Conference: History of Wyoming and the American West (Hist 5605)
Autumn Term, 2007
Phil Roberts History Lounge
Office: 356 History, 766-5101 or 5311 Wed., 7-9:30 p.m.
Home: 745-8205 E-mail: philr@uwyo.edu
Office Hours: M, 2:30-3:30 p.m., W, 1:10-3 p.m., and by appointment
Course Objective: This course will primarily involve reading, but each class will include time directed toward developing and writing an individual research project. Therefore, the course will consist of two components: reading, mostly from secondary sources, and research/writing. In the first half of each class, we will explore various genres and issues in Western history, sampling from the extensive literature on the region. Both the exploration in the genres and the issues will require careful reading, thorough research, precise writing and informed class discussion. In the latter part of each class period, we will discuss research strategies, develop theses statements, outline and organize the materials into an analytical piece of writing.
Course Requirements: One essential requirement for this course is diligent reading and thinking about Wyoming and Western issues and their history. Completion of several book reviews and informal writing exercises will be required as well as oral contributions to class discussions. Additionally, because the history of Wyoming and the West is ever-changing and contemporary issues are based on earlier events, students are expected to read about Wyoming and Western issues regularly as articles about such issues appear in the national and regional press. Also required is an understanding of regional geography, either through map study or by other means. The course grade will be based primarily on the book reviews, the brief exercises, informed participation, and the final paper, the topic for which will be chosen in consultation with the instructor. Relentless attendance is expected as well as thoughtful, informed discussion of assigned readings. Courtesy is essential in a reading course such as this one, while we explore the extensive historical writing on the American West and Wyoming. Consequently, rude behavior toward other members of the class will not be tolerated.
Required Materials:
Selections from several books and journals, most of which will be available electronically.
Access to the following five history journals: Western Historical Quarterly, Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Western Legal History, Annals of Wyoming, Montana: Magazine of Western History, along with familiarity with the history journals, accessible in Coe Library’s serials collection.
Readings: Common readings will be assigned for most weeks. (Most are listed on the attached syllabus; a few will be announced later). Throughout the semester, all students are responsible for the common readings. . Students must be prepared to discuss the specific assigned article. Not reading the assigned article will result in points deducted for participation.
Book Reviews: The course is designed to allow exploration of the various genres in Western/Wyoming history and to explore, through readings, broad themes in Western history. Class discussions will be based on the readings, each individually assigned, from biography, autobiography, travel account, narrative history, or letters/diaries as well as in broader Western history themes. Each student will be asked to write a one-page summary on the book (s)he has read. There is no expectation that the paper follow any particular form or format. The purpose is to get the student into the habit of keeping "reminder reviews" of each book (s)he has read. These will be requested periodically by the professor to ensure that diligent reading is occurring, but they will not be graded. At midterm, the student will turn in a bibliographic essay or analytical review responding to several questions that will generally involve incorporating materials from each of the individually assigned books in the answer. This paper, in essence, a “take-home” essay exam of from 5-7 pages, will be assigned a grade. A similar non-comprehensive paper will be required at the conclusion of the semester for materials read in the second half of the term. Further details will be announced.
Formal Paper: Each student will complete a formal essay/research paper which may take one of several forms. It may be a chapter of a longer study such as a thesis, dissertation or book. It may be a self-contained article about a particular issue in history. Whatever the form, the product should be the result of careful reading of existing works on the topic as well as sound, careful, original research. Time will be set aside during each class session for discussion about researching, organizing and writing the final paper. Unlike the readings, the final paper will not necessarily relate directly to the history of Wyoming, although if the student wishes to concentrate on a Wyoming subject, the professor will provide guidance and a listing of potential topics in need of research/writing in the history of the state.
Guest Speakers: We will have the unusual opportunity to have several distinguished visitors with us this semester. While the dates are yet to be firmly set, historian L. Milton Woods will be speaking with the class. Tentatively, we will plan a special lunch hour session to meet with Mr. Woods.
Outline of Topics, Meetings and Assignments
*Assignment is due on the listed date.
August 29: Introduction
Sept. 5: Western History: An Introduction to the Historiography.
Common Reading:
Frederick Jackson Turner, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History," in Proceedings of the 41st Annual Meeting of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin (Madison, 1894), 79-112, reprinted in John Mack Faragher, Rereading Frederick Jackson Turner. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994), pp. 31-60.
John Wiener, chaps.2 and 5, in Historians in Trouble. (New York: New Press, 2005).
Individually assigned articles:
1. Michael E. McGerr, "Is There a 20th Century West?" in Cronon, Miles, Gitlin, Under an Open Sky: Rethinking America's Western Past (New York: W. W. Norton, 1992) 239-256.
2. Gerald D. Nash, “The Global Context of the New Western Historian,” in Gene M. Gressley, ed., Old West/New West. (Worland: High Plains, 1994), 149-162.
3. William Cronon, “Revisiting the Vanishing Frontier: The Legacy of Frederick Jackson Turner,” Western Historical Quarterly 18 (April 1987), 157-176.
Discussion of possible paper topics. Distribution of list of possible topics.
Sept. 12: Reflections on Western Historians
Common Reading: Richard Etulain, Writing Western History: Essays on Major Western Historians. (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2002). Each student will be responsible for leading discussion over a chapter.
Sept. 19: Wyoming and Western History: An Introduction to the Narrative Survey Works
Reading: Each student will be asked to examine and assess one Wyoming history survey book and one survey book written for “younger readers.” Some will be "historic" in themselves while others are contemporary; some were written by professional historians and others, by lay people. During class, students will be asked to describe the particular work he/she examined and the class will compare and contrast the various approaches, styles, sources and reliability of each work.
The books:
Bancroft, History of Nevada, Colorado, Wyoming, 1540-1888 (1890)
Bartlett, History of Wyoming (1918)
Beard, Wyoming from Territorial Days to the Present (1933)
Coutant, History of Wyoming from the Earliest Known Discoveries.... (1899)
Flynn, Tribal Government: Wind River Reservation (1998)
Gould, Wyoming: A Political History, 1868-1896 (1968)
Larson, History of Wyoming (1965)
Larson, Wyoming: A Bicentennial History (1978)
Roberts, A New History of Wyoming (2008) (only web version available)
For younger readers:
Adams and Sodaro, Frontier Spirit (1986)
Bragg, Wyoming Rugged But Right (1979)
Campbell and Jordan, Discovering Wyoming (1989)
Frazier, On the Old Trails of Wyoming (1928)
Garst, Story of Wyoming (1938)
Hebard, History and Government of Wyoming (1919, 1921, 1923, 1926)
Hebard, Teaching Wyoming History by Counties (1926)
Linford, Wyoming: Frontier State (1947)
Trenholm and Carley, Wyoming Pageant (1946)
Whittenburg, Wyoming's People (1958)
Whittenburg, Wyoming: Prelude to Statehood (1966)
Travel guidebooks were among the first works describing the American West and Wyoming to the rest of the world. Each student will be asked to examine two historic guidebooks. The student will be asked to describe the two works in class. At least one of the two MUST be chosen from the first “historical” list. Such aspects as the nature and quality of the works, the accuracy (as close as one can do so), and the presumed audience ought to be taken into consideration. Each student will submit a brief 3-5 page "comparative" review of the two works.
Historical:
Doyle, Journey to the Land of Gold (2 vols).
Fremont, Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the year 1842…(1845)
Gladding, Across the Continent by the Lincoln Highway (1915)
Irving, Adventures of Captain Bonneville
Kime, The Sherman Tour Journals of Col. Richard I. Dodge (2002)
Kohl, Martin, Brinkman (eds)., A Triceratops Hunt in Pioneer Wyoming
Moulton, Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.*
Munkres, Saleratus and Sagebrush (1974)
Parkman, The Oregon Trail
Osborne Russell, Journal of a Trapper
Spring, WPA Guide to Wyoming (1941)
Stansbury, Exploration and Survey of the Valley of Great Salt Lake (1852)
Strahorn, Handbook of Wyoming and Guide to the Black Hills (1877)
Triggs, History of Cheyenne and Northern Wyoming (1876)
Wyoming State Board of Immigration, The Territory of Wyoming: Its History, Soil, Climate... (1873) &
Modern:
Betts, Along the Ramparts of the Tetons (1978)
Bonney/Bonney, Guide to Wyoming Mountains and Wilderness Areas (1977)
Burt, Wyoming (1991)
Cobb, Parkman’s Trace (1998)
Franzwa, Lincoln Highway (1995)
Franzwa, Oregon Trail Revisited (1997)
Hokanson, Lincoln Highway: Main Street Across America (1988)
Jacobs, Western Journey (1988),
Jordan, Wyoming: A Sourcebook (1996)
Junge, Wyoming: A Guide to Historic Sites (1976)
Lonely Planet's Guide to the Northern Rocky Mountain States
Moulton, Roadside History of Wyoming (1995)
Nagel and Nix, Wyoming Futures Project: History and Critique, 1985-1988.
Pitcher, Wyoming Handbook (1991)
Spring, Cheyenne and Black Hills Stage and Express Routes (1949)
Trevathan, More Than Meets the Eye (1993)
Wyoming Business Council website
Oct. 3: Collective Biography
Each student will be assigned a collective biography to examine and assess. (There is no expectation that the student will read each entry in the work). Nonetheless, in a brief review, students will comment on the methods, approaches and reliability, assess the sources and means by which entries were included, and analyze the broader context inherent in the book .
Collective Biographies
Cora Beach, Women of Wyoming (1927)
Mabel Brown, First Ladies of Wyoming (1990)
Elnora Frye, Atlas of Outlaws at the Wyoming Territorial Penitentiary
LeRoy Hafen, Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West.
Jean Mead, Wyoming in Profile (1982)
Robert M. Kvasnicka and Viola, The Commissioners of Indian Affairs, 1824-1977
Progressive Men of the State of Wyoming (1903)
Victoria Murphy, Wyoming: A 20th Century History (1999)
Charles Welch, History of the Big Horn Basin (1940)
L. Milton Woods, Wyoming Biographies (1991)
Wyoming Press Association, Wyoming Newspapers: A Centennial History (1990)
Wyoming State Archives, Wyoming Bluebook (1943, 1977, 1991, 2007)
Oct. 10: Individual Biography
This is not an exclusive list, but possible works include:
Beebe, Finn Burnett, Frontiersman (1937)
Brown, Inga and Harry (1995)
Carroll, John B. Kendrick, Western Senator (1977)
David, Malcolm Campbell, Sheriff (1932)
Davis, Sadie and Charlie (1989)
DeArment, Alias Frank Canton
Ecelbarger, Frederick W. Lander: The Great Natural American Soldier (2000)
Gould, Willis Van Devanter in Wyoming Politics (1986)
Hufsmith, Wyoming Lynching of Cattle Kate (1993)
Kluger, Turning on Water with a Shovel: The Career of Elwood Mead (1992)
Lockhart, The Lady Doc (fiction) (1910)
Mackey, Inventing History in the American West (2005)
Nichols, Dick: The Man Who is President (2004)
Oglesby, Manuel Lisa and the Opening of the Frontier (1984)
Robinson, General Crook and the Western Frontier (2002)
Scheer, Governor Lady: the Life and Times of Nellie Tayloe Ross (2005)
Spring, Caspar Collins (1927)
Vanderpoel, Stan Hathaway, A Biography (2003)
Wakefield, Milward Simpson: The Fiery Petrel (2005)
Waller, Thurman Arnold: A Biography (2005)
Williams, Aven Nelson of Wyoming (1984)
Woods, John Clay, Jr.: Commission Man, Rancher (2001)
Woods, Moreton Frewen's Western Adventures (1986)
Oct. 17: Autobiography/Memoir
Abbott, We Pointed Them North (1939)
Arnold, Fair Fights and Foul (1951)
Beck, The Damned Elk Et My Broom (1976)
Brooks, Memoirs (1939)
Canton, Frontier Trails (1930)
Carrington, Frances, My Army Life and the Fort Phil Kearny Massacre (1910)
Carrington, Margaret, Ab-sa-ra-ka, Home of the Crows (1868)
Chatterton, Memoirs (1948)
Clay, My Life on the Range (1924)
Cody, Autobiography of Buffalo Bill (1920)
Elizabeth Custer, Boots and Saddles, or Life in Dakota with General Custer (1885)
DeSmet, Life, Letters and Travels in North America Among the Indians, 1821-1873 (1905)
Dodge, How We Built the Union Pacific Railway (1910)
Gillette, The Iron Trail (1925)
Guernsey, Wyoming Cowboy Days (1936)
Horn, Life of Tom Horn, Government Scout and Interpreter: A Vindication, written by Himself (1904)
Jackson, Time Exposure (1940)
Jones, Buffalo Jones’ Adventures on the Plains (1970) SK 297 J652
Kuykendall, Frontier Days: A True Narrative of Striking Events on the Western Frontier (1917)
LaFors, Wyoming Peace Officer (1953)
Laurence, Daughter of the Regiment: Memoirs of a Childhood in the Frontier Army, 1878-1898.
Murie, Wapiti Wilderness (1985)
Olson, Ranch on the Laramie (1973)
Ostrander, After 60 Years (1925)
Rollinson, Hoofprints of a Cowboy (1941)
Rose, Advocates and Adversaries (1977)
Spence, Making of a Country Lawyer (1996)
Talbot, My People of the Plains (1906)
Voorhees, Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life (1920)
1st review essay questions assigned tonight.
Oct. 24: County/Community Histories
County histories of:
Converse
Mokler, History of Natrona County.
Weston
Campbell
Sheridan
Sublette
Uinta
Hot Springs (Dorothy Milek)
Fremont
Lincoln
Niobrara
Platte
Goshen
Town Histories:
Hillsdale
Pinedale
Basin
Oct. 26: We will have the unusual opportunity to visit with a well-known biographer who has written extensively on Wyoming people in history. L. Milton Woods, author of biographies of Moreton Frewen, Asa Mercer and John Clay, among others, will be visiting with us in a special brown-bag noon hour on Friday, Oct. 26, from noon-1 p.m., exact place to be announced.
Oct. 31: Writing about Diversity
Question:
You will be assigned one ethnic group in a state/region of the West. Prepare a brief essay in which you discuss some of the major scholarship done in at least the past ten years on the particular group, the major issues addressed, and the methodology employed. Give a personal assessment of both the quality and quantity of recent scholarship (including journal articles as well as books and monographs).
Nov. 7: Writing about Politics and Law. Our special guest tonight will be Dr. Robert Bonner, author of the recent book, William F. Cody's Wyoming Empire: The Buffalo Bill Nobody Knows. Prof. Bonner earned his PhD in European history, but he has become well known for his work in the history of his native state of Wyoming. He will talk with us about his particular work in biography and he will share his thoughts about the writing of history and biography generally.
Individual Reading:
Assigned chapters in Richard Lowitt, Politics in the Postwar American West (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995). You will be assigned a Western state from the Lowitt volume to read and analyze.
Review essay due tonight.
Nov. 14: Writing about the Land: Railroads, Farmers, Ranchers, Miners
Much of today's writing on these issues also includes attention toward diverse populations in the West. We will consider recent work incorporating these ideas.
Common Reading:
1. Elliott Robert Barkan, “Introduction and Prelude,” pp. 1-34, in From All Points: America’s Immigrant West,
1870s-1952. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007).
2. David G. Gutierrez, “Significant to Whom?: Mexican Americans and the History of the American West,” Western Historical Quarterly 24 (November 1993), 519-539.
3. Quintard Taylor, “Blacks and Asians in a White City: Japanese Americans and African Americans in Seattle, 1890-1940,” Western Historical Quarterly 22 (November 1991), 401-430
4. David J. Weber, "Scarce More Than Apes: Historical Roots of Anglo American Stereotypes of Mexicans in the Border Region," in New Spain's Far Northern Frontier: Essays on Spain in the American West, 1540-1821 (Albuquerque: UNM Press, 1981), 180-197 (295-304).
5. John H. Wunder, "What's Old about the New Western History: Race and Gender, Part 1," Pacific Northwest Quarterly 85 (April 1994), 50-58.
Nov. 21: No class. Thanksgiving Vacation.
Nov. 28: 19th Century Western Issues
Common Readings
1. William G. Robbins, “In Pursuit of Historical Explanation: Capitalism as a Conceptual Tool for Knowing the American West,” Western Historical Quarterly 30 (Autumn 1999), 277-295.
2. Robert G. Athearn, "Colonialism: The Enduring Dilemma," in The Mythic West in 20th Century America (Lawrence: Univ. Press of Kansas, 1986), 108-130.
3. “How the West Got Wild: American Media and Frontier Violence—A Round Table,” Western Historical Quarterly 31 (Autumn 2000), 277-295.
4. David L. McFadden, "Legal Research for Historians," Western Legal History 10 (1997), 3-30.
5. John H. Wunder, "What's Old about the New Western History: Law, Part III," Western Legal History 10 (1997), 85-116.
6. Donald J. Pisani, "Enterprise and Equity: A Critique of Western Water Law in the 19th Century," Western Historical Quarterly 18 (1987), 15-38.
Readings Relevant to 19th Century WyomingIssues:
Brisbin, Beef Bonanza (1880)
Davis, A Vast Amount of Trouble
Frink, Cow Country Cavalcade (1954)
Gressley, Bankers and Cattlemen.
Jones, Guarding the Overland Trails: The 11th Ohio Cavalry in the Civil War.
Mercer, Banditti of the Plains (1894)
Smith, War on Powder River (1966)
Spring, 70 Years: A Panoramic History of the WSGA (1943)
Dec. 3: 20th Century Western Issues.
Common Reading:
1. Sam Western, Pushed Off the Mountain, Sold Down the River: Wyoming's Search for Its Soul. (Moose: Homestead Publishing, 2003).
2. Howard R. Lamar, "Westering in the 21st Century: Speculations on the Future of the Western Past," in Cronon, Miles, Gitlin, Under an Open Sky: Rethinking America's Western Past (New York: W. W. Norton, 1992), 257-274.
In 1968 Herman Kahn predicted that within 25 years, three of the major factors in public debate in the West would be "excessive tourism," air and water pollution, and radioactive debris. Comment.
Readings Relevant to 20th Century Wyoming Issues::
Barkan, From All Points: America’s Immigrant West
Brumberg, Kansas Charley
Davis, Goodbye, Judge Lynch
Garceau, The Important Things in Life
Larson, Wyoming’s War Years
Nicholas, Becoming Western
Rea, Bone Wars
Roberts, Prohibition in Wyoming
Spence, Gunning for Justice
Stratton, Tempest Over Teapot Dome
Van Nuys, Americanizing the West
Finals Week:
Research paper due.