Caster helps public uncover Nebraska's stories

Within the stacks of paper held in the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Archives and Special Collections are thousands of stories. Josh Caster, archives manager at University Libraries, is one of the many staff members helping to bring those stories to the surface.

“If we’re not using this stuff and making connections with people, we’ve basically got a bunch of old paper,” he said. “It’s the people using it that brings it to life.”

Caster, a Husker alumnus, started in Archives and Special Collections as a student before eventually taking on a permanent role. His early experience gave him a good foundation in all aspects of the work and helped him identify a particular interest in reference work, or helping users find the right material for their research.

“I was exposed to the whole gamut of stuff an archivist could do,” Caster said.

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Now, Caster gets to work with student workers and, along with Mary Ellen Ducey, university archivist, and other archives staff, pair students with jobs that fit their interests, whether that means the activity or the subject matter. He said it is rewarding to see them grow from student workers to professionals in the field in their own right.

“It’s neat to watch people when they’re freshmen and feeling stuff out and then you can watch them, in real time, gain competencies,” he said. “Eventually sometimes we’ll bring in donors or people interested in certain subjects and it’s nice to be able to be like, ‘You should talk to this student worker.’ They’ll talk about (the subject) with great knowledge and enthusiasm.”

Caster enjoys helping researchers identify which collection holds the answers they are looking for. With so much information at their fingertips, this can be a challenge.

“I’m always looking for the ‘Eureka moment,’” Caster said. “I want people to able to access the great stuff we have. I might not know the answer they’re seeking but I know where to show them to look, so I like connecting those pieces and I like when people walk away with whatever they’re looking for.”

Sometimes successfully finding those answers is a longshot. Recently, for example, a researcher was looking for images of quilts made by a specific quilter. Caster was able to work with them and cross-reference some collections down to the marginalia to find images of the individual quilter’s work.

“It was a needle in a stack of needles,” he said.

Promoting access to this kind of unique material is a passion of Caster’s. The preservation and record keeping and providing access work in tandem to ensure the wealth of information held in the archives is still valuable.

“If people aren’t looking at it, that effort and that great work of everybody that’s been in this department and this library is not being reaped,” Caster said. “I think it’s pretty core to the mission.”

Working with the material has given Caster a great appreciation for university. People might come across a document marking the beginning of a university department or organization or with the signature or an early important figure in university history.

“People will ask, ‘What evidence do you have of the beginnings of the university?’” Caster said. “We have the charter. We’ve got the origin document. There’s heavyweight people who have worked here throughout our history, so it’s cool to know who the real players were.”

Personally, Caster is also interested in some of the environmental history in the collection. Caster enjoys fishing and other outdoor activities outside the office, so he is partial to entries like photos taken by Erwin Barbour, an instrumental figure in the foundation of the Nebraska State Museum, or reports from a biologist working for an early incarnation of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

“He’s got old stocking reports for all these lakes I fish at to this day,” he said.

Caster speaks to people sometimes who don’t realize how many hidden treasures the archives hold about their own interests. A farmer might find relevant information about fertilizers and crop yields. Husker football fans might be amazed by a film reel of the Game of the Century or a photograph of Tom Osborne and Willie Nelson surveying Memorial Stadium for Farm Aid.

“I want to be part of that ecosystem that reaches out and says, ‘You want the stuff we have, even it you don’t know it,’” Caster said. “There’s human interest stuff for anyone here.”

Gems from the archive

Nebraska's Josh Caster handpicked five of his all-time favorite gems from the University Archives and Special Collections. Check out the slideshow below, where the archives manager shares the stories behind each image with his personal touch and fun descriptions.