OU-NU 1968
On July 1, 1968, the Municipal University of Omaha (OU) merged with the University of Nebraska and became the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). Springing from economic necessity, the merger both saved the Omaha campus and forever changed its character.
Event program for the OU-NU Merger Ceremony.
"The Man in the Middle of the Merger: Kirk Naylor's Busy Year," by Hollis Limprecht, which appeared in the Magazine of the Midlands on November 26, 1967, pages 26-27. The article details President Naylor's efforts to bring about the merger.
16-page section of the SUN newspaper June 27, 1968, issue. The front and back covers fold out to a two-page piece of artwork depicting the University of Nebraska at Omaha as a fetus about to be born. All articles within the section relate to the university and its programs.
Special issue of the University of Omaha Gateway, printed on June 30, 1968, the day before the Municipal University of Omaha merged with the University of Nebraska to become the University of Nebraska at Omaha. This special issue was printed with blue images and black text on thick, white paper, rather than the typical newsprint. The issue is a single sheet, folded. Each exterior page appears as a front page, printed tete-beche with one another. One features articles about OU history, and the other looking forward to UNO's new identity. Inside is a two-page spread featuring photographs and drawings related to the merger.
Single typescript sheet on Campus Christian Fellowship of Omaha letterhead, with the text of the invocation and benediction offered at the merger ceremonies, June 30-July 1, 1968. The invocation was delivered by Leonard Barry, the UNO Campus Minister.
Dr. Kirk Naylor, President of OU, kept extensive scrapbooks during the years 1967-1968, containing primarily newspaper clippings along with some photographs and ephemera related to the merger of the OU and NU.
It is difficult to convey the full effect of this scrapbook in digital form, as nearly every page includes items that are folded, overlapping, or tucked in, such that they must be unfolded or flipped to be viewed in full. Only a few pages from the scrapbook have been presented here, but the full scrapbook, along with three more scrapbooks documenting Dr. Naylor's time at UNO, may be viewed at the UNO Criss Library Archives and Special Collections.