Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center

Local Community Screening and Discussion of “Dawes County U.S.A.” (Read More)

Movie poster. Faint section map in the background. Image of people on a bluff with an American flag silhouetted into the shape of a grazing steer. Text: a film by Kate Peddicord, Dawes County U.S.A.
The documentary film Dawes County, U.S.A. takes place in Northwestern Nebraska where we become acquainted with the lives of generational ranchers. As economic and cultural realities make this way of life increasingly difficult to sustain, the film explores the layered history of the region, where pioneer settlement and Native displacement remain intertwined. The presence of this history is followed in the truck stop cafe, the historical museum that once served as a military base, through ranchers who inherited land from initial settlers, and through the animals who inhabit the land themselves. Here, the camera listens without an aim to posit opinion but to understand and question. By staying awhile in this place where an inch of rain is a blessing, where trees are sparse, where a state border divides the same landscape that used to be free; if we spend time with its inhabitants, what can we learn about the past and future contained in the present? What does it mean to belong to a place that cannot truly be owned. The runtime of the film is 35 minutes and will be followed by a Q&A discussion with the filmmaker Kate Peddicord, local ranch historian Steve Cleveland, and Lakota author Tracy Hauff. The talk will be moderated by Chadron State College Assistant Professor of History, Sam Herley. This community screening is presented free of charge in partnership with the Dawes County Historical Museum and the C.F. Coffee Gallery. Refreshments provided by C.F. Coffee Gallery.

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2023 Sandoz Symposium: “Mari Sandoz’s Homeland: Past, Present and Future” (Read More)

The 2023 Pilster Great Plains Lecture & Sandoz Symposium will take place Sept. 28-30 on the campus of Chadron State College in Chadron. The Friday Symposium requires a $40 registration before September 15. Visit the host website to register and for more information. Mari Sandoz, 1896-1966, is celebrated for her histories of the Native Americans and homesteaders living on the High Plains. While Ms. Sandoz lived and wrote in Lincoln, Denver and New York City, the subject comprising the bulk of her work was the place and the people of the High Plains where she had been born and raised, where she centered her research and gained insights into the events and personalities that populate her histories. This event will look at the High Plains and its natural and human history in hopes to create increased interest in looking more deeply into this history and attendees own local or regional stories both individually and in group settings. Speakers at the Friday symposium include: Donovin Sprague: "Preservation of Native American Culture and History Today" Broc Anderson, Christine Ambrose, Phyllis Krotz, and Harlan Wheeler: PANEL DISCUSSION: "Preserving Local History in Sandoz Country" Renee Laegreid, Mari Clai Jones, Markus Jones, and Matt Evertson, Ph.D.: PANEL DISCUSSION: "High Plains Writers/Writing" Tony Malmberg, Cattle Rancher and Holistic Grasslands Manager, Union, OR: “High Plains Grasslands: Enhancing Livestock Production in an Ancient Ecosystem” Michael Leite, Steven Rolfsmeier, and Teresa Frink: PANEL DISCUSSION: “The High Plains: Climate, Flora and Fauna, Past, Present, Future”  

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