Lawrence Area Museums

Combat Air Museum

The Combat Air Museum houses a wide variety of military aviation artifacts ranging in time from the First World War to the present day. Aircraft engines of many sizes and types are on exhibit as well. A re-creation of a German POW barracks was constructed based on first hand experience of two museum members, authentic down to the bare light bulbs, straw-filled mattresses and barbed wire. Exhibits include an extensive display of artifacts and dioramas and a growing gallery of military aviation art.

Johnson County Museum

The Johnson County Museum is committed to expanding the public’s sense of community through an understanding of the county’s history and its place in American society. To achieve this purpose, the museum collects and preserves artifacts and information that document the county’s heritage, and produces interpretive exhibits, educational programs and publications. The Museum is dedicated to the belief that we can learn from the past to understand better the present and future.

Kansas State Historical Society

The Society is headquartered at the Kansas History Museum & Library, in Topeka, Kansas. Here you'll find four buildings and a nature trail on 80 acres of woodlands and prairie at the capital city's western edge. The complex presents dramatic exhibits and fascinating programs to thousands of visitors each year.

National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial

The historical collections of the Liberty Memorial Museum began years before an actual museum building existed. Immediately after the armistice of November 11, 1918, a group of Kansas Citians gathered to propose a memorial to the men and women who served in the war and to those who died. The earliest ideas for the memorial included a museum of objects from the war.

The University of Kansas Natural History Museum & Biodiversity Research Center

The Natural History Museum maintains research inventories of seven million plant and animal specimens representing life on Earth, past and present. Among the most notable exhibits are huge fossils of Cretaceous period sea creatures from the plains of Kansas and a historic diorama of North American mammals created for the Columbian Exposition of 1893.

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City is one of the country's premier art institutions. Its rich collections bring together masterpieces from every culture and period of the world, spanning over 5,000 years. The Museum opened its doors in 1933 as a gift to the community from William Rockhill Nelson (1841-1915), founder of The Kansas City Star.

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

Founded in 1990, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is a privately funded, non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the rich history of African-American Baseball. The museum is designed as an education tool. Visitors experience an immersive environment of information, sound, and nostalgia.

Old Castle Museum

As the first home of Baker University, Old Castle was once known as "The College Building," because at that time it was the first and only college building in the state. Now as a museum, the Old Castle houses artifacts from early Kansas, Methodist, and Baker history.

Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics

Just after the 1996 presidential election, officials at the University of Kansas approached Senator Dole in the hope of obtaining his personal and public papers. From the outset, Dole insisted that he wanted no personal monument. Rather, he favored creation of a non-partisan institution dedicated to public service and training for leadership. The Dole Institute houses Senator Dole’s papers, along with seminar and meeting rooms, exhibits, broadcast facilities and a central forum set aside for debate and discussion of public issues.

The University of Kansas Spencer Museum of Art

Seven galleries display selections from the permanent collection of more than 25,000 works of art. Special exhibitions drawn from the collection or touring from other museums are displayed in four additional galleries. Because the Museum serves as a resource for the teaching and study of art history, fine arts, and the humanities, the collection is comprehensive in nature. It spans the history of European, North American, and East Asian art. Areas of special strength include medieval art; European and American paintings, sculpture, and prints; photography; Japanese Edo-period painting and prints; and 20th-century Chinese painting.

The University of Kansas Spencer Research Library

The Spencer Research Library houses the University Archives along with manuscripts and rare books. The Kansas Collection includes books, manuscripts, maps, photographs and other items documenting the history of the state and its peoples.

Watkins Community Museum of History

The Douglas County Historical Society is a private, non-profit organization with a mission to collect and preserve historical materials of Douglas County, Kansas, to interpret local history, and to encourage research.

Wilcox Classical Museum

The Wilcox Classical Museum was established in 1886 and is operated by the Department of Classics, University of Kansas. The museum houses collections of plaster casts of Greek and Roman Sculpture and Greek and Roman antiquities.