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"Promise in a New Land: Migrating and Settling in Nebraska by Cherrie Beam-Clarke is a wonderful program for all ages. Our audience requested we book the second part of this program as soon as possible."

 

Louan Beard, Morton-James Public Library

 
 
 
 
 

"The interest level of the students was at 100 percent. William Clemente captivated the children and they enjoyed the information and writing activities of his Feathers and Verses program."

 

Patty Powers

Arthur Elementary,

Arthur

 

"Spencer Davis's Lincoln Lore and Legend was a great program that added to our event immensely.  People were able to understand Lincoln's character and what made him a great leader."

 

Bill Hayes,

Nebraska City

 

"Darrel Draper, who portrayed George Drouillard of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, was fabulous. I will recommend him to other schools. He held the attention of 125 sixth, seventh and eighth graders for an hour and a half at the end of the school day. We appreciate the quality of programming your organization provides. Keep up the good work!"

 

Linda Behrns,
Louisville Public Schools

 
 
 

"Linda Garcia did a wonderful job. She was very well prepared to speak to a college-age audience. She was informative about cultural and literary concepts. Then, her storytelling was fabulous! She was so engaging and made us all feel like 'kids' again. People stayed around long after her presentation of Storytelling and the Hispanic Oral Tradition just to be able to talk with her."

 

Maxine Fawcett-Yeske,

Nebraska Wesleyan University,

Lincoln

 
 
 
 
 

"We had standing room only for the Mari Sandoz: A Personal Reminiscence program. Ron Hull was fantastic. He visited with the crowd both before and after the program, and kept them captivated throughout. This was extremely valuable; and brought in visitors to our library from as far as 90 miles away. It was hugely successful." 

 

Melissa Rice,

Friends of the Blair Public Library

"Overland Trails: The Children on the Trail was outstanding! It could not have been any better! Students were totally engaged the entire time. Students learned so much and were very excited about the program. What a great fit for our Nebraska studies. Our students were active participants in this program, which is what we wanted for them to learn best. Dynamic program! Renae Hunt is very knowledgeable about this time period. She relates extremely well with children this age. I would highly recommend this program to others."

Sue Heyen, Doniphan-Trumbull Public Schools

"The children enjoyed Matthew 'Sitting Bear' Jones and said he was funny. They also commented that they particularly liked it when he talked in his native language and liked hearing the tales he learned from his grandfather."

 

Mary Jo Mack,

John A. Stahl Library,

West Point

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

"Sandhills Song related to many aspects that were covered in our curriculum during the year. Otto Rosfeld did an exceptional job engaging the audience in the songs and artifacts, while sharing Nebraska's rich Plains history."

 

Evelyn Johnson, Campbell Elementary, Lincoln

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Speakers are alphabetized by last name. Town of residence and contact information is provided for each. For a detailed program description click on the program title.

Mike Adams

Singer-Songwriter

Kearney, Nebraska

308-865-8294 (Work) Kathryn Benzel

Mike AdamsMike Adams's Americana style combines folk and country with jazz and blues in a dynamic acoustic sound. Adams's song-stories describe the fragile beauty of the disappearing Plains, the integrity of hard work and the pleasure of working together. Adams played traditional American music in a collaborative performance, "Prayers for the People: Carl Sandburg's Poetry and Songs," with Kathryn Benzel and Charles Peek at the Red Cloud Opera House, the Theatre of the American West in Republican City and the Merryman Performing Arts Center in Kearney.

 

Jeff Barnes

Author

Jeff BarnesOmaha, Nebraska

The Forts of Nebraska

402-571-1349 (Home) or 402-516-6465 (Cell)

husker80@cox.net

A fifth-generation Nebraskan, Jeff Barnes is a former newspaper reporter and editor, past chairman of the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission, and former marketing director for the Durham Western Heritage Museum. He traveled more than 13,000 miles in researching and photographing “Forts of the Northern Plains,” his first book.

 

Diane R. Bartels
Retired Teacher
Lincoln, Nebraska

Sharpie: Nebraska's Queen of the Air
402-489-3059 (Home)
dbsharpie@aol.com

Diane BartelsDiane Bartels is a lifelong Nebraskan who grew up wanting to fly airplanes. She earned her pilot certificate in 1966 and with that evolved a commitment to aerospace education and the preservation of Nebraska's rich aviation heritage. In 1991, Diane was recognized as Nebraska's Teacher-Scholar by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The award made it possible for her to write and publish "Sharpie: The Life Story of Evelyn Sharp, Nebraska's Aviatrix." Diane belongs to several aviation organizations, has been published in journals and periodicals and has presented at national conferences. She served as principal consultant for the NETV documentary film "Sharpie: Born To Fly."

 

Cherrie Beam-Clarke
Storyteller and Independent Scholar
Fremont, Nebraska

Promise in a New Land
The Courage to Continue

Grit n Gumption
402-727-2820 (Home)
cherrieclarke@hotmail.com

Cherrie Beam-Clarke doesn't lack for stories as she has spent nearly 2Cherrie Beam-Clarke5 years gathering and recording historic tales from Nebraska families. Cherrie boasts of being a "true Nebraskan," as she has lived in both ends of the state and is a fourth generation farm girl. The pioneer stories are factual and reflect the diversity of the people and land from western to eastern Nebraska. Cherrie is an educational storyteller who speaks with an Irish brogue, dresses in period attire and delivers spell binding one-act plays that make audiences laugh and cry. Speaking for more than 25 years to all ages, her venues include elementary, especially 4th grade, through high school, libraries, museums, adult and youth church groups, senior centers, banquets and festivals. Cherrie traveled Nebraska as a storyteller on the wagon train commemorating the 150th birthday of the Oregon Trail. She is co-founder of John C. Fremont Days, one of Nebraska's largest annual historical festivals, and founder of "A Day in the Past," an annual day for 4th graders. She is recipient of a number of community and statewide awards for historical preservation.

 

Beverly BeaversBeverly Beavers
Teacher, Superior Public Schools
Superior, Nebraska

A Visit With Lady Vestey
402-879-4625 (Home) or 402-879-3025 (Work)

Born and raised in Superior, Beverly Beavers was fascinated by the tale of the Superior girl who became the world’s highest paid female executive of her era.

 

Bill Behmer
Musician
Lincoln, Nebraska

American Folk Music (with Gwen Meister)
The Mountain Dulcimer (with Gwen Meister)

402-420-5442 (Day or Evening)
plainsculture@inebraska.com

Bill Behmer and Gwen MeisterBill Behmer is a founder of LAFTA, the Lincoln Association for Traditional Arts. He served as the organization’s artistic director for more than 10 years and received the 1998 Mayor’s Arts Award from the Lincoln Arts Council for his volunteer work promoting old-time folk music. In addition to fiddle and harmonica, Bill plays the mountain dulcimer and is a three-time Midwest dulcimer champion. He has done extensive research into the history and playing styles of this American folk instrument. Gwen Meister is a folklorist and an active member of the American Folklore Society. She was folk arts coordinator for the Nebraska Arts Council in Omaha and now is Executive Director of the Nebraska Folklife Network in Lincoln. Gwen plays the autoharp, bodhran (pronounced “boron,” an Irish drum) and several other instruments. Gwen and Bill have been performing together for more than 25 years. They sing and play a variety of old time and traditional folk music, and explain the history of their instruments and their songs. 

 

Kathryn N. Benzel

Professor of English

University of Nebraska-Kearney

Kearney, Nebraska

308-865-8294 (Work)

Kathryn N. BenzelKathryn Benzel teaches literary criticism, 20th century literature, American and British fiction, interdisciplinary studies and women's studies. Benzel received her B.A. and M.A. from the University of Toledo in Ohio and her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She participated in two Nebraska Humanities Council Summer Seminars and presented "Prayers for the People: Carl Sandburg's Poetry and Songs" with Mike Adams and Charles Peek at the Red Cloud Opera House, the Theatre of the American West in Republican City and the Merryman Performing Arts Center in Kearney.

 

Roger Bergman
Director, Justice and Peace Studies Program

Creighton University
Omaha, Nebraska
Roger BergmanWhen Is War Just?: Christian Ethics of War and Peace
402-280-1492
rbjps@creighton.edu

Roger Bergman is the founding director of the Justice and Peace Studies Program at Creighton University. He teaches courses in Catholic social ethics and Christian ethics of war and peace. For many years he has organized the annual Morality of War Seminar for seniors in Creighton’s Army ROTC program. An activist and educator for more than two decades, Bergman has made hundreds of presentations to church groups, schools, clubs and academic conferences.

 

Susanne George Bloomfield
Professor of English

University of Nebraska at Kearney
Holdrege, Nebraska

Elia Peattie: Pioneer Journalist
A Journey to Burntfork: The World of Elinore Pruitt Stewart
Kate M. Cleary: Nebraska Writer and Humorist

What Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Read
Writing Personal and Family History Narratives

Family History (Residency program)
308-995-8547 (Home) or 308-991-4647 (Cell)
stbloomfield@hughes.net

bloomfields@unk.edu

Susanne George Bloomfield is a full professor anSusanne George Bloomfieldd holds the Martin Distinguished Professorship at the University of Nebraska-Kearney (UNK). She is the author of three biographies published by the University of Nebraska Press: "Impertinences…” 2005; “Kate M. Cleary….” (1997); and “The Adventures of the Woman Homesteader….” (1992). She also co-edited “The Platte River: An Atlas of the Big Bend Region” (1993); “A Prairie Mosaic: An Atlas of Central Nebraska’s Land, Nature, and Culture” (2000); “A Presidential Visit” (2002); "From the Beginning: A History of Excellence at the University of Nebraska at Kearney" (2005); and “Adventures in the West! Stories for Young Readers” (2007). She and her husband enjoy trail riding on their paint horses.

 

Pat Boilesen
Independent Musician & Composer
Albion, Nebraska

Sing Me a Story: The Ballad of Yesterday and Today
402-395-6558 or 402-741-0006 (both Home)

pboiles@cablene.com

www.patboilesen.homestead.com

Pat is a native Nebraskan, a writer, and a musician with an interest in her historical heritage. She found that the old traditional songs that tell stories (ballads) often tell Pat Boilesenthe story of our ancestors and how their trials and their endurance shaped life on the Plains. Pat began writing her own ballads, knowing that her stories will also help contribute to keeping our heritage alive. She writes of real people, places and events, past and present, some exciting, some sad, and some simply fun! In her presentation, Pat shares the old ballad with the new and lets her audience share in the story those ballads tell. She presents her program to suit any age group, making certain it is full of learning for school children, full of nostalgia for the adult, and thought provoking for all. Pat has won countless awards for her songwriting and poetry and conducts workshops at festivals and events across the plains. She is a recording artist with international airplay. Pat also conducts residencies for the Nebraska Arts Council's Artists-in-Schools/Communities Program.

 

John Calvert
Assistant Professor of History

Creighton University
Omaha, Nebraska

America in the Eyes of an Islamic Fundamentalist
Change and Revolution in the Modern Middle East
402-280-2653 (Work)
johncalvert@creighton.edu

 

Jack Campbell
Community Volunteer & Sower Award recipient
Lincoln, Nebraska

The Allied Invasion of Japan
Jack Campbell402-423-2282 (Home) or 402-423-1800 (Work)

Jack Campbell has served two terms on the Nebraska Humanities Council and, thereafter, the Nebraska Foundation for the Humanities, and was president of the foundation from 1993 to 1995. He is on the board of the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, raising support for the Nebraska Humanities Council and the Nebraska Arts Council. Jack is a retired insurance executive, is active in civic organizations and is a board member of the Cooper Foundation. He received the Sower Award from the NHC in 2001 for his long-time activities and commitment to the cultural programs of the state.

 

Paul V. Campbell
Professor of Criminal Justice & Chair, Department of Sociology, Psychology & Criminal Justice
Wayne State College
Wayne, Nebraska

The Role of the Church and School in Rural Nebraska
402-375-7297 (Work)
pacampb1@wsc.edu

Paul Campbell has a bachelor's degree in engineering from the Paul CampbellU.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., a master's degree in sociology and a doctorate in sociology and social psychology from Utah State University. Paul has done research on emotionally disturbed teenagers, death row inmate families, gender socialization of careers among preschool, second-grade and fourth-grade students, cross-gender violence among pre-teens, rural crime reporting, campus violence, crime victimization of tourists and dating violence. For more than 20 years, he has been a volunteer for Haven House, a domestic violence and sexual assault shelter agency. On the Wayne State College faculty since 1980, Paul teaches about family violence, the war on drugs, rural sociology, juvenile delinquency and technology. He is a six-time nominee for the State Colleges Teaching Excellence Award, and students twice have selected him the Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year. 

 

Deb Carpenter-Nolting
Writer & Songwriter
Bushnell, Nebraska

The Heart's Compass: Women on the Trails (with Lyn Messersmith)
Legends and Leaders of the West (with Lyn Messersmith)

Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History (with Lyn Messersmith)

308-673-5057 (Home)
deb@leadersandlegends.com

Deb Carpenter-Nolting has been sharing her original work throughout the West for several years. Deb, in partnership with poet Lyn Messersmith, performs an educational program about women who traveled and settled the Plains, and the two have developed another program about leaders and legends who helped shape the American West. Both programs are available through the Nebraska and South Dakota humanities councils.

 

John E. CarterJohn E. Carter
Special Projects Coordinator,

Nebraska State Historical Society
Lincoln, Nebraska

Nebraska: The Beef State
Photographing the American Dream

The Twisted Path of Ethanol
402-477-2150 (Home) or 402-471-4752 (Work)
jecarter@neb.rr.com

 

James P. Cavanaugh
Independent Historian & Attorney
Omaha, Nebraska

The Founding of Omaha, 1854-1860

The Irish in Nebraska, 1850-2000
The Irish in Omaha, 1854-2004
The Irish Odyssey: Where the Irish Came From
402-341-2020 (Home)
cavanaughlawfirm@aol.com

James P. Cavanaugh is a fifth generation Nebraskan and a practicing attorney. He is on the board of the Captain Meriwether Lewis Center for Missouri River Studies and is a member of the Irish American Cultural Institute of Nebraska. He has been a speaker with the Nebraska Humanities Council Speakers Bureau since 2002.

 

Dale Clark
Director of Wessels Living History Farm, President of Traveling Historical Programs Inc., and Independent Scholar
Grand Island, Nebraska
Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery Through the Eyes of a Crew Member
Ordinary Heroes
A Young Man's Journey on the Oregon Trail
308-384-2655 (Home) or 308-380-9062 (Cell)
jjdclark@msn.com

Dale Clark has a B.A. and M.A. in education from the University Dale Clarkof Nebraska at Kearney and has been involved in education for more than 40 years. He taught in the Hastings Public Schools, was the education director at the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, and is currently director of Wessels Living History Farm at York. Dale has a lifelong interest in history. He has participated in several wagon trains traveling the Overland Trails and is active in reenactment activities of the commemoration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Dale organized the company Traveling Historical Programs Inc. so that he might bring history alive to audiences in Nebraska and surrounding states.

 

Anita Sue Clement
Independent Scholar
Grand Island, Nebraska
Everyday Lives of Western Women
The Victorian Child
308-381-1688 (Home)
clemrdas@charter.net

A graduate of Kearney State College, now the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Anita Sue Clement has a lifelong interest in history, particularly of the western states and their people. She has been a public school teacher and an instructor and interpreter at the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer. Her programs focus on the everyday lives of women and children, the economic and personal events that shape those lives, and the effects on their contemporaries and descendants. The programs can be adapted to audiences from grade four through adults, and include stories, hands-on artifacts and slide photographs.

 

William A. Clemente
Professor of English

Peru State College
Peru, Nebraska

Feathers and Verses

Creative Writing (Residency program)
402-872-2233 (Work)
bclemente@oakmail.peru.edu

www.hpcnet.org/peru/schoolartsandsciences/language/clemente

http://www.flickr.com/photos/clemente/sets/72157594459243119/

Bill Clemente earned a PhD in comparative literature from Bill Clemente with childrenthe University of Oregon and is a professor of English at Peru State College, where he has taught since 1993. Bill teaches a wide variety of classes, including creative writing and children’s literature. He also enjoys Caribbean literature and science fiction, on which he continues to publish articles. His hobbies are photography and bird watching—and toying with blogs and podcasts. You can see some of his bird pictures at the website listed above. In addition to working with college students, Bill has for the past 20 years given creative-writing sessions at elementary schools. “Feathers and Verses” combines creative writing with his hobbies. Bill also enjoys sharing his bird pictures and talking with adult groups.

 

Janice Collins-Brooks
Adjunct Instructor

Metropolitan Community College
Omaha, Nebraska

African-American Gospel Music
Tell Me a Story
402-453-3920 (Home)

 

Dawn R. Connelly
Art Specialist, Lincoln Public Schools

Adjunct Professor, College of Saint Mary, Lincoln
Hickman, Nebraska

The Burckhardts: An African-American Epic
402-261-3266 (Home) or 402-499-7754 (Work)
dconnel@lps.org

Dawn Connelly has been teaching art education to all grade levels Dawn R. Connellysince 1982 in several public schools in Nebraska. She also was an art professor at Andrew College in Cuthbert, Ga., and taught for Southeast Community College in Lincoln. Her teaching experience extends to Stuttgart, Germany, where she taught on a military post. Dawn teaches middle school art for Lincoln Public Schools. She is an adjunct professor for Nebraska Wesleyan University and The College of Saint Mary. The program "The Burckhardts" developed from a project in which 4th and 5th grade art students painted banners honoring notable Nebraskans from different ethnic backgrounds. Dawn and her family had spent Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the Great Plains Museum in Omaha in 1999, researching an African American to honor on a banner when she came upon a photo of a beautiful black woman with a warm smile. Her name was Anna Burckhardt and she was a teacher and oil painter. When Dawn realized Anna's husband, Rev. Oliver Burckhardt, was also a notable Nebraskan through his work with race relations, his connections with five governors and his religious contributions, she was convinced this couple needed to be honored.

 

Mr. Conrad

Creator, Mr. Conrad’s Musicademy

Mr. ConradGering, Nebraska

The Great Unknown

402-332-8478 (Cell)

mrconrad2002@yahoo.com

Since age 6, Mr. Conrad has performed for audiences large and small. He has also taught music for preschools and elementary schools in many ways: voice, piano, theory, and guitar instruction. From this experience, Mr. Conrad created Musicademy, educational music programs for kids.

 

Tom & Patricia Cook
Emeritus Professor, Wayne State College (Tom)
Semi-Retired Musician (Patricia)
Wayne, Nebraska

Encountering China With the Cooks
402-375-1171 (Home)
tigertom43@hotmail.com

Tom Cook, a native of Des Moines, taught at Wayne Patricia and Tom CookState College from 1990-2007. He served as Wayne State’s first women’s golf coach, concluding his career in 1991-93 with three straight undefeated seasons. Tom won his academic division’s teaching award and was nominated for a statewide teaching award. Pat Cook, a native of Milwaukee, is a former music teacher and frequent volunteer musician. She has taught music in public schools and community colleges as well as privately, and served numerous church choirs as a soloist and/or director. The Cooks traveled in 1998-99 to Hangzhou, where they both taught English at Zhejiang University, the largest university in China. While there, Pat learned some Chinese music and taught Western music to Chinese musicians. More recently Tom and Pat also taught three semesters at Hunan University in Changsha, where Tom won the 2002 Lotus Award as an outstanding foreign teacher in Hunan Province. 

 

Sara Brandes CrookSara Brandes Crook
Professor of Social Sciences

Peru State College
Peru, Nebraska
Nebraska's Winding Road to Statehood: In the Footsteps of a Female Settler
402-873-4539 (Home) or 402-872-2279 (Work)

scrook@oakmail.peru.edu

 

Meenakshi (Meena) Nath Dalal
Professor of Economics

Wayne State College
Wayne, Nebraska
Caste, Class and Gender: Women's Work in India
Cultural Practices in India
Goddess Worship
612-532-2449 (Cell) or 402-375-7509 (Work)
medalal1@wsc.edu

 

Spencer Davis
Professor of History

Peru State College
Bellevue, Nebraska
Abraham Lincoln: The Personal Side
African-American Soldiers in the Civil War: Fighting on Two Fronts

Lincoln Lore and Legend
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man
Spencer Davis
Understanding Emancipation: Abraham Lincoln and Sojourner Truth (with Vivian Davis)
402-293-6713 (Home)

Spencer Davis has a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, a master’s degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a  doctorate from the University of Toronto. He has published articles on Olaudah Equiano and Ma Rainey and is a contributor to Encyclopedia USA. His area of specialization is African-American history. He is co-founder and coordinator of the Black History Workshop of Zion Baptist Church in Omaha.

 

Vivian Davis
Employee, Bellevue Public Schools
Bellevue, Nebraska
Understanding Emancipation: Abraham Lincoln and Sojourner Truth (with Spencer Davis)
402-293-6713 (Home)

Vivian DavisVivian Davis is a graduate of the Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart, where her major was speech and dramatics. She has been an officer of the Omaha Chapter National Council of Negro Women and is a member and officer of the Omaha Chapter of the Links, Inc. She is featured in the book "Visions of Freedom on the Great Plains," an illustrated history of African Americans in Nebraska. Vivian has been a volunteer and performer with the Omaha Community Playhouse and was  co-hostess of the “Black on Black” television variety program.

 

Winfield Delle
Retired Teacher
Scottsbluff, Nebraska
Nebraska Folklore, Folk-lies and Fakelore
Nebraska History in Cemeteries
Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Its History and Meaning
308-635-0683 (Home)

Winfield Delle was born in Pennsylvania, served in the Navy during the Korean War, and received his master's degree in history and geography from Chadron State College. Delle taught at the high school and college levels for 38 years, and has traveled to 19 countries.

 

Learthen Dorsey
Retired Professor of History & Ethnic Studies, UNL
Lincoln, Nebraska

All That Jazz Has African Roots
Ethnicity, Fratricide and National Integration: Rwanda in Historical Perspective
Exploring African Art
Which Way South Africa?
402-477-0179 (Home)
 

Darrel W. Draper
Living History Re-enactor
Omaha, Nebraska
Daniel Freeman: America's First Homesteader
George Drouillard: Hunter, Interpreter and Sign-Talker for Lewis and Clark
Nebraska: Crossroads of the Western Fur Trade
J. Sterling Morton, Author of Arbor Day
The History of Nebraska as Told by Peter A. Sarpy
402-553-8117 (Home) 
petersarpy@aol.com

Darrel Draper as George DrouillardDarrel W. Draper, a fifth generation Nebraskan, retired Navy officer and University of Nebraska at Omaha graduate, uses his talents as storyteller and actor to educate and entertain. He has performed for national and state government agencies, museums, schools, youth groups, festivals and is a popular banquet and luncheon speaker. He specializes in costumed portrayals of historical figures that played major roles in the events that shaped our state and nation. He is considered an expert on the history of the Lewis and Clark expedition and has personally retraced thousands of miles of their trail by canoe and on foot.

 

Karen Wyatt Drevo

Librarian, Norfolk Public Library

Norfolk, Nebraska

Maria Rodaway: Prairie Pioneer

402-371-5155 (Home), 402-750-9071 (Cell) or 402-844-2108 (Work)

Karen Wyatt Drevo as Maria Rodaway, prairie pioneerkdrevo@ci.norfolk.ne.us

Seven generations of Karen Wyatt Drevo’s family have lived in Otoe County, Neb. Karen grew up on a farm north of Unadilla and received her early education in one-room Otoe County schools. She has degrees in English and history from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She currently lives in Norfolk, where she is a librarian at Norfolk Public Library. Her life-long interest in her family history was sparked by the family stories told by her grandmothers.

 

Lorraine J. Duggin
Poet, Writer, Lecturer & Folk Artist
Omaha, Nebraska

Growing Up Czech in Nebraska
402-397-6153 (Home) 

Lorraine J. Duggin in Czech costumeLorraine Duggin is a poet and writer who teaches writing mainly to immigrants and international students in English-as-second-language programs at Metro Community College and the Latina Resource Center in Omaha. She has been publishing her own poetry, fiction and essays for many years and has taught at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Creighton University. She is a master artist with the Nebraska Arts Council’s Artists in Schools/Communities program and also in the Iowa Arts Council’s AIS/C program. Duggin also dances with the Omaha International Folk Dancers and three other folk dance groups in Omaha that perform in Nebraska and the region.

 

Phyllis Dunne
Musician
Omaha, Nebraska

Didgeridoo and Dulcimer, Too (with Robert Dunne)
Making Music Come Alive  
402-551-8095
music@bydunne.com
www.bydunne.com

Phyllis Dunne sings songs that reveal our heritage. The Phyllis DunneAppalachian mountain dulcimer is her accompaniment. Phyllis has played all over Europe on three different tours and has several recordings and a book. Her CD "Joyously Dunne" was named recording of the year by the Omaha World-Herald. Dunne is a Woody Guthrie folk-singing champion, national traditional performer of the year for lap dulcimer, two-time Midwest dulcimer champion, and an artist with the Nebraska Arts Council. She was a vocal music teacher in the schools and a piano teacher at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the College of St. Mary. She studied music at UNO and the Julliard School of Music. Now she teaches piano, dulcimer and voice lessons at home.

 

Robert Dunne
Musician
Omaha, Nebraska

Didgeridoo and Dulcimer, Too (with Phyllis Dunne)
Dunne "Dooing" It
402-551-8095
music@bydunne.com
www.bydunne.com

Robert Dunne plays the didgeridoo (an Australian Robert DunneAboriginal wind instrument), bullroar and clapsticks. He talks about Aboriginal traditions and explains how to play the didgeridoo. In 1995, Dunne became an old-time country music and pioneer exposition miscellaneous instrument champion. Dunne has performed with many international performers and was featured on the "best local recording of 1995" (Omaha World-Herald). Dunne carves his own instruments from wood, but he demonstrates how to make them easily from inexpensive materials such as PVC pipe, which can be decorated in Aboriginal style. 

 

Charlotte M. Endorf
Independent Scholar & Author
Norfolk, Nebraska

Excess Baggage: Riding the Orphan Train
Charlotte Endorf866-492-9546 (Work) or 402-371-3701 (Home/Fax)
endorf@cableone.net

Charlotte Endorf is a lifelong Nebraskan, a member of Toastmasters International (earning the Distinguished Toastmaster award twice), and specializes in speaking to elementary schools throughout Nebraska. Endorf and her daughter, Sarah, have authored several books together: "After the Rain, Oh the Beautiful Rainbow!", "Plains Bound: Fragile Cargo", and "By Train They Came: Volume 1." Endorf also developed a documentary on the Orphan Train riders for the Madison County Historical Society.

 

Kelly Madigan Erlandson

Writer and Alcohol/Drug Counselor

Lincoln, Nebraska

Playing Around With Words: Reading, Writing and the Creative Process (with Twyla Hansen and Karen Gettert Shoemaker)

402-429-4646

kme@inebraska.com

Kelly Madigan ErlandsonKelly Madigan Erlandson is the author of "Getting Sober: A Practical Guide to Making it Through the First 30 Days." She has been a licensed alcohol and drug counselor in Nebraska since 1983. She was awarded the distinguished artist award in literature from the Nebraska Arts Council in 2006. Her poems and creative nonfiction have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Crazyhorse, The Massachusetts Review, Best New Poets 2007, Smartish Pace, Barrow Street, and 32 Poems. Kelly’s poetry has been featured by Garrison Keillor on his national radio broadcast, "The Writer's Almanac." Her chapbook, "Born in the House of Love," won the Main-Traveled Roads Award. She received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 2008. Kelly is a frequent presenter at writing conferences, behavioral health training events and recovery celebrations.

 

Bette Novit Evans
Associate Professor of Political Science

Creighton University
Omaha, Nebraska

Religious Freedom: What is it?

Religious Intensity, Religious Diversity, and Religious Harmony: How Do We Do It?
Bette Novit Evans402-551-9940 (Home) or 402-280-2570 (Work)

Bette Novit Evans’ academic specializations include constitutional jurisprudence and political philosophy. Her research has focused on constitutional rights and liberties. Evans has published articles on the concept of equality, equal employment opportunity law and policy, and the concept of race in law, and the book “Interpreting the Free Exercise of Religion.” 

 

Dave Fowler and Carolyn JohnsenDave Fowler & Carolyn Johnsen
Independent Musicians & Music Scholars
Lincoln, Nebraska

The History and Romance of the Fiddle: A Prairie Perspective
402-477-1805 (Home) or 402-472-3347 (Work)

Ron & Leigh Anne Frame & Sarah Kovar
Independent Musicians & Music Scholars
Lincoln, Nebraska
Cowboy Rhythm
402-730-3818
cowboyrhythm@msn.com

ronaldframe@msn.com

Ron and Leigh Anne Frame and Sarah KovarSinging the songs of the West, with Old West history, cowboy poetry, and western-style yodeling, Cowboy Rhythm entertains audiences of all ages about our western heritage. From nostalgic cowboy ballads to songs from the singing cowboy era, this trio draws its music from such pioneer greats as Gene Autry, Sons of the Pioneers, Roy Rogers, and Patsy Montana, to name a few. Combine the spirit of the cowgirl singer with old-time banjo and acoustic guitar, and Cowboy Rhythm brings to life images of the real and imagined west. Cowboy Rhythm has performed at numerous events and celebrations across the country. They are also members of the Nebraska Arts Council.

 

Dr. Richard Fruehling
Physician
Dr. Richard FruehlingGrand Island, Nebraska

Medical Care on the Lewis and Clark Voyage of Discovery
308-384-9296 (Home)

Dr. Richard Fruehling set up and served as director of Grand Island’s family practice residency program, which was the first residency in the Rural Health Education Network. Fruehling’s program has graduated highly qualified physicians into rural practice, the vast majority of whom are now practicing in Nebraska.

 

Bill Ganzel
Author & Photographer
Lincoln, Nebraska

Dust Bowl Descent
402-474-0697 (Home)
bganzel@ganzelgroup.com

Bill GanzelBill Ganzel is the author of the book "Dust Bowl Descent." In the book, he tracked down some of the same people and places that were first photographed during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Through his contemporary photographs and oral history interviews, an audience can get a sense of what it was like to live through one of the most desperate times in our nation's history. Ganzel is the owner of The Ganzel Group Communications of Lincoln.

 

Jose Francisco Garcia

Cultural Historian

Jose GarciaOmaha, Nebraska

Nebraska’s Mexican American Legacy

402-651-9918 (Home) or 402-651-0042 (Cell)

razatimes@gmail.com

Jose Francisco Garcia is of the 3rd generation descended from a Mexican family who moved to Kansas City, Mo., during the early 20th century. A retired Union Pacific employee and long-time Chicano activist, Jose has studied the movement of people out of Mexico into North America and the effects of this migration on the established culture, particularly in the heartland of America.

 

Linda M. Garcia-PerezLinda M. Garcia-Perez
Storyteller & Retired Children's Librarian
Omaha, Nebraska

Storytelling and the Hispanic Oral Tradition
402-651-9918 (Cell)
artesana5@msn.com

 

Ricardo L. Garcia
Professor of Education, Teachers College

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska

The Art & Practice of Hispano Storytelling
Vaquero to Buckaroo - Hispanic Roots of Cowboy Culture
402-421-9526 (Home) or 402-472-9074 (Work)
rgarcia@unl.edu

Ricardo GarciaRicardo L. Garcia, a native of New Mexico, taught in high schools, colleges and universities for 39 years. At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he devotes his scholarship to the art and practice of storytelling. He's the author of two professional education texts and four works of fiction: "On the Way to San Francisco Bay," "Coal Camp Days, A Boy's Remembrance," “Brother Bill’s Bait Bites Back,” and “Coal Camp Justice.” He has presented programs to a wide range of audiences, from pre-K, elementary and secondary schools, libraries, church groups, prisons, senior citizen groups and family literacy programs in 35 states from Alaska to Puerto Rico and from California to Pennsylvania.

 

Bruce Garver
Professor of History, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha, Nebraska

Contemporary Politics and Society in the Czech and Slovak Republics
Czech-Americans in Nebraska
Modern Czech Art and Architecture
402-558-1895 (Home) or 402-554-4824 (Work)
bgarver@unomaha.edu

 

Nancy S. Gillis
Director, John G. Neihardt Historic Site
Walthill, Nebraska

The Voice of Native American Women
402-846-5907 (Home) or 888-777-4667 (Work)
neihardt@gpcom.net

Nancy S. Gillis joined the Neihardt foundation as assistant Nancy Gillisdirector in May 1997 with a background in both education and corporate administration. She leads workshops on teaching about Native Americans and speaks to schools and civic groups on Neihardt’s work and a variety of related topics. She is also on the faculty at Wayne State College, the Nebraska Indian Community College and Northeast Community College teaching U.S. history, and Native American history and culture. Of Cherokee and Creek heritage, Gillis moved to Nebraska in 1987 to work with the Winnebago people for the Reformed Church in America and serves as their delegate to both that denomination’s Native American Council and the Commission for Race and Ethnicity and is a mentor for religious studies curriculum writers. 

 

Joyzelle Gingway GodfreyJoyzelle Gingway Godfrey

Storyteller

Lincoln, Nebraska

Lewis and Clark Meet the Sioux

Sitting Bull Family Story

Speaking of Ella Deloria

Storytelling of the Dakota

402-470-3810 (Home) or 402-613-1424 (Cell)

 

Alan G. Gless

Judge, Nebraska District Court & Independent Scholar

Alan G. GlessSeward, Nebraska

Roscoe Pound

402-643-4060 (Work)

alanggless@windstream.net (preferred)

A Schuyler native and University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate, after practicing law, Gless became a county court judge and then a district court judge. He has published in “Nebraska Law Review,” “American Journal of Legal History,” “Behavioral Sciences and the Law,” “Justice System Journal,” and served as volume editor of “The History of Nebraska Law.”

 

Deborah Greenblatt
Independent Scholar & Musician
Avoca, Nebraska

James Whitcomb Riley, the Fiddling Children's Poet
402-275-3221 (Home)
g-s@greenblattandseay.com

Deborah Greenblatt has been teaching, performing, composing, recordDeborah Greenblatting and writing professionally since 1971. She is a master artist with the Nebraska Arts Council's Artist in the Schools/Communities Program. Deborah was the first woman to win the Nebraska State Fiddling Championship, the first woman to win the Mid-America Fiddle Championship and is a member of the Mid-America Old-Time Fiddler's Hall of Fame. She performs with her husband as Greenblatt & Seay, and with the Greenblatt String Trio.  She is a consultant for the Denison School of Strings in Iowa and past president of the Nebraska American String Teachers Association.

 

Leonard J. Greenspoon
Professor of Jewish Civilization, Theology & Classics

Creighton University
Omaha, Nebraska

The Ancient World in American Popular Culture
The Bible in Popular Culture
402-384-9890 (Home) or 402-280-2304 (Work)
ljgrn@creighton.edu

Leonard GreenspoonLeonard Greenspoon holds the Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization at Creighton University. He lectures on a variety of topics related to the Bible and to Bible translation, including Jewish translations, from the earliest to the most recent. In addition, Greenspoon is an authority on religion and popular culture, with an emphasis on the Bible in comic strips and elsewhere in newspapers and on the ancient world in modern media (including films, art, television and literature).

 

Evelyn Harris Haller
Evelyn HallerProfessor of English, Chair, Fine Arts/Humanities Division

Doane College-Crete
Lincoln, Nebraska

Hildreth Meiere: The Woman Artist Who Had Eight   .....Commissions for the Nebraska State Capitol
Introduction to Classical Mythology
Leslie and Julia Stephen: A Victorian Man and Woman
Louise Pound, Nebraska Athlete & Scholar: Biography
Louise Pound, Nebraska Athlete & Scholar: Living History
Willa Cather and Quilts
402-477-7079 (Home) or 402-826-8266 (Work)
evelyn.haller@doane.edu

 

Robert Haller
Professor of English Emeritus

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska

Hartley Burr Alexander: A Living History
Human Rights and Indian Rights: Las Casas to Standing Bear

402-488-4258 (Home) or 402-472-1814 (Work)
rhaller@unlserve.unl.edu

Bob Haller has retired from UNL, where he was a fellow of the Center for Great Plains Studies and director of medieval and Renaissance studies. He maintains a program of writing and research, and is currently working to explain and elaborate the contributions of Hartley Burr Alexander to the culture of the Great Plains, beyond serving as “thematic consultant” for the Nebraska State Capitol.

 

Thomas M. Hansen
Fine Art Photographer

Lincoln, Nebraska

Town and Country: Exploring Nebraska in Poetry, Prose and Photographs (with Twyla Hansen)

Thomas M. Hansen402-466-5839 (Home)

thansen1@unl.edu

http://www.thomasmhansen.com

Thomas Hansen is an award-winning photographer with a fascination for small towns, old sections of cities, and even cemeteries. Through his images he explores the tension between the natural environment and the man made world, the effects that weather and disuse have had on the small town landscape, and the urban landscapes that are part of everyday life.

 

Twyla Hansen
Independent Writer & Teacher

Lincoln, Nebraska

All Across the Plains: Creative Writing
Playing Around With Words: Reading, Writing and the Creative Process (with Karen Gettert Shoemaker and Kelly Madigan Erlandson)

Town and Country: Exploring Nebraska in Poetry, Prose and Photographs (with Thomas Hansen)

Creative Writing (Residency program)

402-466-5839 (Home)
twylahansen@windstream.net

http://mockingbird.creighton.edu/NCW/thansen.htm

Twyla Hansen was raised in northeast Nebraska on land her Twyla Hansengrandparents farmed in the late 1800s as immigrants from Denmark. Her latest book, "Prairie Suite: A Celebration" is a poem-drawing collaboration with ornithologist Paul Johnsgard. Her book "Potato Soup" won the 2004 Nebraska Book Awards competition for poetry. Her writing has appeared in a wide variety of publications, including Prairie Schooner, Crab Orchard Review, Ascent, Organization & Environment, Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, Crazy Woman Creek: Women Rewrite the American West, and A Contemporary Reader for Creative Writing. Her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her previous poetry books are "Sanctuary Near Salt Creek," "In Our Very Bones," and "How to Live in the Heartland." Twyla earned her B.S. and M.Ag. degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She lives and works in Lincoln, where her wooded acre is maintained as an urban wildlife habitat and in 1994 was recognized by the Mayor’s Landscape Conservation Award.

 

Vicki Troxel HarrisVicki Troxel Harris
Independent Scholar
Hay Springs, Nebraska
African-American Homesteaders and Cowboys of Nebraska
African-American Pioneers and Entrepreneurs of Nebraska

Poetry of the African-American Cowboy
308-325-0675 (Cell) or 308-638-4554 (Home)

vicki.h@hotmail.com

 

James W. Hewitt

Adjunct Professor of History Nebraska Wesleyan University

Lincoln, Nebraska

The Nebraska Supreme Court

402-476-0243 (Home)

James W. Hewittjhewitt@nebrwesleyan.edu

James Hewitt has been adjunct professor of history at Nebraska Wesleyan University since 2001. He holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Nebraska and has been a Nebraska lawyer since 1956. He was president of the Nebraska State Bar Association in 1985-86 and was vice president and general counsel of Nebco, Inc. in Lincoln from 1961 to 2002. Hewitt is the author of numerous legal historical articles and "Slipping Backward: A History of the Nebraska Supreme Court."

 

Donald Hickey
Professor of History

Wayne State College
Wayne, Nebraska
Nebraska's Rich Heritage
A Visit With Alexander Hamilton
The Star-Spangled Banner: The Flag and the Song
402-375-4030 (Home) or 402-375-7298 (Work)
dohicke1@wsc.edu

Donald HickeyDon Hickey holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. A specialist in early American history and American military history, he is best known for two books, "The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict" and "Nebraska Moments." He developed a living-history program on Alexander Hamilton while on the Great Plains Chautauqua circuit in the late 1980s and has been portraying Hamilton ever since. He also offers a program on Nebraska's rich heritage that stresses the unique people, places and  events that have shaped the state's history.

 

Evelyn Hisel

Independent Scholar and Author

Oshkosh, Nebraska

Crazy Horse (1854-1877)

Mari Sandoz’s Childhood

Old Jules Sandoz

308-772-3334 (Home) or 308-458-9825 (Cell)

 

Gail George HolmesGail Geo. Holmes
Middle Missouri Valley Historian
Omaha, Nebraska
Mormon Communities and Trails in Nebraska
The Mormon Trail at the Missouri
402-558-4081 (Home)
g2holmes@cox.net

 

Dan Holtz
Professor of Englis
h, Peru State College
Nebraska City, Nebraska
From Bleeding Kansas to Old Virginny: Songs and Stories of the Civil War
Nebraska Through Song and Story
402-873-6831 (Home) or 402-872-2267 (Work)
dholtz@oakmail.peru.edu

Dan HoltzDan Holtz is a professor of English at Peru State College, where he has taught since 1987. He is the recipient of the 2000 Nebraska State College System Teaching Excellence Award and the co-director of Peru State's Trails and Tales Tour and Teacher Institute, a cross-disciplinary program in Nebraska history and literature offered in the summers of 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004. He has performed and presented programs for civic organizations and elementary and secondary schools across Nebraska as well as at the Nebraska State Capitol, the Nebraska State Historical Society, the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, Scottsbluff National Monument and the John Neihardt Center. He also appeared at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in July 1999 and at the Bob Devaney Center for the state quarter dedication ceremony in 2006.

 

Ron Hull

Senior Advisor to Nebraska Educational Telecommunications &
Professor Emeritus of Broadcasting, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Lincoln, Nebraska

Mari Sandoz: A Personal Reminiscence

My Two Friends: Mari Sandoz & John Neihardt

402-472-9333 ext. 315 (Work)

rhull1@unl.edu

Ron Hull's broadcasting career began in 1955, when he helped establish the eighth educational televisionRon Hull station in the United States: KUON-TV at the University of Nebraska. For many years he was program manager of the Nebraska ETV Network and later was appointed station manager of KUON-TV and associate general manager of the Network. He served for 18 moths as the television programming advisor to the government of South Vietnam in 1966-67, and during the 1980s was the program fund director at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in Washington, D.C. From 1996-1999 he was an executive in the programming department of PBS in Washington and left that position in 1999 when he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and taught international broadcasting at Cheng Chi University in Taipei, Taiwan. He returned to NET and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He received the 2000 Sower Award in the Humanities.

 

Renae M. Hunt
Scholar, Traveling Historical Programs Inc.
Grand Island, Nebraska
Lewis and Clark: What was Their Value Worth--Seaman, York, Sacagawea and Pomp Stories
Overland Trails: The Children on the Trail
308-384-6963 (Home) or 308-383-3421 (Cell)
naesignz@kdsi.net

Renae HuntRenae Hunt is a native Nebraska farm girl. She graduated from Stromsburg High School and received a bachelor's degree in education from Utah State University. She attended Gallaudet University for the Deaf in Washington, D.C., and is a qualified American Sign Language interpreter. She has been an active historical re-enactor and worked as a museum educator for several years. She traveled on the Mormon Trail in 1997, and followed the Lewis and Clark Trail as a graduate student in summer 2003. In 2002, she co-founded Traveling Historical Programs Inc., which presented hands-on living history programs and has done educational programs in a tri-state area. She has also been a visiting professor at several colleges and universities. 

 

Andrew Jewell

Assistant Professor

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries

Editor, "The Willa Cather Archive"

Lincoln, Nebraska

Willa Cather's Life in Letters

Willa Cather's My Antonia: The Story Behind its Writing and Publication

Willa Cather in the Digital Age

Andrew Jewell402-472-5266 (Work)

ajewell2@unl.edu

http://cather.unl.edu (Willa Cather Archive)

A life-long Nebraskan, Andrew Jewell is the editor of The Willa Cather Archive. He has published several articles on Cather and American literature, and is the co-editor of “A Calendar of the Letters of Willa Cather: An Expanded Digital Edition.” He is an assistant professor in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries.

 

Nancy B. Johnson
Independent Scholar of Great Plains & Women's Studies
Central City, Nebraska
Myths of Women's Madness on the Plains
Wright Morris: Small-Town Life Through the Eyes of a Nebraska Writer
308-946-2867 (Home)
crjnbj@cablene.com

 

Nolan Johnson

Archaeologist

Nebraska State Historical Society

Lincoln, Nebraska

Nebraska: Archeology 10,000BCE-circa 1800CE 

402-560-4177 (Cell)

ptnolanj@hotmail.com

Nolan Johnson holds a bachelor's degree from the University of South Dakota and a master’s of professional archaeology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He works at the Nebraska State Historical Society, doing archeological surveying, report writing, mapping and cataloging.

 

Marilyn Johnson-Farr
Associate Professor of Education

Doane College-Crete
Lincoln, Nebraska
The Complexity of Human Relations
Cultural and Racial Isolation
800-333-6263 (Work) 
marilyn.johnsonfarr@doane.edu

 

Matthew "Sitting Bear" Jones
Storyteller
Lincoln, Nebraska
Kiowa Tales
The Otoe-Missouria Tribe: The Forgotten Nebraskans
Wahtohtana hedan Nyut^achi mahin Xanje akipa (Otoe and Missouria Meet Big Knives
)
Matthew "Sitting Bear" Jones402-475-7300 (Home) or 402-432-6981 (Cell)
mjones748@earthlink.net

Matthew “Sitting Bear” Jones is a Kiowa/Otoe-Missouria Indian of Oklahoma and has been involved in the revival of the rich oral tradition of storytelling for more than 20 years. He received a associate degree from Haskell Indian Junior College, a bachelor's degree from Wichita State University and a master's degree from the UNL in anthropology and adult education. Matthew has worked on many television scripts for NET Television and has won several awards for his work. He has served as a consultant on films, including "Dances With Wolves."

 

Peggy Jones

Assistant Professor

UNO Department of Black Studies

Omaha, Nebraska

Aaron Douglas, UNL Class of ’22: Visual Artist of the Harlem Renaissance

402-554-2996 (Work) or 402-346-8036 (Home)

Peggy Jonesmajones@unomaha.edu

Peggy Jones is an assistant professor of the University of Nebraska at Omaha Black Studies Department. She is also a faculty member of the women and gender studies program and graduate studies. She received an individual artist fellowship from the Nebraska Arts Council for her play, “The Journey,” about Aaron Douglas.

 

Jeff Kappeler
Research Historian & Archivist
Valley, Nebraska
Away and Across the Plains: Pioneer Trails Through Nebraska
Ho for America! Northern European Immigrants to the Midwest in the 19th Century
402-359-2743 (Home)

Jeff KappelerJeff Kappeler, a native Nebraskan, became interested in the state’s history before the age of 10 and this topic has been a life long pursuit. Jeff graduated from Midland Lutheran College with a bachelor's degree in elementary education and taught for several years. He has served as curator of exhibits at John Brown’s Cave Museum in Nebraska City, does exhibit and consultation work for small museums, teaches elder hostel sessions through Midland College, and has independent research projects on a continuing basis to gain a better understanding of 19th century life in Nebraska.

 

Jean C. Karlen
Professor of Sociology

Wayne State College
Wayne, Nebraska
Women's Work, Women's Worth
402-385-2657 (Home) or 402-375-7292 (Work)
jekarle1@wsc.edu

Jean C. Karlen is a native Nebraskan who earned bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. At Wayne State College since 1976, Karlen has been active in community development and women's issues throughout her career and is president of the Nebraska Women's Foundation. In 2000, she received the board of directors' distinguished service award from the Midwest Sociological Society and in 2003 was recognized as the outstanding professor of the year for the Nebraska State College System. In 2006, Karlen received the Voyager Award from the Midwest Consortium for Service-Learning in Higher Education.

 

Fran Kaye 
Professor of English & Great Plains Studies

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska
Huckleberry Finn and Racism
402-423-0643 (Home) or 402-472-3871 (Work)
fkaye1949@yahoo.com

 

Michael J. Kelly
Assistant Professor of Law

Creighton University
Omaha, Nebraska
Genocide as an International Crime
Resurrection of the Pre-Emptive Strike Doctrine in International Law
U.N. Security Council Reform
402-280-3455
mkelly@creighton.edu

Michael J. Kelly received his law degree with distinction from Michael KellyGeorgetown University and his master's degree and bachelor's degree from Indiana University. He was an attorney in the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (1994-95), and director of legal research, writing and advocacy at Michigan State University College of Law (1996-2001). He is co-author of the book "Equal Justice in the Balance: Assessing America's Legal Responses to the Emerging Terrorist Threat" (University of Michigan Press 2004). He has published articles on a variety of issues, including United Nations Security Council reform, federal law governing disposal of ancient human remains, political downsizing, genocide and the erosion of sovereign immunity. His Op-Ed columns have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, San Diego Union Tribune, Detroit News, Chicago Sun-Times and Houston Chronicle. Kelly teaches international law, international environmental law, international criminal law, European Union law, Native American law, and national security and foreign relations law.

 

Jerome Kills Small
Instructor of Language, Philosophy and Native American Thought

University of South Dakota
Vermillion, South Dakota
Children's Stories, Animal Stories and Traditional Lakota Stories
Harvesting Foods and Medicines in the Dakota Tradition
Dr. Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa)
Songs, Dances and Games of the Lakota
605-677-6976 (Work)
jkillsma@usd.edu

Jerome Kills SmallJerome Kills Small is an Oglala Lakota from Porcupine, S.D., on the Pine Ridge Reservation. A 1997 graduate of the University of South Dakota with a master's degree in selected studies, he stayed to teach at USD, where he teaches Lakota language, American Indian thought, Siouan tribal culture, Lakota history and a seminar on Black Elk. He also teaches the Dakota language and American Indian cultures at the Nebraska Indian Community College at Santee, Neb., and South Sioux City, Iowa. Jerome is featured in the book "Wounded Warriors: A Time for Healing," and has a story in the Silver Anniversary Anthology published by the South Dakota Humanities Council. Kills Small has parts in the videos "Sucker Punched," "Nagi Kicopi (Calling Back the Spirit)," "Lost Landscapes" and "Bones of Contention: Repatriation and Reburial." He sings with the Oyate Singers of Vermillion, S.D. In the Great Plains Chautauqua, he portrayed Dr. Charles A. Eastman, the first medical doctor of the Santee people of the Dakota Tribe; and Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief and British general.

 

Richard Kimbrough
Instructor, Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Business Administration
Crete, Nebraska
Country Tales and Truths
From Every Land
A Visitor From Russia
Why We Laugh
402-826-4428 (Home)
rbkimbrough@yahoo.com

Richard KimbroughRichard Kimbrough teaches part-time at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the College of Business Administration. He is a native Nebraskan, having grown up on a farm near Big Springs. He has taught for more than 50 years in schools ranging from Nebraska to Illinois to California to several republics of the former Soviet Union. He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Kearney with advanced work from the University of California, the University of Maine, and Duke University. He is the author of 11 books, including a national prize-winning juvenile novel. In 1991 he was one of 17 American educators to receive the Leavey Award for Excellence in Education presented through the Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge, Pa.

 

Thomas N. King
Professor of  Secondary Education

Doane College
Thomas N. KingCrete, Nebraska
General U.S. Grant

President U.S. Grant
402-826-3835 (Home) or 402-826-8206 (Work)

tom.king@doane.edu

www.tnking.com

Thomas N. King has degrees in history and secondary education from Westminster College in  Fulton, Mo., and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Oklahoma State University. He teaches a Civil War course for Doane College in Crete.

 

William Kloefkorn

Nebraska State Poet and Professor Emeritus of English

Nebraska Wesleyan University

Lincoln, Nebraska

The Music of Poetry/The Poetry of Music

402-486-0256 (Home)

William KloefkornWilliam Kloefkorn lives and writes in Lincoln, where he is emeritus professor of English at Nebraska Wesleyan University. He has written many collections of poetry including "Covenants" (with Utah poet laureate David Lee). He has two collections of short stories, "A Time to Sink Her Pretty Little Ship" and "Shadow-Boxing," and three memoirs. His second memoir, "Restoring the Burnt Child," was selected for One Book One Nebraska 2008. Kloefkorn initiated the poets-in-the-schools program in Nebraska and was named Nebraska State Poet in 1982.

 

Brian Kokensparger as John A CreightonBrian Kokensparger
Lecturer in Computer Science

Creighton University
Omaha, Nebraska
John A. Creighton: Blazing the First Internet
402-280-3595 (Work) or 402-558-3834 (Home)
bkoken@creighton.edu

 

Lisa KrammeLisa Kramme
Independent Scholar
Fremont, Nebraska
Tales from Hans Christian Andersen
402-727-9392 (Home)
lisakramme@yahoo.com

 

Marie Krohn

Writer of Histories and Biographies

Neligh, Nebraska

Marie KrohnLouise Pound: The Iconoclast

402-887-5009 (Home) or  402-929-0161 (Cell)

marikn@frontiernet.net

Author and historian Marie Krohn has spent her career as an educator, researcher, and reporter. Her written works have appeared in journals, magazines, and newspapers nationwide. She is among the foremost experts on the fascinating and notable life of another Nebraska native, Louise Pound

 

Lowen Kruse
State Senator
Omaha, Nebraska
Changing Attitudes in Nebraska's Public Policy for those in Need
Four Reasons Our Taxes Go Up
402-453-4825
lowenkruse@cox.net

Sen. Lowen KruseState Sen. Lowen Kruse grew up and farmed in Howard County. He graduated from Boelus High School, Nebraska Wesleyan University and Garrett Seminary on the Northwestern campus in Evanston, Ill. He has served as United Methodist pastor in Buffalo, Custer and Douglas counties, as a church consultant for Nebraska, and as a district superintendent in northeast  Nebraska and Omaha. Kruse is the author of three Nebraska histories. He was elected to the legislature in 2000. 

 

Thomas A. KuhlmanThomas A. Kuhlman
Associate Professor of English

Creighton University
Omaha, Nebraska

Harry Gold: From Student to Spy

Stories of the Irish in Nebraska
402-558-3052 (Home) or 402-280-2526 (Work)
takuhl@creighton.edu

 

Doug Kuony

Independent Scholar & Living History Interpreter

Fort Atkinson

Omaha, Nebraska

Major John Dougherty: Trapper to Statesman, A Life on the Plains

Doug Kuony as Major John Dougherty402-660-2834

dkuony@cox.net

Doug Kuony has been active in the Living History program at Fort Atkinson State Historic Park in Fort Calhoun for many years as a historical interpreter. For reenactments of Lewis & Clark and War of 1812 events he has assumed various personas. Since the mid-1990s he has portrayed Major John Dougherty. From 1997 through 2004 he worked as an interpreter, event organizer, webmaster and program presenter in the Lewis and Clark educational program Discovery Corps Inc.

 

Terry Lane
Independent Scholar
Lincoln, Nebraska
Terry Lane
Meet Buffalo Bill
402-421-3678 ext. 199 (Work)
terrylane@outdrs.net

Terry Lane has portrayed Buffalo Bill Cody since 1998 and has been the official Nebraska State Buffalo Bill and the Nebraska Division of Travel and Tourism “Nebraska Bill” since 2001. Lane’s education is in U.S. history, and when not scouting the plains of Nebraska, he manages The Fort Old West Shop in Lincoln.

 

Carole Levin
Professor of History

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska
Elizabeth I: Power, Politics and Sexuality
Jews in Medieval and Renaissance England: Realities and Representations
Joan of Arc: Saint, Witch, Madwoman, Hero?
402-435-7339 (Home) or 402-472-3494 (Work)
clevin2@unl.edu

 

Louis I. Leviticus

Professor Emeritus, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Curator, Larsen Museum

Lincoln, Nebraska

WWII—Through the Eyes of a Holocaust Survivor, Part I

WWII—Through the Eyes of a Holocaust Survivor, Part II

402-472-8389 (Work) or 402-421-1862 (Home)

lleviticus1@unl.edu

 

Betty Levitov

Professor of English

Doane College

Lincoln, Nebraska

Africa On Six Wheels: A Semester on Safari

402-475-6994 (home) or 402-826-8541 (work)

betty.levitov@doane.edu

After a bachelor’s degree in English from Towson University in Maryland and graduate work at Columbia University in New York, Betty Levitov lived, taught, and traveled in West Africa.  A professor at Doane College beginning in 1983, Betty began leading travel/study courses to Africa. In 2007, the University of Nebraska Press published Levitov’s travel memoir about taking students to Africa, titled “Africa on Six Wheels: A Semester on Safari.”

 

Helen M. Lewis
Instructor of English & Humanities

Western Iowa Technical College
Sioux City, Iowa
Grace Abbott: Children's Crusader

Riding for Glory:  Missionary Travel to the Oregon Territory, 1836-1838

Voicing a Cause, Voicing a Self: Jane Addams of Hull House
712-274-8733 ext. 1423 (Work)
lewish@witcc.edu

helen2000hum@yahoo.com

Helen Lewis as Jane AddamsHelen M. Lewis teaches English and humanities at Western Iowa Tech Community College in Sioux City, Iowa. She received her degrees from the University of Maryland at College Park. While teaching at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, she received a 1990 NEH Summer Fellowship to study women Romantic poets at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. An active public speaker in humanities, Lewis’s topics cover such areas as square dancing and women’s studies through art, Westerns and British Romanticism. Since 1999, Lewis has portrayed Jane Addams for Chautauqua and humanities audiences from Oklahoma to North Dakota. She also has developed a portrayal of Nebraska native Grace Abbott. 

 

Robert Lind

Retired Geography Professor
Kearney, Nebraska
Cultural Change in the Andes
Perspectives on Globalization
308-236-7091 (Home)

lindr@charter.net

Robert LindBefore his recent retirement, Bob Lind's teaching career spanned 36 years of full time teaching at Kearney State College/ University of Nebraska at Kearney. During this time, he taught 16 different courses in geography; most of them related to regional, historical, and cultural geography. To enhance his teaching, he traveled extensively on six continents where he observed, studied, and photographed diverse physical and cultural phenomena. During his career, he received a number of fellowships and awards including being the first recipient of The Nebraska State College Teaching Excellence Award.

 

Sharif Z. Liwaru
President
Malcolm X Memorial Foundation

Omaha, Nebraska

Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X)
800-645-9287
info@malcolmxfoundation.org
Sharif Z. LiwaruSharif Liwaru joined the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation in 1992 and has been president since 2005. He graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in Black studies. He is an assistant director in the student organizations and leadership programs office responsible for the university's organizations and cultural programs and is the liaison between community organizations and students. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in public administration with a concentration in non-profit management.  

 

Preston Love Jr.

Independent Scholar

North Omaha Community

Adam Clayton Powell, a Living History Presentation

402-812-3324

Prestonlovejr@yahoo.com

Preston Love Jr. was formerly an IBM marketing executive and Atlanta’s commissioner of planning under Mayor Andrew Young. In 1984 he became the national campaign manager of the Jesse Jackson for President campaign. Preston is a community activist and a board member of The Literacy Center in Omaha.

 

Janet Lu
Professor of Library Information Technology

Janet LuNebraska Wesleyan University
Lincoln, Nebraska
Chinese Culture and Language
Chinese Immigrants in America
Intercultural Communication

Intercultural Communication for the Health Care Professional

402-465-2407 (Work)
jcl@NebrWesleyan.edu

Janet Lu has lived in Lincoln since 1968 and is an active promoter of Chinese cultural heritage. She has worked as the public services librarian at Nebraska Wesleyan University since 1979 and has taught library science for 16 years. She is vice president of the Lincoln Chinese Cultural Association.

 

Thomas J. Lynch

Manager, Boys Town Hall of History and Father Flanagan House Museum

Boys Town, Nebraska

Thomas J.  LynchFather Edward J. Flanagan of Boys Town, Nebraska

402-498-1186 (Work)

lyncht@girlsandboystown.org

Following graduation from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Tom Lynch became a museum associate in the newly opened Boys Town Hall of History museum. Today he is manager of the Hall of History and Father Flanagan House Museum, and volunteer coordinator for Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home.

 

Stuart C. LynnStuart C. Lynn
Independent Scholar
Omaha, Nebraska
The Klondike Goldrush through the Eyes of Robert W. Service, Bard of the Yukon
402-558-7209 (Home)

clynn7209@aol.com

 

David Marsh
Musician
David MarshDenton, Nebraska
Music From Around the World

Music of the Civil War
Music of the Germanic Lands
Music of Ireland
Music of the Plains
402-797-5112 (Home) or 402-499-3262 (Cell)
marshnmusic@aol.com

 

Matt Mason
Poet
Omaha, Nebraska

Performance Poetry or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Slam

Why Poetry Is More Entertaining Than TV

 402-453-5711 (home)

mtmason@gmail.com

 

Marla Matkin
Independent Scholar and Performer
Hill City, Kansas
Cattle Towns and Soiled Doves
Frontier Military Posts (and the Women Who Called Them Home)
Libbie's Story

Storytelling (Residency program)
785-421-5513
Marla Matkinrfd12@hotmail.com

Marla Matkin comes by her love of history honestly, having been born in Dodge City, Kan., and raised nearby. She could never seem to get enough of the legend and lore surrounding the region and its people. This deep connection to the area can be traced back to her great-grandparents who homesteaded in Southwest Kansas in 1876. Add to this her love of drama, and she makes a compelling case for the ladies she portrays. A graduate of Fort Hays State University with a degree in education, she is inspired to instruct as well as entertain audiences throughout the Midwest, West and most recently at the Smithsonian. 

 

Michael F. McDonald

Singer, Songwriter, Storyteller

Yankton, South Dakota

Michael F. McDonaldCorps of Discovery in Song and Story

605-664-7672 (Home)

oisins_remnant@yahoo.com

Michael McDonald hails from Yankton County, S.D., growing up on a couple of farms with six brothers and a sister. He is a Vietnam era veteran, a graduate of the University of South Dakota, and is employed by the U.S. Postal Service. He and his wife, Deb, are parents of three and live in Yankton.

 

Jim McKee
City of Lincoln Historian
Lincoln, Nebraska
The Amazing Library of Thomas Jefferson Fitzpatrick
The History of the Nebraska State Capitol
The History of the University of Nebraska
Looking at Lincoln: Images From the MacDonald Studio
Why Is Lincoln the State Capital and Not Yankee Hill?
402-488-4636 (Home)
jimmckee@windstream.net

Jim McKeeJim McKee is owner of Lee Booksellers. He is the author of more than 800 articles and books on Lincoln and Nebraska history and  numismatics including "Lincoln: A Photographic History," "Visions of Lincoln," "Lincoln: The Prairie Capital," "Havelock: A Photo History and Walking Tour," and "Remember When." His weekly history column has appeared in the Lincoln Journal-Star Sunday newspaper since 1993. He has been a local history adjunct professor at Southeast Community College in Lincoln since 1970. He presents about 50 talks a year to church, civic, professional and  historical groups. 

 

Sue McLain
Collector of Vintage Clothing
Beatrice, Nebraska
Sue McLain
A Century of Fashion, 1870-1970 (with Barbara Trout)
402-223-5121 (Home)
yesterdayslady@alltel.net

www.yesterdayslady.com

Sue McLain, owner of Yesterday’s Lady, a vintage fashion museum/store in Beatrice, has been traveling the Midwest since 1991 sharing her extensive collection of clothing from 1840 through 1980 and teaching groups about the history of fashion. Sue has been collecting fashions since 1985 and they are currently housed in an 1887 historic building in downtown Beatrice.

 

Patrice McMahon
Assistant Professor of Political Science

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska
Security in the Post-Cold War Era
402-472-3235 or 402-472-2343
pmcmahon2@unl.edu

Patrice McMahon is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research interests include the causes and effects of identity on international relations, transnationalism, democracy promotion, and human rights. Her recent publications include “Taming Ethnic Hatred: Ethnic Cooperation and Transnational Networks in Eastern Europe” (Syracuse University Press, 2007) and “American Foreign Policy in a Globalized World”, edited with David P. Forsythe and Andrew Wedeman (Routledge Press, 2006).

 

Gwen Meister
Folklorist
Lincoln, Nebraska

Nebraska Folklife and Folk Arts (Residency program)

Welcome to Nebraska!: Our New Immigrant Cultures
402-420-5442 (Day or Evening)
plainsculture@inebraska.com

Gwen MeisterGwen Meister is a folklorist with an master's degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. An active member of the American Folklore Society since 1991, Gwen was folk arts coordinator for the Nebraska Arts Council in Omaha for more than four years. Now she is executive director of the Nebraska Folklife Network in Lincoln, a statewide non-profit organization that creates educational materials on Nebraska’s ethnic cultures for use by classroom teachers across Nebraska. (See the NHC’s Cultural Encounter Kits.) Gwen works closely with both newer immigrant groups and established ethnic organizations in her work of documenting, promoting and presenting the ethnic cultural traditions in Nebraska.

 

Lyn Messersmith
Cowboy Poet & Freelance Writer

Alliance, Nebraska
The Heart's Compass: Women on the Trails (with Deb Carpenter)
Hell on Women and Horses
Legends and Leaders of the West (with Deb Carpenter)

Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History (with Deb Carpenter)

Family History (Residency program)
308-762-2583 (Home)
ezrein@bbcwb.net

Deb Carpenter (left) and Lyn MessersmithLyn Messersmith is a third-generation Cherry County rancher and a freelance writer who has fed a lot of hungry cowhands and has been one herself. She holds a degree in mental health and has worked in that field and as curator of the Cherry County Historical Museum. Lyn enjoys passing on the oral traditions of the cattle industry and has been featured at Cowboy Poetry Gatherings all over the West, as well as in Canada. Her belief that we are who we are because of where we've been, has involved her in an ongoing quest to explore pioneer women's diaries and the lives of historical figures.

 

Doug MeuxDoug Meux
Independent Scholar
Omaha, Nebraska
Hugh Glass, Mountain Man: The Man Who Met a Grizzly

John C. Fremont: The Pathfinder

402-991-3343 (Home)

dlmeux@juno.com

 

Ronald Miller
Professor
Emeritus

Chadron State College
Chadron, Nebraska

History of Conflict in Northern Ireland
308-432-2384 (Home)
rmiller@csc.edu

Ron Miller taught sociology at Chadron State College for 32 years, including the course "Ethnic and Minority Group Relations," which inspired development of the program, "History of Northern Ireland’s 'Troubles'." One-fourth Irish himself, and with a spouse who grew up in an Irish neighborhood in Philadelphia, in 2002 he accompanied his mother-in-law, wife and daughter on a visit to the Republic of Ireland. With worried Republic of Ireland relatives behind, the family set off on side trips to Northern Ireland to photograph sites of ethnic conflict in Belfast and Londonderry (Derry). At one point, while experiencing a close-up view of the business end of a British soldier’s automatic weapon, he thought the relative’s worries might be justified. A native of Watertown, S.D., with bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in sociology from, respectively, the University of South Dakota, the University of Toledo (Ohio), and Washington State University, Miller combines an academic perspective with photographic and musical documentation to present and analyze the background and outcomes of strife in Northern Ireland.

 

Gene O. Morris

President, Morris Media

McCook, Nebraska 

The Editor Who Stopped the Floods: The Harry Strunk Story

Archway to Excellence: The Visions of Gov. Frank Morrison

308-340-5972 (Cell) or 308-345-3437 (Home)

geneomorris@yahoo.com

After 45 years as a newspaper publisher and Chamber of Commerce executive, Gene O. Morris has embarked on a career as a writer, speaker and media consultant, after 17 years as publisher of the McCook Daily Gazette.

 

Wynema Morris
Independent Scholar & Associate Fellow

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Walthill, Nebraska
 American Indian Values for the 21st Century
Social and Political Structures of the Omaha Tribe
Understanding American Indian Tribal Governments
402-846-5985 (Home) or 402-846-5853 (Work)

windwalker@huntel.net

Wynema Morris is a member of the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska and lives on the Omaha Reservation at Walthill. She is an active speaker and teacher regarding traditional, historical and political issues of American Indians. She is an associate fellow for the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. As a former executive tribal administrator and vice chairman of the Omaha tribal government, she speaks on a wide range of subjects regarding American Indians. Morris received both her BS and her MA from the Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff, Ariz., where she grew up on the Navajo Reservation.

 

Neville F. Murray
Director, Loves Jazz & Arts Center

Omaha, Nebraska
Issues of Equity, Inclusion and Multiculturalism
West Indian Caribbean Art and Culture
402-933-4906 (Home) or 402-502-5291 (Work)

nevillemurray@cox.net

 

Greg Nestroyl

Living History Re-enactor

Omaha, Nebraska

General George Crook: His Life and Times

402-333-9228 (Home) or 402-384-9999 (Work)

nestroyl@msn.com

Nestroyl, an Omaha native, has always had an interest in local and American history. Following in the footsteps of leaders like Abraham Lincoln, he has become a self-educated historian. Reading and absorbing topics in special areas of interest in the history of America’s West including American Indian wars, the Civil War, and westward expansionism has become Nestroyl’s passion. Nestroyl has participated in training by the Douglas County Historical Society and the Lewis and Clark Training Academy.

 

Fred Nielsen

Lecturer in History

University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha, Nebraska

Abraham Lincoln, America's Greatest Political Orator

Completing, Remembering , and Forgetting the Civil War
The Origins of American Environmentalism
402-554-2593 (Work) or 402-556-4072 (Home)
fnielsen@unomaha.edu

Fred NielsenFred Nielsen earned his Ph.D. at the University of Kansas.  A member of the history department at the University of Nebraska at Omaha since 1992, he has taught numerous courses, including environmental history, "The Civil War and Reconstruction," "America in the Sixties," and "American History Viewed Right and Left." From 2001 to 2006, he was an interviewer on "Talking History," a nationally syndicated radio program.

 

Dawn Nielsen
Teacher
Blair, Nebraska
Voices From the New Land: Danish Immigration to Nebraska (with John Mark Nielsen)
402-426-4825 (Home) or 800-759-9192 (Work)
jmnielse@dana.edu

A 1974 graduate of Dana College, Dawn Nielsen teaches 12th grade English and English literature at Blair Community High School. In 1977 she received a Marshall Fellowship for study in Denmark, where she worked with a number of Danish children's theaters. In May 1989, she was selected by the students of Blair High School to receive their teacher of the year award, and in June 1992, the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars named her a distinguished teacher.

 

John Mark Nielsen
Professor of English

Dana College
Blair, Nebraska
Voices From the New Land: Danish Immigration to Nebraska (with Dawn Nielsen)
402-426-4825 (Home) or 800-759-9192 (Work)
jmnielse@dana.edu or
director@danishmuseum.org

John Mark Nielsen is executive director of The Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn, Iowa, and professor of English at Dana College. A 1973 Dana graduate, Nielsen received his M.A. from Creighton University and his Ph.D. in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In 1977 he was awarded a Marshall Fellowship for study in Denmark, and in 1983-84 he was a Fulbright lecturer in American literature at several colleges in Denmark. During that time he was a consultant to the National Museum of Denmark in preparing "The Dream of America," an exhibit on Danish emigration to the United States. He has written extensively on the Danish American immigrant experience since that time. More recently, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching named him the 1999 Nebraska professor of the year. In 2000 he was a Fulbright senior lecturer in American literature at Mercy College of Calicut University in India.

 

Olga Olivares
Independent Scholar & Family Support Specialist
Lincoln, Nebraska
Mexican-American Christmas Traditions
"Mexican Sayings (Dichos)" 
Pride in the Mexican Culture
402-202-6933 (Cell)

Olga OlivaresOlga Olivares was born in Texas and migrated to Nebraska at an early age. She was educated in Nebraska with a focus in human services and multi-cultural skills. Olga has worked more than 20 years as a service provider, a Mexican cultural educator, and has served on local, state and national committees who serve the needs of Nebraskans. She was a commissioner on the Mexican-American Commission and has worked with Nebraska Ethnics Together Working on Reaching Kids, The White House Conference for a Drug Free America, the Nebraska Historical Society and the Nebraska Humanities Council. She has received many awards of recognition for her work including the 1985 and 1989 Nebraska Hispanic Women of the Year. 

 

Carol Miles Petersen
Bess Streeter Aldrich Biographer
Omaha, Nebraska
Bess Streeter Aldrich: Biography
402-896-0801 (Home)

carmpeter@aol.com

 

Patricia PixleyPatricia Pixley
Curator, General Crook House Museum
Omaha, Nebraska
A Day In the Life of a Victorian Lady
402-571-2742 (Home) or 402-455-9990 (Work)

Patricia Pixley’s interests include the study of antiques, furniture refinishing and teaching. Pixley’s classes include art history, painting and drawing, history and appreciation of antiques and picture framing. She has researched Midwestern wallpapers for publications including “Sautter House Five: Wallpapers of a German-American Farmstead,” published by the Douglas County Historical Society.

 

Oscar Rios Pohirieth
Musician
Lincoln, Nebraska
Andean Folk Music and Cultures of South America
402-489-0986
info@kusitaki.com
www.kusitaki.com

Band director Oscar Rios Pohirieth grew up in Veracruz in southern Mexico, where he learned to play Andean music after hearing it from both exiled Chilean groups and Mexican folk music ensembles. In 1993 he founded the first Nebraska-based Andean folk group after meeting a traveling group of Ecuadorian musicians and realizing his desire to share his love of Andean traditional music with others. He finds that performing in Nebraska creates cultural bridges to Latin America and fosters an understanding of Andean cultures.

 

Oliver B. Pollak
Professor of History

University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha, Nebraska
The Holocaust: A Personal Documentary
The Epic of Nebraska Courthouses: 1854-2000
402-333-5166 (Home) or 402-345-1717 (Work)
obpomni@aol.com

Oliver B. PollakOliver B. Pollak was born in England to Ruth and William Pollak during World War II. His parents were refugees from Germany and Austria. The family emigrated to America in 1952. After living for a while in Ohio they settled in Los Angeles. Oliver earned his doctorate in history at UCLA and his law degree at Creighton University. He has written 10 books and more than 100 scholarly articles and writes popular columns for several publications. He is a co-founder of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society and has served on the boards of the Nebraska Humanities Council and the Nebraska Center for the Book.

 

Mary Kay Quinlan
Associate Journalism Professor, UNL & Oral Historian
Lincoln, Nebraska
Introduction to Oral History
The People Who Made It Work: A Centennial History of the Cushman Motor Works
402-420-1473 (Home)
OHAEditor@aol.com

 

Charles E. Real
Adjunct History Instructor

Metro Community College
Omaha, Nebraska
Discovering the Celtic World in Nebraska
A Civil War Irish Soldier’s Journey to Nebraska
402-573-8442
creal@cox.net

Charles RealChuck Real has an undergraduate degree in education from the University of Nebraska-Kearney, where he majored in history and political science, and a graduate degree in history from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He taught high school history and government in the Albion Public Schools and recently retired as vice president for corporate services of Omaha-based Continental General Insurance Co. He teaches both credit and non-credit business and history courses at Metropolitan Community College, including American history and history of world civilizations.

 

Laureen Riedesel
Director, Beatrice Public Library
Beatrice, Nebraska
Clues to Clara: The Rediscovery of Local Women's History
Introduction to Nebraska Authors
Mary Bewick Bridges White
Swedish Pioneers in Nebraska
402-223-3584 (Work) or 402-228-2433 (Home)

 

Dorothy Rieke
Writer
Julian, Nebraska
Ghosts, Goblins and Ghouls!
Nebraska Farm Families During the Depression
402-242-2439 (Home)

Dorothy RiekeAfter graduating from Nebraska City High School at the age of 16, Dorothy Rieke began her career as a teacher in a rural school. Later, she completed bachelor's and master's degrees at Peru State College and additional courses from the University of Nebraska and the University of Oklahoma. She taught in high school for nine years and spent more than 30 years teaching English in the Auburn Middle School. Voted teacher of the year, she retired after 44 years. She is a freelance writer of nostalgia, travel, religious and food articles. She is published in more than 50 magazines.

 

Robert RipleyRobert C. Ripley
Capitol Administrator

Nebraska State Capitol
Lincoln, Nebraska
The Making of a Monument
402-488-5131 (Home) or 402-471-0419 (Work)

Robert Ripley is a native of Lincoln and a registered professional architect.

 

Edith Robbins
Independent Scholar
Grand Island, Nebraska
The "Little Dutchman's" Civil War: Translating Private August Scherneckau's Diary of the First Nebraska Volunteers, 1862-1865
308-381-0137
edithrobbins@speakeasy.net

Edith RobbinsA native of Berlin, Edith Robbins has been interested in the history of immigration and assimilation of Germans in this country. She has worked for the research center at the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island and has published numerous papers. August Scherneckau's diary has been published as a book "Marching with the First Nebraska" in April 2007, edited by James E. Potter, senior historian at the Nebraska State Historical Society, and Edith Robbins. She is a member of the editorial board for the Grand Island Independent, writing editorials as well as historical articles for that newspaper.

 

Ron Rockenbach
Independent Scholar
Lincoln, Nebraska
The Common Soldier in the Civil War
402-488-1637 (Home)

ronrockenbach@yahoo.com
Ron Rockenbach as Civil War soldier
Ron Rockenbach began Civil War re-enacting in 1994 after seeing the movie "Gettysburg." His first regional or national reenactment was at Memphis, Tenn., with the First Nebraska Infantry Regiment based in Omaha. He has visited more than a dozen national battlefields including Lexington, Athens, New Madrid, Lone Jack, Harrisville and the Kansas City areas in Missouri,  Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and Chickamauga in Tennessee, Kennesaw Mountain in Georgia and Gettysburg in Pennsylvania.

 

Warren Rodgers
Independent Scholar
Grand Island, Nebraska
Fencing, the Windmill and the Steel Plow
The Horse: Dominant Hoof Prints Through History
308-382-1527 (Home)

Warren RodgersWarren Rodgers is a native of southeastern Nebraska. He attended Falls City High School and Hastings College, and did graduate work at the American Institute for Foreign Trade, in Glendale, Ariz., the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska at Kearney. From 1958 to 1974, he taught U.S. and Nebraska history at schools in Ogallala and Grand Island. In 1975, he began working at the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island in all areas of museum work, including research, interpretation, education, preservation, collections and outdoor exhibits. In 2002, he retired as assistant director of the Stuhr Museum.

 

Maurine Roller
Independent Scholar
Alliance, Nebraska
Reminiscences of an Oregon Trail Pioneer
Rheta Childe Dorr: The Struggle for Suffrage
308-762-7126 (Home) or 308-760-8686 (cell)
mroller@bbc.net

Maurine Roller as Rheta Childe DorrMaurine Roller received a master's degree in liberal studies from the University of Oklahoma, with specialization in women’s history and cultural geography of the Great Plains, and a bachelor's in American history from Regents College, State University of New York (SUNY). She portrays two characters in NHC programs. Rheta Childe Dorr, an Omaha native,  was a turn-of-the-century suffragist and internationally known writer. Cora Garvey, a composite pioneer woman who traveled the Overland Trail in 1850, was developed from more than 400 women’s diaries and journals that Roller researched while working on her master’s thesis.

 
Otto Rosfeld
Balladeer, Poet & Storyteller
Valentine, Nebraska
Sandhills Song
Treading Lightly or Stomping
402-376-1997 (Home)
twooldrosfelds@yahoo.com

Otto RosfeldOtto Rosfeld was born and raised in Rushville, in what is known by literary people as Sandoz country. Otto has a bachelor of music degree from Chadron State College with graduate hours from schools in Greeley, Colo., and Kearney, Neb. After more than 30 years as a public school teacher, Otto took early retirement to pursue full time his love for the performing arts. An independent scholar and musician, he has been performing his programs since the early 1990s.

 

Doug Rung
Independent Scholar
Geneva, Nebraska
Nebraska and the Civil War
Nebraskans Remember World War II
402-759-0597 (Cell)

Doug RungDoug Rung was born in Lincoln and received a bachelor's degree in education with majors in history and geography and a master of education degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He taught social studies courses for 28 years in Geneva Junior-Senior High School. Rung worked for M-C Industries (Sunflower Marketing) in Geneva for 10 1/2 years before retiring in 2007. He is on the board of directors for the Fillmore County Historical Society and is a member of a Civil War re-enactors unit. He has traveled in a covered wagon on the major immigrant trails in Nebraska and recently followed part of the Lewis and Clark Trail from Nebraska to Idaho.

 

Ben Salazar
Publisher

Nuestro Mundo newspaper
Omaha, Nebraska
Latinos: Searching for the Good Life in Nebraska
402-731-6210 (Work)

Omaha businessman Ben Salazar is a native of Scottsbluff. He earned his bachelor's degree in sociology and his juris doctorate degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Salazar is a Chicano activist, having worked with Nebraska organizers of farm workers since the late 1960s. He has worked with such diverse organizations as Legal Aid in Phoenix, where he represented the elderly and disabled; Lincoln Action Program; Chicanos por la causa; the public defender's office; and the Arizona attorney general's office. He is the publisher of Nuestro Mundo, a Spanish-English newspaper in Omaha. He is also a mediator and continues in his role as an advocate for Latinos and Spanish-speaking people.

 

Kurt Sandquist
Adult Ministry Pastor, Lincoln Berean Church
Lincoln, Nebraska
Nebraska Jails: The History and Evolution of Local Nebraska Jails--150
Years of Change
402-483-6512 (work)  or 402-488-7459 (Home)
kurtsandquist@yahoo.com  

 

Chris Sayre
Musician
Lincoln, Nebraska
A Musical Journey Across America: Songs That Helped Shape a Nation
Nebraska's Musical Smorgasbord: Music From Various Ethnic Groups in Nebraska
402-477-6777 (Home)
cksayre@windstream.net

Chris SayreLincoln native Chris Sayre has been performing music professionally for 30 years. He has dedicated much of that time to the promotion and preservation of traditional folk music from Western Europe and North America. His many awards include three time Folk Artist of the Year, Entertainer of the Year and Hall of Fame recipient, as well as several first-place finishes in contests throughout the Midwest. Self-taught on more than a dozen instruments, Chris consistently leaves his audiences wanting more.

 

Roy Scheele
Associate Professor of English & Poet-In-Residence

Doane College-Crete
Crete, Nebraska
Across the Sandhills: Words and Music (with Randall Snyder)
402-477-1102 (Home) or 402-826-8262 (Work)
roy.scheele@doane.edu

Roy ScheeleRoy Scheele is poet-in-residence and associate professor of English at Doane College in Crete. His poems have been widely published in such journals as Poetry, Prairie Schooner and The Sewanee Review and in a number of anthologies, including "To the Clear Fountains: 100 American Poems" (The Dolphin Press, 2002). He also has published criticism, as well as interviews with contemporary poets Miroslav Holub, Hayden Carruth, W.R. Moses and W.D. Snodgrass.

 

John Schleicher
Head, Special Collections, McGoogan Library of Medicine

University of Nebraska Medical Center 
Omaha, Nebraska
Germans From Russia in Nebraska

History of the University of Nebraska Medical Center

Robert Ramsay Livingston, M.D.

402-614-2704 (Home) or 402-559-7094 (Work) 
jschleicher@unmc.edu

John SchleicherJohn Schleicher is a native Nebraskan born in Superior and raised in Plattsmouth. He graduated from Hastings College  with a bachelor's degree in social science and education and received a master's in history from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He was exhibits and programs assistant at Western Heritage Museum in Omaha from 1990-1992, then was executive director of the Dodge County Historical Society and director of the May Museum in Fremont from 1992-1994. From 1994-2002, he was the education and statewide services coordinator in the museum division of the Nebraska State Historical Society. He has been involved with several historical and preservation organizations, including the Preservation Association of Lincoln, the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, the American Association for State and Local History and the Nebraska Museums Association.

 

David Seay
Independent Scholar & Musician
Avoca, Nebraska
Nebraska Territory Stories
The "Tradition" in Traditional Folk Music

Train Songs and Tales of the Westward Rails

Folk Traditions Through Music (Residency program)
402-275-3221 (Home)
g-s@greenblattandseay.com

David SeayCombining his passions for music, history, and storytelling, David Seay has presented NHC Speakers Bureau programs since 1997. He is a master artist with the Nebraska Arts Council's Artist-in-the-Schools Communities Residency Program and performs with his wife, Deborah Greenblatt, in the popular musical duo Greenblatt & Seay, which has participated in the Nebraska Arts Council's Touring Program for more than 20 years. David plays over a dozen instruments, teaches private music lessons, and conducts workshops in harmonica, songwriting, beginning folk dance, and hands-on-the instruments. 

 

Wally A. Seiler
Wally Seiler as Mark TwainIndependent Scholar
Alliance, Nebraska
Mark Twain on the Lecture Circuit
308-762-7572 (Home) or 308-762-4400 (Work)

Wally Seiler is a businessman, past chair of the Nebraska Library Commission, and past winner of a nationwide Mark Twain look-alike contest at Calaveras Jumping Frog Jubilee in Angels Camp, Calif.

 

Karen Gettert Shoemaker
Independent Writer & Teacher
Lincoln, Nebraska
Playing Around With Words: Reading, Writing and the Creative Process (with Twyla Hansen and Kelly Madigan Erlandson)
402-489-0859
kss516@yahoo.com

Karen Gettert Shoemaker’s first collection of short fiction, "Night Sounds and Other Stories," was published in the United States in May 2002 and republished in the United Kingdom in 2006. Her fiction, nonfiction and poetry have appeared in numerous literary magazines, including Prairie Schooner, The London Independent, The Nebraska Review, Fugue, The South Dakota Review, Foliage, Arachne, Kalliope and The West Wind Review. A native of north central Nebraska, she received her bachelor's degree in journalism, her master's degree and her Ph.D. in creative writing from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She taught literature and writing classes at UNL for nine years and currently teaches with the University of Nebraska’s MFA in Writing Program. She has received numerous awards for her writing and her teaching, including a Nebraska Arts Council Award, the Vreeland Award and the Mari Sandoz/Prairie Schooner Award for fiction, and a Nebraska Press Association Award for nonfiction. Her story, "Playing Horses," was chosen by the editors of Best American Short Stories as one of the 100 Distinguished Stories of 2001.

 

John SimmonsJohn Simmons

Attorney and Adjunct Professor of History

Western Nebraska Community College

Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Nelson Mandela and the End of Apartheid

The Real Pirates of the Caribbean

308 632 3811 (Work)

jsimmons@simmonsolsen.com

 

Jeffrey H. Smith
Professor of History

Bellevue University
Bellevue, Nebraska
General Victor Vifquain: Nebraska's 1st Medal of Honor Winner
Jeffrey H. Smith402-553-8713 (Home) or 402-557-7515 (Work)
Jeffrey Smith has chronicled the life of his ancestor, Gen. Victor Vifquain in his book, “A Frenchman Fights for the Union: Victor Vifquain and the 97th Illinois.” His most recent work is "The 1862 Plot to Kidnap Jefferson Davis," published by The University of Nebraska Press Bison Books, in which he co-edited the memoir of Vifquain. His other books and articles range from Civil War topics to the Civil Rights movement.

 

Randall Snyder
Composer-In-Residence

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska
Across the Sandhills: Words and Music (with Roy Scheele)
Encounters With World Music
It's Only Rock and Roll
They Call it Stormy Monday: Evolution of the Blues
402-423-5564 (Home) or 402-472-5120 (Work)
rsnyder@unl.edu

Randall Snyder is head of the composition department at the Randall SnyderUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln, and was appointed the school's first composer-in-residence in 1996. He was born in Chicago in 1944 and studied saxophone with his father, a professional jazz musician. In high school he received a scholarship to the Stan Kenton Band Camp and in 1962 was honored with a Downbeat magazine Student Hall of Fame award. He attended Quincy College and the University of Wisconsin, receiving a Ph.D. degree in 1973. He has also received fellowships to study Korean music at the Traditional Performing Arts Institute in Seoul. Snyder also teaches courses in jazz, ethnomusicology and rock and roll. Some 100 of his of pieces have been published, with several commercially recorded. His orchestral and chamber music has won several composition contest prizes and in 1992 Snyder was the recipient of an NEA grant as composer-in-residence with the Nebraska Chamber Orchestra. His music has been played by various chamber ensembles, symphonies and jazz orchestras. The Nebraska Arts Council has given him five fellowships. He also has been active as a jazz performer, appearing as bassist in two documentary films with Kansas City pianist Jay McShann.

 

Mary K. Stillwell

Independent scholar and writer

Lincoln, Nebraska

Bright Leaves Flying: An Introduction to U.S. Poet Laureate, Ted Kooser

The Conversation Through Time: An Introduction to the Poetry of Nebraska

402-476-4775 (Home)

mstillwell2@unl.edu

A native Nebraskan, Mary K. Stillwell has studied writing in both New York and on the Plains and has published poetry in a wide variety of journals. Her book of poems, Moving to Malibu, was published by Sandhills Press. Stillwell, whose dissertation was on the work of four contemporary Nebraska poets, holds a doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she is a lecturer.

 

Robert Stoddard
Professor Emeritus of Geography and Asian Studies

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska
The Diversity of Life in South Asia
Robert and Sally Stoddard402-464-9419 (Home)
bob.stoddard@alltel.net

Robert Stoddard and his wife, Sally, who have worked and traveled in South Asia for more than 50 years, can share experiences and observations about India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka. A talk, accompanied by slides and a question-and-answer format can emphasize various aspects of culture and socio-economic characteristics of one or more of these South Asian countries.

 

Phyllis R. Stone
Elder of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe
Phyllis R. StoneLincoln, Nebraska
Lifestyles of Lakota Women
Our Plains Indian Heritage
402-601-2156 (Cell)

ironshell@myway.com

Phyllis Stone is an elder of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, served on the Nebraska Indian Commission, and was named Outstanding Indian Woman of Nebraska in 1985.

 

Kathryn A. Thomas
Associate Professor of Classical and Near Eastern Studies

Creighton University
Omaha, Nebraska
The Survival of the Ancient Public Libraries
402-342-5725 (Home) or 402-280-2130 (Work)
ktomas@creighton.edu

 

Ruth Raymond Thone
Author, Teacher & Activist
Lincoln, Nebraska
The Beauty Myth: Women, Weight and Appearances
Women and Aging: A Celebration
Ruth Thone402-421-2855 (Home)

Nebraska native Ruth Thone is a freelance writer, radio commentator, workshop leader and author of three published books: "Women and Aging: Celebrating Ourselves," "FAT: A Fate Worse Than Death? Women, Weight and Appearance" and a collection of essays entitled "Being Home." Mother of three adult women and grandmother of Charlotte Francesca and Stella Blue, she lives in Lincoln with her husband, Charley, a former U.S. congressman and former governor of Nebraska. She is also active in several social justice organizations.

 

Antonette Willa Skupa Turner
Antonette Willa Skupa TurnerGranddaughter of Annie Pavelka
Bladen, Nebraska
Antonia's Czech Tulip Quilt
My Babicka, Antonia
402-756-1642 (Home)

Antonette Willa Skupa Turner is the granddaughter of Annie Pavelka, who was the Antonia in Willa Cather’s “My Antonia.” She knew her grandmother personally and for several years has related her stories connected with Cather and how Cather taught her to speak English. 

 

Mary Green Vickrey
Musician and Eighteenth-century Popular Music Scholar
Vermillion, South Dakota
Songs Lewis & Clark Might Have Sung
The Lewis & Clark Songster: Greatest Hits of 1803
605-624-2540 (Home)
mary@marygreenvickrey.com

www.marygreenvickrey.com

Mary Green VickreyIn period costume, Mary Green Vickrey performs 18th century popular music from Great Britain and the United States with energy and humor. In her research at the British Library in London and in “Early American Imprints,” a microfiche collection of 1639-1820 American publications, she has rediscovered musical treasures that have not been performed for 200 years. She holds a master's degree in interdisciplinary studies from the University of South Dakota with an emphasis in music, history, and theatre and a B.A. from Vanderbilt University with a major in American history. Mary has musical training in voice, guitar, and banjo and writes and has recorded "Horizon Unbounded," a CD of original folk music. She is the coordinator of the Sioux Falls chapter of the Nashville Songwriters Association.

 

Les Vilda
Independent Scholar & Ambassador of the Santa Fe Trail
Wilber, Nebraska
A Modern-day Encounter With the Santa Fe Trail
Les Vilda402-821-3058 (Home/Work)

eduexped@windstream.net

www.havedonkeywilltravel.com

Les Vilda is a graduate of Doane College in Crete and has been a featured performer in more than 750 living-history reenactments in 24 states. He portrayed a Fort Hayes buffalo hunter in the movie "Dances With Wolves," has canoed 2,500 miles on the Missouri River and 500 miles on the Mississippi River, and has traveled more than 2,000 miles along the Santa Fe Trail.

 

Jan Wahl
Assistant Professor, Teachers College

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska
From Mexico to Nebraska
402-489-5950 (Home)

Jan Wahl has a special interest in ethnic groups in Nebraska. She has written school curriculum about Native American tribes in Nebraska and wrote and produced “Giveaway at Ring Thunder,” a film about a giveaway ceremony on the Rosebud Reservation.

 

John Walker
Musician & Retired Professor of Philosophy

Nebraska Wesleyan University
Lincoln, Nebraska
Lordy Lordy, Baby Baby: The Blues and Gospel Music

The Music of Poetry/The Poetry of Music

 402-466-7254 (Home)
jwblue@earthlink.com

www.prairiedogmusic.com

A transplanted Okie who now calls Nebraska home, John John WalkerWalker has been performing his brand of country-blues music since the 1960s. His musical roots go back to Bob and Johnny Lee Wills, Woody Guthrie, Huddie Ledbetter, Bukka White, Brownie McGhee, and numerous small-town Oklahoma churches where he grew up singing songs like "What a Friend," "Oh Happy Day," and "Just a Closer Walk with Thee." His own songs reflect that upbringing in their laid-back accessibility and Southern rural themes. They combine foot-stomping rhythms with smooth melodies and expressive lyrics, all to the accompaniment of a unique finger-picking guitar style. He has played in auditoriums and bars and churches and festivals and living rooms and hay fields across the country. John is a long-time traveler with the Nebraska Arts Council's Touring Artists program and has performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as Nebraska's representative to the center's State Days concert series.

 

Rick Wallace
Independent Scholar
Lincoln, Nebraska
African-Americans of Nebraska: 1854-1945
402-484-5019 (Home) or 402-436-2386 (Work)
rwallace1955@gmail.com

 

C.A. WallerC.A. Waller
Musician
Lincoln, Nebraska
I Got the Blues, and I Can't Be Satisfied
402-325-6205 (Home) or 402-325-6204 (Work)
cawblues@prodigy.net

 

George D. Watson Jr.
Professor of Justice Studies

Chadron State College
Chadron, Nebraska
The Constitution: Past and Present
308-432-6253 (Work) or 308-432-5098 (Home)
gwatson@csc.edu

 

Martha Ellen Webb
Historian and Exhibit Specialist
Omaha, Nebraska
Produce for Victory: Nebraskans in WW II
The Life and Work of Dr. Susan LaFlesche Picotte
402-551-0747 (Home) or 402-250-9674 (Cell)
makinghistory@huntel.net

Martha Ellen Webb received her Ph.D. in the history of science and European history from the University of Oklahoma. For 10 years, she taught history of science, medicine and technology, as well as early modern European history and western civilization courses at the university level. Webb moved to Nebraska in 1982 to teach at Creighton University, and in 1990 she formed her own historical and museum consulting firm, Making History Inc. Webb has completed intensive historical research in many British and American archives and has published several scholarly articles. In the 1990s, she presented a series of lectures on native American medicine. In 1996 Webb was selected to provide scholarly and exhibit assistance to four Nebraska museums in connection with  the Smithsonian Institution's “Produce for Victory” World War II exhibit. She is the author of three books on heirloom conservation.

 

David Wells
Independent Historian
Omaha, Nebraska
America and the Great War
Memorial Day: Its Origins, Its Heritage, Its Legacy
Nebraska and the Civil War
The Trans-Mississippi Exposition of 1898 in Omaha
402-339-2936 (Home) or 402-978-7748 (Work)

wells55@msn.com

 

Phil Wendzillo
Director of Cultural Affairs

Ponca Tribe of Nebraska
Crofton, Nebraska
Ponca History and Heritage
712-253-1134 (Cell)
philwendzillo@hotmail.com

 

Kenneth Winkle
Professor of History

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska
The Great Body of the Republic: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Plains
402-472-2414 (Work)
kwinkle1@unl.edu

Kenneth WinkleKenneth J. Winkle is professor of history and chair of the history department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has published three prize-winning books in the field of 19th century U.S. political, social, cultural, and military history–"The Politics of Community: Migration and Politics in Antebellum Ohio" (Cambridge University Press), "The Young Eagle: The Rise of Abraham Lincoln" (Taylor Trade Publishing), and "The Oxford Atlas of the Civil War" (Oxford University Press). His books have won the Society for Military History’s Distinguished Book Award, the Abraham Lincoln Institute Book Award, and the Allan Sharlin Award of the Social Science History Association. Winkle has published his research in numerous history journals. As a public speaker, he has addressed the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, the Abraham Lincoln Association, the Annual Lincoln Colloquium, the Abraham Lincoln Institute, and Civil War roundtables nationwide and has spoken at the Library of Congress and the Gettysburg Battlefield. Winkle has taught more than a dozen courses in 19th century U.S. history, family history, community history and quantitative methods.  

 

James S. Wunsch
Professor of Political Science

Creighton University
Omaha, Nebraska
Contemporary Africa
Third World Poverty, America and Development
402-280-2836 (Home) or 402-551-1426 (Work)

James Wunsch is professor of political science, department chair, and director of the African studies program at Creighton University. He has studied, lectured and researched in Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Kenya, Sudan, Botswana, Zambia, South Africa and Swaziland. Wunsch is a former USAID officer and Fulbright Fellowship holder.

 

Joseph J. WydevenJoseph J. Wydeven

Bellevue University Emeritus Professor of English and Humanities
Papillion, Nebraska
Wright Morris: Nebraska Novelist and Photographer
402-331-9548 (Home)

aliceandjoe@cox.net

joe.wydeven@cox.net

 
Janie YorkJanie York
Independent Scholar
Ithaca, Nebraska
Quilting Your Legacy
402-623-4402
janielynntextiles@alltel.net

 

Edward Zimmer
Preservation Planner, Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Department
Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln's Historic Neighborhoods
Lincoln's Diverse Past
402-430-7814 (Home) or 402-441-6360 (Work)
ezimmer@neb.rr.com
ezimmer@ci.lincoln.ne.us

Ed ZimmerEd Zimmer has been the historic preservation planner for the Lincoln Planning Department since 1985. He emphasizes outreach and education, presenting more than 1,000 slide talks, walks, and bus tours for diverse audiences. He also has been a volunteer member of the Lincoln School Board since 1996. Ed is a native of Omaha and spent a decade studying and working in Boston, earning a Ph.D. in American studies from Boston University in 1984. While in Massachusetts he freelanced as a researcher and writer for clients including Peabody Museum at Harvard University, Lowell National Historical Park, and the Smithsonian's Museum of American History.