Nebraska Hall of Fame

Grace Abbott

Year Inducted: 1976

Social reformer, social worker. Internationally honored for her championship of children and mothers and for her promotion of pioneer social legislation. Born and raised in Grand Island.

Bess Streeter Aldrich

Year Inducted: 1971

Author, narrator of Nebraska, gave literary life to Nebraska pioneer memories. One Aldrich novel, A Lantern in her Hand, was translated into many languages. Lived in Elmwood and Lincoln.

Hartley Burr Alexander

Year Inducted: 1988

Anthropologist, poet, philosopher, educator, authority on North American Indian mythology, and author of the symbolism and inscriptions on the Nebraska state capitol building. Born in Lincoln; raised in Syracuse; lived in Lincoln.

Charles Edwin Bessey

Year Inducted:2007

Botanist, chancellor of the University of Nebraska from 1888-1891 and 1899-1900. Born in Milton, Ohio. Lived in Lincoln.

Read about Charles Edwin Bessey’s contributions to botany and range management.

William Jennings Bryan

Year Inducted: 1971

Three-time Democratic Party nominee for president of the United States, U.S. congressman, U.S. secretary of state, orator, religious leader, and author. Lived in Lincoln.

Read about William Jennings Bryan and Progressivism.

Willia Cather

Year Inducted: 1962

Pulitzer Prize-winning author. O Pioneers!, My Antonia, Death Comes for the Archbishop. Lived in Red Cloud.

William Frederick Cody

Year Inducted: 1967

Soldier, buffalo hunter, Army scout, actor, rancher, irrigationist, and showman of the West. Known as Buffalo Bill. 1872 Medal of Honor awarded, revoked, and re-instated. Lived near North Platte.

Read about a dinner with Buffalo Bill.

Edward Creighton

Year Inducted: 1982

Telegraph pioneer and banker. Funds from his estate established Creighton University. Member National Cowboy Hall of Fame. Lived in Omaha.

Loren Eisley

Year Inducted: 1986

Anthropologist, poet, and philosopher of science. Born and lived in Lincoln.

Scroll to the bottom of this page to see a video about how Loren Eisely fell in love with geology.

Edward J. Flanagan

Year Inducted: 1965

1965 — 1966 Priest, founder of Boys Town. "I have never found a boy who really wanted to be bad." Lived in Omaha and Boys Town.

Read about how Father Flanagan created a home for neglected boys.

Robert W. Furnas

Year Inducted: 1980

Newspaperman, soldier, historian, Nebraska governor 1873-1875, and agriculturist. Lived in Brownville.

Read about Robert W. Furnas co-founding Arbor Day with J. Sterling Morton.

Nathan J. Gold

Year Inducted: 1996

Businessman, civic leader, philanthropist, and Nebraska booster. Lived in Lincoln

Dwight P. Griswold

Year Inducted: 1993

Banker, publisher, Nebraska governor 1941-1947, U.S. senator 1953-1954, chief of the American mission for aid to Greece 1947-1948. Born in Harrison; raised in Gordon.

Gilbert W. Hitchcock

Year Inducted: 1984

Newspaperman, politician, founder of the Omaha World-Herald in 1889; U.S. House of Representatives 1902-1904 and 1906-1911; U.S. Senate 1911-1922. Born and lived in Omaha.

Read Gilbert M. Hitchcock’s views on Prohibition.

Alvin Saunders Johnson

Year Inducted: 2012

Innovator in American adult education; creator of a safe haven for Jewish scholars fleeing Nazism; author of America’s first anti-discrimination legislation.

Thomas R. Kimball

Year Inducted: 2019

Architect known internationally for work on the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition and buildings such as the Omaha Public Library and Omaha World Herald. Lived in Omaha

J. Sterling Morton

Year Inducted: 1975

Father of Arbor Day, U.S. secretary of agriculture, editor, farmer, legislator, and Nebraska territorial secretary. Lived in Nebraska City.

Read about J. Sterling Morton’s accomplishments.

John G. Neihardt

Year Inducted: 1974

Nebraska Poet Laureate 1921-1973. Epic poet of the West, historian, philosopher, author. Black Elk Speaks. Lived in Wayne and Bancroft.

George W. Norris

Year Inducted: 1961

U.S. House of Representatives 1903-1913, U.S. Senate 1913-1943. Initiator of reform of House rules, anti-injunction law for labor, Tennessee Valley Authority, rural electrification, and 20th amendment to U.S. Constitution. Sponsor of Nebraska Unicameral Legislature. Lived in Beatrice, Beaver City, and McCook.

Read about George W. Norris’ 40 years as Congressman and Senator.

John J. Pershing

Year Inducted: 1963

Soldier, founder of Pershing Rifles. Service in Indian Wars, Cuba, Philippines; commander, Mexican Border, 1916; commander, American Expeditionary Forces, France, 1917-1919; General Armies of the United States, 1919; and Army chief of staff, 1921-24. Lived in Lincoln.

Roscoe Pound

Year Inducted: 1976

Botanist, pioneer ecologist, dean of University of Nebraska Law College, and dean of Harvard Law School. Born and raised in Lincoln.

Red Cloud (Lakota: Mahpíya Lúta)

Year Inducted: 2000

Oglalla Lakota war leader, statesman. Opposed white westward expansion. Led a successful conflict (1866-1868) called Red Cloud’s War for control of Powder River country in Wyoming and Montana. Lakota name: Mahpíya Lúta. After meeting with officials in Washington, D.C., the Red Cloud Indian Agency was formed in what would later be Nebraska in an attempt to ease transition to reservation life. Born in Garden County area by Platte River, Nebraska.

Read about the Red Cloud Agency’s role in the Beef Issue.

Mari Sandoz

Year Inducted: 1976

Novelist, historian, teacher. Old Jules, Slogam House, Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Ogalalas, Cheyenne Autumn. Born in Sheridan County near Gordon; lived in Lincoln.

Mari Sandoz wrote about the Sandhills. Read about Christopher J. Abbott, a rancher who lived in this beautiful, rugged area.

Standing Bear (Ponca: Maⁿchú-Naⁿzhíⁿ)

Year Inducted: 1977

Ponca chief, symbol for Native American rights, key participant in 1879 federal court case held in Omaha that decided an Indian is a person by law and has the right to sue. Probably born in northeast Nebraska, lived near the mouth of the Niobrara River.

Read about the famous Trial of Standing Bear.

Arthur Weimar Thompson

Year Inducted: 1990

Premier auctioneer. In a 46-year career, called more than 7,500 livestock sales from New York to California and from Canada to Mexico. Born in Bradshaw; lived in Lincoln.

Susette LaFlesche Tibbles

Year Inducted: 1983

Speaker and writer for Indian rights. Omaha name: Inshata Theumba or "Bright Eyes". Born in Bellevue; raised on Omaha reservation in Thurston County near Macy; lived in Lincoln; died in Bancroft.

Read about Susette La Flesche Tibbles as translator for Standing Bear at his trial.

el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz (Malcolm X)

Year Inducted: 2022

Human rights activist, orator, and advocate for Black empowerment. Became an influential force in the Civil Rights movement through his work as a minister for the Nation of Islam. Born in Omaha.