SLEUTHING, VERIFYING AND SHARING

Every locale has its cherished history buffs. Bob Marks is one of Omaha, Nebraska’s. The octogenarian has spent nearly a half-century sleuthing, verifying and debunking local lore. Now, his fascinating discoveries are at your fingertips — in a highly engaging self-published collection.

I first met this prolific storyteller in summer 2020 while serving as books editor for the Omaha World-Herald. Bob told me of his hobby and shared five essays. Not only did this kind, gentlemanly fellow spin a delightful yarn, but his work was also well-researched and meticulously crafted. A widely popular “Omaha History Detective” column was born. Readers loved the wide range of subjects, most of which had never been covered in any Omaha history book. Fans even proclaimed the column “the best thing in the Sunday paper.”

The author approached his hobby with the precision of an accountant — his lifelong occupation. Bob was director of corporate income taxes for Mutual of Omaha from 1975 to 2001. He got interested in Omaha history while helping to plan Mutual’s 75th anniversary celebration in 1984. He was curious about what the city looked like at the time of its founding in 1854, and then in 1909, when Dr. C.C. Criss founded the company that would become Mutual of Omaha and be recognized around the globe.

Bob started combing city directories and library archives and joined a newly established docent program at Western Heritage Museum (now the Durham Museum). He especially enjoyed browsing the photo archive and became fascinated with the Bostwick-Frohardt Collection documenting early Omaha.

The Omaha History Detective’s favorite “cases” were those that corrected published misconceptions about Omaha’s past. In a debut article, Bob told readers, “It bothers me when incorrect notions about our past are accepted as Gospel. But my stories will not be entirely scholarly. I hope they will be entertaining, as well.”

To illustrate his works, the author reached into his personal cataloged collection of 5,000-plus postcards depicting early Omaha.

The Omaha History Detective also drew on his own study A vintage postcard collection grew into a research and writing of downtown hobby for Omaha History Detective Bob Marks. CHRIS CHRISTEN Omaha buildings, and some 40 notebooks of his data on their histories, recently donated to the Durham’s research archives.

Bob’s columns appeared in The World-Herald from September 2020 to May 2021. As his editor, I feared a reader mutiny in announcing that the column was being suspended as the Omaha History Detective focused on this effort, his first book. My in-box was flooded with emailed well-wishes for and sincere appreciation to Bob for his “enlightening and thought-provoking” essays. A favorite observation, from a retired teacher: “Mr. Marks has a way of telling the story not only with accuracy concerning the facts, but with amusement and appreciation of the humanity within the history.”

Devoted fans expressed excitement, too, for a compilation that would include Omaha History Detective reprints plus new installments. Finally, the anticipation is over. Read, learn, enjoy!

— Chris Christen, editor POSTSCRIPT: Bob Marks was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer as he wrote the last chapters of this book. He died June 17, 2022 — one week before his passion project went to press. We trust that his Heavenly adventures include meeting the souls of many, if not all, of the characters that he has studied, researched and written about.

When I was first invited in summer 2020 to write a column for the Sunday edition of the Omaha World-Herald, I wracked my little gray cells for an appropriate title.

The one I chose, “Omaha History Detective,” represents a concept — not me or my fantasy occupation. There are a great many Omaha history detectives out there, and I respect and encourage every one of them.

My original intention was to use an illustration from one of my Omaha postcards and tell its story. This involved a lot of research — detection, if you will — much more than I had anticipated. I had become somewhat knowledgeable about Omaha’s history through my hobby of the past 35 years, but I estimate that 90% of what I have written for this book was unknown to me prior to 2020. Before long, I decided to venture beyond my first conception of the column, and dig up stories buried for years and not pictured on postcards or generally known to Omahans.

I would be remiss not to acknowledge the two people who have been most important to bringing my wildest dreams to life in the form of this book. First and foremost is my editor and mentor, Chris Christen. She has pushed and pulled me along every step of my short-lived writing career, and without her this book would not exist — literally! The other is Christine Zueck-Watkins, my dynamo book designer and fixer-upper. Together they have been my guardian angels in this effort.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

Omahan Bob Marks delighted in sleuthing local history, busting myths and setting the record straight. His grade school and high school teachers ignited his love of history. CHRIS CHRISTEN

— Bob Marks, author