Nebraska Newspapers



Having the local newspapers from your ancestor’s hometown is a great method to learn about the town, occupations, news events, social events and maybe a mention of your actual relative. The University of Nebraska at Lincoln has placed online in digital format a massive collection of the state’s newspapers. With material also from the Nebraska State Historical Society has made digital searchable newspapers covering from 1860 to 1922.

The Nebraska Newspaper Project (NNP) begins while the land was still the Nebraska Territory and carries as it becomes a state on March 1, 1867. With many of it citizens of German heritage this can be a great resource.

The locations featured are Lincoln, Omaha, Falls City, McCook, Norfolk, Broken Bow and Valentine. Go the top tap marked ‘browse’ and here you can select to search by a keyword (including a surname) or by a time period. With the list you get you can then sort by dates or a title.

Click on a newspaper of interest and the full single page will appear. Use the enlarger scale to the left to zoom in to what you want to read. If looking for a keyword, the name would be highlighted for quicker location. You can view the page in jpeg image or in a PDF format.

Besides looking for any articles on an ancestor make sure to look over the various newspaper ads. It can be quite interesting to see the cost of household items and what was the latest fashion trend. Example in Omaha in 1894 were photograph albums with thirty pages costing 88 cents each or a ladies’ comb, mirror and brush set in its own satin lined box for only cost 49 cents.

The simple set up is easy to read and could prove to be very useful for a researcher with Nebraska ancestors.

Photo: 1894 ladies fashion in Omaha.

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