June's First Thursday Encore Presentation Video
For information on upcoming presentations and to sign up, keep scrolling down the page.
From East Elm Street to the White House and Beyond: The Dunbar School Legacy
Enjoy this encore presentation. It will be up through the Juneteenth weekend (6/21/2026.)
Dr. Jennifer Gordon explores the legacy of Dunbar School. This presentation explores the Paul Laurence Dunbar School legacy through the lives of some of the students who attended there, their legacies, and how their descendants continued the legacy of Paul Laurence Dunbar School.
A Special Third Thursday Presentation: Following the North Star
June 18, 5:30 pm
Enjoy the presentation at the Museum or from the comfort of your own home via Zoom. If you are unable to watch it live, we will post the video here the next day, as well as on our Facebook page, and have it up for about a week.
Join us as master storyteller Elizabeth Wilson shares with us the stories of Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and the legacy of her own great-great-grandmother Harriet. This presentation celebrates the courage of these women who changed history through the strength of their conviction and their unyielding faith.
Indian Rock Park: Battles, Bricks, and Beauty
July 2, 5:30 pm
Enjoy these presentations live at the Museum or from the comfort of your own home via Zoom. Register for your Zoom link at here to watch it live or see the video for the next week on our website and Facebook page.
Join Anne Hoekstra, Education Outreach Coordinator for the Friends of the River Foundation, and Nona Miller, retired Education Curator for the Smoky Hill Museum, for an evening of discovery featuring Indian Rock Park. Originally one of the Friends of the River Foundation’s and Smoky Hill Museum’s collaborative river history walks, this walk turned out be a more vigorous expedition and was not accommodating for mobility and balance issues. To make sure all have an opportunity to learn about this remarkable park and its astonishing history, we bring it to you in talk form. This presentation will feature Salina’s most rugged natural area. Its natural beauty masks the many drastic changes the land itself has experienced. We’ll unearth a rich history that includes American Indian grounds, industries, and recreation. We’ll also discover how the Smoky Hill River was moved, cutting the park in half. Photos past and present will bring this history to life.
The Friends of the River Foundation and the Smoky Hill Museum have been collaborating for three years now to develop 7 different river history walks highlighting 7 different sections of the original Smoky Hill River channel. We explore places and events, well known and forgotten surprises, that molded the trajectory of our town. Walks offered this summer are Iron Avenue: Salina’s Beginnings, Oakdale Park: the Heart of Celebration, Indian Rock Park: Battles, Bricks, and Beauty, and a bonus walk, River Festival: Oakdale Celebrations. Walks to come include the YMCA trail, Kenwood Park/Tony’s Pizza Event Center area, Elm Street/North Salina, and Lakewood Park.
