Back in January I introduced LB 1169, which was a bill to turn the Nebraska State Historical Society into a state code agency. The Nebraska State Historical Society had drifted far away from its original purpose and was engaging in practices which lacked accountability, especially in regards to the institution’s finances. Turning them into a state code agency allowed the Governor to appoint the director and greatly increased their level of accountability.

I made LB 1169 my personal priority bill this year and it passed in the Legislature. After the Governor signed the bill into law on April 16, 2024, the search began for a new executive interim director to run the agency. The natural and obvious choice for the position was Cindy Drake. Drake was the former librarian for the Nebraska State Historical Society, who had been unjustly fired from her position after serving the institution for 45 years. Gov. Pillen appointed Drake to the position on July 24, saying that she was the right person to fill the role.

Cindy Drake has already done a remarkable job of cleaning up the agency in the two short months that she has served as the executive interim director. Besides changing the name of the agency back to its original name (the name had been changed to History Nebraska), Drake has made several other positive changes to the agency and today I would like to highlight what some of those changes are.

First, Drake has been working closely with the Nebraska Department of Administrative Services and the Budget Office to restore financial accountability to the Nebraska State Historical Society. Drake is greatly improving the efficiency and accountability of the agency’s use of taxpayer’s dollars. For example, the agency is now relying upon its own staff to prepare the history of Nebraska instead of using out-of-state consulting firms to do the work. In short, those employed by the agency are now doing what they were originally hired to do.

Drake is leading the agency to restore its main exhibits in the Nebraska History Museum, which is located in Lincoln. These exhibits tell the comprehensive history of Nebraska from ancient times up to the 20th Century, and include important historical sites in Western Nebraska such as Fort Robinson and Chimney Rock. One of Drake’s goals is to create more interaction between the agency and local residents to better tell the story and to better promote the history of these important historical sites.

Drake has been leading the Nebraska State Historical Society to renew its partnership with the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation, which has been in existence for the past 82 years. In 2023 the former director of History Nebraska, Trevor Jones, had been charged with felony theft by deception for transferring $269,926 to the History Nebraska Foundation, a separate foundation which he had helped to create. Under Drake’s leadership the Nebraska State Historical Society will work in tandem with the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation to better fund and work on mutual historical activities which will better serve residents throughout the whole State of Nebraska.

Finally, Drake has restored the visiting hours for the library. The library is the home for the Archives Research Room, which houses the largest collection of Nebraska historical research materials. Previously, the library had been open to the public only one day each week. Now, the library, which is located at 1500 R Street in Lincoln, will be open weekdays from 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., except on Tuesdays.

As you can see, there are many positive changes that are now occurring at the Nebraska State Historical Society. These improvements are happening because of LB 1169. Cindy Drake is doing an excellent job restoring accountability, integrity, and faith in our state’s most important institution for preserving our heritage and history.