Omaha (Neb.) -- History

Content Description The diary of A.J. Van Nuys recounts the trip of A.J. and Lizzie Van Nuys to Benson, Nebraska. The diary contains brief daily entries along with some accounting of expenses. The diary includes entries from May 4-July 11 of an unidentified year in the late 19th or early 20th century. The names written inside the front cover are Mr. & Mrs. A.J. Van Nuys of Belle Mead, New Jersey and 831 Main St., Benson, Nebraska. Written inside the back cover in the same handwriting is the name Miss...

Scope and Contents The American Indian Oral History and Omaha Folklore Project Oral History Collection contains oral history interviews of Native Americans in Omaha, Nebraska as well as interviews collected as part of a program called the Oral History Collection of the Omaha Folklore Project. The interviews cover the cultures and personal histories of interviewees in the U.S. as well as leaving Europe in the first half of the 20th Century. Topics of discussion include life in Omaha, World War I, the Great...

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This is a recorded message from Dennis Banks for Sam Moves Camp and was made by Banks late in 1976. Banks talked about his earlier years and his lack of knowledge regarding Native American religion and the Sun Dance. Banks also described the first Sun Dance he organized. He restarted the Sun Dances for Native American people which celebrates religion, tradition, and respect. Banks ended with a few words for Sam Moves Camp and a pledge to always be a Sun Dancer.

Scope and Contents An oral history interview with Ada Deer. This interview was conducted by S.I. Meyer on August 28, 1975. Deer was a Native American activist and an advocate for social justice. Early in her life, Deer had decided to be involved in helping Native Americans. She earned a Master of Social Work from Columbia University in 1961. Deer had served in many roles: Head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs; faculty for a special Indian project at the University of Minnesota; Director of Upward Bound at the...

Scope and Contents An oral history interview with Al Fast Horse. This interview was conducted Hugh Reilly on May 12, 1977. Al Fast Horse was a full blooded Sioux from the Brule Tribe of the Rosebud Reservation. Al Fast Horse was educated by his grandfather in the traditional way of the Lakota tribes including the skills necessary to become the tribal medicine man. In this interview, Al Fast Horse talked about his vision to find the Medicine Hat Horse, how his vision came to fruition, and how his vision moved...

Scope and Contents The oral history interview of Alex Lunderman was conducted by UNO student Emmett Hoctor on November 10, 1975. Lunderman was Brule Sioux and grew up on the Rosebud Reservation in south-central South Dakota. Lunderman was the director of the Sioux Indian Center in Omaha, Nebraska, at the time of the interview. In his interview, Lunderman shared Native American legends including the Seven Campfires, the Wolf Girl, the War Bonnet, the Peace Pipe, the Sacred Black Hills, the Falling Stars, the...

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The oral history interview with Alfred Gilpin was conducted by C. Dillentuig on May 20, 1977. In this interview Gilpin shared his experience in going to Washington, D.C. to speak with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs concerning the idea of halting the House Concurrent Resolution 108 bill that would have terminated all Indian tribes.

Scope and Contents The oral history interview of Alfreda Ware was conducted by UNO student Alice Milder on April 29, 1976. Ware discussed Omaha's Indian-Chicano Health Clinic including the disparities that existed as well as the needs and desires of Native Americans regarding health services. She compared health care on Indian reservations to health care available in cities. She also discussed Indian Health Services. She shared her criticisms of the existing healthcare system and incorporated firsthand...

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The oral history interview with Andrea Olivo concerning her life growing up as an Omaha Indian living in the city of Omaha, Nebraska was conducted by UNO student Garnie O. Peterson on November 22, 1975. Olivo spoke largely about the education of herself, her parents, and American Indians in general. She also compared her experiences to that of American Indians that lived on reservations and other minority groups including Chicanos/ Latinos and African Americans.

Scope and Contents An oral history interview with Dr. William DeRoin. This interview was conducted by Dianna Draun-Sumner on July 29, 1980. Dr. DeRoin was a member of the Indian Health Committee of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Dr. DeRoin is also a trained physician at University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) and makes site visits to Indian Health Service areas and reservations. During this interview Dr. DeRoin discussed contract care versus on-site Indian health and reservation life versus "real...

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The oral history interview of Eva J. Nichols, Director of the American Indian Center in Omaha, was conducted by UNO student Garnie Oldenkamp Peterson on December 11, 1975. Nichols discussed her experiences as director in the 1970s. She described her views on political protests, the American Indian Movement (AIM), the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Native American individuals' struggles within the educational system.

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An oral history interview with Gayla Twiss who was the Director of the Mental Health Care pilot program in the Indian Health Service Program. This interview was conducted on January 14, 1980. In this interview, Twiss shared her opinions on mental health, alcohol consumption, and influences on Native American children.

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The oral history interview with Martha Gibbs was conducted by Pauline Pesch on December 4, 1975. In this interview Gibbs shared her experience becoming involved in Native American affairs through her positions with the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the City of Omaha. Gibbs also talked about Native American rights, her views on education including Omaha Public Schools, her work with the American Indian community center in Omaha, and other topics.

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An oral history interview with Montana H.R. Walking Bull and Gilbert Walking Bull. This interview was conducted by S.I. Myers in 1976. In this interview, the Walking Bulls talked about Native American culture, including the Great Spirit, rain dances, and the peace pipe. The couple also shared the struggles Native Americans faced in the 1970s.

Scope and Contents The oral history interview of Phillip White Hawk was conducted by John M. McNamara on April 13, 1977. Mr. White Hawk shared his experiences as a Native American man living on various Indian reservations and in different regions of the U.S. in the 1940s through 1970s. White Hawk shared in-depth information concerning his joint art project, Symbolic Americana, that connected Native American values with universal spirituality. He also discussed the social issues facing Americans in the...

Scope and Contents The oral history interview of Thomas J. Marchese, Jr. was conducted by UNO student Pauline Pesek on December 8, 1975. Marchese was one quarter Native American and grew up in Omaha, Nebraska graduating from Omaha South High School. Marchese felt fortunate to get a job as a records clerk at the Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital in Omaha. This job helped Marchese graduate from high school and also helped him to continue to support his mother and siblings. He talked about growing up as a minority...

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This lecture by Cordelia Attack Him was held at the Notre Dame Convent in Omaha, Nebraska, on November 7, 1975. In her lecture Attack Him talked about the values and culture of the Lakota American Indian people.

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This is a recording of a musical performance on the flute by Wilbur Blackdeer. This was recorded by an unknown person in 1971.

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An excerpt of the transcription of an oral history interview with a partially identified retired doctor who was a witness to the lynching of Will Brown in 1919. Dr. Moritz was a medical student in Omaha and recounts traveling with classmates on the streetcar to downtown Omaha. He also referenced the murder of a Black man who had been on the streetcar with him and his classmates when he got off the streetcar in downtown Omaha.

Content Description Jacob J. Friedman documented his eyewitness account of the lynching of Will Brown in the typescript he titled "The Courthouse Riot." Will Brown was murdered on September 28, 1919; it is unclear on what date Friedman completed his recollection. This is a copy of the six-page typescript with a handwritten note from Friedman to a potential newspaper editor directing that his pen name "Joseph Parkwood" be used when the account was published because he still lived in Omaha. He went on to write,...

Scope and Contents The Omaha Collection is an eclectic mix of files relating to the city of Omaha, Nebraska, and to areas of research pursued by faculty members of the Municipal University of Omaha, notably Ralph M. Wardle, professor of English, and Wilfred Payne, professor of Philosophy. The miscellaneous portions of the collection include material unrelated to Omaha. The collection includes information on Boys Town; the City of Omaha Financial Bulletin (1929); a Douglas County Election Announcement...

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The oral history interview of Anastasia Burke Dobney about the Great Depression was conducted by UNO student LuAnn M. McNary on December 11, 1976. Dobney shared her experiences raising her children as a single parent during the 1930s. She discussed the odd jobs she worked and the living conditions they were afforded during this difficult time. Her resiliency in her experiences shone through as she and her family made the best of hard times.

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An oral history interview with Art Petersen. This interview was conducted by William Turner on an unknown date in the 1970s. Petersen was born and raised on a dairy farm in Bellevue, Nebraska. While on the farm, Petersen became the president of the Bellevue City Government and helped organize and create the district's fire department. In this interview, Petersen described his time on the farm, where he spent most of his life.

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An oral history interview with Carl Harvey. This interview was conducted by Jylurry Hollon on March 23, 1977. In this interview, Harvey talked about his life during the Great Depression, specifically dealing with bank closures and work programs implemented by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt. Harvey also discussed his time working for the United States government during the World War II on the Manhattan Project in Hanford, Washington.

Scope and Contents The oral history interview of Daniel R. Gruenig was conducted by UNO student Barbara Gruenig on December 5, 1976. Gruenig was an Omaha, Nebraska resident all of his life. He talked about the city of Omaha during the Great Depression. He shared the story of how his parents came to meet in Omaha when the city was young and rapidly expanding. He also talked about his memories of the layout of the city of Omaha including the growth and changing technology for transportation in the city. He also...

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The oral history interview of Don Gehr, Sr. about the Great Depression era was conducted by the interviewee's son, Don Gehr, Jr. on December 5, 1976. Don Gehr, Sr. was a farmer in Humphrey, Nebraska during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. In this interview he described what he remembered of radio shows, baseball, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Scope and Contents An oral history interview with Doris (nee Richardson) Findley. In her interview, Findley discussed her life before and during the Great Depression including Prohibition, Women's Suffrage, and the 1929 Stock Market Crash. She was born in 1903 in Brown County, Indiana. Findley talked about farming, memories of U.S. Presidents, Prohibition, women getting the right to vote, the World Wars, and other topic. She also shared her memories of the fear she felt after the bombing of Pearl Harbor during...

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The oral history interview of Doris Tucker about life in Florence and Omaha, Nebraska in the 1920s-1930s was conducted by UNO student Meg Green on October 1, 1978. Tucker shared information about the development of Omaha and her personal experiences growing up during the Great Depression in Nebraska.

Scope and Contents The oral history interview of Dr. Mitchel Cegielski was conducted by Andrew S. Fidler on April 4, 1977. Dr. Cegielski was a Polish physician who emigrated to the United States from Poland with his family in the 1950s and eventually settled in Omaha, Nebraska. In the interview Dr. Cegielski talked about his life and experiences while living in Poland during World War II. In particular, Cegielski compared German and Russian-occupied Poland. Dr. Cegielski also discussed his experiences after...

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An oral history interview with Fred and Mary Schurke concerning the Great Depression, their life during this era, and the hardships they experienced. This interview was conducted by an unknown interviewer on an unknown date in the 1970s.