Company Profile
Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center
Company Overview
The former Chadron State College Carnegie-style library, listed on the National Register of Historic Places within the Chadron State College Historic Buildings Thematic Resource, has been renovated to house the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center.
The Center features exhibits, a preservation/ preparation workroom equipped with a digital imaging laboratory and an archival library. The Center also serves as the repository for the Mari Sandoz Heritage Society, which has loaned its expansive collection of Sandoz materials for the exhibits and archives. The Society assists in educational programming and encourages research and publishing about the High Plains region.
An adjacent two-story atrium has been named for lead donors, Vernon P. and Madge Fortune Chicoine. It provides additional space for exhibits, meetings, social events, seminars and workshops.
Both facilities support CSC's academic programs - including the Museum Studies and Art programs - and educational activities for the region's primary and secondary school students and teachers. Endowments provide internships, resources for outreach and collection development.
In addition to the development of the Center itself, the area surrounding the Center supports the work that goes on inside. These areas include the campus-wide arboretum, the hiking-biking heritage trail, and the heritage gardens.
Company History
Chadron State College was founded in 1911 as Nebraska State Teachers College.
The Center was opened in 2002 after decades of fundraising and planning by the College and the Mari Sandoz Heritage Society. Since then, the Center has been a campus leader in sustainable horticulture and outdoor interpretive planning. The Center actively supports the academic and social needs of the campus though exhibits and programs and it is a hands-on learning laboratory for Museum Studies, Art, and English majors.