62nd annual Willa Cather Foundation Spring Conference

62nd annual Willa Cather Foundation Spring Conference

The National Willa Cather Center
June 1, 2017 to June 3, 2017

Join us June 1 – 3, 2017, for a very special Willa Cather Spring Conference! Our 62nd annual Spring Conference, “Picturing the American West: The Railroad and Popular Imagination,” is a signature event of the Nebraska Sesquicentennial Commission and will highlight our 150 years of shared Nebraska history and culture. We are pleased to welcome Brent Glass, Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, as our keynote speaker for this year’s Spring Conference. A national leader in the preservation, interpretation, and promotion of history, Glass is a public historian who pioneered influential oral history and material culture studies, an author, television presence, and international speaker on public memory. Most recently, Glass authored 50 Great American Places (Simon & Schuster, 2016), a guide to fifty of the most important cultural and historic sites in the United States — one of which is the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie!

We also welcome Shane Booth as he returns to Red Cloud to exhibit his photography. Booth, a native of central Nebraska who now teaches in North Carolina, was artist in residence in Red Cloud in 2016, photographing Webster County with his 1867 model studio camera and Voigtlander lens. He’ll be on hand at the Spring Conference to talk about his Catherland exhibit, which documents much of Webster County’s “Catherland” and explores the ideology of Nebraska landscape through the large format images that Booth captured with his vintage camera.

After a full day of presentations, exhibits, tours, and activities at our historic sites, Friday evening will conclude with a vaudeville-inspired variety bill featuring classic railroad tunes and comedy (and a bit of Cather). The Red Cloud Cannonball will be a lively tribute to the Opera House’s early days, when traveling troupes arrived by train to entertain the local crowds.

Late Registrations:

Registrations made after May 20 will be subject to a $50 late registration fee.

Cancelation Policy:

A $25 administrative fee will be charged for cancellations prior to May 25th.  After May 25th, we will be unable to process refunds or accept new registrations.   

Some events are free and open to the public, including the Night at the Depot on June 1st. Contact Tracy Tucker at the Willa Cather Foundation for more information by calling 402-746-2653

SCHEDULE

Thursday, June 1

12:00 – 1:30: Discover Lester Junction: Lunch at the historic Starke Round Barn with a panel about the railroad's past and present in the area.

2:00 – 4:00: Wildflower Walk at the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie

5:30 – 6:30" Keynote address by Brent D. Glass, author of 50 Great American Places
“The Public Memory of Railroads: Preserving and Presenting America’s Defining Technology”

7:00 – 9:00: A Night at the Historic Burlington Depot: Enjoy food trucks, craft beer, and select wine at the historic Burlington Depot. Beginning at 7:30, musician Dave Seay will perform his “Train Songs & Tales,” an upbeat performance featuring several instruments, well-known railroad music, and legends of the rails, for all ages.

Friday, June 2

9:00 – 10:30: Welcome and scholarship presentations

11:00 – 12:15: Book talk with Ann Satterthwaite, author of Local Glories: Opera Houses on Main Street, Where Art and Community Meet

12:15 – 1:30: Lunch on your own

1:45 – 3:00: Alternating activities at historic sites

A. James Reisdorff: “Pulling Up Stakes: When Trains Leave Town” at the Burlington Depot

B. Cather Crossword Competition at Grace Episcopal Church

3:15 – 4:45: Speaker Bob Ferguson: “Nebraska’s Statehood in Stamps”

5:00 – 6:00: Artist’s Reception for Nebraska-born artist Shane Booth, whose photography exhibit Catherland is the result of a 2016 summer residency with the Willa Cather Foundation

7:00 – 8:15: Conference dinner

8:30 – 10:00: The Red Cloud Cannonball, a vaudeville-inspired variety bill featuring classic railroad tunes and comedy (and a bit of Cather). The Red Cloud Cannonball is a lively tribute to the Opera House’s early days, when traveling troupes arrived by train to entertain the local crowds.

Saturday, June 3

8:00 – 10:00: Coffee & kolache

8:30 – 9:30: Church service with homily by Rev. Charles Peek

10:00 – 11:45: The Passing Show “Red Cloud’s Railroads: Myth and Metaphor”

Moderator: Dr. Ann Tschetter
Panelists: Dr. Elissa Sartwell, Ann Satterthwaite, Dr. Mark Facknitz

12:00 – 1:15: PEO Dining Car Luncheon

Conference concludes with the PEO Dining Car Luncheon

Guests are invited to stay for the Grand Opening and Dedication of the National Willa Cather Center (separate ticket required for dedication and reception)

1:30 – 2:30: Dedication of the National Willa Cather Center with remarks by Mrs. Laura Bush

5:00 – 8:00: Champagne reception

Afternoon open house: 
Tours of the new facility will be free and open to the public 2:30–4:30