Kansas City. You know the town that Motown made famous, the one that is a little bit in Kansas, a little bit in Missouri, and the town that is just a few short miles away from Independence, Missouri. That’s right. Independence, Missouri- the place where the Harry S. Truman Library lives. That is why I went to Kansas City. I conducted research at the Truman Library for a project. To my amazement I found sports history lurking behind just about every corner of this fun city so I just had to duck in and see. Throughout the year this blog will feature a whole host of posts from just this one trip, so stay tuned! For now this is what I can tell you- Kansas City and the surrounding areas are very much in touch with their dynamic sports history. They are eager to tell you about the intersection between sports and society in their corner of the world. And their museums, while not perfect, are certainly worth a peek if you find yourself nearby.
Click on the first image to flip through the larger slide show:
Aerial view of Kansas City taken from the top of the National WWI Museum. Photo Credit: Kathy Shinnick
Negro League Baseball Museum (Not Hall of Fame): Thorough museum of a complex narrative. (Photo Credit: Kathy Shinnick)
Hometown team, Kansas City Monarchs, represented at the NLBM (Photo Credit: Kathy Shinnick)
Statue of Satchel Page in a compelling baseball field diorama (at NLBM) (Photo Credit: Kathy Shinnick)
The imposing presence of the Negro League’s history prominently displayed at the edge of the city center (Photo credit: Kathy Shinnick)
The view from my hotel- KC Chief’s stadium to the left and KC Royal’s stadium to the right (Photo Credit: Kathy Shinnick)
Haskell University’s olympic hero: Billy Mills (Photo Credit: Kathy Shinnick)
Haskell University’s HOF located in their gymnasium (Photo Credit: Kathy Shinnick)
University of Kansas Hall of Fame (Photo credit: Kathy Shinnick)
This is just one of the MANY amazing UofK artifacts found in the UK HOF museum space (Photo credit: Kathy Shinnick)
This cathedral of basketball is awe inspiring (Photo credit: Kathy Shinnick)
NCAA Basketball Experience and Hall of Fame right in the heart of KC (Photo credit: Kathy Shinnick)
I felt right at home walking through the basketball tunnel at the NCAA basketball experience. My alma mater, Ole Miss, is represented on the main wall. Hotty Toddy! (Photo credit: Kathy Shinnick)
Nice Touch: Connecting the father of basketball, Naismith, with the father of UofK basketball, Allen. (Photo credit: Kathy Shinnick)
Sports can be discovered anywhere… even in presidential libraries. President Truman shown with Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris September 4, 1961 (Photo credit: Kathy Shinnick)
This was one of many Life Magazine articles from 1952 shown in a collage as a way of communicating America’s complex culture at the time. (Photo credit: Kathy Shinnick)
A theme that underscored my journey throughout KC: Truth seeking in public exhibits, sports or otherwise, is often more complicated than one might think but well worth the effort.
An exploration of the public interpretation of sports history.
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2 thoughts on “Kansas City Here I Come”
I’m glad you had fun and got see the sites. Seeing your post really has made me realize how much sports history there is all around us, at least in the place I grew up! No wonder I’m so interested in it!
I think it was 2012, but the National World War I Museum in Kansas City had an exhibit on the Inter-Allied Games. Sadly I never got to see it. I wish more museums would use some sort of event or anniversary like that to bring sport to the forefront more and show its role in different historic moment.
Andrew- I was floored at how much sports history Kansas City has lurking in its streets! I stayed two extra days just to see it all and I still missed some! I saw the WWI Museum but they did not have a sports exhibit while I was there. I would have enjoyed seeing that as well. I agree- history museums have more opportunities to connect their subject to sports than perhaps they realize.
Interpreting Sports 
I’m glad you had fun and got see the sites. Seeing your post really has made me realize how much sports history there is all around us, at least in the place I grew up! No wonder I’m so interested in it!
I think it was 2012, but the National World War I Museum in Kansas City had an exhibit on the Inter-Allied Games. Sadly I never got to see it. I wish more museums would use some sort of event or anniversary like that to bring sport to the forefront more and show its role in different historic moment.
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Andrew- I was floored at how much sports history Kansas City has lurking in its streets! I stayed two extra days just to see it all and I still missed some! I saw the WWI Museum but they did not have a sports exhibit while I was there. I would have enjoyed seeing that as well. I agree- history museums have more opportunities to connect their subject to sports than perhaps they realize.
LikeLike