Nebraska
Caster helps public uncover Nebraska’s stories
Within the stacks of paper held in the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Archives and Special Collections are thousands of stories. Josh Caster, archives manager at University Libraries, is one of the many staff members helping to bring those stories to the surface.
“If we’re not using this stuff and making connections with people, we’ve basically got a bunch of old paper,” he said. “It’s the people using it that brings it to life.”
Caster, a Husker alumnus, started in Archives and Special Collections as a student before eventually taking on a permanent role. His early experience gave him a good foundation in all aspects of the work and helped him identify a particular interest in reference work, or helping users find the right material for their research.
“I was exposed to the whole gamut of stuff an archivist could do,” Caster said.
Now, Caster gets to work with student workers and, along with Mary Ellen Ducey, university archivist, and other archives staff, pair students with jobs that fit their interests, whether that means the activity or the subject matter. He said it is rewarding to see them grow from student workers to professionals in the field in their own right.
“It’s neat to watch people when they’re freshmen and feeling stuff out and then you can watch them, in real time, gain competencies,” he said. “Eventually sometimes we’ll bring in donors or people interested in certain subjects and it’s nice to be able to be like, ‘You should talk to this student worker.’ They’ll talk about (the subject) with great knowledge and enthusiasm.”
Caster enjoys helping researchers identify which collection holds the answers they are looking for. With so much information at their fingertips, this can be a challenge.
“I’m always looking for the ‘Eureka moment,’” Caster said. “I want people to able to access the great stuff we have. I might not know the answer they’re seeking but I know where to show them to look, so I like connecting those pieces and I like when people walk away with whatever they’re looking for.”
Sometimes successfully finding those answers is a longshot. Recently, for example, a researcher was looking for images of quilts made by a specific quilter. Caster was able to work with them and cross-reference some collections down to the marginalia to find images of the individual quilter’s work.
“It was a needle in a stack of needles,” he said.
Promoting access to this kind of unique material is a passion of Caster’s. The preservation and record keeping and providing access work in tandem to ensure the wealth of information held in the archives is still valuable.
“If people aren’t looking at it, that effort and that great work of everybody that’s been in this department and this library is not being reaped,” Caster said. “I think it’s pretty core to the mission.”
Working with the material has given Caster a great appreciation for university. People might come across a document marking the beginning of a university department or organization or with the signature or an early important figure in university history.
“People will ask, ‘What evidence do you have of the beginnings of the university?’” Caster said. “We have the charter. We’ve got the origin document. There’s heavyweight people who have worked here throughout our history, so it’s cool to know who the real players were.”
Personally, Caster is also interested in some of the environmental history in the collection. Caster enjoys fishing and other outdoor activities outside the office, so he is partial to entries like photos taken by Erwin Barbour, an instrumental figure in the foundation of the Nebraska State Museum, or reports from a biologist working for an early incarnation of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.
“He’s got old stocking reports for all these lakes I fish at to this day,” he said.
Caster speaks to people sometimes who don’t realize how many hidden treasures the archives hold about their own interests. A farmer might find relevant information about fertilizers and crop yields. Husker football fans might be amazed by a film reel of the Game of the Century or a photograph of Tom Osborne and Willie Nelson surveying Memorial Stadium for Farm Aid.
“I want to be part of that ecosystem that reaches out and says, ‘You want the stuff we have, even it you don’t know it,’” Caster said. “There’s human interest stuff for anyone here.”
Gems from the archive
Nebraska’s Josh Caster handpicked five of his all-time favorite gems from the University Archives and Special Collections. Check out the slideshow below, where the archives manager shares the stories behind each image with his personal touch and fun descriptions.
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My folks have a cabin on a reservoir of the Tri-County Canal, a Dust Bowl-era irrigation project. This picture is from the opening ceremony near Holdrege, Nebraska, in 1938. Bonus points for the impromptu barrel stage.
University Archives and Special Collections
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Ina G! Ina E. Gittings was an instructor and later physical director for women at the University of Nebraska. Her pole vaulting prowess has helped me on many requests!
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Chancellor Martin Massengale, Coach Tom Osborne and Willie Nelson meet at Memorial Stadium. Farm Aid III was held there in 1987.
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Not an outtake from a “Mad Max” movie, this is the 1904(5?) Husker football team. The gentleman on the far right is William Johnson. He was a lawyer in Omaha when he enlisted with the famed “Harlem Hellfighters” in World War I.
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My man with the sick tat, stirring curds on East Campus in 1941. Big cheese guy here.
Nebraska
Former Nebraska wrestler AJ Ferrari wanted in Lincoln, accused of assaulting pregnant woman
LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Former Nebraska wrestler AJ Ferrari is wanted in Lancaster County on suspicion of assaulting a pregnant woman in May.
An arrest warrant was filed for Ferrari on Thursday. He faces three felony charges which include first-degree false imprisonment and assault by strangling a pregnant woman.
According to an arrest affidavit, a woman from California contacted police in Lincoln on May 8 just after midnight. She told officers her daughter called for help and pointed them to Ferrari’s apartment.
Police arrived at the apartment and knocked on the door. A pregnant woman came out after several minutes of knocking with no answer. Officers said the woman was visibly upset.
She told officers that Ferrari tried taking her phone away after an argument, but she wouldn’t let him take it. The arrest affidavit shows Ferrari then dragged her off a bed by her feet.
Police think Ferrari then got on top of her and strangled her, likely until she was unconscious. The woman told police that she felt as though her throat “collapsed” and that she was “breathing through a straw.”
Once regaining consciousness, police said the woman tried hiding in a closet and contacting her mother on another device. But Ferrari followed her, pushed her onto a bed and sat on her until she apologized, according to the affidavit.
She apologized in order to be released, police said. The woman then tried to leave the apartment, but police said Ferrari dragged her by the arm back inside. She found her phone and contacted her mother, yelling “help!”, prosecutors wrote.
Ferrari grabbed the phone and hung up, according to the affidavit. The woman’s mother tried calling several more times before calling police.
Authorities transported the woman to Bryan West for treatment. Officers said she sustained injuries consistent with strangulation, including bruising around her neck and other abrasions.
Last weekend, Ferrari was arrested in Lincoln County on suspicion of flight to avoid arrest, willful reckless driving and obstructing the police. He was cited after a trooper chased a Corvette in the North Platte area.
Lincoln County authorities told KOLN that Ferrari is out on bond. His current whereabouts are unclear.
Court records show that the woman has filed for a protection order against Ferrari. A hearing has been set for July 7 to give him an opportunity to show the court why one should not be issued.
Previously, Ferrari was booked in Lancaster County, Nebraska for an outstanding warrant in January of this year, but those charges were dismissed later that week.
Ferrari parted ways with the Huskers in April of this year.
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Copyright 2026 KOLN. All rights reserved.
The Nebraska State Fair is celebrating America’s 250th anniversary with a special 72-hour flash sale on Season Passes.
From July 3 through July 5, fans can purchase a 2026 Season Pass for just $50—a significant discount from its regular value of $132.
The pass includes one admission per day for all 11 days of the 2026 Nebraska State Fair, making it ideal for visitors who plan to attend multiple days.
Fair officials say the promotion is one of the biggest Season Pass discounts offered in years and will not be extended.
After July 5, Season Passes will remain available at a higher discounted price.
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Legalizing online sports betting has met with resistance in the Nebraska Legislature for years.
Tax Relief Nebraska, a group backed by Nebraska casinos and online sports betting groups, took the issue to the people of the state through a petition drive.
Those petitions are now in, and casino officials say they expect to have enough signatures to make the November ballot — but also expect pushback through Election Day.
The case for online betting
Currently, legal sports bets cannot be placed on a phone in Nebraska. Casino operators say people who choose to wager are finding other ways to do it.
“They’re just doing it illegally through a virtual private network, or they’re driving over to the first exit between Iowa and Nebraska, placing a bet and then driving back to their home,” said Lynne McNally of Warhorse Casino.
Nebraska casino operators say the state has already collected millions of dollars in state taxes and property tax relief from casino gambling, and that online sports betting would add to that total.
A majority of Nebraskans voted for casino gambling to enter the state in 2020, and casino operators expect similar support if the online betting petition makes the November ballot.
“As you know, we got 65% on the constitutional amendment and actually got nearly 70% on the tax portion of the statute when the casinos were legalized in 2020. I think that we’ll be in that area, if not maybe a little higher than that,” McNally said.
“There’s always going to be a sector of the public that doesn’t want to gamble. They don’t want to go to our facilities and that’s just fine. I guess I have an objection with trying to tell other people what to do,” McNally said.
The opposition
The Nebraska Family Alliance stands against online gambling and plans to campaign against the initiative across the state. The nonprofit group issued a statement that reads in part: “Online sports betting has been a massive public policy failure that benefits national sportsbooks at the expense of kids, student-athletes, families and businesses. While they have more money, they don’t have the truth.”
Pat Loontjer, director of Gambling with the Good Life, has opposed expanded gambling in Nebraska for 30 years.
“They’re telling the same lie — property tax relief. Well in Nebraska you say property tax relief and everybody says where do I sign,” Loontjer said.
Loontjer also raised concerns about the impact on young people.
“Sports betting on the phone is the most addictive thing for young people, young men especially. You’ve got kids that are going to lose their scholarships, lose their future,” Loontjer said.
What comes next
If enough signatures are verified and the issue is placed on the November ballot, Warhorse Casino officials say Nebraskans could be able to make sports bets on their phones by spring of next year.
Copyright 2026 WOWT. All rights reserved.
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