Kansas history expert Ron Parks from Manhattan will be the guest speaker at 7:30 p.m. Monday, July 27, at the Barton County Historical Society Museum, located just south of the Arkansas River on U.S. 281, Great Bend. This program is free and open to the public.This will be a joint presentation of the Historical Society and of the Quivira Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association. It is also the Historical Society’s regular monthly meeting.Parks will read a few pages from chapter five of his recently published book, “The Darkest Period: The Kanza Indians and Their Last Homeland, 1846-1873.”