Research &
Collection
Research
The Library and Archives of the Stuhr Museum are located in the Edgar and Frances Reynolds Research Center. The Reynolds Center was made possible by generous grants from the Edgar and Frances Reynolds Foundation, Inc. and the Peter Kiewit Foundation.
The Research Department is open by appointment to all individuals interested in historical research and study. The department also offers seminars, workshops, and programs in genealogical and historical research; using local history in the classroom; preservation of family heirlooms; and interpreting family heirlooms, including photographs, textiles, and many other objects.
Hours:
Please contact the Research Department to make an appointment at least 72 hours prior to your visit.
Monday – Friday: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Saturday: By appointment only
Sunday: CLOSED
Contact us: research@stuhrmuseum.org
More about the Research Department
When personal or historical items are left at a museum or when staff discover materials in the collection without clear documentation, it creates a unique challenge. Museums cannot legally exhibit or fully steward items they do not own, and caring for undocumented property requires time and resources. Addressing these situations responsibly is an important part of preserving history for the public.
Like many museums and cultural institutions, Stuhr Museum occasionally becomes home to objects or archival materials for which ownership cannot be confirmed. Nebraska law provides a process that allows museums to establish legal title to such property so it can be properly cared for, interpreted, and shared.
The Nebraska Museum Property Act (Nebraska Revised Statutes § 51-701 to 51-712) requires that institutions give notice of their intent to assert legal title. This is done by 1) publishing a statement in a newspaper that circulates in the county where the museum is located for one week, and 2) posting a list of the materials online for a minimum of three consecutive weeks. Per the Museum Property Act, Stuhr Museum will periodically assert legal title to undocumented property. These are items for which Stuhr Museum cannot determine the owner through existing records and have been in the possession of Stuhr Museum for at least 7 years. Simultaneously to the required publication in a newspaper, a list of items will be posted on this page for three consecutive weeks.
When a notice is active, a button will appear below linking to a downloadable list of the items. Anyone who believes they have a claim to an item must contact Stuhr Museum within one year of the newspaper publication date.
Advertised March 2026; contact Stuhr Museum by March 2027.
Locust Street Looking North
This image is one half of a stereoscope card looking north on Locust Street from just beyond 2nd Street. Along the side of the card appears the label “Views of Central Nebraska.” The photographer appears to have been standing close to the alley, as only a portion of the two-story building north of the alley is visible. Near the north edge of the building stands a man wearing trousers with suspenders and a hat. There is equipment in the street, although it is unclear whether work was being done on the building or the street itself.
The building on the corner with the striped awning may be the same structure that today houses McKinney’s Pub. Several additional buildings can be seen farther north beyond Third Street, though their names are not distinguishable.
At the far north end of Locust Street, the original Union Pacific roundhouse is visible. The Union Pacific shops and rail yards were located in the same area. Several objects appear in front of the roundhouse, though their purpose cannot be determined.
Along the left-hand side of the image is a sign reading “Whitewater Wagon.” The sign is attached to the building used by Fred Hedde for his store. This building would later become home to the Grand Island Independent newspaper. It was a two-story wood-frame structure that was eventually replaced by the three-story brick Hedde Building at the southwest corner of Third and Locust Streets.
The photograph was taken before the end of 1888, when the old roundhouse was demolished after being replaced earlier that summer by a new 25-stall roundhouse in the relocated rail yards.
Grand Island Light & Fuel Co.
This building once stood in the 500 block of East Third Street, facing south at the corner of Plum and Third Streets. Constructed with a stone foundation, brick upper floor, and a square brick chimney, it stood very near the siding that connected the Union Pacific and Burlington railroads. The property also included a lime shed, a coal shed, an underground naphtha tank, and an above-ground “gas holder” tank capable of holding 40,000 cubic feet of manufactured gas produced from coke, water, and steam.
The company was incorporated in 1886 and constructed the plant in 1887 at a cost of $75,000. Charles Wasmer served as the plant’s first manager, overseeing both its construction and early operation while helping make affordable lighting available for public and commercial use. Over the years, the company’s name changed, becoming the Grand Island Gas Company in 1924 following its purchase by the Central Power Company.
With the introduction and increasing use of natural gas in Grand Island, the plant was placed on “stand-by” status on December 15, 1930. In 1936, it was determined that the plant’s 75-foot-tall square brick chimney needed to be demolished. On May 20, Central Power employees began dismantling the chimney and had made some progress when the north section suddenly collapsed, trapping one employee close to the building as bricks rained down around him. It was decided that leaving the remaining portion standing overnight posed too great a danger, and additional force would be needed to bring it down.
The police department was invited to bring over a .30-30 rifle and use the chimney for target practice, though it is unclear whether more than one rifle was involved. After 120 rounds were fired, the chimney still stood firm. At that point, officers called in the fire department to help wash the structure down with water. While firefighters sprayed the chimney, others pushed and pulled with cant hooks. After nearly two hours of effort, the remainder of the chimney finally collapsed. Portions of the building itself remained standing until sometime between 2013 and 2015.
So why is the photograph blue? The image is a cyanotype, a photographic printing process that produces a monochromatic blue print using a technique that is more than 180 years old!
Grand Island Bicycle Racers
Pictured in this circa 1895 Leschinsky cabinet card are four bicyclists: Dan H. Fishburn (seated left), Harry W. Culbertson (seated right), Arthur R. Weeter, and George H. Clendenin. All four were avid bicyclists in Grand Island, belonged to one or more local bicycle clubs, and participated in numerous local bicycle races. Three are dressed in dark shirts and knee-length shorts. The gentleman seated on the floor has the letters “P C C” affixed to his shirt, most likely representing the “Pukwana Cycle Club,” the name adopted by the Grand Island Bicycle Club on August 13, 1894 (Grand Island Independent, August 14, 1894, p. 4).
Daniel H. Fishburn was born in Pennsylvania in 1870. His family was living in Hall County by the summer of 1886, when his mother died at Alda. Fishburn belonged to many clubs in Grand Island. He married Maude Williams in Grand Island in 1898. He taught school and served as County Superintendent of Schools. In 1907, he became a partner in the Paine-Fishburn Granite Company, but sold his interest in the business in 1925. He later became field secretary for the Grand Island Business College. During World War II, he worked for a time at the Cornhusker Ammunition Plant before retiring to oversee his farming interests. His wife Maude died in 1914, and he later married Agatha Tooher in 1920. He died in July 1958.
Harry W. Culbertson was born in Indiana in 1876, and his family later moved to Grand Island. By 1900, he was working as a bookkeeper. He married Maud Gray in June 1905 at Summit, Utah. Over the years, he worked in the lumber industry in Nevada, served as a motorman for a street railway in Salt Lake City, returned to the lumber industry in Utah, and by 1950 was manager of a wholesale lumber company. He died in Salt Lake City in April 1951. Maud died in 1971.
Arthur R. Weeter was born in Pennsylvania in 1877. He moved with his parents to Grand Island, where he attended school before later continuing his education in Fremont. He then moved to Park City, Utah, to work as a bookkeeper for a mercantile business and would later manage a lumber company there. He married Mattie Lambert in Salt Lake City in 1900, though the couple later divorced. Along with his uncle, he managed Weeter Lumber in Park City. In 1923, Weeter moved to Humboldt County, Nevada, where he worked in mining before relocating to Jumbo, Nevada, where he operated a general store and post office. Arthur Weeter died in April 1952. Mrs. Weeter died in California in February 1959.
George Herbert Clendenin was born in Mills County, Iowa, in 1875 and lived in the Grand Island area from the mid-1880s through the 1890s. In 1896, he married Maude Miller at Elba, Nebraska. By 1900, he was working as a telephone manager in Otoe County. He had moved to Colorado by 1910 and became involved in the coal industry. Maude died in Denver in 1956, and George died there in 1966.
Will R. King’s Bicycle
This photograph shows the office of the Grand Island City Treasurer in City Hall, located at the northwest corner of Second and Pine Streets. The room contains many of the typical features of a government office of the era—work desks, ledgers, books, papers, ink pens and ink bottles, a map of Grand Island, a large safe, and assorted chairs. One unusual item, however, stands out at the far left of the image: a bicycle.
This was no ordinary bicycle, but the personal bicycle of City Treasurer Will Rush King. King was an avid bicyclist and racer in Grand Island and, at various times, belonged to either the Grand Island Bicycle Club or the Pukwana Wheel Club. The Independent reported in August 1886 that King had “purchased a Victor bicycle of the Heffleman boys who have the agency for that machine.”
King served as Grand Island City Treasurer beginning in 1893 and was repeatedly reelected through 1905. In 1902, while serving as City Treasurer, he was also elected Deputy County Treasurer. Since the City Treasurer could maintain an office at any location, it was decided to move his office into the County Treasurer’s office. He served in both capacities until his election as County Treasurer in 1905, a position he held until 1908.
Collection
Stuhr Museum houses over 140,000 2D and 3D objects in our collection. With over 200 acres of property and over 100 structures on the museum grounds, Stuhr Museum exhibits numerous artifacts at any one time. Each of the objects on exhibit illustrates a unique component of the history of the Hall County and Central Nebraska region from the 1840s until 1930 and the individuals who called this region of the country their home. The famous Stuhr building, named for the founder of the museum Leo Stuhr, was created by renowned architect Edward Durell Stone. His son, Edward Durell Stone Jr., worked with his father to design the iconic landscape which surrounds the museum on all sides with water. The building is home to 15 permanent exhibits made up of historic Hall County artifacts, as well as 10 yearly rotating exhibits that highlight a variety of topics in either history or local artists and artwork.
Gus Fonner Memorial Rotunda
Many other buildings on Stuhr Museum grounds exhibit artifacts from different aspects of Hall County life and history. The Gus Fonner Memorial Rotunda houses the immense historical artifact collection of former Stuhr Museum benefactor Gus Fonner. The architecture of this building offers a clue to the contents exhibited inside, as the Rotunda was designed in the shape of a spoked, pioneer wagon wheel. The Fonner collection consists of 19th and early 20th century artifacts from the Western United States and is truly a sight to behold. The collection is comprised of military and civilian weapons, Southwestern United States Native American clothing, pottery and artwork, and accessories from the American home at the turn of the 20th century.
Farm Machinery & Antique Auto Collection
The Farm Machinery & Antique Auto Collection is located in its own building on the Stuhr Museum grounds as a salute to agriculture in the history of Nebraska. This collection of antique tractors, large farm equipment, and automobiles dates to the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is well known throughout the state and country as the home of several highly rare agricultural artifacts of this region and era. Each of the vehicles exhibited in this collection is in excellent condition and was driven into place in the building that they are currently displayed in.
Photography Collection
The photography collection at Stuhr Museum is comprised of some 50,000 photographs of the Hall County and Central Nebraska region. Over 28,000 of these photos originate from the work of long time Grand Island Nebraska photographer Julius Leschinsky, as Stuhr Museum houses the original glass plate negatives from his career. There are also sizeable collections of photographs from Hall County photographers Michael Murphy, Henry Locke, and Jack Bailey. These photographs capture diverse scenes from everyday life in Nebraska during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The photos document scenes from rural and urban settings; portrait photographs of men, women, and children from all walks of life; historic buildings and the businesses once housed within them; countless social and fraternal organizations; and all manner of heartfelt moments between friends and loved ones. The Stuhr Museum photography collection is a priceless treasure that all residents of central Nebraska are lucky to have available to them.
Object Donation Procedures
If you are interested in donating an item to the Stuhr Museum, please read the policy and procedures outlined below.
Policy & Procedures
- If you would like to donate an object to the Stuhr Museum collections, please make sure that you first have the legal possession of that object and have the legal authority to offer the donation.
- Please contact a member of the curatorial staff at Stuhr Museum by either email or phone with any information you may have about the object(s) you would like to donate including photographs, family history, or other relevant details. The information that you provide about your object will be a huge benefit to our curatorial staff and will be a help during the donation process.
- The Stuhr Museum Collections Committee meets at the beginning of each month and votes on every object offered for donation to Stuhr Museum during the previous month. The objects offered for donation will be accepted or denied based on several factors including but not limited to, the amount of collection storage space, relevance to the museum mission, the necessity of the object to the collection and the avoidance of redundancies, the condition of the object(s) being offered, etc.
- Once the Collections Committee has made their decision, our curatorial staff will reach back out to you with the decision of this committee and will either set up an appointment with you to donate your object(s), or if the donation has been denied, our staff will offer you recommendations for other institutions to consider donating your objects to.
Contact Information
Please submit all inquiries to :
Megan Sharp – Curator
msharp@stuhrmuseum.org
(308) 385-5316 ext. 244