Solomon D. Butcher, Photographer of Nebraska’s Pioneer Days
Once President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act of 1862, which granted 160 acres of free land to anyone with the grit to farm it for five years, the rush to the Great Plains was on. Solomon D. Butcher was there to document it, amassing more than three thousand photographs and compiling the most complete record of the sod house era ever made. Butcher (1856–1927) staked his claim on the plains in 1880. He didn’t like farming, but he found another way to thrive. He had learned the art of photography as a teenager, and he began taking pictures of his friends and neighbors. Butcher noticed how fast the vast land was “settling up,” so he formed the plan that would become his life’s work—to record the frontier days in words and images. Alongside sixty-two of Butcher’s iconic photographs, Light on the Prairie conveys the irrepressible spirit of a man whose passion would give us a firsthand look at the men and women who settled the Great Plains. Like his subjects, Butcher was a pioneer, even though he held a camera more often than a plow.
Awards for Light on the Prairie
* Spur Award for Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction
* Nebraska Book Award for Youth Nonfiction
* Will Rogers Medallion Award for Juvenile Nonfiction
* Award of Merit, American Association for State and Local History
Professional and Peer Reviews

“Nancy Plain tells of Solomon Butcher’s quest in Light on the Prairie: Solomon D. Butcher, Photographer of Nebraska’s Pioneer Days, a biography written for young adult readers, but one that will appeal strongly to adults. Two-time Spur Award winning writer, Plain is eloquent, detailed, precise, and evocative in her descriptions of Butcher’s life.
Though styled as a biography, this book is much, much more. It is a celebration of the imagery of one man’s photographic eye, and it is a history of Nebraska and to a broader extent a telling of the history of the homestead era, westward expansion, and the difficulties the nation—particularly Nebraska—faced in the last quarter of the 19th century from the struggle over slave and free statehood, to financial depression, the coining of free silver and the rise of the Populist movement.
Plain has again taken a subject, explored it deeply, and expressed the nuances of the story in a way that both educates and entertains. Published by the University of Nebraska Press/Bison Books, this is a book that belongs in every Nebraska school, and the homes of anyone who wants to understand our western homestead legacy and Great Plains history better.”


Will Rogers Medallion
Award Committee



“Plain has an enviable gift for storytelling.”


“Nancy Plain tells of Solomon Butcher’s quest in Light on the Prairie: Solomon D. Butcher, Photographer of Nebraska’s Pioneer Days, a biography written for young adult readers, but one that will appeal strongly to adults. Two-time Spur Award winning writer, Plain is eloquent, detailed, precise, and evocative in her descriptions of Butcher’s life.
Though styled as a biography, this book is much, much more. It is a celebration of the imagery of one man’s photographic eye, and it is a history of Nebraska and to a broader extent a telling of the history of the homestead era, westward expansion, and the difficulties the nation—particularly Nebraska—faced in the last quarter of the 19th century from the struggle over slave and free statehood, to financial depression, the coining of free silver and the rise of the Populist movement.
Plain has again taken a subject, explored it deeply, and expressed the nuances of the story in a way that both educates and entertains. Published by the University of Nebraska Press/Bison Books, this is a book that belongs in every Nebraska school, and the homes of anyone who wants to understand our western homestead legacy and Great Plains history better.”


Will Rogers Medallion
Award Committee


