Vertical Files

The Lincoln City Libraries maintains a collection of over 1300 clipping folders, known traditionally as our Vertical File Collection. These folders are all located In the basement Periodicals Room of our main headquarters — Bennett Martin Public Library, 14th & “N” St. 68508 — in downtown Lincoln, NE. This collection of clippings, primarily from the Lincoln newspapers from the 1930s through the 1990s, as well as a few other sources, focuses on the following topics: Lincoln, Lancaster County and Nebraska history.

Vertical File resources are part of our reference collection and must be used in the library only. Photocopiers are available in the Periodicals room for local researchers wishing to make copies. Long-distance researchers wishing to make use of our Reference-by-Mail [mail your request to the Reference Department, c/o the address in the paragraph above] or Reference-by-Email services, can have copies made of any documents in the Vertical Files. See the Reference-by-Email page for a list of possible fees.

The Vertical File Index

Click Here for a Basic Index of all the Vertical Files [pdf]

This index is a simple text listing of the names of the 1300+ Vertical Files in our collection. The contents of the list are broken down as follows:

• Main Alphabetical Index — Pages 1-10
• Index to People — primarily Nebraskans or people with connections to Nebraska — Pages 11-12
• Travel & Geographical Index — United States — Page 13 [these resources no longer available]
• Travel & Geographical Index — Foreign — Pages 14-15  [these resources no longer available]
• Holiday Files — Page 16
• Miscellaneous Files — Page 16

Specialized Vertical Files:

The Starkweather File

One special and unique part of our Vertical File collection is the Charles Starkweather box — an extensive collection of laminated clippings about the 1957-58 Lincoln-area murder spree of Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate. You can see a list of the contents of the Starkweather box, plus numerous other Starkweather-related resources on our Starkweather page.

9/11/2001

A special collection of clippings from local newspapers and around the country, covering the tragic and historic events of September 11, 2001, is available for perusal in the Periodicals Room of the downtown library.