DeWitt Public Library
The Burkley Library and Resource Center is located on the main street in DeWitt, Nebraska, and is housed in a newly established building.
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DeWitt Public Library 208 E. Fillmore Avenue DeWitt, Nebraska 68341 (402) 683-2145 |
Monday (6:00pm-8:00pm) Tuesday (2:00pm-6:00pm) Wednesday (2:00pm-6:00pm) Thursday (6:00pm-8:00pm) Saturday (9:00am-12:00pm) |
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The library catalogue may be accessed through the library’s online computer catalogue. A computer is available for use in the library. The library is divided into sections of fiction, nonfiction, biography, young adult, juvenile literature and reference materials. An additional section is set aside for current magazines and newspapers.
Scope of Archive Collections
Historical books on the heritage, history, and culture of Nebraska Czechs are available.
Also available are books on the early settlement of Saline County, as well as historical books on the development of the state of Nebraska.
Primary Materials Available
Current local, state, and national newspapers are available at the DeWitt Resource Center.
Dvoracek Memorial Library
Established in 1968, the Dvoracek Memorial Library was given to the city of Wilber as a gift by and Milo and Lillian Dvoracek Stastny. The library is named in honor and memory of Lillian Stastny’s parents, William and Anna Dvoracek.
| Dvoracek Memorial Library 419 West 3rd Wilbur, Nebraska 68465 (402) 821-2832 |
Monday-Friday (9:00am-5:30pm) Saturday (9:00am-12:00pm) Sunday (Closed) |
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The library catalogue consists of over 16,000 materials and may be accessed through the library’s online computer catalogue. The computer is available for use in the library. The library is divided into sections of Fiction, Nonfiction, Biography, Young Adult, Reference Materials, Nebraska Topics, Children’s Literature, and Magazines and Newspapers.
Scope of Archive Collections
The Dvoracek Memorial Library has a large amount of documents and materials that are related to the local and statewide Czech population and heritage.
Primary Materials Available
The Czech materials also include marriage, birth, and death certificates, census documents, rural maps surrounding Wilber, photographic scrapbooks of the Wilber Czech Festival, and newspaper clippings that are related to Czech festivals throughout the state of Nebraska. Some photographs in this collection date back to the late 1800s.
A microfilm machine and copy machine is available at the library.
Crete Public Library
The Schuyler Public Library is a large facility with a wide selection of reading materials and a computer lab open to the community.
| Crete Public Library 305 East 13th Street Crete, Nebraska 68333 (402) 826-3809 |
Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday (10:00am-5:30pm) Tuesday & Thursday (10:00am-7:30pm) Sunday (Closed) |
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The library catalogue may be accessed through the library’s online computer catalogue. The computers and Internet access are both available for use in the library.
The Crete Public Library is divided into sections of fiction, nonfiction, biography, adolescent literature, children’s literature, audio books on tape, reference materials, and Nebraska and local history topics. An additional section is set aside for current magazines and newspapers.
Scope of Archive Collections
The library has a large selection of topics related to Nebraska authors and Nebraska historical figures and events, such as Willa Cather, Mari Sandoz, J. Sterling Morton, John Niehardt, and Charles Starkweather.
The section on Nebraska topics is also expanded by books on the history and folklore of the Great Plains and the American West.
Primary Materials Available
The library has the following newspapers available on microfilm:
The Crete Chronicle, The Crete News, Crete Vidette, The DeWitt Free Press, DeWitt Times-News, Free Press, Opposition, The People’s Rip-Saw, and The Nebraska Nerve.
A microfilm machine is available at the library for access to these newspapers.
The Crete Library also has yearbooks and centennial books from throughout Saline County, as well as books written by local historians and poets, including A Poetic History of Wilbur (Irma Ourecky), Pioneer Days in Crete, Maples I & II: Early Pictorial Histories of Crete, Czechs in Nebraska, Centennial History of Dorchester, Centennial History of Pleasant Hill, The Friend Centennial Booklet, and Centennial History of Tobias.
Perkins Library (Crete, Nebraska)
The Perkins Library is located on the historic campus of Doane College in Crete, Nebraska.
| Perkins Library 1014 Boswell Avenue Crete, Nebraska 68333 (402) 826-2161 |
Monday-Thursday (8:00am-11:00pm) Friday (8:00am-5:00pm) Saturday (10:00am-5:00pm) Sunday (2:00pm-11:00pm) |
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The library catalogue may be accessed through its online search engine. The Perkins Library is in a partnership with the Nebraska Independent College Libraries Consortium and shares a database with other Nebraska Colleges, including Cochrane Woods College, Union College, Bellevue University, College of St. Mary, Dana College, Concordia College, Hastings College, Grace University, and Midland College.
This library offers a broad collection of general subject and popular titles of both fiction and non-fiction printed books, electronic books, periodicals, media-related resources, reference materials, and textbook materials.
The library also holds a small department for the Doane College Archives.
Scope of Archive Collections
The Doane College Archives contains material related to the history of the college, its founders, and its architectural blue prints.
Primary Materials Available
In the Doane College Archives, all of the issues of the college’s student newspaper, The Owl, are available both in print and on microfilm.
The archives also holds early pictures of the campus and its beautiful buildings. There are photographs that also reveal the development and growth of the campus.
Tours / Activities
The library offers a “Bibliographic Instruction” class that discusses the scope of the library and its different sections.
Wilber Czech Museum
The memorial fund that was given to the community of Wilber to help finance a new library also assisted community members in the establishment of a local historical museum. The Wilber Czech Museum developed in the late 1960s through a memorial gift given by Milo and Lillian Dvoracek Stastny.
| Wilber Czech Museum 102 West 3rd Street Wilber, Nebraska 68465 (402) 821-2485 |
Hours: Open year-round except for Holidays: 1:00-4:00pm Also open by appointment. Contact Irma Ourecky at (402) 821-2183. |
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The museum is organized according to material content. The main floor stores items that are contained mostly in glass casing and shelves, while the lower level is set-up with different scenes and displays.
A separate storage area holds women’s clothing (mostly wedding dresses) that date back to the late 1800s. Although these items are not displayed, they are available for viewing.
Scope of Archive Collections
The main floor displays clothing, jewelry, crafts (quilts, rugs, etc.), dolls, authentic Czech regalia, dishes and china, antique farming tools, and a replication of a late 1800s-early 1900s Sod House kitchen.
Throughout the main level are also remnants, photographs, awards, and brochures related to the Wilber Czech Festival, which is held during the first week of August every year.
Original artifacts from local community members’ kitchens, the town barber shop, the doctor’s office, a café, local and rural schools, and farming equipment are displayed on the lower level of the museum.
Newspapers that date to the early 1900s are available, including The Opposition, The Wilber Republican, and a few papers that were printed in the Czech language.
There are also photographs that spotlight specific events and people related to Wilber. One shows the visit of United States Senators Ed Zorinsky and Jim Exon to proclaim the small community the “Czech Capitol of the U.S.A.” Another photograph shows local historian Irma Ourecky receive the “Henry Fonda Award” for excellent her service, leadership, and active promotion of the Wilber community.
Books, Bibles, church hymnals, and school workbooks that were written in the Czech language have been preserved at the museum.
Tours / Activities
The Wilber Czech Museum sponsors readings and events during the weekend of the Wilber Czech Festival. These activities are announced with the schedule of the Festival.
Saline County Historical Society and Museum
The Saline County Museum is spread throughout 5 acres of land and includes 10 buildings for touring.
| Saline County Historical Society and Museum Highway 33 Dorchester, Nebraska (402) 947-2911 |
Sunday (2:00pm-5:00pm) (Closed during the months of January and February) The museum is also open through appointments for individual and group tours. |
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The buildings that are part of the Saline County Museum tour are the Matejka Memorial Museum Building, a Railroad Depot, Buckingham School, a Chapel, a City Hall, a voting hall, a post office, a log house building, the Burden House, and a machinery and farming building. Each building is set to display its own unique theme and role in the history of Saline County.
Scope of Archive Collections and Primary Materials
The artifacts that are held at the Saline County Museum date from 1870-present. The museum contains personal memorabilia, family and personal scrapbooks related to Saline County and Nebraska events, brochures, regalia, and royalty clothing from the Wilber Czech Festival, Czech crafts and dolls, and photographs from the late 1800s that show the developments of Saline County towns throughout the 20th century. These towns include Dorchester, Wilber, Crete, Pleasant Hill, Friend, Tobias, and DeWitt, Nebraska.
The Burden House belonged to Henry Burden, a former slave from the south who escaped during the Civil War and joined the Union Army. Following the war, he traveled to Nebraska where he eventually filed on a government homestead just south of Pleasant Hill, Nebraska. Some of his children’s possessions (such as books) are displayed in this house.
The schoolhouse displays individual chalkboards, Bibles and Workbooks that are written in the Czech language, historical books on the background of Czech immigrants, and original school desks.
Inside of the farming and machinery building are tractors, ploughs, and other agricultural tools that continued to adapt the ways that a farmer worked. There are also antique tools and stable equipment in this building.
Tours / Activities
Every year the Saline County Historical Society holds an “Open House” celebration in the beginning of October.