As the years pass by the past tends to become extinct so that precautions must be taken to preserve the evidences or to record that which has happened. This duty falls largely upon the historian. Thus far only brief and incomplete accounts of the history of education in Wichita have been written. It is my purpose to write a more comprehensive account collecting the various sources and compiling a more scientific and unified study than has heretofore been written. Much of the history of the schools is found recorded only in the memories of pioneers. Collection of this information is imperative if it is to be retained after their passing. Newspaper files are gradually being destroyed from age and indiscriminate use so that these sources may not always be available. This dissertation is based primarily upon a thorough research of the newspaper files of the period.