Category Archives: Information Resources

Today is the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which led to the entry of the United States into World War II. Some interesting World War II-era photographs in Nebraska Memories show Camp Atlanta, a prisoner of war camp for German soldiers that was located outside of Atlanta, Nebraska, near Holdrege. Construction began on the camp in September of 1943, and it was in operation until 1946, eventually housing 3,000 German prisoners.

The images of Camp Atlanta, part of the Phelps County Historical Society collection, give  a good overview of daily life at the camp. The German POWs served as cooks and firefighters for the camp. Some even took part in theatrical productions.

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, or contact Beth Goble, Government Information Services Director, or Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.

Last week I had the opportunity to drive through Tilden NE. For those of you not familiar with Tilden it is located about 20 miles west of Norfolk on highway 275 along the Elkhorn River. As I drove through town I thought about the “Tilden Woman’s Club project of local historical remembrance” that can be found in Nebraska Memories.

This 120+ page type-written manuscript with hand-written corrections was compiled by Violet E. Garrison of Tilden for the Tilden Woman’s Club project. It covers the history of Tilden, which was originally named Burnett, from 1870 to 1902. The paragraph on the front cover of the document states: “At the beginning of each year–we “fit” the Tilden Community Story into the larger framework of American history to help the reader “place” the period we describe.”

The document is very interesting to read. It paints a great picture of what life in Nebraska was like in the late 1800’s. I can only imagine what the land looked like back then with buffalo, antelope, elk, deer, beaver, wolves, badgers and wild cats roaming the land.

I knew that Tilden currently is located in both Madison and Antelope County, but I didn’t realize this divide dated back to at least 1885. The Village of Burnett was incorporated in 1885. There was one small problem however; the first corporate limits did not include any territory in Antelope County. This split in 1885 left about 1/3 of the population free from city tax and not controlled by city ordinances. “This situation was novel in that public peace could be disturbed on the Antelope side of Tilden, and those offending could not be arrested by the Burnett Marshal under city laws.” “This condition was to prevail until 1894 when the Antelope side of Tilden was annexed.”

To learn more about the history of Tilden and Nebraska in the late 1800’s spend some time reading the “Tilden Woman’s Club project of local historical remembrance”.

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, or contact Beth Goble, Government Information Services Director, or Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.

This Friday is Veterans Day, which is observed as a holiday to honor veterans who served in all wars. However, the holiday has only been called Veterans Day in the United States since 1954. It originally began as Armistice Day, in honor of the armistice that ended World War I on November 11, 1918, as a way of honoring the veterans of that war.

Nebraska Memories includes a few photographs of soldiers in World War I era military uniforms, including these Student Army Training Corps members at Wayne State College. Another Nebraskan, Clyde Zeilinger of David City, served as a medic during World War I and was held as a prisoner of war in Germany for two weeks. He is pictured in Nebraska Memories in his military uniform.

Perhaps the most interesting World War I items in Nebraska Memories are several pieces of sheet music for songs written during the war, all part of the Polley Music Library collection. Many of these songs exhort Americans at home to do their part to support those serving overseas, such as “Stand Behind the Man Behind the Gun.” While all of these songs were written by Nebraskans, one song in particular (“I Wanta Ask Y’u About Nebraska”) is about two Nebraskan soldiers fighting overseas during the war, reminiscing about home. One interesting note: You’ll notice that the lyrics of both of these songs refer to American soldiers as “Sammies.” This was a nickname for American troops during World War I, a reference to Uncle Sam.

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, or contact Beth Goble, Government Information Services Director, or Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.

November is Native American Heritage Month, and this week we are  highlighting a  collection of  photographs  taken by John Alvin  Anderson  .   The images were contributed to Nebraska Memories  by the Nebraska State  Historical Society, which scanned part of its collection of Anderson’s glass plate negatives.   John A. Anderson was born in Sweden in 1869 and brought to Pennsylvania with his family in 1870.   In 1883 he came to  Cherry County with his father and brothers.  He learned photography at an early age and took photographs of soldiers and natives living at Fort Niobrara and the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. In 1889 he was the official photographer for the Crook Treaty Council held by General George Crook with the Brule Sioux at the Rosebud Reservation.

  In  1895 Anderson married and moved to the Reservation with his wife, where he opened a store and continued to photograph the people living there. He was able to photograph several chiefs, including  this 1902 one of  Chief Two Strike , who was a member of a delegation to Washington, D.C.  after the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890.    He also took many photos of daily activities like cattle branding and butchering and of festivities like the Grass Dance  pictured at the top of this posting,  which is still danced today .

Setting aside a time   to honor Native Americans has been advocated for many years,  and some states  have done this.   Although an official national  holiday has never been enacted,  in 1990 Congress  passed a resolution designating November as National American Indian Heritage Month.  The designation has been renewed each year since 1994. The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum host the   Native American Heritage Month website  linking to collections, images, audio, video and teacher guides documenting native history and traditions.

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, or contact Beth Goble, Government Information Services Director, or Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.

Fire fighters were a part of Nebraska’s history even before statehood. The volunteer fire department in Nebraska City, founded in 1856, is the oldest fire department still in existence in the state. While we don’t have any images of the Nebraska City department, Nebraska Memories does include many images of fire fighters from around the state.

There are quite a few posed pictures of fire fighters, including the 1910-1911 Crawford fire department, the Bertrand fire department sometime around 1900, and some Lincoln fire fighters in 1898.
If you would like to see fire fighters in action, check out this series of photographs of Holdrege volunteer fire fighters battling a fire at Linder Motor Company in 1954. There are also several photographs of the destruction caused by this particular fire.
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, or contact Beth Goble, Government Information Services Director, or Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.

On September 27, 1908, the first Ford Model T left the factory. Henry Ford’s Model T changed the transportation industry by supplying affordable cars to everyone at $850 per car as opposed to $1,000-$2,000 from other manufacturers. Ford accomplished this by developing assembly line manufacturing which speeded up production and, in turn, helped lower prices.

Nebraskans were no different than the rest of the world when it came to an interest in automobiles. A number of them tried their hand at designing and/or building their own motor vehicles. Some were big and bulky as you can see in this image of the M.H. Miller vehicle, from the Townsend Collection.

Others were sleek and racy, such as the car shown in these images with just its chassis and then the completed vehicle in front of Central Auto Repair and Machine Works from the Townsend Collection. In addition, to manufacturing companies and auto repair shops, other automobile-related businesses opened, too, such as dealerships, services stations, automobile associations, etc.

W.L Huffman Auto Company was one of many car dealerships that sprang up around the state to sell these new machines—and not just those from the big three American automobile companies that are around today. This dealership, for example, sold Hupmobiles and Detroit Electric cars as shown in this photograph from the Townsend Collection.

And people had fun with their new vehicles—using them for racing, endurance tests, or decorating them for parades—like this Decorated automobile image from the Nebraska State Historical Society Collection. To see many more automobile and automobile-related images, check out Nebraska Memories.

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, or contact Beth Goble, Government Information Services Director,
or Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.