Based on the museum's website before my visit my expectations were low. Very low. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the exhibits' contents as well as the visual quality. The museum's curators included a variety of objects from their collections, reproductions, and original documents along with stations for children (of all ages) to touch & interact with objects including buffalo parts and recreated dwellings. I visited to give myself an overview of Nebraska history as I haven't read a book on the topic (yet) being new to the state.
While some of the exhibits are showing their age, overall, the quality of the design and installation has made them long-lasting. Pet peeve of a museum regular: many reproductions of documents, photographic formats, etc. do not have labels attributing them either to the museum's or another repository's collection. Frankly, I just assumed they took all of those items from the Library of Congress' American Memory website. It can come off as lazy, but was probably more a by-product of not having enough resources to get reproductions of material in other Nebraska repositories.
The museum is in a building of a certain 1960s-1970s vintage and this is obvious throughout the museum's spaces, stairwell, etc., but the exhibit halls are well done and have been updated. The gift shop is well-stocked with Nebraska and western items and I would rate it average overall with an above average postcard selection.
What do we have to do to get the state of Nebraska to invest in its online infrastructure and content? These websites are themselves an interesting step back in time to 2002, but I like my history in my museums & my books NOT on websites intended to draw audiences in. I guess I'll make a gift to the Nebraska Historical Society (the museum's parent body) and designate it for digital content and collections.
Don't be fooled by the under investment in Nebraska's online presence for its history! Do check out the Nebraska History Museum. read more