers, including former Missouri Governor Trusten Polk.
• Indictments against members of the Christian County Bald Knobbers.
• Indictments against Frank and Jesse James for robbery.

Divided Loyalties: Civil War Documents from the Missouri State Archives is a traveling exhibit developed by the Missouri State Archives. It has been augmented with 40 original documents from the holdings of the National Archives at Kansas City.

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They're Not Going to Get Me:" Crime in the 1930's exhibition in the Regional Gallery

February 7 – August 18, 2012

"They’re Not Going to Get Me:" Crime in the 1930s, a new exhibit at the National Archives at Kansas City, traces the rise and fall of the bank robbers and gangsters who became national icons in the 1930s. Named as public enemies, they became a target of J. Edgar Hoover’s Federal Bureau of Investigation and the impetus for a national war on crime.

While many of these criminals thought they could stay one step ahead of the law, historical documents tell a different story. Drawn from the holdings of the National Archives at Kansas City, the exhibit features original records relating to the exploits and capture of notorious criminals, their gang members, and girls; including Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and the Barker-Karpis Gang.

Visitors will encounter original records that trace the investigation and prosecution of these criminals and their associates: indictments, verdicts, wanted posters, prison records, arrest warrants, subpoenas, parole reports, photographs, and maps. Featured documents and artifacts include the:

• grand jury indictment of Adam Richetti for the Kansas City Massacre, a 1933 shootout with local and Federal authorities at Kansas City’s Union Station;
• Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary inmate register showing George "Machine Gun" Kelly’s transfer to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary;
• verdict against George and Kathryn Kelly in the Charles Urschel kidnapping case;
• grand jury indictment of John Dillinger;
• bench warrant and mugshot for Homer Van Meter, Dillinger gang member;
• verdict against Evelyn "Billie" Frechette, John Dillinger’s girlfriend;
• letters written by Minnesota banker Edward Bremer to his father and wife after being kidnapped by the Barker-Karpis gang;
• commitment form sending Alvin Karpis to jail for kidnapping Hamm’s Brewery chairman William Hamm; and
• witness statement signed by Melvin Purvis, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Chicago office.

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