Velma Armstrong Collection

Velma Armstrong paintings in the Education Center

NPS Photo

Homestead National Historical Park acquired the Velma Armstrong collection in 1961. These ten oil paintings were purchased in anticipation of the opening of the new visitor center and the Homestead Act Centennial in 1962. The paintings were displayed at the Visitor Center in the lobby, auditorium, and offices for many years. Today, the collection is occasionally brought out of storage to be displayed as a temporary exhibit.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Velma Olga (Novotny) Armstrong was born in 1913, the youngest of nine children. Her parents, Joseph and Antonia Novotny immigrated from Bohemia to homestead near Diller, Nebraska. As a teenager, Velma pursued her artistic interests. She moved to Beatrice, Nebraska to teach, raise a family, and practice her art.

Armstrong began painting homestead scenes in the 1950s. Her parents' pioneering experiences and recollections as homesteaders in Nebraska inspired her work. Armstrong's works capture the spirit of nineteenth-century homesteading. The paintings depict pastoral imagery, agricultural scenes, and the lives of early settlers.

"It is a privilege and an honor to have my paintings selected to help commemorate pioneer history. Giving up possession of the paintings well afforded me a 'good cry' –for they are a portrait of my personal heritage. However above all sentimental reasons, I realize because of their nature, the paintings are at last- 'Going Home'."

-Velma Armstrong, 1961

[Exhibition Note: The exhibit text accompanying the images of the paintings were written by the artist, Velma Armstrong. They are largely unedited.]