Hometown Teams Exhibit Available to Libraries

The Nebraska Humanities Council will sponsor the statewide tour of the newest Museum on Main Street Smithsonian Institution Exhibition.  Nebraska is one of only five states selected for the inaugural tour of Hometown Teams in 2014. Hometown Teams will explore the deep roots of sports in American community and culture. The exhibition will contain a sampling of  uniforms, sports equipment, game posters, player cards, audio of team songs and radio broadcasts, and archival film drawn  from the Smithsonian Collections at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Portrait Gallery, and National Museum of African American History and Culture, and from  rich sports memorabilia and history collections around the country including the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Cooperstown, New York, and the Heinz History Center and Sports Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The exhibition will explore the origins of popular community sports in America and their evolution to today, the rise and significance of company-owned teams and leagues, and the role of sports in the civil rights struggles by minorities and women. Six Nebraska communities will have the opportunity to host the exhibition and explore their own hometown team stories.  Selected communities will receive the freestanding exhibit for approximately six weeks with support and materials from the Nebraska Humanities Council and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. In preparation for this exhibition, the Nebraska Humanities Council is seeking stories of Nebraska’s great local sports heroes, sites, legends and rivalries. If your small-town museum, library or other community organization is interested in hosting Hometown Teams between March and December 2014, visit our Museum on Main Street page at www.nebraskahumanities.org to learn more and apply, or contact Mary Yager at (402) 474-2131 ext 103 or mary@nebraskahumanities.org.  The application deadline is February 15, 2013.