PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY · Spring 2000
SPRING Lecture 2000
“Sovereign Ground: Native Peoples and the Wilderness”
by
MARK SPENCE
Author of Dispossessing the Wilderness:
Indian Removal and the Making of the National Parks
Service.
May 4, 2000
7:30 p.m. Cascade Room
Smith Memorial Hall
Portland State University
SPRING LECTURE
Professor Spence is assistant professor at Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois. Currently, he is a Research Fellow at the Center for Humanities at Oregon State University. Professor Spence has done research on the relationship between Native Americans and the National Parks Service. His most recent book is Dispossessing the Wilderness: Indian Removal and the Making of the National Parks, published by Oxford University Press. His book will be available at the lecture.
Cathy Alzner
Vice-President
MESSAGE FROM THE
PRESIDENT OF FRIENDS OF HISTORY
With my term as president of Friends of History drawing to an end, I will use my last chance at this space to thank the members of the board for their dedication to the organization. Each of them has worked hard to make our programs successful and, I believe, they have succeeded. This is a group that never fails to volunteer and never turns down a request for help. I came into office in the spring of 1998 when Stephen Heard departed shortly before the end of his highly successful term. I had been on the board barely a year and was reluctant to take on the job with so little experience in Friends of History. "Don't worry," he told me, "In this group, everybody will pitch in and you won't have a lot to do." I didn't believe him, but he was absolutely right. So, to all the board members: THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORK AND SUPPORT THESE PAST TWO YEARS. I'm sure whoever succeeds me will find this same support and willingness to work. With that in mind, I invite any members of the organization interested in serving on the board to contact any of the current board members. We would appreciate your help and your ideas, and we love volunteers. I also invite anyone with thoughts on future speakers or themes for our yearly series of programs to send them to the Friends. We truly want to represent the views of all our members. We have made efforts to broaden our board membership and will continue to do so. We also have jointly sponsored some programs with other organizations, such as the China Council and the Archaeological Institute of America, as part of our efforts to bring history to the community. It has been my pleasure to serve as president and I wish my successor well. I also urge all of you to attend our annual meeting May 11 - see notice elsewhere in this newsletter.
Roberta Ulrich
LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
It is my pleasure to announce the recipients of the 1999-2000 Friends of History Awards:
I want to thank all of you for your generosity which makes possible
these awards. Our students cherish this recognition, as do the faculty.
All the best,
Lois Becker
ENDOWED LECTURE
University of Colorado History Professor Philip Deloria gave an endowed
lecture that was as entertaining as it was informative. Deloria spoke
February 24 in Smith Memorial Hall to an almost capacity audience.
Using slides to illustrate his talk titled, "Unexpected Places,"
Dr. Deloria discussed ways in which American Indians have often turned
up in places and occupations where mainstream culture does not expect them.
Dr. Deloria is a member of a distinguished Sioux family. His grandfather,
Vine Deloria, was an outstanding college football player and later an Episcopal
clergyman. His father, Vine Deloria Jr., is a recently retired history
professor at the University of Colorado and an activist and author on Indian
rights. In addition to his evening lecture, Dr. Deloria met with
history students in a brown-bag lunch session February 25. He discussed
his current work, which involves his own family's history, particularly
that of his grandfather and grandmother, an early feminist from a non-Indian
New York family, and their life on the Sioux Reservation in South Dakota.
ANNUAL MEETING
The annual meeting of the Friends of History membership will be Thursday,
May 11, 4:00 pm in Room 292 Smith Center on the PSU Campus. All members
are invited to participate. There will be an election of new board
members and a report on the financial condition of the organization.
Sneak preview: It's good. Checks will be presented to winners of
the Phi Alpha Theta Awards. The board will report some minor changes
in the by-laws, designed to bring us into conformity with the PSU Foundation
and to make some clarifications. We would like to have discussion
by members about possible speakers and future program themes. There will
be a board meeting immediately after the annual meeting.
IMPORTANT DATES
May 4: 7:30 P.M.
Spring Lecture
“Sovereign Ground: Native Peoples and the Wilderness”
Smith Memorial Hall
Cascade Room
May 11: 4:00 P.M.
Annual Meeting,
Room 292
Smith Center
Friends of History
Board of Directors
Officers
Roberta Ulrich, President
Cathy Alzner, Vice-President
Erica Goodwin, Secretary
Dave Bogdon, Treasurer
Board Members
Beryl Dahl
Lois Becker
History Department Chair
Daniela Ebeling
Tim Garrison
Vaughan Hill
Lisa Hill
Cindy Landrum
Julia Lay
Jan Oeltjen
Gail Throop
Honorary Board Member
Elizabeth Furse
Honorary Directors
Bernard V. Burke
Daniel Bernstine
The Friends of History newsletter is published quarterly by the Friends of History at Portland State University. The Friends of History is a group of individuals interested in history who believe that the Department of History at PSU offers a strong program worthy of community attention and support. In an age increasingly dependent on technology, the Friends of History shares a conviction that the disciplines inherent in historical analysis are vital not only to the preservation of the humanities, but to all sound thinking. The Friends of History promotes excellence in the teaching and study of history within the University and strives to increase awareness of this resource in the Portland metropolitan area.
Editor: Jan Oeltjen
Friends of History
Department of History
PO Box 751
Portland, OR 97207
503/725-3917