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Category Archives: Preservation
Throwback Thursday: Barbershop
Take a seat #ThrowbackThursday!
This week’s highlight is a black and white photograph on a postcard of a barber shaving a customer, dated around 1907-1917. The customer is laid back in a chair and behind them is a wash stand and mirror.
This image is owned and published by History Nebraska. They digitized content from the John Nelson and the J. A. Anderson collection. John Nelson came to Nebraska with his parents at the age of seventeen from Sweden. His photographs tell the story of small town life in Nebraska during the first decades of the twentieth century.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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, Preservation
Tagged History Nebraska, Postcard, Throwback Thursday
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Throwback Thursday: Papillion Situated on Secs.
Take a look at this #ThrowbackThursday!
This week’s highlight is a Plat of Papillion, Nebraska showing original town and South Papillion with adjoining subdivisions. Beadle’s First Addition, Beadle’s Second Addition, Beadle’s Subdivision, Hoffman’s Addition, Parson’s Subdivision, 1st Addition To South Papillion, Pikes Addition. Shows Union Pacific railroad and depot. Page 80 from Plat book of Douglas & Sarpy county. Published by National Publishing Company.
This image is published and owned by the Sarpy County Historical Museum, located in Bellevue, Nebraska. They have a mission to preserve, collect, display, and document objects and records related to the history of Sarpy County.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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, Preservation
Tagged Papillion, Sarpy County Historical Museum, Throwback Thursday
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Throwback Thursday: Nebraska State Capitol Building, Model
Happy #ThrowbackThursday Nebraska!
This wooden three-dimensional model of the new Nebraska Capitol building closely resembles the finished building. The model, displayed on another block of wood, shows the tower, courtyards, and entrances. Construction on the third state capitol building in 1922 and was completed in 1932 at the cost of $9.8 million. Designed by architect Bertram G. Goodhue, the 400 foot tall tower has 15 floors above ground. This photograph was taken for Mr. Lorenz in 1925.
This image is published and owned by the Townsend Studio, which has been in continuous operation since its foundation in 1888 in Lincoln, Nebraska. The studio holds a collection of glass plate and acetate negatives of early Lincoln and its residents.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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, Preservation
Tagged Nebraska Capitol, Throwback Thursday, Townsend Studio
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Throwback Thursday: Fishing on Pibel Lake
This #ThrowbackThursday is a big catch!
This week’s highlight is a colorized photograph on a postcard of a man in rowboat leaning back with his feet in the air and a fishing rod in his hand. A large fish has been superimposed on the picture to make it look like the man is catching a fish bigger than himself. Information printed on item: “Fishing on Pibel Lake, Nebraska, No. 6258.”
This image is owned and published by History Nebraska. They digitized content from the John Nelson and the J. A. Anderson collection. John Nelson came to Nebraska with his parents at the age of seventeen from Sweden. His photographs tell the story of small town life in Nebraska during the first decades of the twentieth century.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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, Preservation
Tagged History Nebraska, Pibel Lake, Postcard, Throwback Thursday
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Call for Speakers: Big Talk From Small Libraries 2026
The Call for Speakers for Big Talk From Small Libraries 2026 is now open!
Submit your proposal by Friday, December 12, 2025.
This free one-day online conference is tailored for staff from small libraries; the smaller the better!
Small libraries of all types – public, academic, school, museum, special, etc. – are encouraged to submit a proposal.
We’re looking for seven 50-minute presentations and four 10-minute “lightning round” presentations.
Do you offer a service or program at your small library that other librarians might like to hear about? Have you implemented a new (or old) technology, hosted an event, partnered with others in your community, or just done something really cool? The Big Talk From Small Libraries online conference gives you the opportunity to share what you’ve done, while learning what your colleagues in other small libraries are doing.
Here are some possible topics to get you thinking:
- Unique Libraries
- Special Collections
- New buildings
- Fundraising
- Improved Workflows
- Staff Development
- Advocacy Efforts
- Community Partnerships
- That great thing you’re doing at your library!
Speakers must be from small libraries or directly partnered with a small library and submitting a proposal to co-present with the library. Speakers from libraries serving fewer than 10,000 people will be preferred, but presentations from libraries with larger service populations will be considered.
Big Talk From Small Libraries 2026 will be held on Friday, February 27, 2026 between 8:45 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. (CT) via the GoTo Webinar online meeting service. Speakers will present their programs from their own desktops. The schedule will accommodate speakers’ time-zones.
This conference is sponsored by the Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL) and the Nebraska Library Commission.
Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash
Throwback Thursday: Football Players with Mascot
Let’s kick off football season with a #ThrowbackThursday!
This black and white photograph postcard from around 1907-1917 is of a football team standing on a football field in front of a goal post. They are posing with a goat, which is their mascot. At least one player wears a jersey with the intertwined letters S and C, so perhaps they play for Spalding College in Spalding, Nebraska.
This image is owned and published by History Nebraska. They digitized content from the John Nelson and the J. A. Anderson collection. John Nelson came to Nebraska with his parents at the age of seventeen from Sweden. His photographs tell the story of small town life in Nebraska during the first decades of the twentieth century.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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: Spalding College
Best wishes this #ThrowbackThursday!
This black and white photograph is on a postcard of Spalding College. The postcard has a floral design with a photograph of the college in the center. The building is a three-story wood structure with dormers, two covered porches and a cross on top of one of the side entrance.
This image is owned and published by History Nebraska. They digitized content from the John Nelson and the J. A. Anderson collection. John Nelson came to Nebraska with his parents at the age of seventeen from Sweden. His photographs tell the story of small town life in Nebraska during the first decades of the twentieth century.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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: End of the School Day at Kellom School
It’s time for back-to-school #ThrowbackThursday!
Students line up in a school hallway to put on their coats at the end of the day in this 7 1/2″ x 9 1/2″ black and white photograph. Boys and girls stand in separate lines to go to their respective coat rooms. The hallway has a hardwood floor and wooden wainscoting on the walls. A sink and a trashcan off to one side of the hall. Kellom School was located at 23rd and Paul Streets. The original building opened in 1892. This building was replaced by the current Kellom Elementary School in 1952, at the same location.
This image is published and owned by the Omaha Public School Archive Collection / Educational Research Library. The collections include historical materials relating directly to the Omaha Public Schools.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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, Preservation
Tagged Black and White Photograph, Kellom School, Throwback Thursday
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Throwback Thursday: Bridge Across Waste Way, Tri-State Canal
It’s a #ThrowbackThursday postcard!
This black-and-white photographic postcard shows a 108 ft. long cement bridge structure over a water way, Tri-State Canal near Morrill, Nebraska. The Tri-State Canal diverts water from the North Platte River close to the Wyoming border for irrigation in western Nebraska. According to The Irrigation Age November 1905, Howard G. Leavitt was the president of the Tri-State Land Company which building the “canal 100 miles long, forty feet wide at bottom, and twelve feet deep.” According to the Nebraska Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics December 1907 Bulletin, the canal was partly financed by “several New York millionaires” to “irrigate between 75,000 and 100,000 acres.” A postmark and one-cent green Benjamin Franklin stamp are on the reverse.
This image is published by the Nebraska Library Commission. The collections include material on the history of libraries in the state of Nebraska, items from the 1930s related to the Nebraska Public Library Commission bookmobile, as well as items showcasing the history of Nebraska’s state institutions.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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: Zephyr Dawn-to-Dusk Club
We’re back with more #ThrowbackThursday!
This 8 x 10 inch black and white photo pictures the first Zephyr passenger train along with twenty people and one donkey wearing a sign that reads “Zeph mascot of the first Zephyron – World-record-non-stop run Denver to Chicago May 26, 1934”.
This image is owned by the High Plains Historical Society and Museum and published by the McCook Public Library. They worked in partnership to digitize photographic images from the historical society’s collection. These images document early growth of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad in McCook, Nebraska, and the surrounding area. The collection spans a time period from the early 1880s through the 1960s.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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: Porch at Wallace Residence
Sit down and relax with a book this #ThrowbackThursday!
In this black and white lantern slide from 1912, large matchstick blinds shade the porch from sun at the William Wallace residence, located at 2420 Harney Street in Omaha, Nebraska. William Wallace was a vice president of Omaha National Bank, as well as the president of the Omaha Library Board.
This image is published and owned by the Omaha Public Library. They have a large collection of 1,100+ postcards and photographs of the Omaha area.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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, Preservation
Tagged Omaha Public Library, Throwback Thursday, William Wallace
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Throwback Thursday: Carl F. Steckelberg
Enjoy some music this #ThrowbackThursday!
Dated 1919, this black and white photograph pictures Carl F. Steckelberg, a faculty member of the University School of Music in Lincoln, Nebraska, playing the violin.
This image and musical performance is published and owned by the Polley Music Library (Lincoln City Libraries, Lincoln, Nebraska), which contains just over two hundred fifty pieces of Nebraska sheet music, as well as concert programs, manuscripts, theatre programs, photographs, and other Nebraska memorabilia which features an element of music. You can also listen to a dozen performances of selections from this music collection performed by local musicians.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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: Scene, Bemis Park, Omaha, Neb.
It’s another #ThrowbackThursday!
Dated around 1907-1920, this 14 x 9 cm color postcard pictures a view of a creek in Bemis Park, located at 34th and Cuming Streets in Omaha, Nebraska.
Bemis was the first park acquired by the Park Commission in 1889. Owners of a strip of land 200 feet wide from 33rd to 36th Streets donated it for a park. Located just north of Cuming Street, it consists primarily of a deep, narrow ravine. Adjoining parcels were purchased, making the park about 10.5 acres. It connects to Hanscom Park via Lincoln and Turner Boulevards.
Source: Wakeley, Arthur. Omaha: The Gate City and Douglas County Nebraska, Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, c1917, p. 137.
This image is published and owned by the Omaha Public Library. They have a large collection of 1,100+ postcards and photographs of the Omaha area.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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, Preservation
Tagged Bemis Park, Omaha, Omaha Public Library, Throwback Thursday
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Throwback Thursday: Fountain Beach Swimming Pool
Cool off this #ThrowbackThursday!
Dated around 1920-1929, you can see a large white building with a sign reading “Fountain Beach” behind a swimming pool in this 5-1/4″ x 3″ black and white photograph. The pool contains a diving platform and fountain with water running from it. Printed on the bottom of the photograph is: “Fountain Beach, Fairmont, Nebr.”
The owner of the swimming pool was Ed Hall. In 1919, he built the Fountain Beach swimming pool at 709 4th Avenue. It was 125 x 180 feet with a bottom of crushed rock. It had a water circulating system connected with a artistic fountain which justified its name. Dances were held in the Fountain Beach Pavilion on Wednesday and Saturday during swimming season. The pools closed in 1929 after a drowning.
This image is published and owned by the Fairmount Public Library. In partnership with the Fillmore County Historical Society, they’ve digitized photographs from their collections depicting the history of Fillmore County. The photographs in this collection include images of local businesses, schools, and churches, as well as the Fairmont Army Airfield, which was used during World War II.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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: “America It’s Up to You”
It’s an all American #ThrowbackThursday!
Dated 1917, “America It’s Up to You” is a song written by Alevia Chins and Horace Haws of Omaha, Nebraska. Half the price of the music was donated in support of the Red Cross during World War I. Originally published by Haws & Chins Co. Music Publishers in Fairbury, Nebraska.
Verse 1:
You love the freedom that Old Glory gives you,
You know the men to whom the credit’s due
They’re men that gladly gave their lives to save their sweethearts and their wives
They were Americans thru and thru
The country’s going to need a lot of men
There’s lots of them will not return again
But our flag we must protect they must treat it with respect
America it’s up to you
Verse 2:
Don’t leave the fighting to the other fellow,
Don’t let them say we’ve got a streak of yellow
Remember Lincoln and your flag the chance to fight should make you glad
When you think of what it means to you
Don’t go and hide behind your sweethearts skirt
Don’t let them say Americans will shirk
Let us all go forth and fight for our freedom and our right
America it’s up to you
Chorus:
America its up to you
To show what you can do
We must take this war to heart all of us must do our part
And fight for the Red White and Blue
The president has called on you
Show him that you’re true blue
There’s a debt we owe to France to pay her here’s our chance
America it’s up to you
This image and musical performance is published and owned by the Polley Music Library (Lincoln City Libraries, Lincoln, Nebraska), which contains just over two hundred fifty pieces of Nebraska sheet music, as well as concert programs, manuscripts, theatre programs, photographs, and other Nebraska memorabilia which features an element of music. You can also listen to a dozen performances of selections from this music collection performed by local musicians.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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: 16th Street from Harney Street, Omaha
Take a walk on the town this #ThrowbackThursday!
This 14 x 9 cm color postcard has a birds-eye view looking north along 16th Street from Harney Street, in Omaha, Nebraska. The large building in the upper left is the New York Life Building at the northeast corner of 17th & Farnam. The conical topped building on the right hand side of the street is the Paxton Block at the northeast corner of 16th & Farnam. A sign for the Schlitz Cafe and Hotel is also seen on the building at the northwest corner of 16th & Harney. At the far end of 16th street on the west side is the clock tower for the old post office building. The image was probably taken from the sixteen story City National Bank building built on the southeast corner of 16th & Harney. There are several pedestrians and early model cars seen.
This image is published and owned by the Omaha Public Library. They have a large collection of 1,100+ postcards and photographs of the Omaha area.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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, Preservation
Tagged Omaha, Omaha Public Library, Throwback Thursday
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Throwback Thursday: Charles B. Washington and Angela Davis
Happy Juneteenth #ThrowbackThursday!
Charles B. Washington and Angela Davis are sitting together on a television studio set in this 3-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ color photograph. “At Omaha” is visible on a red framed object on the wall behind them. The time stamp on the Kodak photographic paper reads “May 75”.
This image is published and owned by the Omaha Public Library. They have a large collection of 1,100+ postcards and photographs of the Omaha area, as well as the Charles B. Washington Collection, comprising items relating to the life of Washington, a local civil rights activist.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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: Old Man in Front of Home
Happy #ThrowbackThursday everybody!
This black and white stereoscopic photograph is on a postcard, and pictures an old man standing in front of a farmhouse by the gate of a fence. Dated 1907-1917.
This image is published and owned by the History Nebraska. They digitized content from the John Nelson and the J. A. Anderson collection. John Nelson came to Nebraska with his parents at the age of seventeen from Sweden. His photographs tell the story of small town life in Nebraska during the first decades of the twentieth century.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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, Preservation
Tagged History Nebraska, John Nelson, Throwback Thursday
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Throwback Thursday: Bismark Cafe Bar
Sit down and relax this #ThrowbackThursday!
A man and woman stand behind the wood-paneled counter lined with bar stools in the Bismark Cafe Bar in this 8″ x 10″ acetate negative. On the wall above them is a large banner advertising: “Schlitz” “Taste Schlitz today! Smooth pale dry; the beer that made Milwaukee famous.” Several lighted signs tout “On tap Schlitz Beer.” Displays of Schlitz bottles and cans line the shelves.
This image is published and owned by the Townsend Studio, which has been in continuous operation since its foundation in 1888 in Lincoln, Nebraska. The studio holds a collection of glass plate and acetate negatives of early Lincoln and its residents.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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: Chautauqua Park Auditorium
Happy #ThrowbackThursday!
The Chautauqua Park auditorium is shown in this contact print labeled “The Auditorium, 140×280 feet”. The structure is actually an open sided pavilion covered by a roof supported with upright timbers. The unusual multi-sided tower creates a pinnacle for the facility and probably serves as a park landmark when seen from a distance. A number of rowing enthusiasts have positioned their row boats near the water’s edge while other men and women are arriving by horse and buggy, most likely to attend a lecture in this public building. The Christian Park Assembly Association was incorporated in early 1889 and by 1892 had created a sixty-seven acre park located at the north end of Nye Avenue. The park included various buildings and a man-made lake as well as a sheltered plunge bath and an auditorium.
This image is owned by the Dodge County Historical Society, and published by Keene Memorial Library. Both are located in Fremont, Nebraska, and they worked as partners to digitize and describe content owned by the historical society. The collection of photographs documents life in Fremont in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!
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.
