Legacy of the Plains Museum

David Wolf, Director of the Legacy of the Plains Museum, is joined by Eric Grunwald, Lead Interpreter at Scotts Bluff National Monument in Gering, Nebraska, to talk about the history and relevanceof the Scotts Bluff National Monument.

David Wolf, Director of the Legacy of the Plains Museum, is joined by Eric Grunwald, Lead Interpreter at Scotts Bluff National Monument in Gering, Nebraska, to talk about the history and relevanceof the Scotts Bluff National Monument.

David Wolf, Director of the Legacy of the Plains Museum, is joined by Vicki Schmitt and Larry to talk about the history of sugar beets, the sugar factories and the communities in which they evolved in western Nebraska/Wyobraska area.

David Wolf, Director of the Legacy of the Plains Museum, is joined by Vicki Schmitt and Jack Preston to talk about the impact of the Homestead Act and its impact in western Nebraska/Wyobraska area. The Homestead Act was one of the major contributors to settlement in Wyobraska, and both of Jack’s great grandparents homesteaded in Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska. He has done extensive research into the early settlers in Scotts Bluff County.

Minge Longhorn herd at Legacy of the Plains Museum in Gering, Nebraska was donated by Harold and Barb Minge. Learn more about the Minge Longhorn herd in S1E1 of Voices on the Prairie Wind podcast as Gary Warrner speaks with Director of the Legacy of the Plains David Wolf  about raising Longhorn, and the hisotry of when, and why, the Minge family donated the herd to posterity of the Panhandle of Nebraska.

As emmigrants passed through the shadow of Scotts Bluff National Monumnet a degree of awe came over them.  Written diaries are all we have of those encounters with the North Platte Valley as they made their way to distance lands on the West Coast of North America.   Scotts Bluff wasn't just the bluff that over-looks Gering and Scottsbluff, Nebraska.  The area to the South known as the Wildcat Hills were also considered Scotts Bluffs.

David Wolf speaks with Gary Warrner whose family moved to the area in the early 1880's and settled in south central Scotts Bluff County.  Gary's chronicles both sides of his grandparent's journey to the area and talks about his personal journey which has taken him to the oil fields in Texas and back to the area where he opened his own business.  After he retired, the call of ranching was too much, and he started a herd of his own. 

The Legacy of the Plains library and archive includes thousands of items. They include rare publications (including books, newspapers, magazines, maps, manuscripts, and other print resources); a unique collection of technical literature related to farming and farm equipment; audiovisual materials; personal, corporate, and governmental archives; homestead filings and land records; documents of local area businesses; and thousands of images dating from the 19th century to the present, both physically and digitally.

The Paul and Helen Henderson Oregon Trail Collection is one of the most complete trail research tools in existence. It consists over 100 boxes of historical material, including thousands of slides, dozens of maps, thousands of photographs, several manuscripts, and more than 300 pioneer diaries, guides, journals, and letters from the period 1805-1883.

Located on the Oregon Trail, the Legacy of the Plains Museum features an impressive collection of pioneer and early community artifacts, antique tractors, and farm implements; an 80-acre working farm; historic farmstead structures; and striking views of Scotts Bluff National Monument. Come live the timeless stories of the Nebraska prairie.