Lately people have been contacting me about old Manning pictures, newspapers, memorabilia, school, etc. items - if I want them.
Of course I'll take just about anything old that is about Manning's past that people no longer want - NOT for me to keep for myself or sell, but will eventually go into the Manning Museum I'm working on with another business owner in Manning.
Over the decades, there have been various groups and individuals who made attempts to preserve our area history but eventually they fade and die out.
Also, some of the old stuff those other Manning groups were given didn't meet their interests/standards on what to preserve so many things were thrown away or maybe sold on a sale.
NOT me, I take all the old stuff and can generally determine for sure if it has a Manning connection and would be of interest for a museum.
I don't keep or sell any old history people give me - in fact I'm the only one who has been using my own money over decades to purchase old Manning history to preserve in a Museum.
When people bring me old Manning Monitors, many times I'll have the same issue but what I look for is to see if the name of the person is printed on the newspaper (see scan below). I make sure to keep the ones with names on since that shows who was part of Manning's history.
I always tell people at our libraries/school/city hall, Heritage Park, etc. that if someone brings them old stuff and they don't want it or don't think is has a Manning connection - to take it anyway and let me know...I'll be the one who will be able to determine its connection and historical background to Manning.

I'm also the only one who knows how to and has the professional computer equipment & software to properly digitize and photograph and then take the time to archive the background of that item in the Manning Historical Database I've been building for over 50 years.
Below is a picture that Lynn Kruse brought me. It is grainy and unfortunately no date or location was written on it, other than "Nishnabotna River" that was during a flood...probably 1947 or 1950.
When I zoom in on the high resolution scan, I can see a farm place in the background and 2 bridges. The one is similar to the type of bridges in the county and also a few that were in Manning, but there is another bridge that looks like it would be a railroad bridge but I don't see any of the tracks going away from it.
Anyway, this is the type of old photo that most people see no reason to keep and just throw it - NOT me, I want to scan as many old Manning connected pix I can before they are ALL thrown away or destroyed.


Not sure exactly where this picture was taken along the Nishnabotna Creek.

Robert Kruse MHS 1940

This is what I'm referring to about saving a copy of a newspaper that has the name of the subscriber.
Something no one else would think of in preserving our history...