Center for Great Plains Studies

Center for Great Plains Studies
Name	Center for Great Plains Studies
Formation	1979
Headquarters	Lincoln, Nebraska
Parent organization	University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Contents

Center for Great Plains Studies The Center for Great Plains Studies is an interdisciplinary research institute based at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln that focuses on the history, culture, environment, and communities of the Great Plains region encompassing parts of the United States and Canada. It engages scholars and publics through conferences, fellowships, publications, and archival projects tied to areas such as Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, and Manitoba. The Center connects work across fields including studies of the Homestead Act, Dust Bowl, Missouri River, and Indigenous nations such as the Lakota and Omaha (tribe).

History

The Center emerged in 1979 amid initiatives at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and was influenced by scholars associated with the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Historical Association, and the State Historical Society of North Dakota. Early programs linked to figures working on the Homestead Act of 1862, research on the Dust Bowl with connections to the Works Progress Administration archives, and collaborations with state institutions like the Nebraska State Historical Society and the Kansas Historical Society. Founding activities intersected with projects on the Missouri River Basin, land policy debates involving the United States Department of Agriculture, and academic networks such as the Western History Association and the American Studies Association.

The Center’s mission emphasizes interdisciplinary study of the Great Plains region and supports programs such as a fellows program, lecture series, and annual conferences that draw participants from institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration, and the American Philosophical Society. Core programs examine themes tied to the Homestead Act, water issues on the Ogallala Aquifer, prairie restoration linked to the Nature Conservancy, and Indigenous cultural revitalization involving tribes like the Omaha (tribe), Pawnee, and Sicangu Lakota. Public-facing initiatives are organized with partners such as the Nebraska Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Science Foundation.

Research supported by the Center spans environmental history, cultural geography, and archival studies, producing monographs, edited volumes, and a journal series that have featured contributors associated with the University of Kansas, the University of Oklahoma, the University of South Dakota, Kansas State University, and the University of Montana. The Center’s publications address topics including the Dust Bowl, the Homestead Act of 1862, cattle ranching on the Great Plains, and river commerce on the Missouri River; authors have cited sources from the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration, and holdings of the Smithsonian Institution. Edited series and conference proceedings have integrated scholarship linked to the American Antiquarian Society, the World Bank (on rural development), and the Ford Foundation (on cultural grants).

Educational outreach includes graduate fellowships, undergraduate internships, public lectures, and K–12 curriculum materials developed in cooperation with the Nebraska Department of Education, the Kansas State Department of Education, and school districts in Omaha, Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, and Topeka, Kansas. Programming brings together educators, curators from the State Historical Society of North Dakota and the Kansas Historical Society, and community leaders from tribal nations such as the Omaha (tribe), Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Outreach events have been co-sponsored by museums such as the Nebraska History Museum, the Kansas Museum of History, and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

The Center facilitates access to manuscript collections, oral histories, maps, and photographic archives housed at repositories including the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries, the Homestead National Historical Park, the American Heritage Center, the State Historical Society of North Dakota, and the Kansas State Historical Society. Significant archival themes include Homestead claims tied to the Homestead Act of 1862, agricultural extension records connected to the United States Department of Agriculture, New Deal-era materials from the Works Progress Administration, and oral histories from Indigenous communities such as the Omaha (tribe and the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma.

The Center partners with universities, museums, tribal governments, and federal agencies including the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Park Service, and regional partners like the Kansas Historical Society, the Oklahoma Historical Society, and the Montana Historical Society. International collaborations have included scholars from University of Manitoba and archival exchanges with institutions involved in prairie ecology such as the Nature Conservancy and the International Prairie Conservation Conference network.

Governance follows an academic advisory board model with oversight by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and input from partners such as the Nebraska State Historical Society and tribal representatives from the Omaha (tribe) and Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. Funding sources include competitive grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, private foundations like the Ford Foundation and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and endowments managed in coordination with the University of Nebraska Foundation and research offices at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.