Thomas R. Buecker

AKA: Tom Buecker

Born 1948-11-14 SD (USA)

Died 2015-02-02
Lincoln, NE (USA)

Buecker had a long and distinguished career as a curator for the Nebraska State Historical Society, serving at the Neligh Mills, the Fort Robinson Museum, and the Thomas Kennard house in Lincoln. His widely admired two volume history of Fort Robinson, consisting of Fort Robinson and the American West, 1874-1899, 1999, and Fort Robinson and the American century, 1900-1948, 2002 is the definitive history of the Fort in the broad context of the history of the American West. His book A Brave Soldier & Honest Gentleman: Lt. James E. Foster in the West, 1873-1881. ( 2013) received American Association for State and Local History's Award of Merit. Buecker's final book, Last Days of Red Cloud Agency, published posthumously by the Nebraska State Historical Society in 2016, pieces together and explains the contexts of recently discovered photographs of the Agency and Fort Robinson, focusing on the Oglala Lakota and Arapaho Indians as well as the soldiers gathered there, at a crucial time in the late 1870s.

Places Lived

Norbeck, SD
Sidney, NE
Kearney, NE
Wyoming
Arnold, NE
Neligh, NE
Fort Robinson, near Crawford, NE
Lincoln, NE

Author Of

Nonfiction

Keywords

History--Nebraska; Military History--Nebraska; Fort Robinson, Nebraska; Nebraska State Historical Society--Employees and Curators

Education

Undergraduate Studies, 1967, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
Bachelor's Degree in History and Geography Education, 1973, Kearney State College, Kearney, NE

Occupation

Oil Field Roustabout
Curator, Neligh Mill State Historic Site, Neligh, NE
Curator, Nebraska State Historical Society, Fort Robinson Museum
Curator, Kennard House, Lincoln, NE

Places Worked

Neligh Mill, Neligh, NE
Nebraska State Historical Society Museum at Fort Robinson, NE

Honors

Nebraska 150 Books honor for Fort Robinson and the American West, 1874-1899, v. 1-2. 2017
Cropp Award, South Dakota Historical Society
American Association for State and Local History, Award of Merit for A Brave Soldier & Honest Gentleman: Lt. James E. Foster in the West, 1873-1881. 2013.

Associations

Nebraska State Historical Society

Bibliography

Flour Milling in Nebraska.
Water Powered Flour Mills in Nebraska. 1983.
Fort Robinson and the American West: 1874-1899. ("Fort Robinson" vol. 1) 1999.
Fort Robinson and the American century, 1900-1948. ("Fort Robinson" vol. 2) 2002.
A Brave Soldier & Honest Gentleman: Lt. James E.H. Foster in the West, 1873-1881. 2013.
Last Days of Red Cloud Agency: Peter T. Buckley's Photograph Collection, 1876-1877. 2016.

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