The Digital Curation department has been working hard in 2023 to make several new manuscript and photograph collections available online. Below are a few highlights from the 15 collections we have digitized this year. Stay tuned to the blog and our Digital Collections Portal, as new collections are being made available throughout the year.
RG3737.AM: The Quill (Lincoln, Neb.)
The Quill was a group of women writers who met in Lincoln, Nebraska starting in the early 1920s in order to share and critique their writings.. Members of the club include notable Nebraska authors such as Bess Steeter Aldrich, Mari Sandoz, and Mignon Eberhart. The collection of meeting minutes and scrapbooks documenting the group’s activities are now digitized and available online here. To learn more about The Quill check out the finding aid here.
The Quill book of meeting minutes dated 1957 to 1963 includes details from their annual dinner, meeting notes and membership details.
RG1825.PH: Works Progress Administration
During the 1930s the Works Progress Administration was active throughout Nebraska. The Works Progress Administration was a New Deal program that provided employment through infrastructure projects, arts projects, and historical records surveys. A WPA program that was active in Nebraska was the Federal Writers’ Project, which produced informational booklets, folklore pamphlets, local histories, and guidebooks. This photograph collection includes images of the Federal Writers’ Project employees and displays of their publications. The image below is of a holiday tea party for Federal Writers’ Project employees in 1938. Check out the entire digitized collection here.
Black and white photograph of a holiday tea party for workers with the Federal Writers’ Project in Nebraska, December 23, 1938.
RG1072.AM: Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (Neb.)
The Nebraska Chapter of the national organization, the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, was formed in the 1870s. They were active in promoting temperance legislation throughout the state, which sought to outlaw saloons and the consumption of alcohol. This manuscript collection includes correspondence between the members, meeting minutes, pamphlets, and flyers that aided in their temperance campaigns. View the entire digitized collection here and see the finding aid to learn more about this organization.
A political sign encouraging people to vote for prohibition
RG1680.PH: “Texas Mary” Marsich
Mary “Texas Mary” Marsich was a singer who regularly featured on the Omaha, Nebraska, radio station KFAB. This photograph collection includes images of Marsich with her guitar in the studio and of her posing with other notable Western entertainers, including Gene Autry. See the full collection here.
Black and white photograph showing “Texas Mary” Marsich from the waist up. Date Unknown.
