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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Christine Starr Davis is a poet and essayist with an MFA in creative writing and an MA in Management and Museum Studies. She teaches at Doane College and mentors gifted students for Lincoln Public Schools. She enjoys writing about her immigrant Croatian grandmother, folk dancing and quilting. |
| 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. 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. Dan is also a musician and a longtime presenter for the Nebraska Humanities Council's Speakers Bureau. Dan is Vice President of the Nebraska Folklife Network board. |
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Tim Kreider grew up in far Northwest NE in the small community of Crawford. Following a 25 year career in Insurance/Trust administration/Auctioneering/and related fields, he joined his father's insurance business back in Crawford as a Property and Casualty Insurance Agent in 2002. In 2008 he purchased the Kreider Insurance Agency, Inc in Crawford. Tim and his wife Melanie reside in Gering and commute to Crawford daily for work. He is active in his church, President of The Crawford Alumni Association, and serves on the board at the Ponderosa Settlement. He enjoys history of the Lakota Sioux Tribe, Cowboy history, and history of the Germans from Russia. |
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Melodee Landis has a PHD in education. She recently retired from the University of Nebraska at Omaha faculty where she was associate professor of teacher education. Melodee is also a musician who sings and plays fiddle. She has been involved in promoting the Internet and technology in instruction since 1985. Melodee is President of the Nebraska Folklife Network board.
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Vida Stabler is the Director of the Umo ho Language and Culture Center at the Umonhon Nation Public School in Macy. She is in charge of the school’s Title VII program and is a longtime educator and cultural leader in the community. She is an enrolled member of the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska
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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. |
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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. Steve is Treasurer of the Nebraska Folklife Network board. |
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| NFN Staff | |
| 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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