History in the making

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Cigar Making

Employees at Ross & Dryson Cigar Factory in Lincoln, Nebraska. Circa 1910. Cigar making and cigar smoking in Nebraska reached their pinnacle shortly after the turn ...

Circus Wedding

Readers of the Seward Reporter on August 9, 1883, learned of a recent wedding in the community in which the bride and groom were not area residents, but ...

Christmas at Creighton, 1876

According to the Niobrara Pioneer of December 28, 1876, local weather was appropriate for the Yuletide season. Snow on Christmas Eve "made Christmas ...

Cholera

Cholera was the most dreaded disease of overland travelers passing through the state in 1849 and the 1850s, and its possible recurrence was dreaded for decades ...

Catfish

One of the early encounters of Europeans with catfish in this area of the country is found in the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Just north of an Omaha ...

Bryan County

Many of Nebraska's ninety-three counties are named in honor of U.S. presidents. More than eighty years ago one enterprising editor proposed creating a new county to be ...

Bookwalter, a Model Farm Community

The former town of Bookwalter, Pawnee County, was named for John W. Bookwalter, a self-educated scholar, inventor, businessman, writer, politician, and world ...

Anti-smoking Law of 1905

Lincoln and Omaha currently prohibit smoking in most public establishments and eating places, and in April 2005 a statewide tobacco ban similar to the Lincoln city ...

“Intersections of Place, Time, and Entertainment in Nebraska’s Hidden Paradise

What did rural Nebraska travel and recreation look like in the early-to-mid twentieth century? A forested canyon at Long Pine became popular at a time when ordinary ...

‘I Don’t Know What We’d Have Done Without the Indians’: Non-Indian and Lakota Racial Relationships in Box Butte County’s Potato Industry, 1917-1960

 A labor shortage during World War I left western Nebraska potato farmers facing the loss of their crop. They brought in Lakota (Sioux) Indians as harvesters, ...

Letters from Home: Prisoner of War Mail at the Fort Robinson Camp during World War II

A 1943 envelope illustrates the long and complicated process of sending and receiving mail between Nazi Germany and the Fort Robinson Prisoner of War Camp in ...

Nebraska Football and Michael Oriard’s Bowled Over: A Review Essay

Oriard’s 2010 book examines the effects of politics and social change on big-time college football during the past fifty years. Our reviewer investigates the issues of ...

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About History Nebraska
History Nebraska was founded in 1878 as the Nebraska State Historical Society by citizens who recognized Nebraska was going through great changes and they sought to record the stories of both indigenous and immigrant peoples. It was designated a state institution and began receiving funds from the legislature in 1883. Legislation in 1994 changed History Nebraska from a state institution to a state agency. The division is headed by Interim Director and CEO Jill Dolberg. They are assisted by an administrative staff responsible for financial and personnel functions, museum store services, security, and facilities maintenance for History Nebraska.
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