Between 1901 and 1922, Andrew Carnegie funded 69 libraries across Nebraska, giving the state the second-highest per capita rate of Carnegie libraries in the nation. But why Nebraska?

In this episode, we explore how women's clubs, a newly formed state Library Commission, and Carnegie's millions transformed Nebraska from having just 26 libraries to over 120 in two decades. We'll meet Belle Stoughtenborough, who traveled the state preaching "the library way," and Edna Bullock, who lobbied the legislature relentlessly until Nebraska established its Library Commission in 1901, at exactly the right moment.

Then we visit two libraries: Broken Bow, where the Ladies Library Association kept books circulating for 30 years before finally getting their "temple of literature," and Chadron, where librarian Elizabeth O'Linn Smith served soldiers at Fort Robinson during World War I, declaring, "I will go wherever I am needed."

As we continue building our Rooted in the Plains community, today, we open the doors to our Carnegie Library, right next to the opera house.

For photos of Nebraska's Carnegie libraries, past and present, follow @rootedintheplains on Instagram.

Want to learn more?

• Bobinski, George S. "Carnegie Libraries: Their History and Impact on American Public Library Development." Library Quarterly 39, no. 4 (1969): 390-405.
• Kevane, Michael, and William A. Sundstrom. "The Development of Public Libraries in the United States, 1870-1930: A Quantitative Assessment." Information & Culture 49, no. 2 (2014): 117–44.
• Mickelson, Peter. "American Society and the Public Library in the Thought of Andrew Carnegie." The Journal of Library History 10, no. 2 (1975): 117–38.
• Pollak, Oliver B. A State of Readers: Nebraska's Carnegie Libraries. Lincoln, NE: J & L Lee Co, 2005.
• "List of Carnegie Libraries in Nebraska." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Carnegie_libraries_in_Nebraska

Content Warning: This episode discusses historical violence, including domestic violence, murder, and attempted suicide. While not graphic, sensitive listeners may want to be aware before listening.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves walked into his boss's office for his next assignment, a murder warrant. When Marshal Leo Bennett saw the suspect's name, he hesitated. "Maybe another deputy should handle this one, Bass." The name on the warrant: Benjamin Reeves. Bass's son.

"Give me the writ," Bass said.

Born into slavery in 1838, Bass Reeves escaped to Indian Territory during the Civil War and later became one of the first Black U.S. Marshals west of the Mississippi. Over his 32-year career, he arrested more than 3,000 criminals and killed 14 men in the line of duty, all while never suffering a single wound. He was a master of disguise, spoke multiple Native American languages, and became known simply as "the Black Marshal."

But could this legendary lawman have inspired America's most famous fictional hero?

Want to see more? See historical photos and more glimpses of prairie life on Instagram: @rootedintheplains

Want to learn more?

Burton, Art T. Black Gun, Silver Star: The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshal Bass Reeves. New Edition. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2022.

Gideon, D.C. Indian Territory: Descriptive, Biographical and Genealogical. New York & Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1901.

Littlefield, Daniel F. Jr., and Lonnie E. Underhill. "Negro Marshals in the Indian Territory." The Journal of Negro History 56, no. 2 (April 1971): 77-87.

National Park Service. "Bass Reeves Biography." Fort Smith National Historic Site. https://www.nps.gov/fosm/learn/historyculture/bass_reeves.htm

Williams, Nudie E. "Bass Reeves: Lawman in the Western Ozarks." Negro History Bulletin 42, no. 2 (April-May-June 1979): 37-39.

In the 1890s, Great Plains farmers faced a problem: they desperately needed telephones, but the Bell Telephone Company thought rural areas were too expensive and unsophisticated to serve. So, farmers built their own system—using barbed wire fences. By 1920, these homemade networks had made farmers more connected than city dwellers. This is the story of whiskey bottle insulators, party line eavesdropping, and how the devil's rope became a lifeline across the isolated prairie.

Want to see more? See historical photos and more glimpses of prairie life on Instagram: @rootedintheplains

Want to learn more?

"A Cheap Telephone System for Farmers." Scientific American 82, no. 13 (March 31, 1900): 196. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24982232.

"A Wire Fence Telephone Wanted." Scientific American 71, no. 16 (October 20, 1894): 249. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26115301.

Arguimbau, Ellen. "From Party Lines and Barbed Wire: A History of Telephones in Montana." Montana: The Magazine of Western History 63, no. 3 (Autumn 2013): 34–93. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24416215.

Dawson Public Power District. "Ghost Towns: A Look at Our Past." Accessed January 3, 2026. https://dawsonpower.com/2020/10/ghost-towns-a-look-at-our-past/.

Eckhardt, C. F. "Before Ma Bell: Rural Telephone Systems in the West." Texas Escapes. Accessed January 3, 2026. https://www.texasescapes.com/CFEckhardt/Rural-Telephone-Systems-in-the-West.htm.

Emerson, Lori. "Barbed Wire Networks." In Other Networks: A Radical Technology Sourcebook. University of Colorado Boulder, forthcoming 2025.

Fischer, Claude S. "The Revolution in Rural Telephony, 1900-1920." Journal of Social History 21, no. 1 (Autumn 1987): 5–26. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3788072.

Holmes, Bob. "The Wired Wild West." New Scientist 220, no. 2948 (December 21, 2013): 76–77.

Sicilia, David B. "How the West Was Wired." Inc. 19, no. 9 (1997): 74.

Trew, Delbert. "Barbed Wire Telephones." Texas Escapes. Accessed January 3, 2026. https://www.texasescapes.com/DelbertTrew/Barbed-Wire-Telephones.htm.

Rooted in the Plains, Episode Samples

In this Season 2 premiere of Rooted in the Plains, we will explore how the Great Plains states chose their official symbols, flowers, birds, trees, and insects. From the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago to grassroots campaigns by women's clubs, discover the surprising stories behind these emblems of state identity.

Learn why five states chose the same bird, how Montana kids voted for their state tree 41 years before the legislature acted, and why Oklahoma has three different flower symbols. Through conversations and quiz questions, we uncover the women-led movement that gave our states their lasting symbols and what these choices reveal about shared identity across the Great Plains.

Want to see more? See historical photos of the Woman's Building, state symbols, and more glimpses of prairie life on Instagram: @rootedintheplains

Want to learn more?

• https://arboristnow.com/news/discover-the-unique-stories-behind-america-s-state-trees-and-flowers-part-3-the-midwest/
• Dobransky, Kerry & Gary Alan Fine. "The Native in the Garden: Floral Politics and Cultural Entrepreneurs." Sociological Forum 21:4 (2006): 559–85. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4540965
• https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/the-unstoppable-rise-of-the-state-symbol
• https://southwestmt.com/blog/state-symbols-of-montana/
• https://sos.wyo.gov/Services/StateInfo_Symbols.aspx
• https://www.ndstudies.gov/curriculum/teacher-resources/state-symbols
• https://sdsos.gov/general-information/about-state-south-dakota/state-seal-symbols.aspx
• https://www.jocogov.org/newsroom/jan-29-kansas-day-test-your-knowledge-kansas-symbols
• https://sos.nebraska.gov/state-symbols
• https://www.travelok.com/about
• https://wheretexasbecametexas.org/category/texas-state-symbols/
• https://www.kansashistory.gov/p/kansas-symbols-state-symbols/15635
• https://agclassroom.org
• https://www.caeducatorstogether.org/resources/209029/a-national-garland-how-women-led-the-movement-to-declare-state-flowers

The sky tells its story in many ways through observation, science and technology. In this episode, Dr. Randy Peppler from the University of Oklahoma explores how meteorology and Indigenous environmental knowledge intersect across the Great Plains and how listening to both reveal a deeper understanding of place and weather.

See photos, maps, and glimpses of prairie life on Instagram: @rootedintheplains

*Part two of a two-part series exploring the stories and science of the Great Plains sky.

The Pawnee people have long looked at the sky for guidance, meaning and connection. In this episode, Matt Reed, the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Pawnee Nation, shares stories of ceremony and tradition that tie the Pawnee to the stars, moon and storms.

See photos, maps, and glimpses of prairie life on Instagram: @rootedintheplains

*Part one of a two-part series exploring the stories and science of the Great Plains sky.

Nebraska is far from the ocean, but the land remembers water. More than 100 million years ago, it was the floor of a vast inland sea, and its salt still lingers in the marshes around Lincoln.

In this episode, we trace how salt shaped Nebraska’s history, from the Otoe, Omaha, and Pawnee who gathered crystals for trade and food, to settlers who dreamed of a booming salt industry, to the rare plants and the tiny, fierce Salt Creek tiger beetle that now fight to survive in the last saline wetlands.

From Indigenous knowledge to endangered species, White Gold of the Plains reveals how salt has always held Nebraska in its grip.

See photos, maps, and glimpses of prairie life on Instagram: @rootedintheplains

Want to learn more?

• Athen, Sierra R., Shivangi Dubey, John A. Kyndt, Aharon Oren, and Katsumi Matsuura. 2021. “The Eastern Nebraska Salt Marsh Microbiome Is Well Adapted to an Alkaline and Extreme Saline Environment.” Life (2075-1729) 11 (5): 446. doi:10.3390/life11050446.
• Early, Ann M. “Salt Making.” Encyclopedia of Arkansas, March 17, 2025. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/salt-making-567/.
• Gilbert, M C, and R G Stutheit. “Saltmarshes in Eastern Nebraska: Study Characterizes Some Unusual Wetlands.” WETLANDS RES. PROGRAM BULL 5, no. 1 (1995): 1–4.
• Horton, Agnes. “The History of Nebraska’s Saline Land Grant.” Nebraska History 40, no. 2 (1959): 89.
• Palmer, Joseph A., and Kay Klatt. “The Natural History and Captive Husbandry of the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle, Cicindela (=ellipsoptera) Nevadica Lincolnian (Coleoptera: Carabidae).” DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln, 2014. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/entomologyother/123/.
• Rumney, Thomas. “Salt and Settlement in Nineteenth-Century Nebraska.” Material Culture 16, no. 1 (1984): 43–54. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41784818.
• Spomer, Stephen M., and Leon G. Higley. “Population Status and Distribution of the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle, Cicindela Nevadica Lincolniana Casey (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae).” Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 66, no. 4 (1993): 392–98. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25085468.
• Steinauer, Gerry. “Saving Saltwort.” Nebraskaland Magazine, August 17, 2024. https://magazine.outdoornebraska.gov/stories/conservation/saving-saltwort/.
• Ungar, Irwin A., William Hogan, and Mark McClelland. “Plant Communities of Saline Soils at Lincoln, Nebraska.” The American Midland Naturalist 82, no. 2 (1969): 564–77. https://doi.org/10.2307/2423796.