A Civil War Irish Soldier’s Journey to Nebraska
By Charles E. Real
Real follows the very different paths of two brothers fleeing An Gorta Mor (Gaelic for the great hunger) only to face each other on opposite sides of the American Civil War. While one brother does not survive Shiloh’s killing fields, the other becomes an officer and later successful settler and businessman in Nebraska. The program is a commemoration of survival, war, and pioneering and reveals how this ex-soldier becomes financial backer to several North Dakota and Minnesota towns and his relationship to the Great Lakes ore ship Edmund Fitzgerald.

The Civil War West of the Mississippi
By Vernon L. Volpe
It was on the Kansas plains that Yankees and Sons of the South first shed each other's blood. Missouri experienced the most brutal fighting of the entire war. Union efforts to pacify the area included such drastic measures as shooting captured guerrillas and evacuating entire counties, provoking retaliations and contributing to the legacy of lawlessness that spawned postwar outlaw gangs. The war west of the Mississippi demonstrated how the struggle would ultimately determine the future of an entire continent and all its peoples.

General Victor Vifquain: Nebraska's 1st Medal of Honor Winner
By Jeffrey Smith
Victor Vifquain was the first European settler in Saline County. He was eager to put his Belgian military training into practice when the Civil War broke out, so he enlisted as a private in the 53rd New York Volunteer Infantry rather than wait for muster in Nebraska Territory. He received a Congressional Medal of Honor and was promoted to brigadier general for his exciting but unsuccessful attempt to kidnap Jefferson Davis. This presentation by Vifquain's great-grandson tells the story and adventures of this Belgian immigrant to Nebraska who participated in the Civil War and the Spanish-American War in the regiment of William Jennings Bryan.

The "Little Dutchman's" Civil War: Translating Private August Scherneckau's Diary of the First Nebraska Volunteers, 1862-1865
By Edith Robbins
Civil War documents in the German language have not often been translated, yet they deserve much more attention since the participation of German immigrants in that war was extensive. August Scherneckau, the only volunteer from Hall County, left a comprehensive diary that gives an in-depth perspective on the experience of a Union soldier. Robbins describes the difficulties in translating such a document and reads excerpts from the diary.

Nebraska and the Civil War
By David Wells or Doug Rung
Few people realize that Nebraska was involved in one of the most tragic events in our history, the Civil War, from 1861-1865. The territory sent 1/3 of its male population to the war, and more than 200 died or were killed. After the war, thousands of veterans came to Nebraska. By 1890 more than 100,000 veterans lived here, and they played a major role in the development of Nebraska from a territory to statehood. They helped found many of the cities. This presentation looks at these early settlers and the role they played—geographically specific to the program site.

Nebraskans Remember World War II
By Doug Rung
In 1996, the NHC and five Nebraska communities sponsored the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit "Produce for Victory: Posters on the American Home Front, 1941-1945." Rung led his community's oral history project and helped to preserve a unique portion of Nebraska history by those who recounted their memories of war years. Travel back with Rung to the 1940s and World War II for stories about local military installations, the people involved with their operations and how the war affected the economy and everyday life of many Nebraskans.

Produce for Victory: Nebraskans in WW II
By Martha Ellen Webb
This program examines Nebraska's role in World War II wartime production on the home front. Nebraskans contributed to the war effort in many ways, from working at government ordnance plants to collecting scrap metal to growing Victory Gardens. Nebraska industries were converted to war production and new factories were built. Operations at ordnance plants in Grand Island, Mead and Hastings are described. Because the B-29 bombers that were used to carry the atomic bombs were made at the Martin Bomber Plant in Omaha, the talk also includes a section covering the development of the atomic bomb.