Celebrating Nebraska’s Semicentennial, 1867-1917
This Arbor Day parade float at Nebraska City in 1917 also commemorated the state’s
semicentennial. The bust at the front of the float depicts J. Sterling Morton. NSHS ...
J. Sterling Morton
What We Found
A.E. Sheldon and the Nebraska State Historical Society
NSHS Superintendent Addison E. Sheldon and an Omaha tribal leader, probably in the 1930s. NSHS RG1289.PH16-7
Addison E. Sheldon, who led the Nebraska ...
Flashback Friday: Would J. Sterling Morton have sacrificed his grandmother for political gain?
In honor of Arbor Day, Nebraska History associate editor Jim Potter examines part of the political career of Arbor Day founder J. Sterling Morton. Some dramatic anti-J. ...
Fishing Tales in Nebraska
Fishing Tale, 1867
A brief note on the pleasures of fishing appeared in the Nebraska City News, May 25, 1867. The piece is unsigned, but the author may have been J. ...
“Cesspool of Politics”
In 1859 Nebraska Territorial Secretary J. Sterling Morton asked the U.S. Treasury for money to build a privy at the capitol building in Omaha. Mother Nature was ...
Earth Day is held on which famous Nebraskan’s birthday?
From the treeless plains came a holiday to celebrate the tree. In 1872 J. Sterling Morton of Nebraska City proposed the first Arbor Day. The State Board of Agriculture ...
The Founding of the Nebraska Hall of Fame
The current Nebraska Hall of Fame was established in 1961 to officially recognize prominent Nebraskans. The Hall of Fame Commission, with members appointed by the ...
Should the Government Plant Trees?
The question of government supported tree planting arose a few times after the creation of Arbor Day in 1872. J. Sterling Morton, the holiday's founder, had pretty ...
J. Sterling Morton’s 1874 State Fair Appeal
J. Sterling Morton really wanted to spice up the 1874 State Fair. His solution? A massive exhibition of crops.
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Touring Nebraska Orchards in 1872
Even before the emergence of Arbor Day, Nebraska tree enthusiasts would get together. In October 1872, J. Sterling Morton and 100 of his friends went on a huge Nebraska ...
NU at 150: What was the University of Nebraska like in the early days?
The University of Nebraska marks its 150th birthday on February 15, 2019. The legislature chartered the university on that day in 1869 (though classes didn’t begin until ...
Was J. Sterling Morton a racist? Here’s what the Arbor Day founder said and did.
By David L. Bristow, Editor, Nebraska History
(Originally posted March 29, 2019)
On one level this is an easy question. Yes. Blatantly. In a loud and ...
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