University of Nebraska Collection

The University of Nebraska at Lincoln (Nebraska, UNL, or NU) is a public research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. It is the state's oldest university and the largest in the University of Nebraska system. The state legislature chartered the university in 1869 as a land-grant university under the 1862 Morrill Act, two years after Nebraska's statehood into the United States. Around the turn of the 20th century, the university began to expand significantly, hiring professors from eastern schools to teach its new professional programs and conducting groundbreaking research in agricultural sciences. The "Nebraska method" of ecological study developed during this time pioneered grassland ecology and laid the foundation for research in theoretical ecology for the rest of the century. The university is organized into eight colleges on two campuses in Lincoln with over 100 classroom buildings and research facilities.