CONFER ENCES SARAH CARTER ELLIOTT WEST JOHN R. WUNDER BEATRICE,NEBRASKA
Pablo Rangel and Michelle Tiedje explain their digital project. photo: Kevin Chrisman
rawley conference by Brian Sarnacki
The seventh annual James A. Rawley Graduate Conference in the Humanities was a first in many ways. The History Graduate Student’s Association’s yearly conference went off campus, holding its panels and keynote at the National Parks Service’s Homestead National Monument in Beatrice, Nebraska. We also were fortunate enough to have not one, but three distinguished keynote presenters: Sarah Carter, Elliott West, and John R. Wunder. Drs. Carter, West, and Wunder formed a very engaging keynote panel, “Future Directions in Western History” moderated by recent alumnus of the graduate program Brenden Rensink. The discussion touched on a diverse range of historiographical and methodological questions facing western history that were also useful to students in other fields.
The presenters came from North, South and near to attend this years Rawley Conference. Sarah Carter is the Henry Marshall Tory Chair in the Department of History and Classics and Chair of the Department of History and Classics and Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta. Her most recent book, The Importance of Being Monogamous: Marriage and Nation Building in Western Canada to 1915, has received several book awards. Elliott West is the Alumni Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Arkansas. In addition to the numerous books and articles he has published, he was a finalist for the 2009 Robert Foster Cherry Award recognizing outstanding teaching in the English-speaking world. John R. Wunder is an Emeritus Professor of History and Journalism at the University of Nebraska-
Lincoln and recent president of the Western History Association. Conference attendance was pleasantly diverse, though slightly down due to its location outside of Lincoln. Presenter’s disciplines ranged from Art History to Geography and covered topics from military history to colonialism and gender. Members from the public and National Parks Service also kept panel discussions lively. The Rawley Conference would not have been possible without the devotion and commitment of members of the History Graduate Students’ Association and the faculty of the UNL History Department. We would like to highlight the efforts of those who helped organize the conference, especially the committee chairs Megan Benson, Robert Jordan, Pablo Rangel, and Paul Strauss as well as to panel commentators Margaret Jacobs, Douglas Seefeldt, Brenden Rensink and Rob Voss. We would also like to thank all the students and faculty that attended the conference and especially Mrs. Ann Rawley who made the trip from California to join us this year. The HGSA is also grateful for the financial support received for this year’s Rawley Conference from the Department of History at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Homestead National Monument of America, Plains Humanities Alliance, Center for Great Plains Studies, UNL College of Arts and Sciences, Office of Graduate Studies, Department of History, Department of English, Department of Textiles, Clothing, & Design, Geography and Geographic Information Science, School of Natural Resources,
Department of Anthropology, Nineteenth Century Studies, Institute for Ethnic Studies, Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, and Women’s and Gender Studies Program Thank you to everyone who helped make the Rawley Conference as success.
“Presenter’s disciplines ranged from Art History to Geography and covered topics from military history to colonialism and gender.” - Brian Sarnacki