The West Nebraska Family Research & History Center builds and acquires items for its collection utilizing a bullseye approach: Scottsbluff the town and Scotts Bluff County first, then surrounding towns and counties, including Goshen County, Wyoming, and specifically Torrington, since it borders the Panhandle and shares deep family and economic ties with the region. Next comes all of Nebraska and its surrounding states of Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, South Dakota, Iowa and Missouri. From there we expand our search nationally, and finally internationally. We rarely need to look nationally or internationally, but sometimes we see something too good to pass up. The surrounding states almost always give us the opportunity to fill the gaps.
Priorities:
- Scottsbluff town history and materials
- Surrounding Panhandle towns and counties (all 11 Panhandle counties)
- All of Nebraska
- Surrounding states: Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri
- National and international only when nothing closer fits
Acquisition methods:
- Donations from the community
- Purchases, including eBay — every listing is compared against the catalog first, and we only buy what we don’t already have
- Trades with similar organizations
Exceptions: We accept materials outside the bullseye when they directly support a patron’s research or fill a documented gap.
