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If the Omaha Public Library had only had $650 back in 1913....... Omaha, Nebr., July 15, 1913 Miss Edith Tobitt, Librarian, City. My dear Miss Tobitt:- We have for sale a very beautiful Nebraska Bird Collection, in all about 300 birds. We are leaving the City and as we do not care to take a Nebraska Bird Collection to California, will dispose of them for less than the cost of mounting. This is the finest collection of birds in the State and Omaha should have them for educational purposes. If you desire to take them, arrangements should be made at once as we have our goods ready for packing. Very truly, Joseph Whinnery Phone: Douglas 1867 July 17, 1913 Dr. J. G. Whinnery 407 Paxton Block, Omaha. My dear Dr. Whinnery:- I sent your communication to Mr. Dietz [Omaha Public Library Board President] as soon as it was received at the Library and asked him to take some action so that I might communicate with you. He told m...

One of the fun things about working at the library is meeting people doing research. This past week, local researcher, Daniel Schafer , brought in a couple of historic images from his own collection to share with us of the Omaha Fire Department. He is researching the early photographers in Omaha and Nebraska and said these were taken by Mitchell & McGowan in the summer of 1878. The first is of the Omaha Fire Department #1 - built on the northeast corner of 20 th & Izard . The front of the building faces west. The second image is of one of their fire wagons, which is probably seen in the background of the first photo. Enjoy!

On Thursday, April 9th, I had the pleasure of meeting Stanley "The Snake" Smith. He needed help updating his bio - he was going to be inducted into the Nebraska Boxing Hall of Fame April 17th-18th. We found several articles in the Omaha World-Herald in our Proquest Database written during his amateur boxing career. Stanley “The Snake” Smith is what this Omaha native was called during back in the 1980s. His snake-like jab is what earned him the nickname “The Snake” from the press. He won 5 City Championships and advanced to compete and win 5 Midwest Championships in 3 different weight divisions. He competed in three different weight divisions: the light heavy weight division in 1981 and 1984, the middle weight division in 1985 and 1986, and the heavy weight division in 1988. Stanley “The Snake” Smith won all 10 championships in each one of those years under coach Leonard Hawkins and Bill Cunningham of the 1140 Boxing Club. Stanley Smith competed all over the country including ...

The family of an Omaha artist whose work is better known than his name visited Omaha Public Library staff offices in March to research the Omaha Public Library’s special collections and to share stories, photos and articles about Charles M. Plein . Joining the group was Omaha historian Jeffrey Spencer, who shared significant information from his extensive research and collections of the time period. Plein (1870-1920) was the great-uncle of Jean McElheney of Rippey , IA (seated). He lived for a time in that area after emigrating from Alsace-Lorraine and before settling in Omaha in the 1890s. Jean told the library staff members that she had heard many stories about Plein from her mother, Elizabeth, Plein ’s favorite niece. The family collection includes photos of Charles; his brother, Eberhardt (Tony) Plein , who also lived in Omaha; vintage postcards sent to Elizabeth; published articles and personal letters. Jean now owns two bronze sculptures created by Plein , discovered and...

Ron Wirth from Oregon contacted the Omaha Public Library. His great-grandfather's brother, Walter J. Lowrie , was a member of the Omaha Hook and Ladder Company. He had in his possession a copy of a booklet published by the Omaha Bee newspaper called " Lowrie's Last Ride." It recounts the accident on July 21 1880, that took the life of Lowrie , the oldest paid member (except for the chief engineer) of the fire department while he was on his way to a fire. Ron asked us: "Are their any photos of the fire departments of that time in Omaha in the archives, or personal and or donated images?" As it happened, I had run across a photo in the Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company records and so we scanned it for him. Mark Dasovic , a fire fighter / historian at Omaha Fire Department, identified the photo as one they also have in their collection. The photo was taken in January, 1879. It shows Pioneer Hook & Ladder Company #1 hand-pulled fire wagon with ladders on th...

We frequently get questions from people needing the spelling of a word. With the Internet these are easier to find than plowing through a print source. I had a request this morning from a gentleman who was going to make some signs and wanted to make sure his spellings were correct. We had a laugh over a potential new slogan for his business: "I can't spell but I can guarentee my residentiel remodelling."

Robert G. Cunningham asked. He had joined the Marines when he was 18 years old during WWII and had been a pilot with the Marine Bombing Four-Thirteen Squadron. He thought the island they ran missions from started with an A, maybe an E - - and eventually , thanks to Google, we found it - Emirau Island . You can see the runways from this satelite image. He was trying to write some of his memories. He showed me a small black and white photograph of a couple of shirtless fellows. One went on to be a professional baseball and football player - the other - he couldn't remember his name. I told him he needed to write the information on the back and gave him a pencil. We went back to look at a world atlas to see where the island was and he started telling me a story about two men who got drunk and were in a jeep on the runway and decided they were going to take off like a plane and drove the jeep over the edge and dropped about 200 feet - both were killed. Another story was how he was t...

A young girl was at the desk with her mother asking for biographical information about Bob Marley, legendary reggae singer and song writer: she was writing a paper about him. I told her I had the opportunity when I was in Jamaica in 2006 to visit the Bob Marley's Birth & Final Resting Place at Nine Mile. (It took most of the day traveling on dangerous and winding roads through the mountains in a car driven by a Rastafarian to get to the remote and rustically baracaded site.) Our catalog revealed we had a biography in both the adult and children's section. I always recommend children's books - they are a fast and easy way to get the main points of a subject without getting buried in the detail. We also had a "Bob Marley: Songs of Freedom" songbook with lyrics that might be good to get an insight into his music. I found he was in our Wilson Biographies Database which I explained they could get to from home with their library card. I was a bit disappointed that ...