LINCOLN — A Nebraska charitable foundation is stepping up to promote lesser-known museums and historical sites in the state.

“WanderNebraska,” a project of the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation, is promoting visits to 213 museums, libraries and notable attractions this year via brochures, billboards, bus tours and prizes for visiting.

The program, now in its fourth year, has grown from an idea spawned over plates of pasta to an effort that has generated 7,000 requests from 18 states this year for WanderNebraska booklets. Initially, it promoted 27 sites.

“We think it’s a neat program,” said Leslie Fattig, executive director of the Historical Society Foundation. “We’re teaching people about Nebraska history and getting more people involved.”

At Chimney Rock National Historic Site, more than 20,000 visitors have traversed the “Walk to the Rock” trail since it opened in the autumn of 2023, tourism increases that Fattig attributes, in part, to WanderNebraska’s marketing.

Similar To ‘Nebraska Passport’

The WanderNebraska program is similar to the “Nebraska Passport” program operated by the Nebraska Tourism Department, which beckons tourists to visit 70 eateries, breweries, wineries, bed and breakfast inns and other commercial attractions.

Both programs beckon people to discover new places and qualify for prizes. But Fattig said that WanderNebraska is more focused on nonprofit attractions that highlight history, and those in small towns with smaller staffs and budgets.

Tourism advocates have long argued that Nebraska — which ranks as one of the least-visited states — spends too little to promote its sites of interest, so the WanderNebraska program is filling a void.

About 35% of all tourism spending is for historical attractions, she said, so it makes sense to give historical sites a boost.

“A lot of these small museums are really challenged,” Fattig said, adding that many lack the funds or staff to market programs or write tourism grants.

So WanderNebraska promotes sites like the log cabin courthouse in Callaway, the Old Poor Farm Historical Site and Animal Sanctuary in Nickerson and the Furnas Prairie Shelter in Brownville. The program also features several county museums and small-town libraries.

“WanderNebraska invites people to connect with the state’s past in fresh, meaningful ways — whether by visiting a small-town museum, discovering a hidden landmark, or exploring a piece of forgotten heritage,” Fattig said.

Prizes And Help For Smaller Places

By visiting 10 sites, a WanderNebraska participant can get a free koozie. By visiting 25 sites, you get a free T-shirt.

The program, funded by donations and grants, also includes training sessions for small museum operators on how to use social media to increase attendance.

In addition, historian Sara Crook, a professor emeritus from Peru State College, leads a series of bus tours to historic sites across the state, such as a “Wild West” tour that includes a stop at Fort Robinson.

Fattig said that the Historical Society Foundation, which had for decades raised money for the State Historical Society, was confronted with a dilemma in 2019. That’s when the then-director of the agency, Trevor Jones, formed a new fund-raising foundation to replace the 83-year-old foundation. Long-established Historical Society fund-raisers were told that their services were no longer needed.

So, Fattig said, the foundation pivoted, and launched a statewide grant program to help sustain and develop mostly small museums across the state. The grant program has grown from $15,000 in the first year to $83,000 this year.

Promoting sites via Wander Nebraska remains an outgrowth of that effort, she said, though the state Historical Society has since restored the foundation’s role as its official fundraiser.

None of the promotional efforts would be possible without donations from supporters of history, Fattig said. For more information about the foundation and WanderNebraska, access the websites www.nshsf.org or wandernebraska.com.

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/05/16/wandernebraska-expands-to-promot...