How to Contact Us
Nebraska Folklife Network
Gwen Meister - Executive Director
5620 Hunts Drive - Lincoln, NE 68512
Phone and Fax: (402) 420 - 5442
Email:info@nefolklife.org_
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NFN Board of Directors
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Miguel Cabarcas, Lexington NE, is a Partnership Assistant with the US Census Bureau. Originally from Columbia, South America, he has lived and worked in the Lexington community for the past few years His job with the Census Bureau is to conduct outreach to Latinos in this region of the country on the benefits of responding to the 2010 Census. Bilingual in Spanish and English, he helped recently helped start a Latino business organization in Lexington. |
| Mary Ellen Ducey, Lincoln, NE, is University Archivist and Special Collections Librarian for the University of Nebraska- Lincoln Libraries. She provides outreach on all collections relating to folklore and Great Plains history. Mary Ellen is in charge of the Benjamin Botkin Collection of American Folklore as well as collections for Willa Cather, Harold Felton and Mari Sandoz among others. She holds Masters degrees in both Library Science and History. |
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Dr. Dan Holtz is a professor of English at Peru State College, Peru, NE. He holds a doctorate in English Education and specializes in American and Nebraska literature and in preparing secondary English and language arts teachers. In addition to teaching, Dan is co-director of Peru State’s Trails and Tales Tour and Institute, an interdisciplinary history and literature project which takes participants on state-wide tours of Nebraska. Trails and Tales was first offered in 1996 and is in its seventh rendition in the summer of 2010. Dan is also a musician and a longtime presenter for the Nebraska Humanities Council's Speakers Bureau. |
| Dr. Melodee Landis, Lincoln NE, is an Associate Professor in Teacher Education at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She taught in the public schools for many years before directing the Education Technology Center at the Nebraska Department of Education. She was assistant dean of continuing studies at UNO before assuming her current role. She has been involved in promoting the Internet and technology in instruction since 1985. Melodee is the NFN secretary. |
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Dr. Martha McCollough, Lincoln NE is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and currently serves as the coordinator of the Native American Studies program. Her research interests include Native North Americans, Arctic peoples and the Great Plains. She is also in charge of undergraduate internships for the Anthropology Department. |
| Bob Schmer, Scottsbluff NE, is an accordionist who leads the River Boys, a Dutch Hop style polka band. They play the traditional music of the Germans from Russia, a prominent ethnic group in Nebraska. Bob has led Dutch Hop bands for more than 30 years and is a recipient of a 1994 Nebraska Governors Arts Award. The River Boys were featured in the American Folklife Center - Library of Congress Homegrown Concert Series in Washington DC during June 2006. He works as a sales agronomist in Scottsbluff. |
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John Smolsky, CPA, is a partner with the firm of Fuhrman, Smolsky & Furey, P.C. in Omaha. John is a native of the area, having grown up in Omaha’s longstanding Polish ethnic community and he is familiar with many ethnic traditions in Omaha and elsewhere in the state. John is the Vice President of the Nebraska Folklife Network. |
| Dr. Stephen Swidler is Associate Professor of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Instruction at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His research has centered on rural schools and on teacher education. He has experience with folklife projects in the schools and has participated in Iowa’s folklife institute for teachers. He is president of the Nebraska Folklife Network. |
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| NFN Staff |
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Gwen Meister has an MA in cultural anthropology and an MBA
from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her specialty is public folklore. Gwen served as folk arts coordinator for the Nebraska Arts Council
from 1991 to1995. Gwen is passionate about ensuring a bright future
for the traditions of Nebraska's unique variety of cultural groups. With help from other Nebraskans who recognized this need and with
financial support from the Nebraska Arts Council, the Nebraska Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Arts,
Gwen founded the Nebraska Folklife Network in 2003. |
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| The Network is a Nebraska nonprofit organization and has been granted IRS 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. |
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NFN Volunteers and Supporters
The Nebraska Folklife Network salutes special supporters and volunteers:
Bassett Feeding Company (Bassett) deserves a special thank you for it's generous ongoing support of all the NFN's educational and organizational activities. Your help has been invaluable to us!
James and Kathy Wood (Omaha) Jim and Kathy have been faithful supporters of the NFN since we began this work in 2003. Thanks so much for your investment in preserving Nebraska traditions and passing them on to future generations Kathy and Jim!
And last, but certainly not least, thanks to our public funders:
*National Endowment for the Arts
*Nebraska Arts Council
*Nebraska Humanities Council
*Lincoln Arts Council
