Historical Material from UNO Libraries' Archives & Special Collections

The LGBTQ+ Oral History Collection is the home for oral history interviews conducted with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual individuals from various communities with a focus on those with a connection to Omaha, Nebraska. The interviews were consciously collected to be part of UNO’s Queer Omaha Archives.

The Ronald W. Roskens Speeches cover the period from 1960 until 1992, including Roskens' time as Vice President for Administration and Executive Vice President and Professor of Educational Administration at Kent State University (1959-1972), Chancellor of the University of Nebraska at Omaha (1972-1977), President of the University of Nebraska System (Central Administration in Lincoln, Nebraska) (1977-1989), and Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (1990-1992). The speeches consist of typed notes and scripts.

This collection includes organizational records from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and its predecessors, the Municipal University of Omaha and the University of Omaha, dating from the institution's founding in 1908 to the present. Records originated from many colleges, schools, departments, offices, committees, faculty and staff organizations, student organizations, and alumni. Materials include publications, event programs, conference materials, publicity material, meeting minutes, correspondence, budget information, internal reports, policies, architectural drawings, photographs, and miscellaneous records from various UNO and UNO-affiliated groups or relating to UNO people, buildings, events, and academic programs.

The UNO College of Education Records comprise the organizational records (1965-2001) of and resources (1948-2004) used by the University of Nebraska at Omaha College of Education, including the Teacher Corps program (1970-1981). Teacher training resources include the School Building Construction Clinic books (1948), information about Nebraska schools, manuals, resource guides, handbooks, a card file of people and organizations, the Thinking About Thinking filmstrip series with audiocassettes, and a series of reel-to-reel videotapes. Bound reports include accreditation reports (1974, 1981, 1991, 2001), the Directory of Most Commonly Visited Schools in Nebraska and Iowa (1997-2000); the Committee on the Future report (1965); the Admissions Standards Committee reports and records (1994-1995); and various other reports, assessment packets, and applications. Books include Glancing Over our Shoulder: A History of the University of Nebraska at Omaha College of Education 1908-2008 and a series of twenty culture-oriented American Indian educational booklets produced by the College of Education (1975). Materials that have not been further arranged and described include files (circa 1980 to circa 2000) of information regarding various reports, projects (including Goal III and Omaha 2000), policies, assessment, surveys, and events (including the Women's Walk). The boundary between Teacher Corps materials and other teaching materials used by the College of Education is not clearly defined. Identifiable Teacher Corps materials include assessments, case studies, training materials, Teacher Corps evaluations, Corps Member Training Institute (CMTI) documents, and booklets created by Teacher Corps members.

Scrapbook documents counseling and guidance program, faculty, staff, students, and alumni at the University of Nebraska at Omaha through photographs, news clippings, brochures, and other material.

The UNO Media Collection includes audiovisual material related to the University of Nebraska at Omaha and its predecessor the University of Omaha, from circa 1950 to the present. Materials include both informal audio and video recordings of UNO events, UNO promotional/recruitment material, and formal radio and television programs produced by UNO Television, University Television, KYNE-TV, KVNO Radio, and other UNO media organizations. A small number of commercial and other non-UNO media items are also included.

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 Depression, World War II, and day-to-day life. Those interviewed were of Native American, Polish, German, Swedish, and other ethnic or national descents.

The papers of Hattie Lynde of Parkers Prairie and Waubun, Minnesota include a diary she kept in 1918, two postcards mailed to her husband Cornelisu V. Lynde while she was traveling with their son Kenneth in the western U.S., and an application to join the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1905. Lynde's diary shares her daily life including moving to a new town as well as life in a doctor's household during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic (referred to as the Spanish Influenza) and her take on events during the final months of World War I.

The diary of Lucy Brunetta Nettie Gudgeon Moon for the years 1890-1899 includes regular entries for the first years of the diary becoming less frequent in the later years. Lucy Moon recounts activities of her daily life including social interactions, her children, various activities of her church, and health matters of their family as well as others related to her husband's career as a physician or doctor in general practice.

The papers of Prof. Meredith Bacon document her research into LGBTQIA+ topics over many years and include transgender topics such as gender dysphoria or gender identity disorder. Her papers also document her transition from Wally Bacon to Meredith Bacon through media coverage along with correspondence from family, friends, colleagues, and strangers. An album of photos and negatives documenting Bacon’s dressing as a woman and posing for photos from approximately 1970 to the early 1990s is also part of the collection. The collection also includes documentation of Bacon’s involvement with national organizations, networks, and local Omaha and regional activities.

The Nebraska AIDS Project (NAP) collection is primarily composed of photographs in print along with negatives and some digital images. The topics of the photographs include a variety of NAP activities including the annual AIDS Walk, Night of 1,000 Stars, volunteer appreciation events, other events, as well as NAP’s former building. Celebrities participating in events include Olympian Greg Louganis, actress Shirley MacLaine, and comedian Joan Rivers. Documents are primarily related to marketing and include posters, programs for events, and other information.

The Norma Howe papers contain letters written to Miss Norma Louise Howe attending school in Urbana, Illinois (presumably at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) from correspondents in Illinois and Iowa from June 1949 through January 1950. Correspondents include her mother and at least one friend covering typical topics including updates on family members’ health and jobs, entertainments, and news of other friends and family. The collection also includes a small number of photographs, presumably of Howe and her friends at college.

The Queer Omaha Archives Ephemera Collection is material collected or received from various sources including organizations, businesses, and individuals. The collection includes brochures, fliers, business cards, and other similar material documenting events, services, businesses, and other activities.

The records of the Rainbow Outreach GLBT Center documents some of the activities of the center such as providing information and support to the LGBTQ+ communities. Material in the collection includes brochures from Omaha area organizations such as GLSEN and PFLAG, educational reports and brochures on topics such as health and aging, buttons from local events such as Pride in the early 1990s, signs displayed at the center, and other material.

The Robert Gilmer and René Orduña collection is composed of personal and professional material from Gilmer and Orduña’s lives together. Most of the material covers the lives of Gilmer and Orduña in Omaha from the period after they left New York City in 1986 through the 2010s. The collection includes photographs, posters, programs, items from Gilmer and Orduña's wedding, and news coverage of Dixie Quicks, René Orduña, and RNG Gallery.

The Terry Sweeney and Pat Phalen Papers document some of their interests and life together in Omaha, Nebraska in the late 20th and early 21 centuries including participating in Marches on Washington (1987, 1993), writing the regional newsletter/magazine The New Voice for a decade, Phalen’s reign as ICON Emperor, the Omaha leather scene, safe sex and HIV/AIDS education, workplace activism, and other activities of the local LGBTQ community. The collection includes newsletters, event programs, a photo album from Omaha Pride 1987, photographs, signs from protests and rallies as well as memorabilia including buttons, pins, medallions, a sash from Omaha Pride in 1991, hats, and other artifacts.

The U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel Archives include his legislative papers, artifacts, campaign records, and other material. Press & Media, Speeches, Videos, Artifacts, Grant Files, Photographs, and Schedules are open for research. The rest of the collection is closed while it is being arranged and described.

The UNO Teaching Ephemera Collection includes various ephemeral materials not directly related to the University of Nebraska at Omaha nor to Nebraska in general, but from a variety of sources and on a variety of topics in support of UNO curriculum.

See component record for each series for details. Includes examples of early photography, trading cards, advertisements, and other ephemera.