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For so many people, 2020 was a year of reckoning with our nation’s history of racial inequality.

That was true for Johnson County Library’s Local History Librarian Amanda Wahlmeier. She worked with her programming committee to tell impactful local and regional stories of struggle and triumph in the crusade for community progress.

With the 2020 pandemic and the Library’s pivot to online programming, Wahlmeier and the Past is Prologue committee quickly focused on racial and social justice, especially after the George Floyd killing in Minneapolis.

“In May, we were already thinking about social justice, but the George Floyd incident really made us commit to it,” Wahlmeier said. The Past is Prologue monthly programs highlight stories that are often glossed over or misrepresented in history books. They feature outstanding presenters, with help from the Humanities Kansas Speakers Bureau.

Patrons have been enthusiastic about these hour-long online presentations.

“We’re very pleased with the patron response,” Wahlmeier said. “We’ve had great comments and a lot of requests. The public is very interested.”

Future programs will explore the bi-state Dividing Lines tour and little-known stories of Kansas City.

The 2020 pandemic and social upheaval reinforced for Wahlmeier the importance of community members knowing their history and illustrated the Library’s crucial role in imparting that information. Online programming allows people to participate from home, and she’s excited to provide resources for teachers and parents.

Wahlmeier has been Local History Librarian since August 2017 and brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role. She majored in history and international studies at Baker University before getting a master’s in history from University College Dublin in Ireland. She was curator at the National Orphan Train Museum in Concordia, Kan. for several years before she obtained a library science master’s degree from Emporia State and joined Johnson County Library.  

“Having an opportunity to merge Library and archival work was very attractive,” she said.

In 2020, she had just helped complete the Kansas Day and Genealogy Day activities before in-person events shut down for the pandemic. Besides organizing the Past is Prologue events, she kept busy updating the Library’s local history resources, including digitizing newspapers such as the Shawnee Dispatch and Gardner News that people should soon be able to access from home.

She hopes that, even when in-person events resume, patrons will continue expanding their use of the Library’s rich local history resources and materials.

We're so excited to announce that after a 2-month hiatus, our podcast—your Library insider—Did you hear? returns Monday, March 1st!

What's new in 2021? Four new co-hosts, a monthly format, themed episodes, new production and a special new segment we're calling "In Search of Paul Rudd."

What hasn't changed is our commitment to bringing you the behind-the-scenes stories that you've come to expect. So, be sure to head over to Podbean or wherever you prefer to get your favorite podcasts and subscribe. While there, consider revisiting some of our favorite episodes like Return Bin Finds, The Census, Library Hacks, authors interviewing authors like Author Research in Action: Oppenheimer and local musical acts like Miki P. 

The countdown has begun!   

This week at the Library, you can join us for

Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture Series: Author Ibram X. Kendi – Monday, Feb 15 \ 6 - 7:30 p.m.

We are honored to partner with the Division of Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Missouri, Kansas City on their annual Martin Luther King Jr. lecture series. The lecture series honors Martin Luther King's tremendous contributions to furthering civil rights by featuring national thought leaders, who provide insight and advocacy to current civil rights issues of education, economic and justice system inequalities.

Body Talk: Rebekah Taussig in Conversation with Charlesia McKinney – Tuesday, Feb. 16 \ 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Rebekah Taussig, author of Sitting Pretty: the View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body and Charlesia McKinney, Ph.D. student in Rhetoric and Composition with an interest in fat studies, will discuss what it means to live in their particular female bodies.

Disability as Space for Imagination – Wednesday, Feb. 17 \ 6:30 – 7:30

In this lecture, Rebekah Taussig, author of Sitting Pretty: the View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body, will explore the powerful connection between the cultural narratives around our physical selves and the world we live in, from physical spaces and economic opportunities to social roles and interpersonal relationships.

Virtual City Cycling – Thursday, Feb. 18 \ Noon to 1:30 p.m.

And much more …

During this pandemic, board games have been a valuable pastime for many people, whether it's breaking some out with the family and friends or learning how to play games on new online platforms. At Johnson County Library, our Table Top Games Committee has been trying to think of ways that we can share our passion with our patrons even if we can’t meet in person. Join us each month for a virtual Table Top Games event!

Our Librarian Josh's Table Top Games Journey

Hi! I'm Josh. Like Katy, I remember playing games with my family starting at a young age: Sorry, Trouble, Monopoly, Clue, and more. My brother and I almost came to blows when our dad taught us how to play Risk. (To be fair, I did make an alliance with him, only to attack one of his countries a few turns later. But even now that we're adults, I'm not going to invite him to play Munchkin with me.) I was also an imaginative kid, playing Make Believe and Let's Pretend on my own or with friends, making up stories with Star Wars action figures or pretending to be superheroes on the playground during recess. That primed me for getting into tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons at the same time I was getting bored with traditional board games. It was through the online RPG community that I learned of "Euro-style" tabletop games. I bought Ticket to Ride out of curiosity and LOVED it. Soon after, Wil Wheaton launched his YouTube series TableTop, showing the diversity of new games and, as Katy said, that there was a growing community of players of these new games. So when she asked me if I wanted to help running a monthly tabletop program, I gave her an enthusiastic "YES!" (This earned both of us high fives from Wil when we talked with him at Planet Comicon one year. #humblebrag) I can't wait for this pandemic to be over so I can go back to playing games with people in person. And no, I haven't played the game Pandemic at all this year.

Josh's favorite games: Ticket to Ride, Pirate's Cove, Munchkin, Smash Up, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, Fate, 7th Sea, Mage: The Ascension, Trinity Continuum.

Read our other Table Top Games Committee members' stories and favorite games »

Chinese New Year 2021 begins tomorrow, Friday, February 12th, 2021! It's the Year of the Ox. In the Chinese zodiac, the Ox is known for its honest nature, diligence, dependability, strength and determination. The Ox has a significant place in Asian culture. 

The words that describe the Ox seem appropriate for Chinese immigrants who have come to call Johnson County home. Dig into a little of their experience at jocohistory.org. There you'll find the photograph seen here of students of the Chinese school, oral histories like Lihui Xiong - New Immigrants and the American Dream Exhibit, advertisements for Chinese businesses in publications like The County Squire, The Johnson County Leader, The Village Squire, and more when using the search term: "Chinese History."  

We are celebrating the 2021 theme for Black History Month, The Black Family: Representation, Identity and Diversity, with historic firsts. This week we're highlighting a few Black women making history.

First we have Vice President Kamala Harris, with her book The Truths We Hold, An American Journey.

Another first, The Legend, The Bessie Coleman Story, a documentary about the first Black and first Native American woman to hold a pilot’s license. Bessie Coleman was a celebrity pilot performing in airshows throughout the country until her untimely death testing out a new airplane.

And a local biography: Cathy Williams, From Slave to Female Buffalo Soldier. Williams was a former slave from Independence, MO who went on to disguise herself as a man and fight with the Buffalo soldiers during the Civil war.

Johnson County Library has so many resources, it might be hard to choose which to read, listen to or participate in, so if you’d like more during the month-long celebration of Black History, we've gathered more for you to enjoy »