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By ELLEN MORTENSEN
Chief Assistant Editor
For 26 years, Mary Landkamer has made it her business to nose into other people’s business. Last month, at the annual Chamber awards banquet, her community said “thank you” by naming her 2009 Citizen of the Year.
Landkamer began working at the Custer County Historical Museum in 1983, when the museum was located in the Carnegie Building, just south of Jack & Jill. Prior to that the museum had been housed on the second floor of the Broken Bow State Bank, until the bank was razed. She fell in love with the job immediately, and has dedicated herself to the museum and the people it serves since.
She grew up on a farm in Greeley County, near the small community of Wolbach. In 1969, her husband, Jack, took a job at the Custer County Chief, and in 1970 Landkamer and the family moved with him to Broken Bow. For the next few years she was very content as a wife and stay-at-home mom.
Going to work at the museum gave her an opportunity to connect with the people of Custer County in a unique way. Through the years she became absorbed in learning the history of the area, and in sharing it with those who showed interest.
In 1992, the museum moved to its current location on the west side of the square in downtown Broken Bow. While Landkamer has spent many years serving as curator of the museum, she says she could not keep things running without the help of many generous volunteers.
Landkamer is a humble woman, who becomes visibly uncomfortable talking about herself. However, those who have had the privilege of working with her or learning from her are more than eager to sing her praises.
“We hear from people from all over the country, telling us what a valuable visit they had here because of Mary’s assistance,” says former museum board member Don Davis. “I get e-mails from people all the time saying how wonderful and helpful she is.”
Broken Bow fourth grade teacher Diane Scott popped in the day of the interview to present Mary with a special card the class had made for her. The card was signed by all the fourth graders, and congratulated Mary on her recent award as well as thanked her for helping them when they come to the museum to visit.
Throughout her years at the museum Mary has seen many changes, far beyond just a change in locations.
“Computers and the Internet have all come in since I started,” Mary laughs. “Research technologies have all changed.”
Davis says Mary has done a remarkable job keeping up with those changes. “We’ve had technology changes, board changes, and Mary has rolled with those changes all along,” he said.
Most of her time is devoted to the task Mary enjoys the most - research. “That’s my favorite part. You never know from day to day what someone is going to want. I just got an e-mail today from someone wanting to know more about a business they owned,” she says.
Genealogy, business history and community history are just some of the areas Mary can help research for people. The files at the museum are extensive, and Mary has made it her mission to know how to use them.
“We have millions of bits of information here, and about the only one who knows where everything is, is Mary,” says Davis.
One of the biggest projects Mary has been involved with is the Homestead index project, which she spearheaded and devoted countless hours to.
“Our Homestead project is the envy of the Midwest, and Mary is responsible for that,” said Davis.
The project is now available on the Internet, allowing access to area homestead information to anyone - anywhere. Unlike other such indexes, this one allows users to trace homestead information with just a last name, making it more user friendly. Mary says it is just part of the job that she loves.
She also enjoys getting to meet people from all over the world. Aside from her work for the local museum, Mary has also assisted the State Historical Society in researching various projects, and has contributed to research for both the Nebraska and Colorado public broadcasting networks on projects including the works of Solomon Butcher and others. She says she has no plans of retiring anytime soon.
“What else would I do if I wasn’t here?” Mary laughs.
“The mission of the historical museum is to preserve our history and make it available to the world,” Davis says. “Mary plays a huge part in doing that.” |
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