Cliff's Notes
Curious Nebraska
Air Date: 06/20/2026
Before the internet, students turned to Cliff's Notes (aka Cliffs Notes aka CliffsNotes). The black-and-yellow study guides helped generations understand classic literature.
Did you know the company called Nebraska home?
Nebraska Public Media producer Andy Hermann provides a summary.
Guests, in order of appearance:
- Jim McKee, former advertising and sales manager, Cliff's Notes;
- Linda Hillegass, daughter, Clifton and Catherine Hillegass;
- Ken Price, Hillegass University Professor of American Literature, Co-Director of the Walt Whitman Archive, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Music: "Cliffs of Dover" by Eric Johnson.
Additional audio: excerpt from Nebraska Nightly on the Nebraska Public Radio Network (April 16, 1997), reported by Carolyn Johnsen.
Special thanks to Alexis Scargill, Media Archivist, Nebraska Public Media.
Cliff's Notes at the Lincoln City Libraries Heritage Room
Cliff's Notes at the Lincoln City Libraries Heritage Room
Cliff's Notes at the Lincoln City Libraries Heritage Room
original Cliff's Notes headquarters, Lincoln, 1958 (courtesy Linda Hillegass)
Clifton and Catherine Hillegass at the Lincoln Symphony headdress Ball, 1965 (courtesy Linda Hillegass)
Jim McKee and Linda Hillegass (courtesy Linda Hillegass)
Kenneth Price, Hillegass University Professor of American Literature, Co-Director of the Walt Whitman Archive, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Jim McKee in Nebraska ETV's Choice magazine, April 1978 (courtesy Nebraska Public Media Archives)
Jim McKee's Cliff's Notes business card
Walt Whitman Archive at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Jim McKee and Linda Hillegass (courtesy Linda Hillegass)
Cliff's Notes at the Lincoln City Libraries Heritage Room
Cliff's Notes at the Lincoln City Libraries Heritage Room
Cliff's Notes at the Lincoln City Libraries Heritage Room