History Nebraska is seeking a knowledgeable and motivated individual to serve as the organization’s Grants Manager. As a member of the Finance team, this position is accountable for managing all aspects of the grants program life cycle, including researching, writing, applying, monitoring, reporting, and processing payments. This integral position will be key in identifying and developing grant funding opportunities for History Nebraska to carry out its mission and expand its reach. This position is also cross trained on other key accounting roles to provide a strong financial foundation for t ..read more

Never forget that Fred Astaire was born in Omaha. This column originally from 1999 tells the story. The year 1999 marks the centenary of Fred Astaire’s birth in Omaha, where he was born as Frederick Austerlitz on May 10. His sister, Adele, two years older than Fred, first took dance lessons at the Chambers Dance Academy on West Farnam. Although Fred did not officially take lessons there, legend has it that when he was four years old, in imitation of Adele and the other students, Fred slipped on ballet slippers and mirrored their steps. Recognizing the talent of her children, Mrs. Austerli ..read more

Most Nebraska teachers were paid poverty wages in the early 1920s, even before an economic recession prompted school districts to slash budgets even further. Rural school near Hay Springs, Nebraska, circa 1910. RG2089-05   By David L. Bristow, Editor   Most Nebraska teachers were paid poverty wages in the early 1920s, even before an economic recession prompted school districts to slash budgets even further. In 1922 a statewide publication called The Nebraska Teacher calculated how much money teachers actually needed. The result wasn’t necessarily what taxpayers and school boards wa ..read more

Our Historical Markers across Nebraska highlight moments and places in our state’s past. Today we’re focusing on a marker that tells the story of Broken Bow through the history of its beautiful town square. Marker Text Broken Bow was platted 1882 by Jesse Gandy. He donated lots to people who would build a house or establish a business. He did this to influence voters to make the new town the Custer County seat, which they did in an election that fall. The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad reached Broken Bow in 1886. Anticipating new commerce, the Lincoln Land Company purchased large tra ..read more

One of the most important Native American artists of the early 20th century was born in Nebraska. Angel DeCora was born on May 3, 1871, on the Winnebago Reservation. DeCora grew up in a time of significant transition in indigenous life in the United States. At the time of her birth, the Winnebago Tribe was forced off their land and resettled elsewhere, and indigenous people everywhere were reckoning with the dominant Anglo-American culture while trying to preserve their customs and traditions. DeCora was sent to the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia at ..read more

(May 1, 2024) The Henderson Mennonite Heritage Museum and Park is a tourism gem where the history of German Mennonites from Russia, along with the history of the town and community, are brought to life. Founded in 1995, the non-profit organization bought eight-and-a-half acres to preserve and share community heritage. Since then, buildings have been moved or erected on the site, including a church, country school, farmhouse, barn, various downtown businesses, depot, immigrant house, and an agricultural building featuring a display of the beginning of deep well irrigation in the area. To enhanc ..read more

The passage of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawed the manufacture and sale of liquor nationwide, but statewide prohibition was already in effect in Iowa and Nebraska. In 1916 Iowa went dry and Nebraska voters adopted a prohibitory amendment to their state constitution that took effect in May 1917. Enterprising individuals soon learned how to profit by flouting the law. The Dakota County Herald on May 24, 1917, reprinted an article from the Sioux City (Iowa) Journal reporting the bootlegging then rampant in that vicinity: May 1, 1917, the first day of statewide prohibit ..read more

  Marker Text Just north of here the Camp Clarke bridge crossed the North Platte River. The bridge was built in the spring of 1876 by entrepreneur Henry T. Clarke to improve the trail from the Union Pacific Railroad at Sidney, Nebraska, to the gold mining towns in the Black Hills. The route first supplied the Sioux at Red Cloud Agency on the White River and the army at adjacent Camp Robinson; by 1876 the trail extended to Custer City and Deadwood in Dakota Territory. In 1878- 79 some twenty-two million pounds of freight was shipped over the trail.   Clarke’s bridge was about 2,000 ..read more

Arbor Day began inauspiciously as one of a number of efforts to encourage the planting of trees in barren Nebraska. The State Board of Agriculture had offered a prize of $50 for the best and largest grove of timber planted in 1870, and $25 for the second best and largest. Also in the year of the first Arbor Day celebration, the State Boards of Horticulture and Agriculture each appointed two members to work together to prepare and present an address to the National Agricultural Convention asking for government aid in the encouragement of tree planting on the western prairies. J. Sterling ..read more

While the land was unknown to emigrants during their travels on the trails across Nebraska, it had been home to several Indigenous tribes for thousands of years. They had developed rich cultures and lifeways that were in tune with the land they occupied, be that in eastern or central Nebraska along the trails or in western Nebraska near Chimney Rock. The tribes the emigrants interacted with in Nebraska included Pawnee, Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho. Both parties were eager to trade for the unique materials offered by the other. The Native Americans traded for glass beads, metal, and blankets ..read more