UNL Center for Great Plains Studies

We'd like to thank everyone who supported the Center for Great Plains Studies and the Great Plains Art Museum during Give to Lincoln Day. We appreciate everyone who supports by donating, taking part in programming, or visiting the museum. Thank you!

Give to Lincoln Day is next week, but you don't have to wait! You can support the Center and the Great Plains Art Museum right now at: https://givetolincoln.com/nonprofits/center-for-great-plains-studies-and-great-plains-art-museum

Every donation through May 28 helps us get a proportional share of a $650,000 match fund made possible by the Lincoln Community Foundation and generous sponsors.

Great Plains Fellows are involved in this new website on Nebraska wildfires:

Wildfire’s history and future in the Great Plains on display in new website – Wildfire Today Nebraska is still reeling from recent destructive wildfires and heading into what’s expected to be an active fire summer.

The winner of the 2026 Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize is Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State by Caleb Gayle (2025, Penguin Random House).

In the book, also longlisted for the National Book Award, Gayle recounts the extraordinary tale of Edward McCabe, a Black man who championed idea to create a state within the U.S. governed by and for Black people — and the racism, politics and greed that thwarted him.

“I hope readers gather that ‘Black Moses’ is but one story—of many—about the varied ways people and places we all too often overlook still help us understand our country. McCabe's story, in some important sense, is our collective story of ambitiously pursuing a place in America,” Gayle said.

More: https://plains.unl.edu/projects/stubbendieck-great-plains-distinguished-book-prize/

Give to Lincoln Day is an annual chance for our community to support organizations that make an impact in our city. Consider supporting the Center for Great Plains Studies and Great Plains Art Museum during this year's giving! Your gift supports a unique institution that cultivates awareness of and engagement with the diverse people, cultures, and natural environments of the Great Plains. Every donation you make through May 28 in support of Give to Lincoln Day makes a bigger impact because nonprofits also get a proportional share of a $650,000 match fund provided by the Lincoln Community Foundation and sponsors.
https://givetolincoln.com/nonprofits/center-for-great-plains-studies-and-great-plains-art-museum

Photo 1: Artist Lena' Black runs a pottery workshop with LPS.
Photo 2: Guests participate in a kite-making activity during First Friday.
Photo 3: Aubrey Streit Krug speaks with an audience after a documentary screening.

If you came to our Japanese Hall talk last semester and are interested in learning more, Great Plains Fellow Donna Anderson will be at the Japanese Hall at the Legacy of the Plains Museum in Gering June 3-6 to scan photographs, documents and books related to the tri-state Japanese American community for an open-access digital archive.

Digitization efforts coming to Japanese Hall June 3-6 Donna D. Anderson and the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities will lead digitization efforts to chronicle Japanese American histories of Nebraska at the Japanese Hall in Gering June 3-6.

Do you have a story to tell about the Great Plains or the state of Nebraska? The Center for Great Plains Studies and Nebraska Public Media invite any UNL undergraduate or graduate student to apply for its annual Student Storyteller in Residence program. Each successful applicant will be provided a one-time stipend of $1,275, an office at the Center or Nebraska Public Media for the 2025-26 academic year, and mentorship from within each organization as best fits the student’s project goals. More info: https://plains.unl.edu/projects/student-storyteller-residence/

Give to Lincoln Day isn't until May 28, but don't wait! You can give to support our work at the Center for Great Plains Studies and the Great Plains Art Museum right away: https://givetolincoln.com/nonprofits/center-for-great-plains-studies-and-great-plains-art-museum

Earlier this month we brought inventor Danielle Boyer (Anishnaabe, Sault Tribe) to Lincoln for our Great Plains Futures conference. While she was here, Danielle ran a robotics design workshop for Indigenous students at Lincoln Public Schools. Read about it here:

LPS American Indian students learn about robotics at engaging workshop LPS American Indian students learned how robots can strengthen both culture and community at an interactive workshop this spring.