Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Salina Klan No. 146 Records

1 COLLECTION SUMMARY

1.1 Introduction/Abstract

The Saline and Dickinson county’s Klanton, or local sect, of the KKK was officially chartered by the national Knights of the Ku Klux Klan on July 29, 1924, and the local branch of the Women of the Ku Klux Klan was chartered on March 12, 1926. Some of the records of this collection date from prior to receiving official recognition from the national level as dated material indicated operations from 1922 to 1939. Following successful efforts by the Governor and Attorney General of Kansas to oust the KKK from conducting business in the state, local sects were forced to hide their operations. One way the KKK continued to operate was by adapting other pseudonyms. In Salina and Dickinson counties, this included the formation of the Jayhawk Building Aid Association, an entity established to purchase and maintain buildings for the KKK to host their meetings. This collection contains an assortment of business material from the Saline and Dickinson county’s sects of the KKK and Women of the KKK, as well as the Jayhawk Building Aid Association.

This collection serves as physical evidence of the organization’s activity through the 1920s and 1930s. The material includes general business material, charters for the local sects of the KKK and Women of the KKK, and record cards of Dues payments for membership to the KKK. This collection is useful for researchers interested in racial conflicts and nationalism in the 1920s and 1930s, as well as those interested in the underground operations of the KKK in Kansas after their public ousting from the state.

1.2 Dates

1922 - 1939

1.3 Quantity

1.75 cubic feet

1.4 Creator

Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Salina Klan No. 146. Women of the Ku Klux Klan, Maifa Study Club Klan No. 71. Jayhawk Building Aid Association.

1.5 Title

Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Salina Klan No. 146 Records

1.6 UID and/or Call #

UID# 510920

1.7 Language

English

1.8 Notes

This finding aid describes materials held by the Kansas State Historical Society. Materials may be used in the Research Room in the society’s Center for Historical Research during regular research hours. Support for telephone, mail, and online research and reference is limited.

In a continuing effort to improve the completeness and accuracy of finding aids, revisions are made as more or new information becomes available. Consequently, this finding aid may differ slightly from what appears in the collection or on the Kansas State Historical Society’s website.

1.9 Repository

Kansas State Historical Society (Topeka)

2 BIOGRAPHY OR HISTORY

The romanization of the Reconstruction-era Ku Klux Klan (KKK) during the early decades of the twentieth century gave rise to an effort by William J. Simmons to resurrect the organization. In 1915, Simmons founded the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan outside of Atlanta, Georgia. In the early 1920s the organization capitalized on political issues such as racial tensions, the Red Scare and the rise of the Soviet Union, and an increase in immigration, along with morality concerns of the time, to spread their ideology and membership nation-wide.[1] Publicly the KKK claimed to stand for ‘Protestant, Fundamental Christianity, old-fashioned morality, and patriotism,’ however the organization appears to have primarily focused on seeking political and financial gains.[2] The majority of nation-wide KKK funding came from the collection of membership dues, which were set at ten dollars a person, and the sale of regalia to members.[3] The State of Kansas experienced the spread of the reorganized KKK in the 1920’s as organizers appeared in places such as Arkansas City, Winfield, Pittsburg, Wichita, and Kanas City, as well as locations such as Saline and Dickinson Counties, where this collection originated.[4] George C. McCarron oversaw much of the recruitment efforts in Kansas and the Southwest from his office in Kansas City, Missouri, and C.H. McBrayer served as the Grand Dragon, or state leader, of Kansas in the mid-1920s.[5] Eventually the KKK gained members across the whole of Kansas, with possibly upward of 40,000 Kansans enrolled as members.[6] This collection of KKK materials from Saline and Dickinson Counties serves as physical evidence of the organization’s activity in the State of Kansas through the 1920s and 1930s.

The Saline and Dickinson county’s Klanton, or local sect, was officially chartered by the national Knights of the Ku Klux Klan on July 29, 1924, and the local branch of the Women of the Ku Klux Klan was chartered on March 12, 1926, however, some of the records of this collection date from prior to receiving official recognition from the national level as dated material indicated operations from 1922 to 1939.[7] The Salina Evening Journal reported on July 25, 1921, that local officers had identified J.A. Lawrence as the man organizing a KKK chapter in Salina.[8] However, a septate report on August 22, 1921, from the newspaper stated that a man only known as Mr. X was organizing the Salina organization. The August report also indicates that a strong organization was being secured in Salina that “…already holds many names, all of them among the best citizens of the town and many prominent businessmen.”[9] According to the branch’s charter, the KKK of Saline and Dickinson counties was a Klanton within the state of Kansas. Leadership of the Saline Klanton included Exalted Cyclops Fred D. Joy, Klaliff F.G. Hagenbuck, Klokard L.T. Campbell, Kludd V.C. Grant, Kligrapp H.J. Batiner, Klabee A.H. Hunter, Kladd S.P. Bisenhouer, Klarogo W.P. Titus, Klexter Jack Conally, Night Hawk Ross Bratton, and Klokanns Hugo Felix, G.B. Lewis, and F.G. Wilson. The Charter for the Women of the KKK list leaders, Excellent Commander Blanch Wilson, Klaliff Vera McClung, Klokard Maude Sullivan, Kludd Ella Bates, Kligrapp Helen Hull, Klabee Mae Fryer, Kladd Lota Price, Klarogo Margaret Layman, Klexter Alma Kinney, Night Hawk Nellie Lyons, and Klokanns Rose Lee Howard, Orah Nesmith, and Mittie Richardson.[10]

In 1922, local KKK members in Arkansas City became involved in a railroad workers’ strike. This involvement contributed to scrutiny from Governor Henry J. Allen, and Kansas’ Attorney General Richard J. Hopkins.[11] By November of 1922, Hopkins had gathered enough evidence to prepare an ouster petition against the KKK to bar the organization from operating in Kansas. This petition claimed that the KKK, as an entity headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, was considered a foreign corporation that had failed to seek or obtain a charter to do business in the State of Kansas. Kansas law at the time stated that any corporation organized under the laws of another state had to apply for a charter to engage in business in Kansas. The petition also claimed that the KKK was disturbing the peace by instigating animosities between people of different races, places of birth, and religious beliefs, by associating themselves with the reputation of the Reconstruction-era KKK. The petition was heard by Commissioner Sardius M. Brewster, with Attorney General C.B. Griffith, who had succeeded Hopkins, representing the prosecution and John S. Dean serving as defense attorney. Brewster ruled against the claim that the KKK were disturbing the peace, stating a lack of evidence to connect the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan to any cases of misconduct.[12] However, the commissioner agreed with Griffith who argued in the case that the KKK had been engaging in business in the state without a charter by stating “If this organization is not doing business in Kansas, then it is not doing business anywhere.”[13] On January 10, 1925, the Kansas Supreme Court rendered an opinion in agreement with Brewster’s findings.[14]

The KKK continued to resist the ousting from Kansas by both filing an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and attempting to influence state elections. The appeal was a strategy to prolong any action from being made on the petition while additional efforts were made to secure a charter, this appeal stalled the enforcement of the ouster until 1927, when the court announced that they would not hear the appeal.[15] Efforts to influence state elections began during the gubernatorial election of 1924, prior to the state court decision. Ben Paulen won the nomination for the Republican ticket with support from the KKK and stated that the organization was not a campaign issue. Such attitudes angered fellow Republican William Allen White, who decided to run for governor as an Independent to ensure that the position of the KKK in Kansas was a forefront issue in the election.[16] While Paulen defeated White and the democratic candidate, White believed that he had proven to the Republican party that the Klan’s endorsement was a liability. Despite the gubernatorial election, KKK supporters did win a sizable number of seats in the state legislature. Efforts were made in January of 1925, to pass a bill to allow any foreign, charitable, or religious group to operate in Kansas without a state charter. These efforts were unsuccessful, as the bill was defeated by a narrow margin in the House of Representatives after passing in the Senate.[17] On May 25, 1925, the KKK applied for a charter, but were eventually denied. The KKK made a final public attempt to gain legal business access in Kansas by supporting candidates for Attorney General and Secretary of State in the 1926 election that may favor the granting of a charter as members of the charter committee.[18] These efforts were not successful, and when the organization was officially ousted in 1927, KKK membership had already greatly diminished in Kansas as nation-wide membership declined. Following the start of the Great Depression at the end of the decade, national membership had dropped to only a few thousand total.[19]

While KKK activities diminished in Kansas following the legal ousting, the organization had not completely been removed from the state as the records in this collection indicate continued KKK activity in Kansas despite the legal rulings. One way the KKK attempted to conceal their identity even prior to the ouster battle was by adapting other pseudonyms.[20] In Salina and Dickinson counties, this included the formation of the Jayhawk Building Aid Association, an entity established to purchase and maintain buildings for the KKK to host their meetings. The Jayhawk Building Aid Association’s by-laws, contained in this collection, state that the organization’s purpose is to “…purchase, maintain, and manage property or properties to be used as a home for the Women of the Ku Klux Klan and the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Salina Kansas.”[21] Two copies of the association’s by-laws are located in this collection, one of which replaces the “Women of the Ku Klux Klan and the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan” with “the Jayhawk Circle and the Jayhawk Club.”[22]

Minutes taken during association’s executive meetings, located in this collection, all date to the 1930’s and lists Orah Nesmith as Association President, Fred T Camp as Treasurer, and Emma Alexander as Recording Secretary.[23] Orah Nesmith is the only executive of the Jayhawk Building Aid Association also listed as a leader on the branch charters.[24] Representatives from the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and Women of the Ku Klux Klan were present at some of the Jayhawk Building Aid Association executive meetings and included B.I. Chambers, L.M. Shelley, and Lelia Shelley, as well as Emma Alexander and Fred Camp, who served as both executive members and KKK representatives.[25] The minutes also listed stockholders and trustees that attended the meetings, including V.L. Nesmith, W.H. Alexander, and Mae Putsch. In 1937, Fred Camp resigned from his position as Treasurer, and V.L. Nesmith was appointed to fill the role.[26]

The Jayhawk Building Aid Association appears to have focused almost exclusively on financial and business activities, as most executive meetings centered on their treasury reports and the maintenance of their buildings. Although there are some notes that executive meetings were often held at members’ homes, the records indicate the priority of these meetings remained on financial matters. The minutes from the Jayhawk Building Aid Association stop referring to the KKK and Women of the KKK by name by 1934.[27] Other records from this collection similarly disguise the connections between the Jayhawk Building Aid Association and the KKK, including the financial receipt and disbursement ledger book which only refers to the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and the Women of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1931 records, instead they are referred to as the “Men’s Organization,” and the “Ladies Organization,” or in some cases just “Ladies” and “Men.”[28] This collection does not confirm a specific end date to the operation of either the Jayhawk Building Aid Association or KKK organization in Saline and Dickinson Counties, however, no dated material from later than 1939 has currently been identified in the collection.[29]

3 SCOPE AND CONTENTS

The collection encompasses the years 1922-1939. The documents primarily reflect the operation of the KKK and the Jayhawk Building Aid Association, and includes the sects’ charters, dues records, business records, checks, correspondences, and propaganda. The largest portion of the collection is composed of the dues record cards, which documents the dues payments for each of the members of the local sect of the KKK.

The collection is arranged into three series: Charters, Dues Record Cards, and KKK Records. The Charters series contains two documents, a Knights of the Ku Klux Klan charter, and a Women of the Ku Klux Klan charter. The charters were already separated from the rest of the material when accessioned and lacked a specific placement within any original order of the collection.

The Dues Record Cards series are divided into subseries that follow an unknown original order. The divisions between the first three subseries, “Set 1,” “Set 2,” and “Set 3,” appears arbitrary, any reason to their divisions is now unknown. The Dues Record Cards series also includes “Set 4 (No Cards),” “Duplicates,” “Removals,” “Transfers,” and “Secret” subseries. The final subseries, “Unorganized Dues Record Cards,” contains cards whose original place in the accessioned organization could not be identified.

The KKK Records series is divided into subseries based on material type. When accessioned the material within this record series had no original order. Any potential order to this portion of the collection was lost prior to accession at the State Archives. Subseries within the KKK Records Series includes Business Records, Checks, Letters, Propaganda, Jayhawk Building Aid Association Stock Sales and Certificates, and Miscellaneous Items.

4 CONTENTS LIST

Series

Charters

Oversize Storage, 933-25.

Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Charter. For the Salina Klan number 146 in the Realm of Kansas. UID 511579.
Women of the Ku Klux Klan Charter. For the Miafa Study Club, Klan number 71 in the Realm of Kansas. UID 511580.

Ku Klux Klan Dues Records Cards – UID 527483

Dues Record Cards are currently only visible in digital form in the State Archives Reading Room.

Box 1 – 019-14-07-01, Digital copies 008-07-03-07

Subseries: Ku Klux Klan Dues Records Cards Set 1 – UID 527542.

Alphabetized by last name of member, A-L.

Box 2 – 019-14-07-02, Digital copies 008-07-03-07

Subseries: Ku Klux Klan Dues Records Cards Set 1 – UID 527542.

Alphabetized by last name of member, M-Z.

Box 3 – 019-14-07-03, Digital copies 008-07-03-07

Subseries: Ku Klux Klan Dues Records Cards Set 2 – UID 527543.

Alphabetized by last name of member, A-Q.

Box 4 – 019-14-07-04, Digital copies 008-07-03-07

Subseries: Ku Klux Klan Dues Records Cards Set 2 –UID 527543.

Alphabetized by last name of member, R-Z.

Box 5 – 019-14-07-05, Digital copies 008-07-03-07

Subseries: Ku Klux Klan Dues Records Cards Set 3 – UID 527544.