Announcement on Homestead Records Preservation

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Homestead National Monument of America will announce plans to preserve important homesteading records from the Broken Bow area. Media is welcome at the announcement at noon May 24 during the Broken Bow Rotary meeting at Uncle Ed's Restaurant, 509 S. Ninth Ave., Broken Bow.

The project will microfilm and make available for public use about 65,000 fragile paper records from the Broken Bow land office, which was open from 1890 to 1922. The historically valuable records document homesteading in the lands surrounding Broken Bow. In their current paper form, the records are housed in the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C. and are not easily accessible, subject to deterioration, and vulnerable to other hazards such as fire. The microfilm will be placed in the National Park Services' Homestead National Monument in Beatrice for use by visitors such as descendants of homesteaders, historians, genealogists and tourists.

"This is a pilot project to test the feasibility, usefulness, cost and support for making the homesteading records safer and more accessible through microfilming," said Richard Edwards, professor of economics and fellow of the Center for Great Plains Studies at UNL, who is leading the project. "After demonstrating success and usefulness in this pilot study, it may be possible to raise additional funds to extend the microfilming to other homesteading records, perhaps focusing next on trying to microfilm all of the records of all of the Nebraska land offices."

Mark Engler, superintendent of Homestead National Monument of America, said he foresees the day when all 2 million homesteading files -- comprising some 30 million documents from all 30 of the homesteading states -- will be microfilmed and housed and available to the public in Beatrice. A $4.5 million Heritage Center facility at Homestead Monument is in the planning stage and could one day house the homestead records.

Edwards said bringing the homesteading records to Homestead Monument will potentially attract more visitors with positive economic benefits for southeast Nebraska.

"UNL's involvement grows out of the university's commitment both to the preservation of historical records important to Nebraska's cultural heritage and to its mission of assisting economic and rural development," Edwards said.

In addition to Edwards and Engler, the following individuals will be available at the announcement: Todd Arrington, historian, Homestead National Monument of America; Al Hutchings, National Park Service associate regional director for planning and legislative affairs, Midwest region; Harvey Perlman, UNL chancellor; and Katherine Walter, chair of Digital Initiatives and Special Collections for UNL Libraries.

The $45,000 funding for the pilot project comes from three sources: a $20,000 grant from the National Park Service's Challenge Cost Share program; a $20,000 matching grant from the University of Nebraska Foundation; and a $5,000 grant from Eastern National Parks and Monuments Association, operator of the bookstore at Homestead National Monument.

CONTACTS: Richard Edwards, Professor, Economics, (402) 472-4995; and Mark Engler, Superintendent, Homestead National Monument, (402) 223-3514