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Tag Archives: History
Throwback Thursday: Baton Twirlers
All smiles for this week’s #ThrowbackThursday!
This 3-5/8″ x 4-3/4″ black and white acetate negative shows five baton twirlers leading a parade in Columbus, Nebraska in 1939. This image is published and owned by The Durham Museum.
If you like history, check out the Nebraska Memories archive. It is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. If your institution is interested in participating in this project, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information. Nebraska Memories is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission.
Throwback Thursday: Snow Sledding
Happy #ThrowbackThursday from Nebraska Memories!
This week’s #throwback is from the Nebraska Children’s Home Society collection on the Nebraska Memories archive. NCHS founders had a vision for a better future and believed that every child deserved a family. The agency has never charged fees for adoption services, and still today relies primarily on private donations to fund its services.
Want to see more Nebraska history? Check out all the collections on the Nebraska Memories archive!
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. Nebraska Memories is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in this project, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information.
Throwback Thursday: Charles B. Washington
For this week’s #ThrowbackThursday, Nebraska Memories celebrates Nebraska’s own civil rights activist, Charles B. Washington.
From Omaha, Nebraska, Charles B. Washington was a journalist, mentor, and activist. He is known for his work in the North Omaha area. On September 14, 1986, the North Branch of the Omaha Public Library was renamed after him.
This photo is provided and owned by the Omaha Public Library. The items from Omaha Public Library in Nebraska Memories include early Omaha-related maps dating from 1825 to 1922, as well as over 1,000 postcards and photographs of the Omaha area. Also included is the Charles B. Washington Collection, comprising items relating to his life.
Check out the items in this collection and more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. Nebraska Memories is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in this project, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information.
Throwback Thursday: Omaha Community Playhouse
Happy #ThrowbackThursday from Nebraska Memories!
This week’s #throwback features an 8.5″ x 11″ black and white glossy photograph of the east side of the Omaha Community Playhouse in 1976.
From 1928 until 1959, the Omaha Community Playhouse occupied a building at 40th & Davenport. In 1959, it moved to a bigger and newly-constructed building at 69th and Cass, where it currently resides. The theater was renovated after a tornado hit in 1975. The renovations resulted in a second story and new glass-fronted lobby.
This image is provided and owned by the Omaha Community Playhouse. Their collection includes digitized images of the Playhouse and some of its performances. Some of the actors included in these images are Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda, and Dorothy McGuire. Check out this collection on the Nebraska Memories archive.
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. Nebraska Memories is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in this project, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information.
Throwback Thursday: Immanuel Children’s Home at Christmas
It’s time for another Christmas themed #throwback!
This week’s #ThrowbackThursday is a black and white photograph that was taken during the Christmas season at the Immanuel Deaconess Institute’s Children’s Home.
This image is owned and published by the Alegent Health Immanuel Medical Center. The rich and well documented history of Immanuel Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska is shown in these images of early buildings, people and artifacts. An archive of thousands of photos, papers and items has been maintained for over 120 years, carefully stored and currently housed at the Alegent Health Immanuel Medical Center campus.
Are you interested in Nebraska history? If so, check out the Nebraska Memories archive!
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. The Nebraska Memories archive is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information.
Throwback Thursday: Bridge to Omaha
Happy #ThrowbackThursday from Nebraska Memories!
This black and white photograph from the 1890s shows an unidentified bridge, thought to be looking west over the Missouri River toward Omaha from Iowa.
This image is provided and owned by the Omaha Public Library. The items from this collection on Nebraska Memories include early Omaha-related maps dating from 1825 to 1922, as well as over 1,000 postcards and photographs of the Omaha area.
Want to see more Nebraska history? Check out the Nebraska Memories archive to search for or browse through many more historical images digitized from photographs, postcards, maps, lantern slides, books, and other materials.
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. The Nebraska Memories archive is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information.
Throwback Thursday: Halloween Party
Happy Halloween from Nebraska Memories!
This week’s #ThrowbackThursday features a 9 1/2″ x 7 1/2″ black and white photograph of a Halloween party for the Nebraska Children’s Home Society in 1951. The Omaha North High School Red Cross provided this Halloween party with games and treats for the children.
This picture is provided and owned by the Nebraska Children’s Home Society. The Nebraska Children’s Home Society was chartered September 1, 1893. NCHS Founders had a vision for a better future and believed that every child deserved a family.
Interested in Nebraska history? Check out this collection and more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. The Nebraska Memories archive is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information
Throwback Thursday: Dance Class
Dancing our way towards the weekend with this week’s #ThrowbackThursday!
This black and white photograph from the early 1900s is provided and owned by Wayne State College. In a continuing effort to preserve and make accessible photographs depicting the history of Wayne State College and the region it serves, the Wayne State College Library is digitizing selected photographs from its archives. Photographs from the early 1900s show the buildings and grounds of the campus, athletic teams, the Student Army Training Corps, and other groups while slightly later images show famous visitors to campus.
Want to see more Nebraska history? Check out all the collections on the Nebraska Memories archive.
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. The Nebraska Memories archive is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information.
Throwback Thursday: Brainard Fire Truck
Check out the first fire truck to make its way to Brainard, Nebraska!
The first fire-fighting equipment to arrive in Brainard was a hose cart that was purchased in 1889. At that time, there were no fire fighters. When the fire bell rang, all the townsmen would help in any way they could.
In 1923, a meeting took place and organized a fire department. In 1925, they converted this 1924 Oldsmobile chassis with over $1,000 worth of fire-fighting equipment into the town’s first fire engine.
This image is owned by the Thorpe Opera House Foundation and published as part of the Boston Studio Project.
Interested in checking out more Nebraska history? Visit the Nebraska Memories archive to see this photo and many more!
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. The Nebraska Memories archive is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information.
Throwback Thursday: Castelar School
This week’s #ThrowbackThursday takes a look at Nebraska education!
This black and white photograph shows students and teachers in front of Castelar School. Located at 18th and Castelar streets in Omaha, the school was opened in 1912. It served students from kindergarten through 8th grade.
The building pictured replaced the original structure in 1885 in the same location. The building went through multiple renovations. It was closed during the 1980s, remodeled and reopened in 1999. Currently, the school serves a new generation of South Omaha students.
This image is owned by the Educational Research Library and is part of the Omaha Public School Archive Collection.
Want to see more Nebraska-related materials? Visit the Nebraska Memories archive!
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. The Nebraska Memories archive is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information.
Throwback Thursday: Taking it Easy
Take it easy, it’s #ThrowbackThursday!
This black and white photograph was taken by John Nelson during the early 1900s. Nelson’s photographs tell the story of small town life in Nebraska during the first decades of the twentieth century. His subjects included local businesses, community activities, and early automobiles.
This photo is published and owned by History Nebraska.
Interested in Nebraska history? Check out Nebraska Memories for more Nebraska-related materials.
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. The Nebraska Memories archive is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information.
Friday Reads: Just One Damned Thing After Another: v.1, The Chronicles of St. Mary, by Jodi Taylor
Just One Damned Thing After Another: Chronicle of St. Mary’s, by Jodi Taylor shows how historians are trained to “investigate major historical events in contemporary time.”, but don’t call it time travel! Actually, I started this series with what I thought was the last book, Lies, Damned Lies, and History, v.7 and was so intrigued with the characters that I wanted to start the series from the beginning!
It begins with Max, (Madeline Maxwell), a disruptive, unhappy, student, being mentored in school by her head teacher. Next, a letter from the same head teacher, guides her from academe to the doors of St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research, an adjunct of the University of Thirsk. Taking the tour of the facility with her mentor, she notices some oddities: little remarks about not having had an interview, she notices they have a security section, and a hanger named after Stephen Hawking. Finally she has “the interview” with the facility, which is when the real reveal of what they do at St. Mary’s occurs. Since she studied archeology and anthropology, with emphasis in Greek and Roman times, and has experience in archeological digs, she jumps at the chance to time travel. She signs up, and joins a small class of would be “historians”.
It is set in the UK in the fairly near future. The relationship with the University is of course fraught with politics and academic tensions. The borders of America (The United Sates) have been closed. And a great deal of funding is going toward Mars exploration, or a possible manned Mars trip. And, as a side note, all of this is run by some members of the same institution, but from a future form of the same institution. And the muse of history is the director’s PA (personal assistant).
While it isn’t perfect, the series is fun, raucous, accident prone, and in turns, deadly serious and on a dull weekend, or too cold, or too hot Nebraska day, the perfect antidote to very nearly everything. If you grew up on James Bond, Benny Hill, Saturday Night Live, Dr. Who, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, or simply like any or all of those shows, this is just the thing for you! Especially if you don’t mind it filled with really interesting parts of History, that feel well researched.
Chronicles of St. Mary, in order, as best as I can tell:
- Just One Damn Thing After Another
- A Symphony of Echos
- A Second Chance
- A Trail Through Time
- No Time Like the Past
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
- Lies, Damned Lies, and History
- And the Rest is History
- An Argumentation of Historian
Various Short Stories–Please muddle through them as you will!
Just One Damned Thing After Another: Chronicle of St. Mary, book 1, by Jodi Taylor, Nightshade, 9781597808682, 2013, paper back, $12.99
Throwback Thursday: Old Style Threshing Outfit
It’s a tribute to the harvest season with this week’s #ThrowbackThursday!
This week we have a 1907-1917 black and white photograph on a postcard. It depicts a group of men threshing wheat with horses attached to a threshing machine as they walk in a circle. In the background is a stack of hay or wheat and more men. Information printed on item: 567 Old Style Threshing Outfit, Nebraska.
Are you interested in Nebraska’s history? Find out more about this photo in the Nebraska Memories archive! Photo provided by the Nebraska State Historical Society located in Nebraska Memories.
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. The Nebraska Memories archive is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information.
Posted in General, Nebraska Memories
Tagged #ThrowbackThursday, Agriculture, Fall, Farming, Harvest, History, Nebraska, Nebraska Memories, Threshing, Throwback Thursday
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Throwback Thursday: Nebraska Veterans
NLC is proud to honor Nebraska’s many Veterans with this week’s #ThrowbackThursday.
This week we have an 8″x10″ glass plate negative of Lieutenant M.J. Coulter and bomber crew, taken December 6th, 1943. Identified in the photograph are M. Coulter, standing second from the left; W.H. Field, bottom row right and R.D. Espana, bottom row center.
Are you interested in Nebraska’s military history? Find out more about this photo and other military items in the Nebraska Memories archive! Photo provided by the Townsend Studio collection located in Nebraska Memories.
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. The Nebraska Memories archive is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information.
Posted in General, Nebraska Memories
Tagged #ThrowbackThursday, History, Military, Nebraska, Nebraska Memories, Throwback Thursday, Veterans, Veterans Day
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Looking at the Postmarks
There are over 1,000 postcards in Nebraska Memories and many of them include images of both the front and backs of the cards. I’ve always found it entertaining to read the messages written on the postcards. It wasn’t until the past year or so that I started to really pay attention to the postmarks on the cards. I’ve always looked at the postmark to see what year the card was sent but the postmarks can provide additional information.
Let’s start with the basics first. Most, if not all of the postmarks that I’ve looked at in Nebraska Memories include the day, month, year and time of day along with the name of the town. The postmark above is on the back of a postcard of the Hanson’s Café. You can see that it was postmarked on July 13, 1909 at 12 midnight. This card was sent from South Omaha, Nebraska. In 1909, South Omaha was its own town. South Omaha was annexed by Omaha in 1915. On a side note, I always like it when I can connect unrelated items in Nebraska Memories to each other. In this case, there is a postcard of the South Omaha Post Office in the collection. The post office building was completed in 1899 so it’s possible that the postcard of Hanson’s Café passed through that building. The post office building is still being used as a post office today.
Some postmarks contain more information. The image on the left is the postmark on the back of the Omaha Boulevard, South West, Omaha, Nebraska card. Do you see where it says Union Depot Postal Site? I think the last word is “site” it is hard to read. I’m assuming that means the card was cancelled at the Union Depot.
This postcard of the state capitol at night was postmarked On Mary 14, 1912 at Station C in Lincoln. I know Station C doesn’t mean a lot on its own but I checked a few of my favorite research sources and found just what I was looking for in the 1918 Lincoln City Directory. Page 49 in the book provides a wealth of information about the post offices in Lincoln. The book provides the location of the main Lincoln post office plus the locations of stations A, B, C and 1-7. According to this information, Station C was located at 716 N 27th street. That’s about at the corner of 27th and Vine Street.
Another interesting postmark I ran across was the received postmark. It appears that some items were marked as received when they reached their destination. I was curious to see how long it took a postcard to reach its destination in the late 1900’s so I put together the chart below. It shows the date, time and location of both postmarks. For the last column, I wanted a general idea of the distance between the two locations so I used a map to find the shortest distance. I was surprised to see how quickly the cards reached their destination. (Click on the town names listed in the Mailed From column to see the postcards.)
Mailed From | Postmark Sent | Mailed To | Postmark Received | Miles between |
Hastings | Feb 24, 1908 at midnight | Kearney | Feb 24, 1908 at 6:00 AM | 57 |
Lincoln | Feb 21, 1908 at 8:00 AM | Hastings | Feb 21, 1908 at 4:00 PM | 108 |
Lincoln | Sep 10, 1907 at 8:00 AM | Moulton, IA | Sep 11, 1907 at 7:00 AM | 282 |
Omaha | Feb 12, 1907 at 4:30 PM | Corning, IA | Feb 13, 1907 at 7:00 AM | 80 |
Omaha | May 13, 1905 at 7:00 AM | Union City, MI | May 15, 1905 at 8:00 AM | 623 |
Omaha | Apr 16, 1908 at 7:30 PM | Woodbridge, NJ | April 18, 1908 at 2:30 PM | 1,251 |
Scottsbluff | Jun 23, 1906 at 5:00 PM | Omaha | Jun 24, 1906 at 7:00 AM | 451 |
Scribner | Aug 16, 1907 at 8:00 AM | Ansley | Aug 17, 1907 at 7:00 AM | 170 |
The last type of postmark I want to highlight is the RPO postmark. RPO stands for Railway Post Office. I didn’t know anything about RPO until I started doing some research for this blog post. I learned that mail clerks road on the train and sorted the mail as they went and it was a dangerous job. If you would like to know more about railway mail service, the Smithsonian provides a great history of the service.
There are two postcards in Nebraska Memories that have RPO postmarks. They are both for the Omaha & Ogden (Utah) route. The postmarks contain the date and time information along with one unique piece of information. The postmarks also include the train number. An article in the Jan 1909 edition of the Omaha Bee talks about how the increase in mail required more clerks on the railroad lines west of the Missouri river. To the left is first paragraph of the article that talks about the Omaha & Ogden route.
I hope you enjoyed learning about a few of the different postmarks. Visit Nebraska Memories to search for or browse through many more historical images digitized from photographs, negatives, postcards, maps, lantern slides, books and other materials.
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. Nebraska Memories is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information, contact Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.
Posted in Nebraska Memories
Tagged digitized, historical images, History, mail, Nebraska, Nebraska Memories, Postcard, Postmarks
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Remembering the Gettysburg Address
Next Tuesday November 19 is the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. To commemorate the address, Ken Burns is starting a project to have everyone in America video record themselves reading or reciting the speech. People participating in this project include President Obama, Louis C.K., Taylor Swift, Martha Stewart, and Stephen Colbert. Hear Librarian of Congress James Billington recite the speech at the Library of Congress Blog. For more info on the project, visit Learn the Address . To read more about the speech, see the Library of Congress’ online exhibit.