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Kauffman Museum

Kauffman Museum, located across Main Street from Thresher Gym, was founded to preserve the natural and cultural history of the Great Plains. It is named for Charles “Uncle Carl” Kauffman, founder and curator of the original Kauffman Museum, whose work has been incorporated into a greatly enlarged and reorganized exhibit program housed in a building completed in 1983. Approaching the museum, there is a tallgrass prairie reconstruction with more than 15 species of native grasses and 100 species of wildflower. Inside the museum is the award-winning permanent exhibit “Of Land and People,” which tells the story of the coming of the Mennonites from Europe to the central plains in the 1870s and their encounters with the prairie environment and its people; a permanent exhibit of Mennonite immigrant furniture; and numerous changing special exhibits. Nearby, on the grounds, is a historic farmstead with heritage flower and vegetable gardens and the 1875 Voth-Unruh-Fast House and 1886 Ratzlaff Barn. Kauffman Museum hosts public education events throughout the year, including a celebration of Kansas Day on the last Saturday in January and several Uncle Carl’s Camps, summer day camps for children of varying ages and interests.