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Burman, Ellis

Sculptor Ellis Luis Burman may be an unfamiliar name to most Nebraskans, but his sculptures remain well known to visitors of Lincoln parks. Born in 1902 in Toledo, Ohio, Burman studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and later opened a studio in Omaha, where he sculpted the likenesses of several prominent citizens.

To make a living as an artist during the Depression, Burman found work with the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration. He produced several notable works at this time (1932-37). “The Arrow Maker” depicted a life-sized Sioux Indian family, done in plaster and bronze-coated. It is now on display at the Stuhr Museum in Grand Island.

Burman’s Lincoln works included The Pioneer Woman, erected on Memorial Avenue in Antelope Park; Rebecca at the Well, inspired by Bess Streeter Aldrich’s Novel A Lantern in Her Hand and located at Lincoln’s Sunken Gardens; and the cast marble War Memorial monument in Antelope Park.

Burman’s models for the soldier figures around the pedestal of the War Memorial, of course, predated World War II. The figures, therefore, represented soldiers of the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I, the last conflict still fresh in the memories of Nebraskans. The pedestal was topped by a nine-foot figure representing the spirit of war and victory.

The sculptor’s best known work is probably The Smoke Signal in Lincoln’s Pioneers Park, which depicted an Indian man using a blanket to direct the smoke of a small fire. Dedicated to all Nebraska Indians, the statue was made of bronze colored poured concrete, stood fifteen feet high, and weighed five tons. A group of Omaha, Ponca, Sioux, and Winnebago tribal members took part in the dedication ceremonies of this massive sculpture on September 12, 1935.

 

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Other Publications

The Bachelors’ Protective Union of Kearney

When the Bachelors' Protective Union gave a gala reception for two of its newly married, former members and their brides in March of 1890, the social club for young, ...

U.S. Weather Bureau in 1890s Nebraska

The U.S. Weather Bureau was established by an act of Congress on October 1, 1890. It took over the weather service that had been established in the office of the Chief ...

Canning the Way to Victory

During American participation in World War I the U.S. Food Administration, under the direction of Herbert Hoover, launched a massive campaign to persuade Americans to ...

The Shoemaker’s Ashes

"Edward Kuehl, one of the most peculiar characters that ever lived in Omaha, or anywhere else, was found dead in his bed last night in the back room of his place of ...

Crazy Horse Surrender Ledger Foreward

Red Dog, an Oglala Lakota who lived at the Red Cloud Agency, Nebraska, 1876-77 (Nebraska State Historical Society RG2955.ph).   In the summer of 1876, following the ...

Darryl F. Zanuck

Darryl F. Zanuck Darryl F. Zanuck (1902-1979), a native Nebraskan, produced some of Hollywood's most important and controversial films. He helped found 20th Century Fox ...

The Burlington’s Profitable Pork Special

Nebraska railroads were much concerned with developing an adequate economy in the areas they served. The Burlington, for example, had a long history of caring for the ...

Bungalow Filling Stations

After the giant Standard Oil Company was broken into thirty-four separate companies in 1911, the newly independent Standard Oil of Nebraska dominated the state's market ...

The Bull Fight

This is the perfect time of year for a visit to the old fishin' hole. But a group of fisherfolk from Plainview discovered that this bucolic pastime sometimes has ...

Buffalo Soldiers West

African-American soldiers on the western frontier are the focus of an exhibit at the Nebraska History Museum in Lincoln. Buffalo Soldiers West, on loan from the Colorado ...

Protection for Buffalo

The extermination of the buffalo on the Plains occurred largely between 1870 and 1885. The Nebraska State Journal of Lincoln on February 1, 1874, editorialized in vain ...

Buffalo Hunting

In late October 1877 young Rolf Johnson and three friends left their homes in Phelps County, Nebraska, for a buffalo hunt in northeastern Colorado. The hunt was not very ...

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