The Kansas Museum of History covers the full arc of Kansas history, from its Indigenous peoples — Kansa, Osage, Wichita, and others — through the frontier and Santa Fe Trail period, the violent years of Bleeding Kansas before the Civil War, the cattle drives, and into the twentieth century including the Dust Bowl. The collection includes a full-size Santa Fe Trail wagon, a Cheyenne tipi, and locomotive from the railroad era.
The museum is operated by the Kansas Historical Society and provides solid context for understanding why Kansas looks and feels as it does — the long history of conflict between settled and nomadic ways of life, the soil and the weather that shaped everything. The exhibits are well-organised and the permanent collection is thorough. If you're driving across Kansas, this is the single best place to understand what you're driving through. Free admission.