Lincoln, Nebraska
capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and seat of Lancaster County
Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The city covers 103.9 square miles (269.1 km2) and had a population of 291,082 as of the 2020 census (301,522 estimated in 2025). It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 72nd-most populous in the United States. The county seat of Lancaster County, Lincoln is the economic and cultural anchor of the Lincoln, Nebraska metropolitan area, home to approximately 345,000 people.
Lincoln was founded in 1856 as the village of Lancaster on the wild salt marshes and arroyos of what became Lancaster County. Renamed after President Abraham Lincoln, it became Nebraska's state capital in 1869. The Bertram G. Goodhue–designed state capitol building was completed in 1932 and is the nation's second-tallest capitol. As the city is the seat of government for the state of Nebraska, the state and the U.S. government are major employers. The University of Nebraska was founded in Lincoln in 1869. The university is Nebraska's largest, with 23,954 students enrolled, and the city's third-largest employer.
“Lincoln, Nebraska” enters the record as capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and seat of Lancaster County. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Lincoln, Nebraska and capital can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Lincoln, Nebraska” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Lincoln, Nebraska and capital provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q28260. VIAF identifies the subject as 153882779. The Library of Congress control number is n80043499. Authority coordinates are 40.809, -96.678. 5 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 2025, 1856 and 1869.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Lincoln, Nebraska”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Lincoln, Nebraska primary sources, Lincoln, Nebraska archive and Lincoln research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lincoln, Nebraska”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Lincoln, Nebraska” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.