Nebraska Libraries' Partnership Highlights 50th Anniversary Merger

The online exhibit "All Together Now: The 50th Anniversary of the University of Nebraska System Merger, 1968-2018" chronicles the creation of the University of Nebraska system. The success of the 1968 merger of the University of Nebraska with the Municipal University of Omaha, led to the creation of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. In 1991, Kearney State College merged with the University of Nebraska. “All Together Now” highlights the administrative and civic process through photographs, university publications, video, oral histories, and objects.

“All Together Now” highlights the first collaborative exhibit curated by archivists and librarians from across the University of Nebraska system and is a work of the University of Nebraska Consortium of Libraries (UNCL) Archives and Special Collections Working Group. UNCL formed in the late 1970s to facilitate informal and formal cooperation and collaboration among the libraries of the different University of Nebraska campuses.

“This exhibit provides a great opportunity to discover more about our collections and to collaborate with peers across campuses. It provides a valuable way to showcase one aspect of archival work,” said Mary Ellen Ducey, University Archivist and Special Collections Librarian at University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. “It also demonstrates how important it is for archives to capture stories about the university as they happen, so our view in the future includes both the official record and the experience of those who lived through it.”

Angela Kroeger, Metadata Coordinator at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, adds “This partnership was a major shift for higher education in Nebraska, resulting in greater opportunities for growth and partnerships in Omaha and Lincoln--and, joining in 1991, Kearney as well. Each university within the system has different strengths and specialties, allowing the University of Nebraska system to fill more educational niches within Nebraska than any of the campuses could support alone.”

UNCL leads the University of Nebraska libraries to create and sustain a rich, supportive, and diverse knowledge environment that furthers teaching, learning, and research through the sharing of collections, expertise, and programs. Each campus preserves the unique history of the University of Nebraska and offers unique collections that support the research needs of each campus and interests of the state of Nebraska. Our reading rooms are open to the public.