Tag Archives: library history

Friday, March 27, 2026 was the Nebraska Library Commission’s 125th anniversary. The agency was established by the Nebraska Legislature on March 27, 1901 as the Nebraska Public Library Commission. One of its first directives was the creation of traveling libraries: portable library collections that communities could apply to borrow for 3 months at a time. According to the Commission’s Second Biennial Report, each library contained “40 volumes, one-fourth of which are fiction for adults, another fourth stories for children, and the balance are history, travel, useful arts, etc., equally divided between children and adults.” The first traveling library was delivered to a barber shop in Loup City, and recorded 279 check-outs during its three month stay.

“We believe that there is no surer way to inspire people with a desire for good books at home, at school, and in the library than to give the people an opportunity to see and read the best books that the book trade affords. This, then, is the first task set for the traveling library-a task so magnificent in its possibilities that the accomplishment of but a small portion of it would justify the expenditure of all state funds so far devoted to the Commission, as well as affording ample satisfaction to those who have had the work in charge.”

— Edna D. Bullock, Nebraska Public Library Commission Second Biennial Report, 1904

You can read all about the traveling library program here: https://nlc.nebraska.gov/history/traveling/index.aspx; the Library Commission’s archive includes digitized letters from the first Commission Executive Secretary, Edna Bullock, to potential borrowing communities, as well as photos, pamphlets, forms, book lists and more. If that’s not enough Library Commission history for you, take some time to click through our centennial materials, “Libraries for the Centuries” to see what we’ve been up to each decade since our founding. While originally created for our 100th anniversary in 2001, this site has been updated to include facts and events through present day.

If you are in the downtown Lincoln area during the month of April, stop by during business hours too see our traveling library exhibit, including an original traveling library crate and volumes from an early traveling collection. You can also peruse Library Commission documents and photos collected over the past 125 years, detailing our various projects and services. They will be on display all month to celebrate the Nebraska Library Commission’s quasquicentennial and National Library Week (April 19-25, 2026).