John Gneisenau Neihardt was Nebraska's Poet Laureate for fifty-two years. Neihardt was born in 188l and came to Wayne,
Nebraska with his parents as a ten year old boy. The Illinois native was graduated from Wayne Normal College at the age of sixteen and then taught in rural schools near Hoskins, Nebraska in Wayne County for several years. He began writing poetry at the age of twelve and published his first book at the age of nineteen.
His life-long interest in native Americans, their culture, and their problems began when he moved to Bancroft, Nebraska in 1901. He was an assistant in a trader's office and worked closely with the Indian people. Eventually he became an authority on their traditions and customs. He spent many hours in Indian camps learning their history. Between 1944 and 1948 he held various positions with the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs.
For a time he was co-owner and editor of a small weekly newspaper in Bancroft. He then combined two of the things he enjoyed: writing and the study of Indian culture. In preparation for writing about America's westward expansion, Neihardt traveled extensively. He descended the Missouri River from its headwaters at Fort Benton, Montana, in an open boat. He also researched the experiences of trappers and traders who had explored the western wilderness and of the pioneers who had settled the area.
While Neihardt had used other forms of writing, he felt that poetry was his natural field. In 1912 he started A Cycle of the West, finally completing it in 1941. This epic poem has four parts: The Song of Hugh Glass, 1915; The Song of Three Friends, 1919; The Song of the Indian Wars, l925; and The Song of the Messiah, 1941. These poems were published in 1949, and thereafter Neihardt became well-known in the literary world. Black Elk Speaks, first published in 1932, is now Neihardt's most famous work. It became popular in the 1970s after Neihardt's appearance on the Dick Cavett TV show had rekindled interest in the author and his works.
The meeting between Neihardt and his wife Mona Martinson, a talented sculptor, resulted from her interest in his writing.
Neihardt moved to Branson, Missouri in 1920 where he continued his writing. He was a professor in poetry at the University of Nebraska in 1923, and from 1926 to 1938 he was literary editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. At the age of sixty-eighty he became Poet-in-Residence and lecturer at the University of Missouri at Columbus, a position he held from 1949 to 1956.
Neihardt continued his writing and received national writing and poetry awards, including Prairie Poet Laureate of America in 1968. He was chosen Nebraska Poet Laureate in 192l and held the title for fifty-two years until his death in 1973. Neihardt received honorary degrees from the University of Nebraska, from the University of Missouri, and from Creighton University in Omaha.
Neihardt moved to Lincoln when he was in his eighties and lived for a time with the Julius Young family. He returned to Missouri and died at his daughter's home in Columbia, Missouri at the age of ninety-two on November 3, 1973.
Neihardt was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame in 1974. The Neihardt Center, built at Bancroft (with funds provided by the state,) is a memorial to John G. Neihardt and his literary works. The Center, administered by the Nebraska State Historical Society, includes the Museum, Sioux Prayer Garden, and Neihardt's study, a small one-room building that Neihardt used as a quiet place to concentrate on his writing.