Learn More About It...
For the student in all of us, here are some books, articles, and Web sites where you can learn more about some of the topics we explore with our programs and our virtual museum.

Sod Houses
Historians, folklorists and descendants, of pioneers have all studied the sod houses of the Great Plains. Several state historical societies, such as the Nebraska State Historical Society, which has an extensive collection of letters and photographs relating to sod houses, and museums such as the Prairie Homestead in Philip, South Dakota, are excellent resources for students, historians, and the general public.

If you are interested in learning more about the construction of sod houses or the people who lived in them, here are some suggested readings:

Books
Barnes, Cass G. The Sod House. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1930.

Carter, John. and Butcher, Solomon D. . Photographing the American Dream. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1985.

Dick, Everett. The Sod-House Frontier: Everyday Life in Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota, 1854-1890. Lincoln, NE: Johnsen Publishing Company, 1954.

Ise, John. Sod and Stubble. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1996.

Sod House Memories: A Compilation of Sod House Experiences. Henderson, NE: Service Press, 1991.

Welsh, Roger. Sod Walls. Lincoln, NE: J & L Lee Co., 1991.

Articles
Giezentanner, Veda. "In Dugouts and Sod Houses," The Chronicles of Oklahoma 39:2 (Summer 1961): 140-149.

Kwolek-Folland, Angel. "The Elegant Dugout: Domesticity and Moveable Culture in the United States, 1870-1900," American Studies 25:2 (Fall 1984): 21-37.

Robbins, Peggy. "Soddies: Homes on the Range," Wild West 9:6 (April 1997): 39-44.

White, John I. "Pages From a Nebraska Album: The Sod House Photographs of Solomon D. Butcher," American West 12:2 (March 1975): 30-39.

Web Sites

http://memory.loc.gov/
The Library of Congress has created the American Memory Web site which offers access to a wide variety of collections whose contents of photographs, letters, documents, ephemera, audio, and motion pictues have been digitized and made available to the public.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/nbhihtml/pshome.html
An extensive online collection of Nebraska sod house pioneer photographs, documents, and ephemera is available on the Library of Congress Web site.

http://websteader.com/wbstdsd1.htm
Photographs and information on several existing soddies in Nebraska and Minnesota. The site includes close-up images of sod bricks and a plow from the Banner County Historical Society in Harrisburg, NE.

http://www.prairiehomestead.com
This sod house is located at the northeast entrance to the Badlands National Park. The web site gives a brief history of the house, restored in 1962, and both exterior and interior photographs.

http://www.nps.gov/jeff/mus-farmers.htm
Part of the Museum of Westward Expansion on-line tour, this site provides information about the history of the sod house in the Great Plains states. From this page, visitors can learn more about sod houses, the Homestead Act, and sod house photographer Solomon Butcher.