Author to discuss rich Kansas history

Author and historian Don Coldsmith will be featured speaker at the 9th annual Gene DeGruson Memorial Lecture, scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 3, in the Special Collections Department of Pittsburg State University's Axe Library.

Coldsmith writes the syndicated horse care and breeding column, "Horsin' Around," has a lengthy resume as a novelist, retired physician, rancher, and former English professor at Emporia State University. Coldsmith has written his column for nearly 40 years, and is also the author of numerous books including "Spanish Bit Saga."

Coldsmith's lecture, entitled "Circle of History," covers the early exploration and development of the state of Kansas by Spanish explorers, famous outlaws, mountain men, Indians, and radical reformers. Each of these groups left their mark on the state – a territory rich with a western past including cattle towns, Civil War battles, pioneer trails, and frontier forts.

The lecture is funded by the Kansas Humanities Council. Proceeds go toward funding ongoing activities of Friends of the Axe, including a book detailing the history of the PSU campus and a sculpture to be placed in the Axe Library courtyard. For more information, contact Jane Victor, Axe Library reference librarian, at (620) 235-4886.

---Pitt State---