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Homestead Application Paper

The Homestead Act of 1862 had an immediate and enduring effect on America and the world that is still felt today. Agriculture, industrialization, immigration, American Indian tribes, prairie ecosystems-all were somehow impacted and forever changed by the implementation of this revolutionary land law.

Over the course of the Act's 123-year history, over two million individual homestead claims were made. Each and every one of these claims generated a written record known as a case file that was kept by the U.S. General Land Office. Today, these case files exist only as paper originals and are stored in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The complete collection of case files created under the Homestead Act contains over 30 million individual pieces of paper. These invaluable documents are subject to natural deterioration, fire and water damage.

Homestead case files are treasure troves of historical and genealogical information. Within them can often be found information about a homesteader's date and place of birth; the names of children that lived on the homestead; naturalization information about immigrant homesteaders; notations regarding military service; the types of crops planted on the homestead; the value and kinds of homes and other buildings on the site; and more. Since 1999, Homestead National Monument of America has been involved in a project that aims to eventually microfilm all 30 million documents of the homestead case files collection.

These microfilms will be stored at the Monument's headquarters in Beatrice, Nebraska and will be available to the public for research purposes. A name index and other finding aids will also be created that will allow researchers easier access to the files.

A pilot project was announced in May 2004 to microfilm the homestead records of one specific land office-Broken Bow, Nebraska, which operated from 1890 to 1922. This pilot project was undertaken by the National Park Service in partnership with the National Archives and Records Administration, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Eastern National Parks and Monuments Association. 

The Broken Bow, Nebraska land office files have been microfilmed and are currently being indexed. When this is completed the records of Broken Bow, Nebraska land office will be available for public access at the Monument.

Homestead National Monument of America is seeking additional partnerships to carry the project to its second phase-that of microfilming all homestead records from the entire state of Nebraska. In the future, the Monument will seek to microfilm and index the homestead records from all 30 of the nation's homesteading states.

To view an original homestead case file and learn more about the kinds of valuable information that can be found in these records, please click here on the Neve case file.

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