Frank Carlson Library

The small Kansas county of McPherson experienced such a renaissance of art and culture in the early decades of the 20th century that the prestigious International Studio magazine proclaimed the per-capita art ownership there to be higher than anywhere in the world. The man behind the movement was Carl J. Smalley, the son of a seed store owner, whose passion for original art was fueled by a visit to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.