Over much of the 162-year history of Nebraska Farmer magazine, editors, writers and staff have diligently collected print volumes of nearly every magazine we’ve ever printed into bound volumes. The bound magazines have followed the Nebraska Farmer offices, wherever they have been located, including the company’s long history of offices in Lincoln.

In September, those historic bound volumes that had been stored on two high bookshelves in the conference room of the magazine office, complemented with a framed portrait of longtime publisher and editor — and Nebraska’s 19th governor, Samuel R. McKelvie — were transferred to a more permanent, interpretive location at the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island.

Home at Stuhr

Located in central Nebraska along the Platte River, the 53-year-old museum houses more than 140,000 2D and 3D objects in its vast collections. It sits on 200 acres of property adjacent to Highway 30 and has more than 100 structures on the museum grounds.

The museum averages about 43,000 visitors every year, and another 20,000 students visiting for history classes. In the past year alone, Stuhr has hosted visitors from 48 U.S. states and 22 other countries.

The famous Stuhr building that is the centerpiece was designed by Edward Durell Stone, who worked with his son to build the iconic landscape of water surrounding the main building. The museum also includes the Fonner Memorial Rotunda, which houses the 19th and early 20th century western U.S. historical artifact collection of the former Stuhr benefactor, Gus Fonner.

LONG HISTORY: With the magazine’s long history, the bound volumes tell not only the collective history of agriculture in the territory and then the state, but also the history of the state itself.

Farmers love the Steam Learning Center, which houses steam-powered and antique tractors, large farm equipment and automobiles dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Along with the engaging and interactive Railroad Town, the museum includes an 1890s farmstead, a Pawnee earthen lodge, a road ranch of the 1850s and ‘60s, a country church and a schoolhouse.

Because of the agricultural heritage of the Platte River valley and Hall County, as well as the engaging history endeavors of the Stuhr Museum, Nebraska Farmer and Farm Progress and Informa — the parent company of the magazine — recently donated the bound volumes and the collection to the Stuhr Museum. Staff members at Stuhr traveled to the Lincoln office to transport the volumes to their museum in early September.

Big picture

“We are thrilled to have this valuable piece of Nebraska history in our collection now,” says Chris Hochstetler, executive director for the museum.

Encased in these bound volumes, which are nearly complete dating back to the beginning of the magazine in 1859, is not only the history of Nebraska Farmer and agriculture in the territory and then the state, but also the history of Nebraska itself.

The magazine over the years has always contained the latest information on ag, but it also has had home and youth pages, as well as garden information, reports from around the state written by farmers and ranchers, and recipes.

“Having most of the magazines in this collection, as an ag-based living history museum, provides for us a great source of information about Nebraska agriculture,” says Rebecca Matticks, Stuhr director of research. “In Nebraska Farmer, there are articles on the home, health, ecology and real estate that really encompasses a bigger picture. As we try to make the connection to 100 years ago, to 140 years ago, we will use these bound volumes to check on history and to tie things together to tell that bigger picture.”

NEW HOME: The collective bound volumes were recently donated by Nebraska Farmer to the archives at the Stuhr Museum.

In addition to serving as a resource in print form, Stuhr has a long-term goal of digitizing the volumes to make the information more accessible to all for research and general purposes, Matticks says.

She notes that the bound volumes themselves have been meticulously kept by the editors, writers and staff at Nebraska Farmer for these many years, so the actual physical collection has great value.

In addition, Stuhr continues to receive Nebraska Farmer magazines each month, so the collection of bound volumes is ongoing and continuing.

Getting it right

“We’ve been trying to build up our historical interpretations,” Matticks says. “In our Railroad Town, living history reenactors wear period clothing, and they explain history in first person as someone in the period, but also in third person, to provide some context. As we read these magazines, we can note the language of the day, so as we try to educate visitors and schoolchildren, we get it right.”

Having been accredited with the American Association of Museums since the 1970s, Stuhr has a commitment to presenting history in the best possible way, and making it accurate, she adds.

For Matticks, the collection of Nebraska Farmer bound volumes is something special. “That 1859 issue covers the very beginning of settlement of the land,” she says. “In this complete collection, this is the same institution telling similar stories from back then until last month.”

And the collection will keep growing and keep preserving print issues of future Nebraska Farmer magazines in the months and years to come.

To learn more about the collection or Stuhr museum research resources, email Matticks at [email protected].