Support
Nebraska’s Authors.

Since 1983, the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association (NLHA) has celebrated Nebraska’s storytellers—past and present—while safeguarding their work for future generations.

The NLHA was founded to support The Heritage Room, a collection that began in the late 1940s when Ethel Jane Maurer, a reference librarian for Lincoln City Libraries, set aside a single shelf at the reference desk for books by Nebraska authors. By the late 1950s, Ms. Maurer had expanded that shelf into the “Nebraska Author Collection,” filled with first editions and signed copies.

With support from the Foundation for Lincoln City Libraries, NLHA later helped establish the Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors. Today, the Heritage Room is home to more than 13,500 items representing over 4,000 Nebraska authors—along with photographs, periodicals, recordings, and artwork. It stands as a living archive of our state’s literary tradition.

Through its programs, NLHA continues to sustain and expand the Heritage Room’s collection. Membership dues and fundraising efforts ensure it remains open to the public—while also fueling initiatives that inspire Nebraska’s next generation of readers and writers.

NLHA meets on the 4th Friday of each month—except in November, when it’s the 3rd Friday (Thanksgiving), and during the month of December.

We read books by Nebraska authors or books set in or about Nebraska. We look for books that the Lincoln Library System has at least five copies of.

The books we will be discussing are:

• • March 27 – Capitol City by Mari Sandoz
  • April 24 – Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos
  • May 22 – Touching the Fire by Roger Welsch
  • June 26 – no book chosen yet
  • July 24 – A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich (we will have a field trip to her home in Elmwood.