An advertising agency asked me to take raw interviews, informal histories, and piles of documents and other sources and turn them into “Driven by Vision,” a full-color celebration of the 50-year-old, 236-mile-long Kansas Turnpike.
Not long after, a friend and colleague and I teamed on “How Underdogs Win,” a book profiling a Wichita entrepreneur and seven others in Kansas and Oklahoma. The instigator of the project, Leon Trammell, wanted to tell the stories of his and other companies that succeeded through hard work, education and the firm belief they had a better product or service.
So, two books in, I’d discovered a way to pair my journalism skills with my love of – and degree in – history and have been doing it ever since. I’ve planned, researched, written and in most cases designed four coffee-table books along the way. I’ve done several other similar projects, including the story of a notable Kansas-built airplane and the history of a business-law firm. In 2020, that colleague and I collaborated again on a sizable coffee table book for an Oklahoma family. He wrote their story and gathered photos, while I designed the book, found art elements, and wrote shorter pieces to place family events in historical context.
All the books involve interesting stories of businesses and the families and people that have built them. It’s a privilege to be invited into these people’s lives and to help gather and shake loose the memories and key moments that made them and their companies who they are. It’s also an honor to, in the end, have a book that engagingly gets their story down on paper, all in one place so it’s not lost to time.
Extensive interviews with family members and others are a key part of these projects. So is extensive research – in newspapers, trade publications, in musty file cabinets – to pull out stories, photographs, old brochures and other items that together tell the story. There’s nothing more satisfying than digging up a fact or tale from the past that makes the family say, “I never knew that.”
“Celebrating 125 Years: A History of the Greater Wichita YMCA, 1885-2010” travels back to the beginnings of what has become one of the most successful Y organizations in the country. Today, its many modern branches, vast membership and numerous youth programs and childcare centers are a model for others. But the Wichita YMCA didn’t have it so easy, having to sell its grand first home – still a Wichita landmark – and struggling to build the branches, membership and the community support it has today.
“Memory Bank: A Look Inside the Vault” tells the story of U.S. AgBank, a Farm Credit institution based in Wichita, Kansas, and of its employees and the customers they served. The bank’s story is told through employee recollections and articles on the bank’s culture, commitment to serving agriculture and the ongoing change of the Farm Credit system.
“A Sound Endeavor” is a 96-page history of McClelland Sound Co., a longtime family-run business in Wichita, Kansas. Drawing upon historic sources and family and employee interviews, the book uses themed articles and numerous photographs to tell the story of a business that has been helping businesses, schools, churches and entertainers clearly deliver their messages since 1928. Along the way, they crossed paths with Elvis Presley and became the area’s Muzak franchisee.
“Don’t Tell Me I Can’t” recounts how Jess and Jo Cornejo built a series of successful companies – from construction to Mexican foods to trash hauling to paving – through hard work, persistence and faith and passed those values along to their five sons. Despite the odds they faced, the family never passed up a good opportunity to sell and move on, confident they could build yet another business.
“Five Generations of Ingenuity, Versatility & Taking Care of Customers” describes how Exline Inc. and its family owners have adapted to survive and thrive for over 150 years. Begun as a Cowtown blacksmith shop and driven by some very colorful characters, the company has evolved over five generations into a specialty machining and service firm that works largely in the energy sector.
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