05/28/2026
The rich and diverse history and heritage of Nebraska as told through its often secluded historical monuments is the subject of a Anna Bemis Palmer Museum presentation by Nebraska author Jeff Barnes on Sunday, July 19, at 2 p.m. The York museum’s program is supported by a grant from Humanities Nebraska.
Marking Nebraska: Our (Mostly) Hidden Historical Monuments is a review of the state’s earliest historical markers, from setting its borders to marking its trails to honoring its people. Drawing from his site visits and photographs collected from across the state, Barnes shares some of the more interesting, colorful, and even controversial ways Nebraskans told their stories through boulders, tablets, plaques, and statues.
The presentation is in conjunction with Barnes’s book, Cut in Stone, Cast in Bronze: Nebraska’s Historical Markers and Monuments, winner of the Nebraska Book Award for nonfiction. Barnes is also the author of The Great Plains Guide to Custer, The Great Plains Guide to Buffalo Bill, Extra Innings: The Story of Modisett Ball Park and 150 @ 150: Nebraska’s Landmark Buildings at the State’s Sesquicentennial. A new and expanded edition of his first book, Forts of the Northern Plains, came out in June 2024 from the University of Nebraska Press’s Bison Books.
A fifth-generation Nebraskan and former newspaper reporter and editor, Barnes writes and lives in Omaha. He is a trustee of the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation, past trustee of the Nebraska State Historical Society, a past chairman of the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission, and former marketing director of the Durham Museum.
Humanities Nebraska (HN) provides major funding for this program. HN receives support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Nebraska State Legislature, the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and private donations.
