Plenty of Work
Solomon D. Butcher’s photograph depicted workmen laying a concrete sidewalk. NSHS RG2608-2952 (left).
Job hunters in Omaha during the booming 1880s had an easier time ...
Omaha
What We Found
Klowns of the Koo Koo Krust
It is well known that the first Nebraska Klavern of the Ku Klux Klan was formed in Omaha in 1921. It is also known that the Klan was claiming as many as 45,000 members ...
Beer and Blood: The Butchers’ Picnic
The South Omaha butchers conceived the idea that it would be fun to stay away and play a practical joke on their Council Bluffs brethren, . . . They sent a defiant ...
A Census Taker’s Lament
In 1880 Omaha's notorious third ward included the heart of the city's gambling and prostitution. The character of the district created unique problems for federal census ...
Free Auto Camps
John Nelson’s photograph depicted a homemade auto camper (left). NSHS RG3542-124-01
Long distance travel in the early days of the automobile was difficult, and ...
“The Ugliest Artifact I’ve Ever Seen”
Museum artifacts can be beautiful. Museum artifacts can be plain. Plain museum artifacts can sometimes represent ugly ideas. It is rare, however, to come across a museum ...
A Real Romance
Valentine’s Day has long been the day to celebrate romantic love—but, as the Omaha Daily Bee pointed out on April 29, 1882, there’s “Nothing Like a Little Common Sense ...
A Window into Abraham Lincoln’s Funeral Car
Source: Mrs. Ethel Carleton
If you had to guess the history of this object, what would you think? Perhaps an old, well-used picture frame? Actually its original ...
George A. Joslyn of Omaha
The name of George A. Joslyn (1846-1916) is connected with two of Omaha’s most notable structures: his opulent residence, often referred to as “The Castle,” and the ...
The Free School Advocate
First published by the students of Omaha High School in December of 1859, The Free School Advocate is the earliest known example of school journalism in Nebraska. The ...
The Nebraska Scrap Plan
The Nebraska State Historical Society recently acquired a set of Omaha World-Herald reprints containing photos and stories about the 1942 scrap drive sponsored by the ...
J. C. Penney’s Middle Name Really Was “Cash”
James Cash Penney wasn’t a Nebraskan, and he started his famous retail franchise in Wyoming, but he opened stores in more than fifty Nebraska towns. No merchant before ...
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