Great Plains Black History Museum Collection
Scope and Contents
Archival material from the Great Plains Black History Museum (GPBHM) consists of over 200 document boxes of letters, photographs, clippings, artifacts, and other collection material. An archivist for the GPBHM inventoried the material and identified potential series for the collection, including Local Histories, Black Institutions, Family Papers, Rare Books, Musical Scores, Bertha Calloway’s Research Collection, Photographs, Artifacts, and Unknown or Miscellaneous documents.
Documented here is a limited amount of that material, with 16 document boxes measuring 6.4 cubic feet. They include many interesting documents ranging from flyers to events held on campus to meeting minutes of the African Support Committee of Omaha to photographs from the early 20th century. This material is organized into eight series: Black History, Black Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), Education (College), Education (PreK-12), Museum Administration, Military, Sports, and Miscellaneous. A description of each series is available by clicking on each series.
Dates
- 1906 - 1997
Conditions Governing Access
This material is temporarily in the custody of UNO Libraries Archives and Special Collections. Access to this material requires permission from staff of the Great Plains Black History Museum.
Biographical / Historical
The Great Plains Black History Museum officially opened in February 1976. In its early years, it received funding from the city of Omaha and private and corporate foundations. They operated on a shoe-string budget with founder Bertha Calloway often working without a salary. Calloway was always gathering artifacts, stories, and papers relating to Black History, and sought to share the rich history of African Americans with the Omaha community. As during these early years, the Museum's mission today is to "preserve, educate, and exhibit the contributions and achievements of African Americans with an emphasis on the Great Plains region, as well as provide a space to learn, explore, reflect and remember our history" (https://gpblackhistorymuseum.org/).
Extent
6.4 Cubic Feet (This material is held temporarily at UNO Libraries Archives & Special Collections for processing and digitization. In total, the GPBHM collection is over 100 cubic feet and in GPBHM's custody. )
Language of Materials
English
Custodial History
UNO archivists picked up 22 document boxes of GPBHM material from Omaha Public Library's downtown branch in December 2021 and March 2022 for processing and digitization. The processed material, along with duplicates and non-relevant material, will be returned at the conclusion of the work.
Preservation note
Staff copied original newspaper clippings onto bond paper for preservation purposes when the physical state of the clippings necessitated it. Staff then placed those copies in the collection folders, and stored the originals separately.
- African Americans Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- African Americans -- Biography Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- African Americans -- Civil rights -- Nebraska Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- African Americans -- History Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- African Americans -- Nebraska Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Athletics Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Baseball Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Basketball Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Buildings -- Nebraska -- Omaha Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Bulletins Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Civil rights Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Continuing education -- Nebraska -- Omaha Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Discrimination Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Education Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Football Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Fort Robinson Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- High schools Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Museum exhibits Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Nebraska -- Race relations Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Negro leagues Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Omaha (Neb.) Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Pamphlets Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Racism Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Softball Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Sports Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Student organizations Subject Source: Local sources
- Students Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Swimming Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Track and Field Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- United States. Army -- History Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Universities and colleges -- Faculty -- Nebraska -- Omaha Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Universities and colleges--Curricula Subject Source: Library Of Congress Name Authority File
- Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- War Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- War posters Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- West Point (Neb.) Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Women -- Nebraska -- Omaha Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- World War, 1914-1918 Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- World War, 1939-1945 Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Wrestling Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- books Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- brochures Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- clippings (information artifacts) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- interviews Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- letters (correspondence) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- photocopies Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- photographs Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- posters Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- school yearbooks Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- syllabi Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Title
- Great Plains Black History Museum Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Holly Timmerman, student employee (2022); Lori Schwartz, Hagel and Technical Services Archivist (2022)
- Date
- May 2022
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- Processing of this material was made possible through the Eugene S. and Sunny M. Thomas Endowed Fund for Innovation.
Repository Details
Part of the University of Nebraska at Omaha Archives & Special Collections Repository
Archives & Special Collections
Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library
6001 Dodge St.
Omaha Nebraska 68182-0237 United States
402-554-6046
unoasc@unomaha.edu
