Welcome to the "Treasures" page, a gallery of fantastic artifacts, not currently on exhibit, from the collection of the Nebraska State Historical Society.

1563
Indian "Commission" Signed by William Clark

This 1815 Indian commission was signed by William Clark of Lewis and Clark Expedition fame. Clark was appointed governor and superintendent of Indian affairs of Missouri Territory in 1813.

Government officials presented such commissions, often accompanied by medals, to Indian leaders as recognition of their status (in this case, as chief soldier of the Omaha Nation). The commissions and medals were diplomatic symbols meant to signal the government's desire for peace and friendship. Indians highly prized the commissions even though they could not read them.

9173-4
In the early 1930s, Nebraska U.S. Senator George Norris promoted the concept of the non-partisan, one-house legislature called the Unicameral. He believed that a one-house system would curb abuses of the conference committee which had allowed the majority party to rewrite legislation to favor its own positions. In 1934, Nebraska voters enthusiastically endorsed the idea and in 1937 Nebraska became the first and only state to have a unicameral legislature. This gavel opened the first unicameral legislative session on January 5, 1937.

Source: Senator and Mrs. George W. Norris

9646-4
This baseball, signed by members of the 1928 St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, includes the signatures of two Nebraska baseball greats, Clarence Mitchell and Grover Cleveland Alexander. The Cardinals were National League Champions that year but lost to the New York Yankees in the World Series. Mitchell, born in 1891 in Franklin County, Nebraska, and Alexander, born in 1887 in Elba, Nebraska, both pitched in game two of the series.

Source: Clarence Mitchell, Jr.

10046-7
Grace Abbott was born in Grand Island, Nebraska, in 1878. After graduating from Grand Island College in 1898, she received a master's degree in political science from the University of Chicago. Abbott remained in Chicago, working for immigrant rights, until 1917, when she moved to Washington, D.C., and joined the U.S. Department of Labor's Children's Bureau. In 1921 she was the first woman to hold a cabinet-level post when President Warren G. Harding appointed her director of the Children's Bureau. There, Abbott worked tirelessly for legislation to protect children from child labor abuses. In 1931 Grace Abbott received this medal from the National Institute of Social Sciences for her service as director of the Children's Bureau and for the bureau's contributions to the welfare of America's children.

Source: Charlotte E. Abbott

3810-3
At the 1900 Democratic National Convention in Kansas City, William Jennings Bryan was nominated for President for the second time. Although Bryan remained home in Lincoln, Nebraska during the convention, this bust was unveiled on opening day. Henry George, Jr. sculpted the bust.

Source: Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Bryan

7847-1 Allis quilt

7828-8 Flower Basket Petit Point
Grace McCance Snyder spent sixteen months piecing and assembling her Flower Basket Petit Point quilt. Entirely handmade, the quilt contains 85,789 pieces and 5,400 yards of thread. Grace adapted the basket petit point pattern for her quilt from a china plate manufactured by the Salem China Company of Ohio. German artist Wendelin Grossmann of Berlin designed the plate. After finishing the quilt, Grace wrote to the company, which gave her a complete set of flower basket dishes in response.

Grace earned national recognition for the skill and complexity of her quilts. The Congress of Quilters Hall of Fame in Arlington, Virginia, inducted her in 1980, as did the Nebraska Quilters Hall of Fame in 1986. The 1999 International Quilt Festival, held in Houston, Texas, selected Grace Snyder's quilt as one of "The Twentieth Century's One Hundred Best American Quilts."

4690
This is the first sample of crude petroleum from the first producing oil well in Nebraska. The well was located in Richardson County, near Falls City and it struck oil in November of 1939 at 2279 feet.

Source: Arthur J. Weaver

7513-28
This hat belonged to Lady Vesty, otherwise known as Evelene Brodstone, of Superior, Nebraska. Evelene was born in Wisconsin in 1875. At the age of three, she moved with her parents to Superior. After graduating high school at the age 14 she attended business school in Iowa, afterwhich she went to work as a stenographer for the Vesty Meat Packing Plant in Chicago, part of an international company based owned by the Vestey family of England. While there, Evelene worked her way up to a salary of $250,000 which made her the highest paid female executive of her time. By WWI, Evelene had retired and returned to Superior, however, she was quickly recalled by Vesty and soon became the company's troubleshooter in places like China and Venezuela. In 1923, Evelene married Lord William Vestey and, at his request changed her name to Evelyn, although, by then, she was known as Lady Vesty. Evelene Brodstone died in England in 1941 and her ashes were sent to Superior for burial.

Source: Ella Guthrie Shaw

7701-17
This bronze sculpture is from the life mask of Abraham Lincoln that was taken by artist Leonard Volk in 1860. In 1886, a committee was formed to purchase the original casts and present them, along with bronze copies, to the National Museum in Washington. Additional bronze copies were presented to the committee members. This copy was a gift to General John J. Pershing in 1920 from Douglas Volk, the son of the artist.

Source: Mr. and Mrs. Warren Pershing

8073-123-(1)
This is an envelope that was used to hold Indianola herb tablets, concocted by Richard "Diamond Dick" Tanner. Tanner was born in Taylorville, Illinois, in 1869, and came to Nebraska in 1878. He began his career as a long distance rider and circus performer in the 1890s. In 1905 he entered medical school in Nebraska and in1910 he combined his show business talent and knowledge of herbs to promote and sell natural remedies out of his Norfolk, Nebraska location. Although he tried to go "straight" for a while and temporarily dropped the Diamond Dick moniker and persona, the call of show business was too strong for him and he began easing his way back into the public spotlight as Diamond Dick. A self-proclaimed specialist in chronic diseases, Dr. Tanner enjoyed success as such, no-doubt aided by his self-promotion as a noted personality of the "Wild West."

Source: Dr. Richard Tanner (heirs)

10220-93
Miles Maryott was born in Burt County, Nebraska in 1873. During his early years he played professional baseball in a number of cities. After his baseball career ended in the early 1900s, he became known as many things: a taxidermist, artist, marksman, and outdoorsman. In 1926, he also became known as a murderer after killing Oshkosh marshal, George Albee. Although there is some evidence that the killing may have been in self-defense, Maryott was sentenced to life in prison in 1927. In prison Maryott continued creating works of art, such as this piece painted in 1932. He would give his creations to people he liked or wanted to thank, and also used them to barter for goods and services. He was technically freed from prison a short time before his death in 1938 so that he could spend his remaining days in a Lincoln hospital.

Source: NSHS Foundation.

3369
In the early 1900s, this bell was used on a homestead in Otoe County to call farmhands to meals. In the 1920s, it was used by WJAG radio announcer, and future Nebraska Senator, Karl Stefan to add sound effects to his noon report. WJAG radio of Norfolk was started in 1922 by the Huse family, and is one of the nation's oldest radio stations.

Source: John W. & W.L. McAllister

6037-3
This simply constructed incubator was devised by the Nebraska Department of Health to counteract high premature infant death rates. The Department of Health distributed one of these to each county in 1938. They could be heated by light bulb, hot water bottle or hot water in fruit jars.

Source: Nebraska State Department of Health.

s.12 #294
Many people entering Nebraska Territory in the 1850s were interested in founding towns as a means of personal enrichment. Groups of individuals could organize a town company, stake out 320 acres as allowed under the Federal Townsites Act, cut the site up into lots and then sell shares usually on the basis of ten lots per share. Once the legislature had incorporated the town the founders would advertise the town's merits, many times through newspapers, and encourage people to locate there. Not all towns prospered and many quickly faded away. This lot share in the Plattsmouth Town Company was issued to A. J. Poppleton in 1855. Poppleton is best known as one of the lawyers who worked with Ponca chief Standing Bear during his trial in 1879, the outcome of which declared that Indians were citizens under the law.

9852-2
This alien registration card was issued to Lena Scheuneman of Ithaca, Nebraska in 1918. After the beginning of United States involvement in WWI, all resident, non-naturalized, persons from "enemy" countries were required to register with the federal government.

Source: Cedars Home for Children Foundation

To see more Treasures from the collections of the Nebraska State Historical Society visit the Library / Archives Treasures page.

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