It has been a long time coming, but the documentary being co-produced by the Nebraska State Historical Society and NET (Nebraska Educational Telecommunications) is officially underway. In late June and early July, senior producer Olive “Mel” Bucklin made a scouting trip to the Nebraska panhandle. Later in July, her travels took her north to visit the area around Bassett.

Olive Bucklin interviews Jody Falkenburg Thomson on the Falkenburg Ranch in Sioux County.

Bucklin is exploring beautiful ranch country landscapes, looking for places to film over the course of the next year. She is also looking for stories and resources, and has conducted a number of preliminary interviews. Filming will begin this fall.

 “Without exception, this project promises some of the most surprising information and rip snorting stories our public television viewers will have ever heard,” Bucklin said. “On my recent research trips, I have seen some breathtakingly beautiful ranches and met some truly impressive storytellers. These trips remind me again of the dedication, strength and hospitality of Nebraska’s ranching community.”

Nebraska State Historical Society staff is hard at work searching out historical materials for use in both the television documentary and on the planned Web site. That research will expand across the state, with visits planned to many historical and cultural organizations in cattle country.

We hope, too, that people in the industry will look in their own family history to help tell this important story. Do you have pictures, documents and motion pictures that you would be willing to share? We are particularly interested in rare photographs taken prior to 1900 that show ranching, transportation, cow towns and stockyards, particularly in south Omaha.

Do you have family stories and traditions that take us back to the 19^th and early 20^th centuries? Do stories exist in living memory that would illuminate the boom years following the Second World War?      

Jack Maddux (left) and John Maddux discuss the history of the Maddux Cattle Company in Chase County with NET Television senior producer Olive Bucklin. 

While the materials that actually make it into the television production will be limited, the Internet allows us to broaden the content that people will have available to them and expand the stories beyond those few that fit together in an hour-long production. Please contact Olive “Mel” Bucklin, NET Television, 1800 North 33^rd, Lincoln, NE 68588, (402) 472-9333 ext. 472, mbucklin@unl.edu; or John Carter, Nebraska State Historical Society, P.O. Box 82554, Lincoln, NE 68501, (402) 471-4752, beefstate@nebraskahistory.org.    By John Carter, Sr. Research Associate, Nebraska Historical Society