publications

Newspapers in Seward County

Nebraska newspapers have been the subject of a number of reminiscences published in Nebraska History by the State Historical Society over the years. The September 1951 issue included the experiences of William H. Smith (1873-1954). His “Fifty Years a Country Publisher” included his newspaper experiences in Seward:



“That fall [1896] I felt I had served my apprenticeship in a printing office, so I began looking around for a newspaper of my own. Quite naturally my attention was directed to Nebraska, and a want ad in the Omaha World-Herald brought replies from three communities where newspaper outfits were for sale-Harrison, Falls City, and Seward. And so, in the spring of 1897 I resurrected a paper in Seward [Seward County Independent] that had been suspended for the lack of patronage some four or five months before.



“In those days nearly every county seat town had from two to four newspapers. Seward had four, including the one I purchased. The field as viewed from this distance, was anything but inviting. . . .



“But the first years in Seward were rather tough. Back in Iowa the editors used to receive cordwood in payment of subscriptions. Out in this section of Nebraska there was no surplus cordwood, but in 1896 there had been a big crop of corn, and there were a lot of cobs on the farms. I advertised to accept cobs in lieu of cash for subscriptions, having first arranged with a newly organized co-operative creamery to take them off my hands at a dollar a load. The money thus received helped pay accumulating bills.”

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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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