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In less than two generations Nebraska was converted from a wilderness inhabited by a small number of Native Americans to a settlement of more than one million residents. This conquest was an important achievement of the 19th century, and many of Nebraska’s cultural contributions are centred on this frontier experience.
Nebraska’s Native Americans share lively powwow celebrations. The Ho-Chunk hold annual powwows in July, and the Omaha host a harvest powwow on the first full moon in August. Various folk observances, such as the Czech Festival at Wilber, are reminders of the diverse origins of the people of Nebraska. Ogallala, a cow town during the 1870s and ’80s, relives its colourful past with its Front Street festivities held each summer. Each October the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben (Nebraska spelled in reverse), an Omaha civic organization founded in 1895, crown a king and a queen of Quivira. This event commemorates the search through the plains in 1541 of the Spanish explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado for the legendary Seven Golden Cities of Cibola and the Kingdom of Quivira.
The arts
Noted Nebraskan authors Willa Cather, Mari Sandoz, and Bess Streeter Aldrich were among those who wrote perceptively of life on the plains. The survival of the pioneers in a capricious physical environment, the lifestyles and interaction of settlers of diverse social and ethnic backgrounds, and the plight of the Native Americans were among the important themes of these writers. Poet Ted Kooser attended and taught at the University of Nebraska, and his writings reflect Midwestern rural life; he received a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for one of his poetry collections. The philosophies of L. Ron Hubbard of Tilden, the founder of Scientology, are known worldwide through his writings. The poet John G. Neihardt re-created the adventures of the explorers of the 19th-century West. In the early 1970s his narrative Black Elk Speaks achieved national recognition some 40 years after its original publication. Other famous Nebraskans include actors Marlon Brando and Henry Fonda, dancer Fred Astaire, singer-songwriter Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes), and television talk-show host Dick Cavett. Comedian Johnny Carson, longtime host of The Tonight Show, was a native of Iowa but spent his childhood in Nebraska, attended the University of Nebraska, and began his entertainment career in the state.
Cultural institutions
The Nebraska State Historical Society, organized in 1878, continues to make important contributions to an understanding of life in Nebraska and the West. The American Historical Society of Germans from Russia is located in Lincoln, reflecting the importance of this historic group to the state. The Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer has exhibits on 19th-century plains life as well as a collection of Native American artifacts. The Great Plains Black Museum in Omaha is one of the country’s largest centres of African American culture and history. A museum dedicated to Latino history and culture opened in Omaha in 1993. The Hastings Museum of Natural and Cultural History focuses on that city and its region, as well as on Great Plains life. Among its popular exhibits is one on the history of Kool-Aid, the internationally known soft-drink mix invented in Hastings in 1927. The International Quilt Study Center & Museum, dedicated in 2008 at the University of Nebraska, houses one of the world’s largest collection of quilts.
The Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha and the University of Nebraska’s Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery in Lincoln contain the state’s major collections in the visual arts. The performing arts have flourished in Nebraska, both in the development of local musical, theatre, and dance groups and through performances by touring artists of national stature.
Sports and recreation
Few subjects are of greater interest to Nebraskans than the fortunes of the University of Nebraska’s sports teams, especially its gridiron football team, long a national power, which won back-to-back National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I championships in 1970–71 and 1994–95, along with another in 1997. (Tom Osborne, coach of the last three championship teams, parlayed his popularity into a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.) The University of Nebraska is a member of the Big Ten Conference, while Creighton University, which is better known for its basketball teams, participates in the Big East Conference. The NCAA has held the College World baseball championship in Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium since 1950. Among the state’s most famous athletes are football great Gale Sayers and Baseball Hall of Famers Grover Cleveland Alexander and Bob Gibson.
Recreational areas include several state parks, the Nebraska National Forest, and the Oglala National Grassland. Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo is one of the best in the country.
Media and publishing
The state’s major newspapers are the Omaha World Herald and the Lincoln Journal Star. In 1960 the University of Nebraska Press launched the paperback Bison Series, reprints of early and modern works on the American West, including histories, collections of lore from Native American and Anglo settlers, and other important documents, many of which had been out of print. There are a variety of television and radio stations throughout the state.