Historian Jeff Barnes is speaking tonight at Chadron State College for the 3rd time in less than 18 months. His program at 6:30 in the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center focuses on the early years of Nebraska.
Barnes calls his talk “Mad Queen of the Prairies: The Frenzied First Years of the Nebraska Territory,” drawing the first half of the title from a name used by newspapers for Nebraska during its early days.
Barnes says Nebraska’s approach to establishing a territory was unusual, describing it as “a territory where an Indian chief was proclaimed as the first governor, where banks printed and passed their own money, and where women nearly first won the right to vote.”
He says it was also a place where “governors were seemingly switched every few months and where the battle for the capital was a constant,” adding that the steps taken during the 1850s set the path Nebraska followed for generations.
Barnes will share rare images and maps while telling stories of the “unconventional” first years of the territory. The program is sponsored by Humanities Nebraska.
In his earlier visits to Chadron, he spoke in December 2021 about Nebraska’s historical markers, then last April addressed the state’s part in the Pains Indian Wars.
Jeff Barnes is a 5th-generation Nebraskan and former newspaper reporter and editor who lives in Omaha and has written several books about the Great Plains and Nebraska landmarks.
A two-time recipient of the Nebraska Book Award, he’s a speaker with Humanities Nebraska, a former trustee of the Nebraska State Historical Society – now History Nebraska, and a past chairman of the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission.