Historical marker dedicated for Lincoln-born Eiseley, a 'modern Thoreau'

Yahoo

14-04-2025

Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird and University of Nebraska at Omaha professor Bing Chen, (to her left), were among those celebrating the placement of a state historical marker in a Lincoln park on Friday commemorating Loren Eiseley, an anthropologist, author, philosopher and educator who grew up near Irvingdale Park. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — While growing up in south Lincoln, Loren Eiseley would often venture down to a small stream near his home to gather specimens for his homemade aquarium.
Once, the story goes, he almost drowned while exploring at a nearby pond, a pond now located on the Lincoln Country Club golf course grounds.
A musical opera created by Eiseley scholar and performer John Cimino will be performed in May in Omaha and Scottsbluff.
The piece is based on Eiseley's book, 'The Star Thrower,' which highlights the author's beliefs that 'we are of Nature, not above Nature.'
'An Evening with Loren Eiseley's 'The Star Thrower' ' will be performed May 23 at the Western Nebraska Community College recital hall in Scottsbluff at 7:30 p.m. MDT, and on May 27 at 7:30 p.m. CDT at the Strauss Performing Arts Center on the campus of the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Cimino, based in New York, is an award-winning composer and concert artist who has performed throughout the U.S. and Europe. He has performed alongside the famous tenor, Luciano Pavarotti, as well as at the International Verdi Festival in Italy, the Wexford Festival in Ireland and the New York City Opera. He is an advocate for the arts in education and professional life, and now serves as president and CEO of Associated Solo Artists.
— Paul Hammel
On Friday, Lincoln officials and Eiseley fans gathered to dedicate a state historical marker along the small stream in Irvingdale Park, a stream that helped inspire the writings of an author once praised by Publishers Weekly as 'the modern Thoreau.'
Eiseley, who died in 1977, was an anthropologist, philosopher and natural sciences writer who grew up in Lincoln. After drifting across the West, he graduated from the University of Nebraska with English and geology/anthropology degrees. Eiseley served as editor of the 'Prairie Schooner' literary magazine at NU, and participated in digs for fossils and human artifacts across the western part of the state and southwestern U.S.
He later earned a doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania, and later taught at the University of Kansas and Oberlin (Ohio) College. Eiseley eventually returned to Penn. At his death, he was the Benjamin Franklin professor of anthropology and history of science.
With 36 honorary degrees, he was said to be the most decorated professor at the University of Pennsylvania since Ben Franklin.
His essays, written in a poetic style, eventually found a wider audience, as did his books, which included 'The Immense Journey,' 'The Star Thrower' and 'The Unexpected Universe.' His friend, science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, said that Eiseley's writings 'changed my life.'
Bing Chen, a long-time engineering professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and president of the Loren Eiseley Society, praised Eiseley at the dedication ceremony as a 'great American author' whose writings are 'timeless' and still very relevant today given global warming and climate change.
Chen quoted from his writings: 'We have joined a caravan … and we will see as far as we can. But we cannot in our lifetime, see all that we wish to see, or learn all that we hunger to know.'
Gaylor Baird said it was fitting that a historical marker be placed along a stream in Lincoln that influenced Eiseley's writings and philosophy.
His most famous quote, she said, was 'If there is magic in this world, it is contained in water' — a quote that was placed on the historical marker.
'I hope this marker inspires people of all ages to pause, to look around — put down their phones — and feel some of the magic in these green spaces that Loren Eiseley felt,' Gaylor Baird said.
She added that a special exhibit on Eiseley's life had just opened at the Eiseley Branch Library in Lincoln.
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