Watkins Museum of History

05/29/2026

The Municipal Stadium at Hobbs Park Legacy Project is hosting a community listening session on June 7! Come share ideas, learn about the project, & help shape the future of Municipal Stadium. Curator of Exhibitions Andrew Stockmann and other project supporters will be at Bon Bon from 2-5pm on Sunday, June 7.

05/28/2026

Sometimes you need to add a little historical chaos to your email signatures 📣✨

05/28/2026

The KRAMER Family Research Room will be closed June 4-June 9, and will reopen on Wednesday, June 10! During this time, research emails and appointment requests will not be responded to. You will hear back after reopening. We appreciate your understanding!

05/28/2026

Kick-off the summer of America 250 on Saturday, June 6th with the Watkins Museum and our Heritage Partner Sites! Free admission, extended hours, and family friendly activities will be offered at historic sites throughout the county. Visit your local site or make a day of it!

05/27/2026

The Watkins Summer Games is back with arts & crafts, sensory-based activities, and fun for kids of all ages! Sessions will be held on Wednesday mornings, June 3rd – July 29th from 10:00am – 12:00pm at the Watkins Museum. Join us as we learn about traditions from countries represented in the global soccer/football excitement this summer in our area!

05/26/2026

The Community Room will be closed this week as we work through the de-installation process for "Through Darkness to Light: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad." We appreciate everyone's patience as we work through the process of packing everything up to ship the exhibit to its next location.

We would also like to extend a huge THANK YOU to everyone who stopped by to see this powerful exhibit. We are proud to have had the opportunity to share this with our community.

05/26/2026

When's the last time you stopped in to check out our gift shop? From books and pens to stickers, buttons, and t-shirts, we have just about something for anyone! Come by and check it out soon.

The gift shop is located just inside the front doors of the museum and is open during normal museum hours, Tuesday-Saturday 10am-4pm.

05/22/2026

Great news! You can now support the work we do here at the museum through the Dillons Food Stores Community Rewards Program! The program makes fundraising easy by donating to local organizations based on the shopping you do every day. All you have to do is go online to your rewards account, link your card on the community rewards tab, and swipe it or enter your number every time you check out. It really is that easy!

You can look up the museum in the rewards portal under "Watkins Museum of History" or by entering our NPO number: DJ239.

If you have questions or problems linking your card, reach out to you local store's customer service team. Thanks for all you do to support the museum!

05/21/2026

Museum workers tend to have different ideas about what the word "scary" describes..

05/21/2026

Thanks, Lawrence Journal-World! Tickets for Friday's cemetery walking tour are now sold out. We plan to offer this tour again in the future. Thank you for your interest, everyone!

A guided walking tour of Oak Hill Cemetery offered by the Watkins Museum provides a chance for local history buffs to step away from the familiar history of Lawrence and deeper into the early history of the United States. The museum, as part of its America 250 events celebrating the 250th anniversar...

05/21/2026

Today is the 170th anniversary of the Sack of Lawrence. On May 21, 1856, hundreds of proslavery Border Ruffians attacked, looted, and burned our downtown, determined to destroy the antislavery community. But the people of Lawrence persevered and rebuilt.

This May 22, you'll have a chance to hear stories about some of Lawrence's earliest settlers and their determination to make the town succeed by taking our walking tour, Revolutionary People of Oak Hill Cemetery! Get your tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/revolutionary-people-of-oak-hill-cemetery-tickets-1988684572089

UPDATE: The tour is now sold out.