Changing Plains in the Late 1800s, panel proposal for the ASLE Tenth Biennial Conference, May 28-June 1, University of Kansas, Lawrence KS.

This panel will explore the changing face of the central Great Plains during the post war decades up until the last major land runs in Oklahoma Territory (1860s-1890s). For our purposes, the central Plains is roughly Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma (give or take half a state). This will be a diverse and eclectic panel including perspectives from different fields on various topics concerning migrations, energies, and limits in the late 1800s.

General topics to consider are:
European immigration
Advertising land and opportunity abroad in Europe and Eurasia
Transcontinental railroad
Mennonites in Kansas and Oklahoma
Indian boarding schools
Missionaries and missions
Native American removal to Indian Territory
Native American culture and changing ceremonies on the rez
Military policy and the Indian Wars
Agriculture on the Plains
Pressure on prairie ecosystems, flora and fauna
Early conservation efforts
Technological advances that sped settlement, like barbed wire
The new culture of oil
Land runs, boomers and sooners, Native American headrights (and swindling of)
The literature of the frontier (dime novels, etc.)
Outlaws, gangs, desperados, cattlemen
Wild west myths and legends / the sentimental image of bucolic yeoman farmers

Please submit a 250-word proposal and a 1 page c.v. to Benjamin Vogt at bervogt@gmail.com by Wednesday, October 31, 2012.