American West Program Explores Louisiana Purchase this Summer at Colorado State University

The 26th American West Program this summer will explore "The Louisiana Purchase and American Expansion" in a series of talks highlighted by several of the leading international scholars in the field.

The first speaker to kick off the program will be John Logan Allen, noted historical geographer from the University of Wyoming, who will talk June 3 on "Jeffersonian Geopolitics." A tribute to Harry Rosenberg, former coordinator of the program, will follow Allen’s presentation.

"Professor Rosenberg was the heart and soul of the American West Program for many years, and his tireless devotion to the program will be truly missed," said Anne Wainstein Bond, history lecturer at Colorado State and this year’s new American West coordinator.

The Louisiana Purchase, a vast region in North America – more than 800,000 square miles – was purchased by the United States from France in 1803 and stands as the largest area of territory ever added to the U.S. at one time. Allen, who is widely popular as a speaker on the history and exploration of the American West, will examine President Thomas Jefferson’s understanding of the Western region, his views of political expansion and his attempts to learn about the new territory and establish American control over the Louisiana Purchase.

In upcoming talks, the American West Program will go beyond the Lewis and Clark explorations of the early 1800s to the broader context of national territorial acquisition, Bond said.

"We’ll look at the known and documented forays into the new landscape by peoples of other cultures and other expeditions, such as that of Zebulon Pike into the southern portion of the new territory, including portions of what now is Colorado," she said.

Tickets will be on sale at the door for $7 per lecture or $25 for the five-lecture series ($15 for Colorado State students).

All lectures will begin at 7 p.m. in Room 104 in the newly named Albert C. Yates Hall, formerly the Chemistry/Biosciences Building.

For more details on parking, tickets and the lectures, call Bond at 491-6418.

Following is the schedule of events for the American West Program.

• June 3: "Jeffersonian Geopolitics" by John Logan Allen, noted historical geographer from the University of Wyoming. A tribute to Harry Rosenberg, former coordinator of the program, will follow Allen’s presentation.
• June 10 : "Editing the Journals of Lewis and Clark" by Gary Moulton from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Moulton will sign copes of his newly released book on the complete journals from the Lewis and Clark expedition.
• June 17: "Up and Across the Wide Missouri, 1700-1810" by James A. Hanson from the Museum of the Fur Trade in Chadron, Neb.
• June 24: "A New Peek at Pike" by Jared Orsi, assistant professor from Colorado State University.
• July 1: "The Search for Lewis and Clark" by Ken Karsmizki, executive director of the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center in The Dalles, Ore.

More information on each speaker and their topics will be available this summer on eComment Daily, Colorado State’s faculty/staff Web page, at www.comment.colostate.edu.