Friends of the Cottonwood Ranch

05/31/2026

05/31/2026

It’s a great night to explore Cottonwood Connections! 🌾

Download the PBS app and dive into the stories, history, and people that make our region unique. From Kansas history to local stories that shaped the High Plains, there’s always something new to discover.

📺 Stream anytime on the PBS app!
https://to.pbs.org/34w6vFA

05/24/2026

Meet the producer and director of Cottonwood Connections, Ed Lowry!! Watch tonight’s episode, which is part 2 of the Dust Bowl series, at 6 PM CDT on Smoky Hills PBS or stream anytime with the PBS app on your smart TV or smartphone. Catch the first episode about the Dust Bowl on our YouTube channel.

https://youtube.com/?si=1zyQJRDdjEPz55rq

🎭Sterling College Theater Alumni Spotlight: Ed Lowry

🎬Sterling College is proud to recognize alumnus Ed Lowry, whose work in documentary filmmaking has helped preserve and share the rich history of Kansas.

Lowry is the director and producer of the PBS documentary series Cottonwood Connections, a long-running Smoky Hills PBS production that explores the stories of the Kansas prairie, early settlement, agriculture, and historic preservation. 🌾

The series uses the Cottonwood Ranch Historic Site as a starting point to bring to life the broader history of the Great Plains and the people who shaped it.

Through his work, Lowry has helped document everything from frontier homesteading and ranch life to cultural change across rural Kansas—connecting historical research with storytelling that is accessible to audiences of all ages.

One of his featured works also includes the documentary The Legacy of Cottonwood Ranch, which highlights the Pratt family’s settlement, the development of the ranch in the late 1800s, and the preservation efforts that keep this piece of Kansas history alive today.

What makes Lowry’s work especially impactful is his commitment to “above-ground archaeology”—preserving not just artifacts, but the lived stories, photographs, records, and architecture that tell the full story of place and people. https://video.smokyhillstv.org/show/cottonwood-connection/

Today, his work continues to air through PBS, helping ensure that Kansas history is not only preserved, but actively shared with new generations.

📣We are proud to celebrate Ed Lowry as a Sterling College Theatre alumnus making a lasting impact in public history and documentary storytelling!

05/09/2026

Help Wanted

Friends of Cottonwood Ranch Studley Ks is looking for a part time Curator/Tour Guide for three days a week, mid-April through mid-October. For more information or to apply contact Tony Haffner at 785-675-1457 or Don Rowlison at 785-627-3725 by June 1st.

04/29/2026

04/24/2026

Join us on Cottonwood Connections for "Starting a Pioneer Town" as Don discusses the in and outs of settlers moving to the High Plains and what was needed to not simply stake a claim, but build a town where life and business could happen. He also interviews Dr. Greg Mosier about his research into one town with a highly publicized but short life.

Watch all-new episodes Sunday at 6 PM CDT on Smoky Hills PBS or stream anytime with the PBS app on your smart TV or smartphone.

04/18/2026

Join us this week on Cottonwood Connections for "Mr. President," the second episode of our 2-part series on Dwight Eisenhower. Following his leadership of the Allied Forces in Europe in WWII, Ike's wave of popularity would carry him to the role of Commander in Chief. We are once again at the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home in Abilene and visiting with professors at the General Staff and Command College at Fort Leavenworth.

Watch all-new episodes Sunday at 6 PM CDT on Smoky Hills PBS or stream anytime with the PBS app on your smart TV or smartphone.

04/11/2026

Frank Brandram’s “joint,” one of the first houses in Studley, Kansas. Circa 1890s.
Kansas Memory.

04/02/2026

Are you excited about the launch of Artemus II and this historic mission around the moon? Learn about Kansas connections to space exploration, including an interview with Astronaut Nick Hague in Cottonwood Connections episode Ad Astra.

We're going to space! In this episode we take a look at the Sunflower State's connection to the stars, from early charts to major astronomy discoveries to c...