About the Nebraska State Historical Society
The Nebraska State Historical Society was founded in 1878, less than a dozen years after statehood, "to encourage historical research and inquiry, spread historical information ... and to embrace alike aboriginal and modern history." It was designated a state institution in 1883 and became a state agency in 1994. On April 30, 2018, the agency rebranded as History Nebraska, and on September 3, 2024, it returned to its original name, so you will still see both names on signs, publications, and web addresses. Its current mission statement is to "collect, preserve, and open to all, the histories we share."
Headquarters are at 1500 R Street in Lincoln, on the edge of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, where the society keeps its library and archives and its research and publications staff. The society also runs the Museum of Nebraska History in Lincoln and the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center, an artifact conservation facility in Omaha. Among its less visible work, the society developed the process for returning the remains and burial objects of some 1,400 individuals to tribal nations under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990.
The society's state historic sites span the state. Chimney Rock near Bayard is the spire that guided Oregon, California, and Mormon Trail emigrants and still marks U.S. Route 26 for modern travelers. Fort Robinson near Crawford was a U.S. Army post central to the Sioux Wars of 1876 to 1890 and the place where Crazy Horse surrendered with his band on May 6, 1877. Neligh Mill in Neligh preserves a flour mill on the Elkhorn River, with exhibits in its 1866 warehouse and 1915 power-plant addition, a restored office with original furnishings, and a reconstructed 1919 flume. The John G. Neihardt State Historic Site in Bancroft keeps the one-room study where the poet laureate wrote from 1911 to 1920, and the Senator George Norris State Historic Site in McCook is the home of the senator behind the Rural Electrification Act. In Lincoln, the 1869 Italianate Thomas P. Kennard House belonged to Nebraska's first secretary of state, one of the three men who chose the capital's site in 1867.
Collections and Research Services
The library and archives in Lincoln are the state's central repository for Nebraska manuscripts, government records, photographs, and newspapers. Because the society's website blocks automated access, we could not confirm current reference-room hours, fees, or remote lookup policies for this page; contact the society directly or check history.nebraska.gov before planning a research trip. Nebraska genealogists can also work from county courthouses, newspaper microfilm, and cemetery records; our guides to free family history research and finding where someone is buried explain where to start.
Planning Your Visit
The headquarters building is at 1500 R Street, Lincoln, NE 68508. Hours and admission for the Museum of Nebraska History, the research library, and each historic site vary by season and are posted on the society's website, so confirm them before you go. Two of the society's sites also have their own pages on this directory: Chimney Rock National Historic Site in the Nebraska panhandle, and nearby in Beatrice, the National Park Service's Homestead National Historical Park tells the story of the 1862 Homestead Act that settled much of the state.
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