Golden Anniversary of Nemaha Valley Museum Scheduled July 19

The Nemaha Valley Museum volunteers will celebrate 50 years Sunday, July 19 with an open house and reception from 1 to 4 p.m.      
There will be a short “welcome” about 1:50 p.m. At 2 p.m., Dan Holtz and Gary Zalud will present All Original, All Nebraska, a Humanities Nebraska program.
Around the museum, there will be additional informational displays and photos of the last half century. Refreshments will be served all afternoon.
All Original, All Nebraska 
Nebraska has many unsung heroes--persons who have enriched the Cornhusker State’s story--yet many Nebraskans know little about them.
Caroline Joy French Morton, the wife of J. Sterling Morton, was a driving force behind her husband’s success. Susan LaFlesche Picotte, an Omaha Indian, was the first Native American medical doctor in the United States. Robert Ball Anderson, a Union Civil War veteran, was an escaped slave who had the largest land-holding of any African-American in our state’s early days. Evelyn Sharp, an Ord native, was a legendary flight instructor during World War II. And roughly 55,000 volunteers from 125 communities came together to greet more than six million service persons at the North Platte Canteen during World War II from Christmas Day 1941 until April 1, 1946.
Performing as the duo Flatwater Reunion and playing a variety of acoustic instruments, Holtz and Zalud celebrate these individuals and many more through historical narrative and song. 
Holtz, Peru State College emeritus professor of English, has presented his musical, historical, story-telling programs hundreds of times across Nebraska. Holtz’ performances have included the State Capitol, the Nebraska Chautauqua, Homestead National Historical Park, the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument, Chimney Rock and Fort Robinson. He also appeared on the Millenium Stage at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., for Nebraska State Day. Along with Flatwater Reunion, Holtz released in 2023 a third album of his music, A Nebraska Tapestry.
He taught at Nebraska’s first college from 1987 to 2016. Holtz is also a past president of the Board of Trustees of the Nebraska State Historical Society. He served on the Nebraska 150 Foundation, a statewide committee which planned Nebraska’s Sesquicentennial celebration/commemoration. 
Since 2023, Zalud, Holtz’s longtime friend has joined him in performing. Zalud is an emeritus professor of literacy education and longtime chair of curriculum and instruction at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. Both Holtz and Zalud are recipients of prestigious awards from their respective state higher education systems.
All Original All Nebraska is among Holtz’ five Humanities Nebraska programs. The others are: From Bleeding Kansas to Old Virginny: Songs and Stories of the Civil War; Heroism on the Plains: Story Songs of Courage and Determination from Improbable People and Places; Marion Marsh Brown: A Continuing Legacy in Nebraska Writing; and Nebraska Through Song and Story.