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Ad Astra per Aspera: The Kansas Motto Born from Struggle and Hope

By Patricia E. Ackerman on Dec. 05, 2025

How a turbulent path to statehood shaped the words that guide Kansans today. Ad Astra per Aspera. Most Kansans know the words. Fewer know the heated debates and bold decisions that gave rise to them…

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A Coal Mine on the Plains

By Patricia E. Ackerman on Apr. 04, 2025

Beneath Cloud County’s prairie landscape, a hidden coal reserve once supported a small community Travelers on Kansas roadways may see abandoned limestone buildings and think of them as simply ruins of…

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Notorious: Rebels for a Good Cause

By Patricia E. Ackerman on Jun. 26, 2024

Artwork: Torren Thomas In the late 1800s and early 1900s, criminals often broke the law on the Kansas plains, but some were rebels with a cause – and others were outlaws While struggling to…

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“Self Trust” and the Abilene Ladies Literary League

By Patricia E. Ackerman on Nov. 04, 2020

In 1884, a small group of Abilene women traveled by wagon to Junction City to meet with organizers of the territory’s first women’s literary club. Following this visit, the Abilene Ladies Literary…

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Home at the Horse Hotel

By Patricia E. Ackerman on Jun. 05, 2018

A MILITARY COUPLE CREATES LODGING FOR THE HORSES AND THE PEOPLE WHO CARE FOR THEM Photography by Justin Lister Families face obstacles and opportunities each time their work or family obligations…

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