Author Adrian Zink to Discuss Wicked Kansas

Kansas City (MO)…On Wednesday, January 29 at 6:00 p.m., the National Archives will host author Adrian Zink who will discuss his book Wicked Kansas. January 29 is also known as Kansas Day, a ceremonial commemoration of the anniversary of statehood. Kansas was admitted to the Union in 1861.

Kansans like to think of their state as a land of industrious, law-abiding and friendly people, and for the most part they are correct. But its history has many tales of murders, cons, extrajudicial killings and other crimes. Its restive frontier attracted menacing characters, such as a cowboy who murdered a man for snoring, the serial-killing Bender family, and the train-robbing James-Younger Gang. Although the area was eventually settled, the scandals did not cease. Learn more about how a quack doctor nearly won the governorship, a decommissioned nuclear missile silo housing the largest LSD manufacturing operation in American history, and more. Zink explores the salacious side of Kansas history in these wild stories.

Reservations are requested for this free program. Requests for ADA accommodations must be received five business days in advance. Copies of Wicked Kansas will be available for purchase and signing.

About the Author

Adrian Zink is a native Kansan who has worked in the history profession for over fifteen years at a variety of museums, universities, archives and historic sites. Born and raised in Larned, Kansas, he holds bachelor’s degrees in history and political science from the University of Kansas, a master’s of library science from the University of Maryland and a master’s in history from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. He currently works at the National Archives in Kansas City. He has previously worked at the Kansas State Historical Society, UW–Milwaukee Archives, the National Press Club Library and Archives in Washington, D.C., and at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum. 

The National Archives at Kansas City is home to historical records dating from the 1820s to the 1990s created or received by Federal agencies in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. For more information, call 816-268-8000 or visit www.archives.gov/kansas-city/.   

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