Nebraska Posters, Art Prints, Photographs, Maps, & Calendars
for educators and home schoolers; themed decor in studio or office.

From prairie schooner days to the station wagon age, westering Americans have contiually put down tracks across Nebraska. Though some have stopped only long enough to fix a wagon wheel or change a tire, there is reason or the traveler to pause and explore this broad, sweeping land that Willa Cather celebrated in many of her novels.

Nebraska's population and industry are anchored in the east, where the Missouri River marks the state's border, cutting along farmland once part of what was called the “Great American Desert.” Corn here and cattle on grassland farther west now give the lie to that label bestowed by Maj. Stephen H. Long in a report on an 1820 exploration.

Grain and livestock also make Omaha one of the nation's major livestock marketing centers. Though trends toward decentralization lessen loads in its one-brimming stockyards, the city still lures as the state's largest. Nearby Bellevue, Nebraska's oldest settlement displays aircraft and missiles at the Strategic Aerospace Museum edging the Strategic Air Command's headquarters, Offutt Air Force Base.

At Lincoln the 400-foot tower of the State Capitol dominates the skyline; a notable statue of Abraham Lincoln stands close by. Visitors also can trace the life and career of William Jennings Bryan in the prairie Populist's home.

Trapper, trader, wagon train pioneer, overland stage, and pony express followed the Plate River west, and today Interstate 80 does the same. With a handfull of stops reached from this well-tended road–in summer guides offer information at rest area–the drive becomes a history lesson. Among noted places: Fort Kearny of Indian warfare days, the pony express station at Gothenburg, Buffalo Bill's Scout's Rest Ranch near North Platte.

At Ogallala you can pick up the history trail on U.S. 26, passing towering Chimney Rock and Scotts Bluff–landmarks that showed the way west to pioneers whose rumbling wagons left ruts still visible today.

State 2 and U.S. 20 take you northwest across less-traveled routes through the Sand Hills, 19,000 square miles of rolling, grass-covered dunes. Here small ranches put up at moderate rates a limited number of working guests who want to get close to the everyday business of a cattle spread. Here, too, hundreds of lakes form stop over spots for migrating waterfowl in spring and autumn. The state's northwestern corner beckons campers with evergreen ridges and weird rock formations.

(poster text about Nebraska)

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Nebraska's state bird, the Western Meadowlark, is a medium sized passerine or songbird whose permanent habitat is grasslands and prairies, forage on the ground and low vegetation for insects, seeds and berries. The Western Meadowlark is also the state bird of Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming.

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Goldenrod Collage Art Print

Goldenrod (Solidago serotina), the Nebraska State Flower, is a yellow flowering plant with slender stems that grows in ditches along roads and waste area throughout the United States.

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Twilight View of Missouri River and Cottonwood Tree, Photographic Print

The Nebraska State Tree is the cottonwood, a large deciduous tree that is an excellant riparian (L: ripa = river bank) zone plant due to their exceptional tolerance to flooding and ability to prevent erosion damage. The wood, though course and strong (used for shipping crates and pallets) has the lowest BTU of any wood.

Honey Bee, Apis Mellifera, Photographic Print

The honey bee, the State Insect of Nebraska, is important as a principal pollinator of crops and for producing pleasant-tasting and healthful honey. A social insect, the honey bee lives in highly organized colonies.

The Honey Bee is also the Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin State Insect

White-Tailed Deer, Art Print

White Tail Deer (Odocoileus virginianus), the Nebraska State Mammal, are herbivorous hoofed mammal found in farmlands, brushy areas and woods. White-tailed deer hunting is a popular recreational activity in Nebraska.

Bluestem Grass at Nine Mile Prairie, Photographic Print

Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) the state grass, is a vigorous native prairie grass. Nine Mile Prairie is a 230 acre tract of conserved (never plowed though some grazing) tallgrass prairie in Lancaster County, Nebraska. It is used as a research and study site for prairie ecology.

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