New items are on display at the Smoky Hill Museum in Salina.

The museum invites everyone to stop by to see different items on display in four exhibit areas of the main gallery. These thematic areas include “Settling the Crossroads,” “Milling at the Crossroads,” “The Good Life,” and “A Military Presence.”

According to the museum, while the story remains constant, most of the items in each of the main gallery areas are replaced every 12 to 18 months.  “To keep things fresh and to share more of the objects in our collections, we like to change out artifacts on a regular basis,” said Susan Hawksworth, museum director.

 From the days of Salina’s founding to recent history, here is some of what you will see:

• Part of a log cabin that stood by the Saline River from c1855 to c1930.
• Gloves made from an otter trapped on the Smoky Hill River.
• A cupboard that came with the first load of goods and furniture brought to Salina in 1858.
• Bag, tools, rigging kit and harness for a parachute used for training purposes at the Central States Parachute Loft in Salina, KS.
• A WWII Marine uniform and purse belonging to Sylvia H. Gould Bigler
• Life Magazine with Shirley Temple on the cover
• Sheet music for an Elvis Presley song
• A Lassie coloring book
• An avocado-green crockpot from the 1970s
• A Sony Walkman

 When you come in to see these and many other recently displayed artifacts, check out the Museum’s new exhibit,Kansas: Battleground for Freedom. This intriguing exhibit explores how Kansas found itself a hotbed of political turmoil and a foreshadowing of the coming Civil War.