n ehistory b r a s k a news Volume 66 / Number 4 / October/November/December 2013

Nebraska’s Great Secret

More than two hundred people gathered near your museums, done research in your libraries, Elkhorn on June 29 to dedicate ’s 500th photographed livestock auctions, attended your historical marker. It was unveiled along a brick- county fairs. I’ve visited all your counties and paved remnant of the Lincoln Highway, America’s made photographs in most of them, been chased first transcontinental automotive roadway. Speak- by your tornadoes, awed by your blizzards. I’ve ers included State Senator Beau McCoy and author landed my plane at many of your airports. I’ve Drake Hokanson, whose comments are reproduced even ridden freight trains across the state. here and take the place of this issue’s director’s column: In fact the first time I ever saw this piece of brick highway was from an open gondola many ebraskans, I’ve figured out your secret. years ago, going west on the Union Pacific. As a former Coloradan, former Californian, Could that be a piece of the old Lincoln High- Nformer Iowan, sometimes Minnesotan, way, I wondered? and resident Wisconsinite, I want you all to know As we all know, most travelers who cross that long ago I figured out why Nebraskans love your state do so on Interstate 80—straight, flat, their state so much, and why most visitors aren’t seventy-five miles per hour. Boring“ ,” they all say, so impressed. “450 miles of nothing.” After all, I know your state well. I have eaten You’re not doing it right, I tell them. Did you get steak in Scottsbluff, sushi in Lincoln; I’ve camped off the interstate? Did you stop to see the amidst the meadowlarks in the Sandhills. I’ve visited and Trail wagon ruts on California Hill

The Nebraska State Historical Society collects, preserves, and opens to all, the histories we share.

Martin Scherzberg brought his 1913 Ford Model T to the dedication of the new Lincoln Highway historical marker in Elkhorn; 2013 marks the highway’s centennial. Photos by Patrick Haynes connecting City and . It galva- nized the nation just as we were falling in love with the automobile. For decades it was America’s premier auto route, inspiring songs, a radio show, and hundreds of thousands of auto travelers who set out to explore their own country. One of them, Frederic Van de Water, an effete New Yorker, along with his wife and son, crossed this state in 1927 and likely drove this exact bit of road. He wrote:

More than two hundred Continued from p. 1 From grain elevator to grain elevator, we laid our people came to the course through Nebraska, traveling over a terrain dedication ceremony. west of Brule? Did you tour the hay bale church in that grew continually stranger to eastern eyes and Arthur? What about the Lewis and Clark campsite in a heat that amazed and almost frightened even Knox County? And for heaven’s sake, did you have New Yorkers who have spent summers in town. your picture taken in front of Carhenge in Alliance? No? It smote us the morning we left Grand Island and Then you’re not doing it right. remained with us, despite increasing altitude, for And to those jaded travelers I say, did you stop and thirty-six hours. read any of Nebraska’s 499 state historical markers? If you had, you’d have learned about the Otos, the Clearly Van de Water did not learn Nebraska’s secret. Pawnee, the Ponca, the Oglala . You would have But others at least understood something of the learned about the Slovaks, the Germans, the Irish, immense beauty of the state and its skies. Bellamy and the Danish; about and . Partridge drove west in 1912, long before any of the But what about scenic beauty? Ah, Nebraska, you Lincoln Highway was paved. He wrote: are clever. States with low self-esteem like Colorado and We had just splashed through the mudholes at a often post signs with arrows that say “scenic place called Big Springs when we ran up a long- overlook,” or “camera viewpoint.” Not Nebraska. In ish grade and came out on the top of a tableland fact, in your state I can recall seeing only one such where for the first time we found ourselves on the pandering attempt to engage the unthinking tourist. plains—the western prairies of song and story. A state like Nebraska has no need to point out its scenic wonders. Nebraska says if you can’t figure out As I looked all around and saw nothing but for yourself that the entire state is a scenic wonder, space—and so much of it—a feeling of loneliness you should go to New Mexico. Seriously—have you came over me. Without realizing what I was doing seen a sunset in the Sandhills? Have you noticed I stopped the car and shut off the engine. our magnificent thunderstorms? Have you watched I listened intently for the music of the spheres, the the wind comb the prairie on a summer afternoon? whispering of the stars passing overhead in the Mountains are fine, but they’re for people with daytime, the swishing of the planets through the im- stunted imaginations. measurable nothingness—but I couldn’t hear a thing. And as of today, travelers—and locals—with a bit of curiosity will discover the Lincoln Highway via the latest, the 500th, state historical marker, right here on what has to be the most significant piece of early Lincoln Highway along its entire 3,300-mile route. Nowhere else will you find such a fine extent of early road so well preserved. It is our own Yellow Brick Road. And it is fitting that Boy Scout Troop 407 of Omaha is here today to help us dedicate this marker. In 1928, after the Lincoln Highway had been absorbed into the federal numbered highway system, Boy Scout troops across the nation set thousands of concrete markers to dedicate this highway to the memory of Abraham Lincoln. One hundred years ago, the Lincoln Highway was Scouts from Omaha’s Boy Scout Troop 407 unveil the established as the nation’s first transcontinental highway, marker while NSHS Director/CEO Mike Smith looks on. 2 • nebraska history news Ah, Nebraska—tell me of your deep history, the Historic Preservation great pathways of the American story. Indian trails Conference a Success along the Platte, the , the , uilding Communities: Preservation is the Pony Express, the transcontinental telegraph and Place-making,” NSHS’s first annual state transcontinental railroad; the Lincoln Highway and even the transcontinental airmail. Show me your prai- “Bhistoric preservation conference, was ries, your rivers, your wind and sky. held at the Fort Omaha campus of Metropolitan Finally, I think Nebraska’s great secret can be Community College in Omaha on June 14. The summed up in a new state slogan. Not that there is event attracted more than a hundred attend- anything wrong with “Cornhusker State”—direct, ees who heard nationally known speakers and unsentimental, just like Nebraskans themselves. learned about financial and planning tools for This isn’t “The Enchantment State,” like New Mexico; revitalizing neighborhoods and downtowns, eco- it isn’t “The Tomato State,” like New Jersey once nomic benefits of preservation at the local level, boasted, nor “The Baked Bean State” as was and how preservation can help sustain the sense Massachusetts once. of place found in all communities. Architects and No, Nebraska is the “Imagination State”—no, not planners earned continuing education credits quite. The “Subtle State”—no, not that either. through their participation. Wait, here it is: “Nebraska—The Pay Attention State.” The Nebraska Arts Council co-sponsored a pre-conference reception, and following the con- Drake Hokanson is the author/coauthor of several books ference the Douglas County Historical Society including Lincoln Highway: Main Street across America hosted a reception at the Crook House on the Fort and Purebred and Homegrown: America’s County Fairs. Omaha campus. The conference was supported by He is currently working on a book and photographic ex- grants from the Nebraska Department of Economic hibition about the first transcontinental railroad between Development and Humanities Nebraska.  Omaha and Sacramento. 

Nebraska Cowboys Free Family Roundup October 12 SHS members are especially invited Nto participate in an afternoon of free and fun activities for all ages. Celebrating Nebraska Cowboys: Lives, Legends, and Legacies at the Nebraska History Museum, the event will range from 2:00-4:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 12. Saddle up and head on down to see what we’ve corralled. For more information call 402-471-4757 or visit www.nebraskahistory.org.

October/November/December 2013 • 3 New NSHS Book Reveals “A Brave reproduced here, along with the journal’s complete Soldier & Honest Gentleman” transcribed text. For his own part, Foster was a gifted writer and t. James E. H. Foster (1848-83) lived a short but an astute and witty observer of military life. His story eventful life as a junior officer on the Northern increases our knowledge of the American West and Plains. His story—and his illustrated journal— L the important role played in it by the frontier army. provide a rich portrait of the frontier army at the Foster’s journal is in the collections of the Museum time of the Great Sioux War, when Nebraska was of Nebraska Art in Kearney, which authorized this a fledgling state. NSHS curator Thomas R. Buecker publication. The book was made possible in part by shares this story in A Brave Soldier & Honest Gentle- support from the Ronald K. and Judith M. Stolz Parks man: Lt. James E. H. Foster in the West, 1873-1881, to Publishing Fund established at the Nebraska State be published by the NSHS November 1, 2013. Historical Society Foundation. Stationed at Fort McPherson, Nebraska, Foster trav- The 210-page hardcover is available for $29.95 eled with the Jenney Expedition of 1875, filling in the Preview A Brave Soldier at ($26.95 for NSHS members) from the NSHS Landmark nebraskahistory.org/books. large blank area on the map of the Black Hills, and Stores, 402-471-3447. Go to nebraskahistory.org/foster making some of the earliest surviving artistic rendi- to preview the book. tions of the area. Tom Buecker will present a brief program on Fos- The Black Hills, of course, were not unknown ter at 1:30 p.m., November 17, at the Nebraska History to the Lakotas, who resented the invasion of gold Museum. A book signing will be held in the Land- miners and resisted the U.S. government’s attempts mark Store at the conclusion of his remarks. For more to buy the Hills. When war erupted in 1876, Foster information call 402-471-3447. rode with General Crook’s forces, fighting at the “Lieutenant Foster’s story is chock full of fresh data Battle of the Rosebud and enduring the infamous on the Great Sioux War and the Battle of Rosebud Starvation March. Creek, as well as other period army-Indian activities. Relying on correspondence, army records, and Illuminated with Tom Buecker’s astute narration, other documents from the time, historian Thomas R. commentary, and editorial finesse, it comprises a stel- Buecker reconstructs Foster’s life, interweaving his lar work of profound historical value.” —Jerome A. narrative with Foster’s own words. Now published for Greene, author of American Carnage: Wounded Knee the first time, all illustrations from the journal (plus 1890 (forthcoming) several more published by Foster elsewhere) are 

NSHS Donates Nebraska’s Post Office Murals to Libraries ames and Rhonda Seacrest were so enthused about L. Robert Puschendorf’s award-winning Jbook, Nebraska’s Post Office Murals: Born of the Depression, Fostered by the , published by the NSHS last year, they decided to help give it away—to every library in the state! Their generous financial support initially funded the book’s publication and now is making a copy accessible to all Nebraskans at their local libraries. Copies will be distributed to librarians at the Nebras- ka Library Association’s annual meeting in Kearney, October 9-11. The Nebraska Library Commission and volunteers from the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce are assisting with transportation and distribution. is the nation’s most prestigious for recognition of The book will be recognized with an Award of achievement in state and local history. Merit by the American Association for State and Lo- The book is available for $29.95 ($26.95 for cal History in September in Birmingham, Alabama. NSHS members) from the NSHS Landmark Stores, AASLH Leadership in History Awards competition 402-471-3447. 

4 • nebraska history news NSHS Hosts Ten-State Conference Lincoln Teacher Honored for Museum Professionals arah Winans of Kloefkorn Elementary he Mountain-Plains Museums Association in Lincoln has been named the 2013 (MPMA) will hold its annual conference in SNebraska History Teacher of the Year by TLincoln September 30 through October 3. The the History Channel and two national history NSHS is hosting the event. Museum professionals preservation groups. Winans is an alumna of from the region will gather to “explore, share, learn (and currently a teacher leader for) Nebraska and advance our collective and individual museum Wesleyan University’s Master of Historical skills.” Several members of the NSHS staff will share Studies program, with which the NSHS has their expertise during conference sessions. This partnered via the Nebraska Institute, a pro- year’s theme is “Building the Museum Community: gram for teaching Nebraska history with an Inside, Outside, All Around the Town.” emphasis on primary sources and critical In June, NSHS Director/CEO Mike Smith was elect- thinking skills. Not surprisingly, Winans, a ed president of the MPMA’s board of directors. Smith fourth-grade teacher and a North Platte has been serving as the organization’s vice president native, told the Lincoln Journal Star that since 2011. she uses many primary sources (original At the conference awards banquet, the MPMA will documents) in her class and that the study present the NSHS with its Leadership and Innovation of history is “a good way to teach kids to be Award in recognition of “We the People”: The Nebras- good citizens and critical thinkers.” She is ka Viewpoint, a project that explored civil liberties currently pursuing a second master’s degree through a traveling exhibit, public programming, a through Doane College and is involved in special double issue of Nebraska History, and other writing a social studies curriculum for educational resources.  Lincoln Public Schools. 

Peru State Students Help Auburn library, county assessor’s office, Nemaha Valley Mu- with National Register Bid seum, and old phonebooks, among other resources. Dr. Crook said the project was “a great teaching uburn, Nebraska, is nominating its commer- tool . . . The very first day, [the students] were just so cial “main street” and courthouse square to totally overwhelmed because it was so different from the National Register of Historic Places, and A anything they’d ever done. I kept saying this is what students are helping with the people do in the real world! If you don’t go into teach- research. National Register status would provide ing or research, if you work for a public entity, this is the city with an important tool for revitalization; the the kind of research you’ll be doing.” students are gaining valuable real-world experience At the end of the semester, students presented through the nomination process. their work at an open reception for the Auburn com- The City of Auburn recently became Nebraska’s munity. “It helped us tremendously,” said Beger. “It seventh Certified Local Government historic pres- did surprise me . . . how they really did take what they ervation program. The CLG program recognizes were doing seriously [and] really got into it. Not all of governments that have established a local historic them looked at it as just a class project.” preservation program to survey and maintain historic  properties, and it can provide training and grants to help a city do preservation work. Students in Dr. Sara Crook’s course are helping with the National Register re- search project. Students were each assigned a group of buildings to research. The partnership was set up through Julie Taylor-Costello, director of Peru State’s Institute of Community Engagement, and Kim Beger, administrative assistant for the City of Auburn. Same intersection today. Students kicked off their research at a reception With its distinctive turret, the 1890 “New Opera that invited community members to share what they House” is already listed knew about buildings in Auburn’s downtown main on the National Register street and courthouse square. Students continued of Historic Places. their work over the spring semester using the Auburn Auburn, Nebraska, in 1930. NSHS RG2304-1-8

October/November/December 2013 • 5 Honoring History Makers at the NSHS Welcome Leslie Fattig Annual Meeting and Luncheon t o t h e n s h s f o u n d a t i o n oin us on Friday, October 11, 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., to recognize individuals who’ve made his- Jtory by helping to preserve it. Honorees at the Dear Nebraska History News Readers, NSHS Annual Meeting and Luncheon at the Down- town Holiday Inn in Lincoln include: Although I am not originally from Don Swanson of Lincoln, who will receive the Nebraska, I have been a longtime enthusiast Robert W. Furnas Memorial Award for outstand- of the state’s history and am excited to ing contributions or assistance to the Nebraska State hold the position of Executive Director Historical Society. of the Nebraska State Historical Society Wayne and Rhonda Stuberg of Omaha and Foundation. Before my career brought Spencer Crews of Lauritzen Gardens, Omaha, who me to the Foundation, I was the founder will be presented the Nebraska Preservation Award and president of AmeriMax Financial in honor of the restoration of the Storz gazebo. Ron Hull of Lincoln will receive the Addison Corporation. Originally from , I E. Sheldon Memorial Award in recognition of his lived in Frankfort, Illinois, for many years Leslie and Marty Fattig outstanding and long-term contributions to the pres- before moving to and calling Auburn, ervation and interpretation of Nebraska history. Nebraska, my home. Currently, I’m working Jim Potter of Chadron (and of the NSHS staff) toward completion of a Master of Science will be given the James L. Sellers Memorial Award in Strategic Planning and Business Policy for the best article published in Nebraska History degree to complement my Bachelor of during the previous year. His article, “‘Wearing the Applied Science in Management degree Hempen Neck-Tie’: in Nebraska, 1858-1919,” I earned at Peru State College at the age appeared in the Fall 2012 issue. of fifty. In my spare time, you can find Lori Broady of Johnson, Nebraska, who epito- me doing the things I love—whether that mizes the best Nebraska educators have to offer in be spending time with my children and engaging, inspiring, and guiding their students, will receive the James C. Olson Memorial Award. grandchildren, gardening, golfing, or tending State Senators Bob Krist (LD-10) and Heath to the Quarter Horses that my husband Mello (LD-5) will receive the Champion of Marty and I enjoy raising and showing in Nebraska History Award, a new award to be given cutting events around the state. on the initiative and at the discretion of the NSHS Barbara L’Heureux, I would also like to take the opportunity to Board of Trustees to an individual who has provided with LuLu and Sassy introduce the Foundation’s business manager, a conspicuous service, particularly in the public Barbara L’Heureux. Barbara is a graduate of the arena, that supports the mission of the NSHS. University of Nebraska-Lincoln with over twenty Doors open at the Holiday Inn Downtown, 141 years of nonprofit accounting experience. Her North Ninth Street, Lincoln, at 11:30 a.m., with the lun- education and skills have led her to positions at cheon at noon, annual business meeting at 12:45 p.m., the Nebraska Alumni Association and Madonna and the awards presentation at 1:00 p.m. The cost of the luncheon is $25 per person; register and pre-pay Rehabilitation Hospital prior to her position by September 23 by calling 402-471-3272, or email here. In her spare time, Barbara enjoys spend- Lana Hatcher at [email protected]. ing time with her dogs, antiquing, quilting,  and gardening.

Together we are excited to help further Congratulations to NSHS Employee, the mission of the Nebraska State Historical Manager of the Year Society Foundation. f you’ve done research in the NSHS Library/ Archives Reference Room, you’ve probably been Leslie Fattig Ihelped by Matt Piersol, who was recently named the NSHS’s Employee of the Year for his outstand- ing service. Manuscripts curator Tom Mooney, who Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation 128 N. 13th St., Suite 1010, Lincoln, NE 68508 stepped into the role of associate director of the col- 1-888-515-3535 or 402-435-3535 lections division during the year that Deb Arenz was www.nshsf.org overseas, was named Manager of the Year. 

6 • nebraska history news elected items from the Otoe County Museum of Memories will be displayed at the Nebraska SHistory Museum from late October through De- cember. The museum includes three buildings: the former First Lutheran Church and parsonage, and the Henry Kramer Memorial Building. The church contains reconstructed scenes such as a wedding at the altar and a butcher shop, and artifacts such as quilts and toys. The parsonage features artifacts and displays on Otoe County history, military uniforms and artifacts, quilts, and a large collection relating to the Chick Boyes Players—a traveling act from the 1930s to the 1950s. Big game trophies can be seen in the Henry Kramer Memorial Building. The museum, located at 366 Poplar Street in The parsonage. This china jar with lid was hand painted by Clarissa Syracuse, is open May 1– September 30, Wednes- Parker sometime before days 9-10:30 a.m. and Sundays 1:30-4 p.m., and 1936 in Unadilla. The by appointment. 402-269-2355 or 402-269-2571, museum holds a large ocgs.homestead.com/museum.html. Free admission.  collection of Clarissa’s china, which shows her development as an artist over the decades.

A 1933 team photo and softball from the Bluebirds of Syracuse. The team recruited players from all over southeast Nebraska, played against both men and women, and won state championships and competed in national championships Inside the Lutheran Church. in 1935, 1936, and 1937. Their success provided a bright spot for many Nebraskans during hard times.

October/November/December 2013 • 7 The Welsh Heritage Centre in depicting Welsh immigration and a Hall of Heroes Wymore Opens New Facility commemorating prominent Welsh were During Archives Month added. While volunteer-run, the centre is operated with the highest professional standards. or a quarter century now, October has been As the Centre increasingly became known, the set aside for celebration of the importance of Welsh North American Association asked it to take archives in our lives and culture. From small F on the unique archival materials they held, but could private collections to the massive holdings of state not manage. Other Welsh societies followed suit. The and national repositories, the archival record holds Welsh Heritage Centre found itself in the archives enduring value as our collective memory, and those who labor to collect, preserve, and make this record business like never before. The need for a dedicated accessible are the caretakers of this memory. space for the historically valuable records and papers Archives Month is fitting time to dedicate a new became clear. archives storage addition to the Welsh Heritage Cen- Construction of the Archives addition began this tre in Wymore. The Welsh Heritage Centre history is past spring after an aggressive fundraising campaign. short but impressive. While evidence of Welsh im- The concrete structure is fire-rated, environmentally migration existed all throughout the Plains, there was controlled and is built to withstand a tornado. It no group or facility committed to caring for it. A small includes a housing area for the archival collections, assembly of Wymore residents determined to remedy plus additional space for collections processing, cata- that in 2000. Starting out with a festival commemorat- loging, and scanning. ing Welsh folkways, their efforts quickly evolved into The Archives’ dedication and grand opening will establishing a physical repository for artifacts. In 2003 be held October 5, 2013, as part of the organization’s a building was acquired and the Welsh Heritage Cen- annual Welsh Heritage Festival. A ribbon cutting will tre was born. The facility included an exhibit space, initiate a tour of the facility, and the public is invited auditorium, gift shop, and library. Over time, a mural to attend. www.welshheritage.org 

Coming in Nebraska History wifery. But many immigrant communities resisted y the early twentieth century physicians were the changes. Rebecca J. Anderson looks specifically commonly present during childbirth, and lo- at Lincoln’s Volga Germans in “‘Grandma Gable, Germans from Russia she brought Ralph’: Midwifery and the Lincoln, arrive in Lincoln, Nebraska. cal health departments tried to regulate (if B Nebraska, Department of Health in the Early NSHS RG2824-1-143 not do away with) the traditional practice of mid- Twentieth Century,” in the Winter 2013 issue of Nebraska History. In the same issue, Lois Arnold traces the lives and careers of the Barbours, a family of eminent pa- leontologists who did much to establish the field as a modern scientific discipline in Nebraska, and who discovered many of the notable specimens now displayed at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument and the University of Nebraska State Museum at Morrill Hall. Roger Welsch’s remarks from the 2013 Chief Stand- ing Bear Breakfast, and John Carter’s analysis of the earliest known (and previously unpublished) photo- graph of the Omaha Stockyards are also featured in the issue. Look for the magazine in your mailbox the second week of November. 

8 • nebraska history news The June 29 controlled burn cleared away thick sagebrush growing near the visitor center.

Fire at Chimney Rock! hen the Bayard and Minatare fire departments arrived at WChimney Rock on June 29, they weren’t there to put out a fire. They came to start one. Sagebrush had been growing thick around the Ethel & Christopher J. Abbott Visitor Center (an NSHS facility); the solution was a controlled burn to reduce the risk of an uncontrolled fire later. Charred ground and not a charred building—success! Firefighters from two local depart- ments conducted the burn.

Cowboys and More this Holiday If you don’t know what to get that special Season at Landmark Stores! someone, consider an NSHS membership, a gift that keeps on giving all year long. 402-471-3272, ut on your boots and spurs and visit our newest exhibit, Nebraska Cowboys: Lives, or email [email protected]. PLegends, and Legacies, at the Nebraska We hope to see you at any of our Landmark History Museum at Centennial Mall and P Street Store locations: in the Nebraska History in downtown Lincoln. You’ll also find a variety of Museum; Nebraska State Capitol, Lincoln cowboy merchandise in the Landmark Store, (Room 1417, ground floor, south hall); or including Buffalo Bill: Scout, Showman, Visionary Chimney Rock National Historic Site, 1.5 miles by Steve Friesen. south of US 92 on Chimney Rock Road, Bayard. As holiday season approaches, remember the Or call 402-471-3447 or 1-800-833-6747. Landmark Store for a selection of unique, fun, Happy Holidays!  and educational merchandise. As a member, take advantage of your discount benefit.

October/November/December 2013 • 9 u p c o m i n g e v e n t s Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the public.

October 5 • 11:30 a.m. November 17 • 1:30-2:30 p.m. Ribbon cutting and public tour A Brave Soldier & Honest Gentleman, Lt. James E. H. Welsh Heritage Centre Archive Foster in the West, 1873-1881, by Thomas R. Buecker Dedication & Grand Opening Program and Book Signing at Fifth Welsh Heritage Festival, Wymore • Berwyn Jones Landmark Store, NHM 402-421-8192 • [email protected] 402-471-3447 • [email protected]

October 11 • 11:30-2:00 p.m. November 17 • 2 p.m. NSHS Annual Awards Luncheon Monty McCord, author of The 1931 Hastings Bank Job Holiday Inn Downtown, 141 No. 9th, Lincoln & the Bloody Bandit Trail (reservations required) Sunday Afternoon at the Museum 402-471-3272 • [email protected] John G. Neihardt State Historic Site

October 12 • 2-4 p.m. November 21 • 12 noon “Nebraska Cowboys: Lives, Legends, and Legacies” James J. Reisdorff, railroad historian, author Free Family Workshop “Nebraska Railroads” NHM Brown Bag Lecture Series 402-471-4757 • [email protected] NHM

Children gathered around October 13 • 2 p.m. December 8 • 1-5 p.m. Christmas tree at the home “Up the River We Came,” with Dwight Howe Free Holiday Open House of C. F. Ladd of Lincoln in (Omaha/Ponca) Thomas P. Kennard House, 1627 H St., Lincoln 1900. NSHS RG3321-4 Sunday Afternoon at the Museum 402-471-4764 • [email protected] John G. Neihardt State Historic Site, Bancroft 888-777-4667 • www.neihardtcenter.org December 8 • 2-4 p.m. “Celebrate a Cowboy Christmas” October 15 • 10-11 a.m. Free Family Workshop Reading A Tallgrass Prairie Alphabet, NHM by Claudia McGehee 402-471-4757 • [email protected] NSHS Holiday Closings Hour at the Museum NHM December 8 • 2 p.m. All NSHS facilities will be 402-471-4757 • [email protected] closed on Veterans Day, “Prairie Fiddle,” musical program with David Fowler and Carolyn Johnsen November 11; Thanksgiving October 17 • 12 noon Sunday Afternoon at the Museum Day, November 28; and James Vannurden, National Museum of Roller Skating John G. Neihardt State Historic Site Friday, November 29, also “National Museum of Roller Skating Collections” a state holiday; Christmas Brown Bag Lecture Series December 19 • 12 noon Day, December 25; and NHM NSHS Collections Division curators New Year’s Day, January 1. “Treasures from the Collections” See nebraskahistory.org for November 10 • 5:30-9:00 p.m. Brown Bag Lecture Series updated closing information. John G. Neihardt Foundation dinner NHM Annual Neihardt Laureate Feast Culinary School, Omaha (reservations required) For updated events, see the Society’s Facebook page, 888-777-4667 linked from www.nebraskahistory.org

November 16 • 2-4 p.m. “Civil War Remembrance Day” Free Family Workshop NHM 402-471-4757 • [email protected]

10 • nebraska history news www.nebraskahistory.org Nebraska Students Excel at National NSHS Annual Report: David Bristow History Day Online September 30 John Carter ifty-nine Nebraska middle and high school stu- he 2012-2013 NSHS Annual Report will be Patricia Gaster Lynne Ireland dents advanced from the state National History an electronic-only document available at James Potter FDay competition to the nationals at the Univer- Tnebraskahistory.org starting September editorial staff sity of , and several students were among 30. Go to nebraskahistory.org/admin/report, or the top-ranked competitors. just click on the “Publications” tab on our web- Paul Eisloeffel Joel Myers and Spencer Rothfuss of Discovery site’s home page. If web access is an issue, call Patrick Haynes Home School Group in Omaha won the Junior Divi- Lana Hatcher at 402-471-3272 to request that a Jackie Sojico contributors sion Group Web Site category for “Turning Up the printed copy be mailed to you.  Soil: How the Dust Bowl Changed Farming.” Ebbeka Design design & production Justin Myers and Will Scheopner, also of Discovery Home School Group, placed third in the Junior Divi- Nebraska History News is published Revisit Holiday Memories with the quarterly for members of the sion Group Documentary category with “Free Land Nebraska State Historical Society, for Free Men: The Turning Point of the Homestead Act NSHS Two Ways on December 8 1500 R Street, P.O. Box 82554, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68501-2554. of 1862.” xperience a Christmas from the past Telephone: (402) 471-3270, Slayde Bittner, Kelsey Faust, and Rebekah Hergott during a free holiday open house at the email: [email protected]. Annual membership in the society of St. Isadore Elementary in Columbus placed third EThomas P. Kennard House, Nebraska’s is $40; subscription-only membership in the Junior Division Group Performance category Statehood Memorial, at 1627 H Street in Lincoln, is $29. www.nebraskahistory.org Opinions expressed by writers do with “A Chance of a Lifetime: Developing the West all on December 8 from 1 to 5 p.m. In December not necessarily reflect the views of Started with the South Seceding from the Union.” the house is decorated for a Victorian Christ- the NSHS. The judges also named these Nebraska’s mas, complete with a Christmas tree, toys and Outstanding Entries: gifts, historic photographs, and Christmas cards Junior Division: Jack Arens, Emma Good, Sydney from the 1870s. For additional information Graff, Miranda Raymond, and Breanna Schwindt on the open house and tours at the Kennard of Ainsworth Community Schools for “Rosie Turned House, open by appointment, call 402-471-4764. Her Life Around So We Could Win the War” “Celebrate a Cowboy Christmas,” is a Free (Group Performance). Family Workshop to be held at the Nebraska His- Senior Division: Aurora Kenworthy of Bellevue tory Museum, Fifteenth and P streets, in Lincoln West High School for “Girl Scouting: A Turning Point from 2 to 4 p.m. that same day. Attendees will in the Perception of Women” (Individual Web Site). tour the new exhibit Nebraska Cowboys: Lives, Nebraska teacher Moni Hourt of Crawford Pub- Legends, and Legacies and listen to cowboy lic Schools received the History (Channel) Service music as they make cowboy and western-style Participants in the Award. Hourt has involved her students in National Christmas ornaments to take home. No pre-reg- Scandinavian Christmas History Day for twenty years, traveling to Maryland istration is required; supplies will be provided. customs workshop in 2010. many times to accompany state winners.  402-471-4757. 

Ford Center Celebrates Gerald Ford home (his mother fled an abusive marriage just Centennial, New Citizens sixteen days after Ford was born) and his future was as uncertain as the future of many immi- n July, the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center, built on the birthsite of the only Nebraska-born grants. “Nothing that happened to him in the first Ipresident, honored the centennial of its name- two weeks of his life would have given any clue to sake’s birth by hosting a naturalization ceremony the service he would render to his fellow citizens,” for fifty new citizens from twenty-five countries. Smith said. Likewise, no one knows what service The Ford Center, which contains an exhibit on the the new citizens or their children may render. life of President Ford in addition to conservation “I do know two things, however. First, you will laboratories where artifacts and paintings are pre- have the opportunity to render civic service as served, also hosted a community open house on voters, taxpayers, and active citizens. Second, his 100th birthday. your civic service is essential to the future of the In the naturalization ceremony keynote address, American republic.” NSHS Director and CEO Mike Smith noted that while After the ceremony, the new Americans filled Ford wasn’t an immigrant, he was born into a broken out voter registration forms. 

October/November/December 2013 • 11 1500 R Street P.O. Box 82554 Lincoln, Nebraska 68501-2554

n e bhistory r a s k a news hours Nebraska State Historical Society Nebraska History Museum From the Collection. . . 15 & P Streets, Lincoln Saddle Up . . . on Plastic 402-471-4754 Monday–Friday, 9–4:30 hat could be more iconic of mid-twentieth century America Sat. & Sun., 1–4:30 than a Western saddle made of plastic? A post-World War WII leather shortage prompted Alliance, Nebraska, business- Museum Store man William B. Vandegrift to experiment with new materials. The 402-471-3447 first saddle was completed in the fall of 1946 in T. C. “Tommy” Neil- Monday–Friday, 10–4:30 son’s saddle shop in Lusk, Wyoming. Saturday & Sunday, 1-4 The plastic was shaped with heat and glued to a rawhide-covered saddletree. Many different colors were available. Though the saddles Library/Archives were durable, they became slick and brittle during cold weather and 1500 R Street, Lincoln never caught on with cowboys and ranchers. However, Roy Rogers, 402-471-4751 promoted by movie studios as the “King of the Cowboys,” liked the Tuesday–Friday, 10-4 colorful saddles so much he agreed to become a spokesman for the Saturday, 8-5 company. Rogers purchased several saddles for use in parades and public appearances. See Facebook link at The company relocated to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, in 1949. Soon, a nebraskahistory.org tornado destroyed the factory and ended the business. In all, Western Plastics produced about sixty saddles during its short life. This saddle is part of the current Nebraska Cowboys exhibit at the Nebraska State Historic Site hours: History Museum, courtesy of the Legacy of the Plains Museum, www.nebraskahistory.org Gering, Nebraska. 