Brown Bag History Series

Bring your lunch and learn! These seasonally recurring events bring highly-qualified speakers to the library to share about varied topics of cultural, historical, or scientific interest. These free programs are presented by the University of Nebraska at Kearney's History Department and History Nebraska at the Kearney Public Library. #HistoryRemembered

Brown Bag Lunch Option 1

Catherine Biba (Hastings College)

  • Wednesday, April 8, 2020
  • Noon–1:00 p.m.
  • Kearney Public Library

Bride or Old MaidOld Maids in the Atomic Age: Single Women in 1950s America

The 1950s in America are remembered as an intensely domestically-focused time, and indeed, the era’s messages for women predominantly emphasized the desirability of marriage, motherhood, and homemaking. But, of course, not every woman chose or was able to meet this matrimonial ideal. This presentation will examine the ways in which unmarried women of the era viewed themselves, and the complicated views and expectations that American society placed on them.

20180822_191801Dr. Catherine Biba is an Assistant Professor of History at Hastings College, where she teaches a wide variety of courses in U.S. History. Favorites include the History of Women in the U.S., the U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction, and Natural Disasters in the United States. She is a native of central Nebraska and is happy to be back in the area after earning degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Cornell University.