The Smithsonian's Journey Stories traveling exhibition will have a 6-week run in Alliance at the Knight Museum and Sandhills Center.  Check out a great series of events  at www.knightmuseum.com 

If you are in northeast Nebraska you can see the exhibition in Madison through December 31.  For more details go to the location tab.

Come enjoy the opening event on October 15 from 7 to 9 PM.  The exhibit will be open through November 17.  See the listing under locations for hours and special events.

Journey Stories exhibition ends at 100th Meridian Museum on Saturday, October 6.  It will then travel east to Fort Calhoun.

Click on the Locations tab for all the details!

Join in all the fun today through September 30 in Cozad!

4:00 Thursday August 30 --  ribbon cutting and first peak at the exhibit plus ride in the horse-drawn Concord Touring Coach that future President William Howard Taft used for trips to Yellowstone in the late 1800s.  Join in the fun at the Elk's Club from 5-7 for food and to see the community mural.

Noon Friday August 31 -- food and festivities at the historic train depot as U.P. steam locomotive pulls in for a whistle-stop on its way to the state fair.

See the locations tab for activities planned every day of September.

In celebration of Nebraska Journey Stories the 100th Meridian Museum in Cozad invites folks to the Wilson Train Depot on Friday for lunch and a look at legendary Union Pacific steam locomotive No. 844 as it travels across Nebraska. If you're not close to Cozad the train will be stopping briefly at nine other towns and be on display for 3 days at the Nebraska State Fair Sept 1 -3. Check out the schedule on this link for more information. 

http://www.uprr.com/newsinfo/releases/heritage_and_steam/2012/0227_celebrate.shtml

The final days to see the Journey Stories exhibition at the Lincoln County Historical Museum are now through Saturday, August 25.  Don't miss it!  Future locations are Cozad, Fort Calhoun, Madison, Lincoln and Alliance.  Thank you LCHM for hosting!

Don't Miss!! August 21st, 7:00 p.m.
Musician Chris Sayre at North Platte's Lincoln County Historical Museum
"A Musical Journey Across America: Songs That Helped Shape a Nation"
From the engaging sea shanties of the Eastern Seaboard to the haunting songs of the Appalachian Mountains, from the blues of Mississippi to the pioneer songs of the American West, Chris Sayre brings to life the rich and varied music of the continental United States. Performing on guitar, mandolin, banjo, slide guitar, concertina, melodeon, lap dulcimer and musical saw, Chris captivates his audiences and leaves them with a deeper understanding of how we got to where we are today. 

Vicki Harris telling the stories of African-American Homesteaders and Cowboys of Nebraska including Jim Kelly and Amos Harris from the Lexington area and Roy Hayes of Cherry County "who could catch anything with legs."  

North Platte's Lincoln County Historical Museum is hosting a film and discussion of Ponca Chief Standing Bear Thursday, Aug 9 at 7 pm.  

At 7 pm on August 7 Nebraska Humanities speaker Don Snoddy presents Westward to Promontory at the Lincoln County Historical Museum -- The construction of the Union Pacific Railroad is told using the photographs of John Carbutt, William Henry Jackson, and Andrew Jackson Russell from groundbreaking in 1863 through completion of the Missouri River Bridge in 1874. Learn about the need for and passage of the Pacific Railroad Act, the Pacific Railroad Survey, and what the invention of the steam locomotive meant to transportation, with major focus on construction, including the Hell on Wheels towns, inspection trips, and logistics.

Join the Lincoln County Historical Museum for a panel discussion exploring the journey taken by several foreign doctors that led them to work at the Great Plains Regional Medical Center

The Smithsonian exhibit is complemented by local history exhibits including the World War II North Platte Canteen.  READ MORE.

John Schleicher, associate professor (History of Medicine) & Head of Special Collections, McGoogan Library of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, brings his unique background to the role of state scholar for Journey Stories in Nebraska.

John is a native Nebraskan whose family has been in Nebraska since 1878.  As John likes to say they are a "bi-coastal" family, having lived in both Scotts Bluff County and Cass County.  John graduated from Hastings College and received a master's in history from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.  He has been exhibits and programs assistant for the Western Heritage Museum in Omaha (now the Durham Museum), and executive director of the Dodge County Historical Society and director of the May Museum in Fremont.  

John was the education and statewide services coordinator in the museum dividison of the Nebraska State Historical Society and has been involved with many and varied historical and preservation organizations including the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia and the Nebraska Museums Association.  As state scholar John is available to assist the Nebraska Journey Stories hosts in developing local exhibits and programming. 

John is also a member of the Nebraska Humanities speakers bureau offering three programs: Germans From Russia in Nebraska describes the journey of a people from Germany to Russia to Nebraska and the contributions they made here in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; History of the University of Nebraska Medical Center; and Robert Ramsay Livingston, M.D., one of the outstanding pioneer figures in Nebraska medicine.  For information about booking John as a speaker visit Nebraska Humanities Council Speakers Bureau

Journey Stories will close at Trails & Rails on Sunday so motor on over there and check it out before it's gone!

Wagons West information

More on Wagons West

Ethnicity/Immigration with speaker Claude Louishomme

[from The Prairie Traveler: A Hand-Book for Overland Expeditions published in 1859] 

ROUTES TO CALIFORNIA AND OREGON    Emigrants or others desiring to make the overland journey to the Pacific should bear in mind that there are several different routes which may be traveled with wagons, each having its advocates in persons directly or indirectly interested in attracting the tide of emigration and travel over them.  Information concerning these routes coming from strangers living or owning property near them, from agents of steam-boats or railways, or from other persons connected with transporation companies, should be received with great caution, and never without corraborating evidence from disinterested sources.

Read more at the Journey Stories exhibition!