American West Program at Colorado State University Explores Rough Riders, Yellow Journalism and Effects of Civil War

The role of the Civil War on the defeat of Western Indians will be discussed at Colorado State University as part of the theme of the 22nd American West Program, "Manifest Destiny Realized: 1850-1898."

The talk, which continues the exploration of Western expansion during the 1800s that was featured in last year’s program, runs at 7:30 p.m. July 13 in Room C146 Plant Science Building.

Valerie Sherer Mathes, professor in the department of social sciences at City College of San Francisco, will discuss how Congress established a "Peace Policy" after the Civil War to create reservations and to formulate a program to assimilate Indians into the mainstream culture.

Mathes holds a doctorate in history from Arizona State University and specializes in the history of American Indians, the American West and California history.

On July 20, Sandy Barnard, journalist and nonfiction writer from Terre Haute, Ind., will turn the clock back about 100 years to examine the role of the press in the Spanish-American War of 1898.

Barnard is well known for his research and writing on Custer and the Battle of Little Bighorn. He also specializes in military history, including the Civil War and the Plains Indians engagements of the post-Civil War period.

The American West Program will conclude on July 27 with a talk on "Theodore Roosevelt and His Rough Riders" by Paul Hutton, professor of history at the University of New Mexico. Hutton, who holds a doctorate from Indiana University, is executive director of the Western History Association and editor of several historical quarterlies. He was born in Frankfurt, Germany, and has been teaching history courses in the United States since 1977.

All programs begin at 7:30 p.m. in Room C146 Plant Science Building and are free and open to the public.

In conjunction with the program, the Curfman Gallery in the Lory Student Center is displaying William Henry Jackson’s paintings and photographs through July 27. The exhibit, on loan from the Scottsbluff National Monument Museum in Gering, Neb., includes black-and-white photographs and 24 original paintings.

In addition, this summer the Duhesa Lounge on the second floor of the student center is featuring the Eagle Plume Collection, an exhibit of Native American art, and Bob Coonts has limited-edition, numbered and autographed serigraph prints on sale for $30 at the student center information desk. Call 491-6444 for gallery and student center hours.

The Fort Collins Museum is hosting two special displays this summer, "A Century of Cycling" and "Carved in Cloth: Pictorial Quilts from Colorado’s History." The museum is located at 200 Mathews St. and open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays and noon-5 p.m. Sundays.

For more information on events for the American West Program, call Harry Rosenberg at 491-5230.