Kathryn’s Story (working title Sparrow’s Song) showcases the historical research behind my forthcoming novel, working title Sparrow’s Song, about a German-from-Russia immigrant who joins the Army School of Nursing during WWI and later teaches in a Cadet Nurse Corps school during WWII. I share what I’ve learned about early twentieth-century nursing education, the German-from-Russia immigrant experience in Nebraska, life in 1930s New York City, and much more. These posts are a small way to share the bits of history that helped me build the world that Kathryn inhabits. So why is the working title Sparrow’s Song?

Before Kool-Aid, There Were Cigars:

Shortly before Hastings, Nebraska, became known as the birthplace of Kool-Aid, it was a cigar town. In the early 1900s, six cigar factories operated downtown, producing millions of hand-rolled cigars each year. The work was rhythmic and exacting, carried out largely by young immigrant women from the local community of Germans-from-Russia. Paid by the piece and trained to roll with speed and precision, these women shaped not only the cigars but the town’s industrial identity.

At the beginning of my forthcoming debut novel, my protagonist Kathryn’s life mirrors the working lives of these real-life women, who sorted tobacco leaves, packed bunches by feel, and rolled wrappers with practiced hands. Their work was tactile, communal, and quietly skilled.

This post offers a glimpse into cigar making in 1916 Hastings, including its tools, techniques, and textures, as well as the rise of the Kipp Cigar Company, which once produced half of Nebraska’s cigars. Though the industry faded and some of its buildings are gone, the legacy of Hastings’ cigar makers endures. For those of us with ties to this town, it’s a story worth remembering.

Kathryn Scheibel, the protagonist of my forthcoming novel Sparrow’s Song, begins her nursing career as a student in the Army School of Nursing in 1918 during World War I. Years later, in 1943, she’s teaching in a school that joins the Cadet Nurse Corps, the federal nurse training program created to address the nursing shortage during World War II.

This post shares the historical background of both programs—how they were formed and how students were recruited. Kathryn’s story is rooted in these efforts and in the challenges faced by women who didn’t come from privilege. As a poor ethnic German, she confronts prejudice in her student years. Again, as an instructor, she fights against unjust treatment when her school admits its first Black students.