Central Library

There is some uncertainty about how California-born Florence Andrews (1887-1991) became Florence O'Denishawn, but most attribute her name change to a misprint of "Florence of Denishawn," the renowned dance school. The name stuck even as O'Denishawn moved on to shows like the Ziegfeld Follies, and wherever she appeared,...

This panoramic bird's eye view map of Kansas City offers a multi-faceted interpretation of the area depicted. The vantage point characterizes the cartographic style popular for in the 19th century which abandoned scale to depict major developments and expansion possibilities. This map hybridizes a 3D topographical depi...

This print depicts the Westport Library in full swing as it is surrounded by burgeoning foliage and bustling patrons presumed to enjoy the library's space and resources. The sun illuminates the building's stone and shingle architecture that is reminiscent of the trees flanking it, indicating a natural harmony between t...

A marbled navy blue frame and broad white matting center this detailed painting by Independence, Missouri native George Lightfoot, titled "K.C. Union Station-Winter". The print's perspective places the station at a distance from the viewer and nestled below the surrounding city skyline. Covered in snow, the Union Stati...

This photograph captures the chill and excitement surrounding the winter holidays at Kansas City's Union Station. Here, Kansas City Southern's Holiday Express Train chugs across a snowy rail beneath a neon "Union Station" sign. The train was built from retired railcars in 2001 and transformed into a brightly lit and br...

In this portrait, Louise stands in a dramatic theatrical pose. Garbed in a strapless white dress gathered at her waist and again at the hips, Riley gazes up to her left as if in thought. Flowers secured to her bodice and hair act as harbingers of tender gentility. She delicately holds a piece of white fabric aloft behi...

Like Ruth St. Denis, Bothwell Browne, and many other performers of the era, dancer and songwriter Bobbie Tremaine used exotic costumes and dances associated with foreign cultures to heighten her appeal to American audiences. In 1921, Tremaine wrote a serialized story entitled "Confessions of a Dancer," a greatly romant...

Though cross-dressing vaudevillians were fairly common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, dancer Bothwell Browne (1877-1947) broke from a tradition of broadly humorous bawdy or vulgar impersonations in favor of work that explored a more nuanced view of gender. Famous for playing characters such as Cleopatra, Br...

This poster markets the painting featured in the exhibition "The Flowering of American Folk Art 1776-1876" held at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1974. The original painting, titled "Noah's Ark" was created by American folk art painter Edward Hicks and belongs to the Philadelphia Museum of Art's permanent collec...

This poster for the Toledo Museum of Art uses one of the museum collection's prized pieces, "Street in Tahiti" (1891) by French Post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin. The poster was likely created in correspondence to the exhibition "Impressionism: Selections from Five American Museums" contributed to by the Carnegie...