What and why is the Coates Project? The life and times of Kersey Coates, his impact on the destiny of Kansas City, Missouri and the free state of Kansas and are explored through materials handed from generation to generation.
A loving tribute to Sara Walter Chandler Coates whose indomitable spirit and grace was match for her husband's entrepreneurial Midas touch as she crusaded for women's rights, abolition, education and the arts in the wild west.
A library of some 50-plus digitally restored newspaper and magazine clippings chronicle Coates-related events over the decades from the grandeur of inception, to decline, devastation and resurrection.
Before smart phones and the Internet, before video tape and 8mm film, there was the scrapbook. And since cameras were few and far between, people saved memories of the times more than of themselves.