Answered By: Jim Shaw
Last Updated: May 06, 2015     Views: 18

Anna Wilson died in October 1911, just two years after the university held its first classes, so she had little practical opportunity to become involved with the university.  To my knowledge, her bequest to the city did not include money or property for the university, but you may want to contact Les Valentine, the University Archivist (402-554-2362 ; lvalentine@unomaha.edu) to confirm that.  The university was a private institution in its early years.

I am attaching a PDF copy of a page from the Omaha World Herald which includes an article about Anna Wilson published the day after she died.  You may need to zoom up the PDF magnification to read the article at the upper right corner of the page.

The Omaha World Herald was recently added to the newspapers searchable at GenealogyBank.com, a subscription-based service.  No library in Omaha has been able to purchase an account yet (it is very expensive for an institutional subscription), but personal subscriptions are $10.00 for a month or $70.00 for a year.  I searched Anna Wilson's name in the Omaha World Herald from 1900 - 1915 and found about 250 articles, though some are clearly irrelevant given her name is not particularly distinctive.  There was quite a legal wrangle over her estate, which was reported in some detail in the newspaper. 

I am also attaching a PDF copy of the GenealogyBank flyer.  If you want to research Anna Wilson, you will very likely need to search the Omaha World Herald.  I would be happy to make an appointment to show you how it works via my personal account.  Again, no library in Omaha has yet been able to purchase a library account, so you would need to set up your own, if only for month.

Regards,

James Shaw, Director of Collections, Criss Library, UNO, jshaw@unomaha.edu

 

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