Upcoming Events
School's Out! National Fruitcake Toss Day and other odd Nebraska celebrations
The Nebraska History Museum invites Lincoln families to join us for a day of bringing history to life while Lincoln Public Schools has a day out of session!
Join us on January 3rd as we explore some of the fun and odd celebrations happening across Nebraska! Nebraskans love a reason to celebrate and we're no different!
- Make and toss a fruitcake
- Go on a scavenger hunt to find fun objects that connect to community events
- Make and take a craft
- Hear holiday stories.
Homeschool Wednesdays
Please note: The April 1 Homeschool Wednesday event has been canceled. We have removed it from this listing in an effort to limit confusion.
Homeschool families are invited to the Nebraska History Museum for a fun new learning series offered the first Wednesday of each month, September-May*. At Homeschool Wednesdays, students of all ages learn what historic objects and photos can tell us about the past. The activities are geared towards 7 to 10-year-olds, but older students are welcome to participate.
Each Homeschool Wednesday takes place from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm and is centered around a different essential question. Families investigate the museum to answer each month’s essential question by examining objects and photos on display, interacting with an expert, completing a hands-on activity, and interviewing three touchable objects that witnessed the past.
*Due to the New Year’s holiday, January’s program will be held on the second Wednesday.
Dates and Essential Questions:
- September 4 - How do you build a house on the prairie?
- October 2 - What does harvest time mean to Nebraskans?
- November 6 - Why is voting important to Nebraskans?
- December 4 - How did the people who lived here before us use this place?
- January 8 - How do people stay warm in Nebraska winters?
- February 5 - How do Nebraskans decide what to wear?
- March 4 - Why is art and music important to Nebraskans?
- May 6 - What do Nebraskans like to do for fun?
Register Now
Brown Bag: Nebraska's Suffragist Journalists: Clara Bewick Colby and Rheta Childe Dorr
Join us January 16 as we learn about two Nebraskans, Clara Bewick Colby and Rheta Childe Dorr, who became the nation’s most important suffragist journalists.
Colby published from her home in Beatrice where she established the Beatrice Public Library and became the principal of the Beatrice Public School District. Dorr, an Omaha native, began fighting for suffrage as a child and gained notoriety for confronting Woodrow Wilson in the White House.
The presenter, Dr. Eileen Wirth, is the author of a book on Nebraska’s women journalists, “From Society Page to Front Page.”
Celebrating Nebraska's Black Leaders
We know Martin Luther King Jr. was a national leader, but he was also an experienced community leader working with community leaders across the nation. Who were Nebraska's black community leaders? Don't miss this chance to add to your understanding of Nebraska's Black leaders with this event!
- Hear presentations, original artwork, and poetry inspired by Lincoln's Black leaders, created and performed by the Lincoln NAACP Youth Chapter.
- Virtually visit the Great Plains Black History Museum with its director, Eric Ewing.
- Celebrate these leaders by adding your impressions to an original, community art project by ArtReach.
- Let the live re-enactors of the "Descendents of Dewitty" take you back in time to the Cherry County settlement that was built literally from the ground up.
- Travel in your imagination to Cherry County Nebraska, with live re-enactors of the “Descendants of DeWitty” (sponsored by Humanities Nebraska) who built their community literally from the ground up. DeWitty, later known as Audacious, was the largest and longest-lasting African American settlement in rural Nebraska. The settlers, including former slaves who had fled to Canada before the Civil War and their descendants, began to arrive in 1906-07, attracted by the 1904 Kinkaid Act's offer of 640 acres of free land in the Sandhills. Actual descendants of DeWitty re-enact stories of the settlement and its people, accompanied by historic photographs.
A Sign Language interpreter will be present during the event for deaf or hard of hearing persons.
Homeschool Wednesdays
Please note: The April 1 Homeschool Wednesday event has been canceled. We have removed it from this listing in an effort to limit confusion.
Homeschool families are invited to the Nebraska History Museum for a fun new learning series offered the first Wednesday of each month, September-May*. At Homeschool Wednesdays, students of all ages learn what historic objects and photos can tell us about the past. The activities are geared towards 7 to 10-year-olds, but older students are welcome to participate.
Each Homeschool Wednesday takes place from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm and is centered around a different essential question. Families investigate the museum to answer each month’s essential question by examining objects and photos on display, interacting with an expert, completing a hands-on activity, and interviewing three touchable objects that witnessed the past.
*Due to the New Year’s holiday, January’s program will be held on the second Wednesday.
Dates and Essential Questions:
- September 4 - How do you build a house on the prairie?
- October 2 - What does harvest time mean to Nebraskans?
- November 6 - Why is voting important to Nebraskans?
- December 4 - How did the people who lived here before us use this place?
- January 8 - How do people stay warm in Nebraska winters?
- February 5 - How do Nebraskans decide what to wear?
- March 4 - Why is art and music important to Nebraskans?
- May 6 - What do Nebraskans like to do for fun?
Register Now
Nebraskans, Their Dogs, and World War II
Did you know that nearly 5000 dogs were trained in the Dogs for Defense program at Fort Robinson during World War 2? Join us from 1 to 4pm on February 15th as we celebrate and learn about these great dogs!
- Run through an obstacle course like the Fort Robinson dogs
- Rest a while with a real furry friend while listening to a reading of Major: A Soldier Dog
- Search for dog and World War 2-related objects in a museum scavenger hunt
- Make your own miniature dog house modeled after the ones from Fort Robinson
- Watch videos from the Dogs for Defense program
Brown Bag Learning Series: Solomon Butcher's History Scheme
Explore Solomon Butcher’s photographs with UNL professor LuAnn Wandsnider as she explains Butcher’s narrative of “Western push and energy” through family portraits.
How did these early Nebraskans survive the hardships of pioneer life of the late 19th century, and what insights can Butcher’s work offer us as we create heritage narratives for future generations?
Community Book Club: The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote
Join the Women’s Foundation of Lincoln and Lancaster County, Lincoln City Libraries and History Nebraska for a community discussion of the page-turning book The Woman’s Hour by Elaine Weiss.
There are many books available to check out at the Lincoln Public Libraries and for sale at the Nebraska History Museum Gift Shop, Indigo Books and Francie and Finch. Light refreshments will be served.
This event is FREE but space is limited and registration is required.
Register Now
Homeschool Wednesdays
Please note: The April 1 Homeschool Wednesday event has been canceled. We have removed it from this listing in an effort to limit confusion.
Homeschool families are invited to the Nebraska History Museum for a fun new learning series offered the first Wednesday of each month, September-May*. At Homeschool Wednesdays, students of all ages learn what historic objects and photos can tell us about the past. The activities are geared towards 7 to 10-year-olds, but older students are welcome to participate.
Each Homeschool Wednesday takes place from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm and is centered around a different essential question. Families investigate the museum to answer each month’s essential question by examining objects and photos on display, interacting with an expert, completing a hands-on activity, and interviewing three touchable objects that witnessed the past.
*Due to the New Year’s holiday, January’s program will be held on the second Wednesday.
Dates and Essential Questions:
- September 4 - How do you build a house on the prairie?
- October 2 - What does harvest time mean to Nebraskans?
- November 6 - Why is voting important to Nebraskans?
- December 4 - How did the people who lived here before us use this place?
- January 8 - How do people stay warm in Nebraska winters?
- February 5 - How do Nebraskans decide what to wear?
- March 4 - Why is art and music important to Nebraskans?
- May 6 - What do Nebraskans like to do for fun?
