Kansas museum is one of the most unique in the world

Wil Day
·2 min read

CHANUTE, Kan. (KSNW) — You can find many interesting and unique museums in Kansas.

Hutchinson has the Cosmosphere and Strataca Salt Museum. Greensburg, the Big Well Museum, and Hays, the Sternberg Natural History Museum.

You can find the newly opened Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum in Atchison and the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene. However, there’s one museum you may not even know about that is one of the most unique in the world: the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum.

  • Sculpture of Kansas native and nature documentary pioneers Martin and Osa Johnson (courtesy Conrad Froehlich, Director Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum.)
    Sculpture of Kansas natives and nature documentary pioneers Martin and Osa Johnson (courtesy Conrad Froehlich, Director Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum.)
  • Sculpture of Kansas native and nature documentary pioneers Martin and Osa Johnson (courtesy Conrad Froehlich, Director Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum.)
    Sculpture of Kansas natives and nature documentary pioneers Martin and Osa Johnson (courtesy Conrad Froehlich, Director Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum.)
  • native masks (courtesy Conrad Froehlich, Director Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum.)
    native masks (courtesy Conrad Froehlich, Director Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum.)
  • African tribal outfits (courtesy Conrad Froehlich, Director Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum.)
    African tribal outfits (courtesy Conrad Froehlich, Director Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum.)
  • African tribal outfits (courtesy Conrad Froehlich, Director Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum.)
    African tribal outfits (courtesy Conrad Froehlich, Director Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum.)

Martin and Osa Johnson were pioneers in filmmaking and nature documentaries. In the early 20th century, the couple were the first to travel to places like Africa and the South Pacific with film equipment to document wildlife and native cultures.

Martin Johnson was born in Lincoln, Kansas, in 1884 and raised in Independence. He traveled to the South Pacific as a cook and photographer for author and adventurer Jack London.

Though he had met his future wife Osa several years before when he photographed her brother, he was reintroduced to her when he lectured on his travels with London in Osa’s hometown of Chanute.

They married soon after, and after briefly planning to operate a movie theater in Independence, Martin convinced Osa to travel to film in the South Pacific. It was the first of many films for the couple that became highly successful.

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The couple is the first to film many native cultures and animals in their natural habitat. In addition, they also published multiple books and lectured extensively.

Martin died in a plane crash in 1937 while the couple were traveling from Salt Lake City to California on a lecture tour. Following his death, Osa continued their work, became a film producer, children’s book author, and women’s fashion designer, and released a best-selling memoir with the help of a ghostwriter called “I Married Adventure.”

She died of a heart attack at a hotel in New York City in 1953. The couple had no children.

In 1961, Osa’s surviving family opened a museum to preserve the couple’s work. The museum houses memorabilia, photographs, native artwork, and items the couple collected from their extensive travels, and also has a 30-seat movie theater where visitors can watch their films.

The museum is located at 111 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chanute. It is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more about the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum, visit their website.

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