2021 Hoover Dam and the Shaping of the American West Schedule
Please note that this schedule is subject to changes.
SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
| Sun, June 27 | Evening: Registration and Meet and Greet, Boulder City, Nevada |
| Mon, June 28 | Morning: Michael Green – Keynote Lecture Afternoon: Sally Denton – Bechtel |
| Tue, June 29 | Morning: Richard Guy Wilson – Architecture and Design of the dam Afternoon: Site visit to Hoover Dam |
| Wed, June 30 | Morning: Anthony Arrigo: Visual History of Hoover Dam Afternoon: Jeffrey Hinton: Pedagogy Workshop I, Boulder City Hoover Dam Museum & Archives |
| Thur, July 1 | Morning: John Shields: Bureau of Reclamation Afternoon: Claytee White: African American history in Nevada, Oral History Workshop |
| Fri, July 2 | Morning: Donald C. Jackson: Dams of the New Deal Era, Postcard Culture Afternoon: Jeffrey Hinton: Pedagogy Workshop II |
| Sat, July 3 | Morning: Andy Kirk: Environmental History – Site Visit to Springs Preserve/Nevada State Museum Afternoon: Off, Optional trips and events suggested |
| Sun, July 4 | All Day: Day Off, Optional trips and events suggested |
| Mon, July 5 | All Day: William Bauer: Native Americans, Hoover Dam, and the Colorado River |
| Tues, July 6 | All Day: Karen Harry: Archeology of Native lands Site Visit to Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Valley of Fire |
| Wed, July 7 | Morning: Paul Gilmore: California and Hoover Dam Afternoon: Deanna Beachley: Women and the New Deal/Great Depression |
| Thur, July 8 | Morning: Michelle Turk: Labor and Occupational Safety of Hoover Dam Afternoon: Jeffrey Hinton: Pedagogy Workshop III |
| Fri, July 9 | Morning: Final Presentations and Wrap-up |
EXTENDED SCHEDULE
Sunday, June 27 – Day 1: Introduction and Host Welcome
Host event:
- Reception and meet and greet at Boulder Dam Hotel. Introduction to topic and overview of the week. Discuss the conceptions of the program. Keynote address.
Schedule:
| 5:00 pm | Registration/Introduction: Registration at the Hoover Dam Hotel, Boulder City, Nevada. |
| 6:00 | Welcome Address Dr. Anthony Arrigo will provide an overview of the week, the intellectual rationale for the workshop, and the expectations of the participants. |
| 6:00 – 7:30 | Dinner/Meet and Greet Participants will be invited to a meet and greet at the Boulder Dam Brewing Co. across the street from the hotel to introduce themselves, discuss teaching and other interests. |
Monday, June 28 – Day 2: Historical Context
Scholars/Lecturers:
- Michael Green, University of Nevada Las Vegas
- Sally Denton, Independent Scholar/Author
Required Readings:
- Green, Michael. Nevada: A History of the Silver State. University of Nevada Press, 2015.
- Denton, Sally. The Profiteers: Bechtel and the Men Who Built the World. Simon & Schuster, 2016. 19-44, 304-311.
Schedule:
| 9:00 am | Introduction of the theme/overview of the day: Dr. Anthony Arrigo |
| 9:15 – 11:45 | Hoover Dam and Las Vegas: An Overview: Dr. Michael Green will provide an introduction to the dam’s construction and to the history of the surrounding area. |
| 11:45 – 1:15 | Lunch |
| 1:15 – 3:45 | Lecture/Discussion: Sally Denton will discuss the impact of Hoover Dam on Boulder City and on the world through the prism of Bechtel, one of the Six Companies that became a worldwide force. |
Tuesday, June 29 – Day 3: Dam Construction, Hoover Dam Tour
Scholars/Lecturers:
- Richard Guy Wilson, University of Virginia
- Bureau of Reclamation personnel
Readings:
- Kaufmann, Gordon B. “The Architecture of Boulder Dam.” Architectural Concrete 2 (1936): 2–5.
- Wilson, Richard Guy. “Machine-Age Iconography in the American West: The Design of Hoover Dam.” The Pacific Historical Review 54 (1985): 463–493.
Schedule:
| 8:30 am | Introduction of the theme/overview of the day Anthony F. Arrigo |
| 8:45 – 11:15 | Lecture/Discussion Dr. Richard Guy Wilson will lead a workshop on the design, engineering, and architectural features of the dam. |
| 11:15 – 12:15 | Lunch |
| 12:15 – 12:45 pm | Travel to Hoover Dam |
| 12:45 – 4:00 | Hoover Dam site explore on your own |
| 4:00- 4:30 | Travel back to Boulder City |
Wednesday, June 30 – Day 4: Visual History of Hoover Dam, Pedagogy Workshop I
Scholars/Lecturers:
- Anthony F. Arrigo, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Readings:
- Arrigo, Anthony F. Imaging Hoover Dam: The Making of a Cultural Icon. University of Nevada Press, 2014.
Schedule:
| 9:00 am | Introduction of the theme/overview of the day : Dr. Anthony Arrigo |
| 9:15 – 11:45 | Lecture/Discussion: Dr. Anthony Arrigo will discuss the role of images in the drive to build the dam and their use in persuading a skeptical public. |
| 11:45 – 1:15 | Lunch |
| 1:15 – 3:45 | Pedagogy Workshop I: Boulder City Archives: Mr. Jeff Hinton will run a pedagogy workshop. Participants will visit the local archives of the Boulder City Museum and Historical Association. |
Thursday, July 1 – Day 5: Bureau of Reclamation, African Americans in Nevada, Oral History Workshop
Scholars/Lecturers:
- John Shields, Engineer, Bureau of Reclamation
- Claytee White, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Readings:
- Shields, John W. “Elwood Mead’s Establishment of the Constitutional Foundations of Wyoming’s Water Law.” Annals of Wyoming 85 (2013), 22-42.
- Fitzgerald, Roosevelt. “Blacks and the Boulder Dam Project.” Nevada Historical Society Quarterly 24 (1981): 255–261.
- Fitzgerald, Roosevelt. “The Evolution of a Black Community in Las Vegas, 1905-1940.” Nevada Public Affairs Review 2 (1987): 23–28.
- Sears, James M. “Black Americans and the New Deal.” The History Teacher 10 (1976): 89–105.
Schedule:
| 9:00 am | Introduction of the theme/overview of the day : Dr. Anthony Arrigo |
| 9:15 – 11:45 | Lecture/Discussion: Mr. John Shields, an engineer with the Bureau, will present an overview of the role of the Bureau or Reclamation in building Hoover Dam. |
| 11:45 – 1:15 | Lunch |
| 1:15 – 3:45 | Lecture/Discussion: Claytee White will lead a discussion on African Americans in Nevada, and conduct an oral history workshop |
Friday, July 2 – Day 6: Dams of the New Deal Era, Pedagogy Workshop II
Scholars/Lecturers:
- Donald C. Jackson, Lafayette College
- Jeffrey Hinton, Teaching Mentor
Readings:
- Jackson, Donald C. Pastoral and Monumental: Dams, Postcards, and the American Landscape, University of Pittsburgh Press, (2013). Ch. 1. p. 1-37
Schedule:
| 9:00 am | Introduction of the theme/overview of the day: Anthony F. Arrigo |
| 9:15 – 11:45 | Lecture/Discussion: Dr. Donald C. Jackson will discuss the St. Francis Dam disaster and its influence of dam design, as well as postcard culture and dams |
| 11:45 – 1:15 | Lunch |
| 1:15 – 3:45 | Pedagogy Workshop II: Mr. Jeff Hinton will run a pedagogy workshop |
Saturday July 3 – Day 7: Springs Preserve and Nevada State Museum
Scholars/Lecturers:
- Andy Kirk, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Readings:
- Worster, Donald. “Hoover Dam: A Study in Domination.” in Worster, Donald. Under Western Skies: Nature and History in the American West. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. 64-78.
Schedule:
| 8:00 am | Travel to Springs Preserve/Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas |
| 9:15 – 11:30 | Springs Preserve: Dr. Andy Kirk will lead a tour of the Spring Preserve, explaining water and the local environment |
| 11:30 | Lunch on your own at the Nevada State Museum Cafe, then explore the Nevada State Museum on your own |
| 1:30 | Bus returns to Boulder City Optional on your own: Includes visiting Las Vegas to tour The Mob Museum, the Neon Museum, the Clark County Museum, and/or the Atomic Testing Museum; working in the Boulder City archives; visiting the UNLV library; or exploring Boulder City. |
Sunday, July 4 – Day 8: Off
Nothing scheduled for Sunday
Monday, July 5 – Day 9: Native Americans
Scholars/Lecturers:
- William Bauer, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Readings:
- Nuvagantu, “Where the Snow Sits”: Origin Mountains of the Southern Paiutes
- Griffith, Jane. “Hoover Damn: Land, Labor, and Settler Colonial Cultural Production” Cultural Studies and Critical Methodologies, 2016 (1-11).
Schedule:
| 9:00 am | Introduction of the theme/overview of the day Dr. Anthony Arrigo |
| 9:15 – 11:45 | Lecture/Discussion Dr. William Bauer will discuss the history of Native peoples in Nevada, the impact of the dam on Native Americans, Native contributions to building the dam, as well as the Native communities displaced by Lake Mead. |
| 11:45 – 1:15 | Lunch |
| 1:15 – 3:00 | Lecture/Discussion Dr. William Bauer will continue his lecture/discussion. |
Tuesday, July 6 – Day 10: Native Culture, Lake Mead, Valley of Fire
Scholars/Lecturers:
- Karen Harry, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Readings:
- “Archeologists Racing to Unearth Indian City That Dam Will Flood.” Los Angeles Times 8 Sept. 1937.
- Harry and Watson, “The Archaeology of Pueblo Grande De Nevada: Past and Current Research Within Nevada’s ‘Lost City’,” KIVA The Journal of Southwestern Anthropology and History. 75-4. 2010
Schedule:
| 7:00 am | Travel to Lake Mead National Recreation Area and Valley of Fire State Park |
| 8:30 – 3:45 | Lake Mead, Valley of Fire Professor Karen Harry will lead participants to Lake Mead (the man-made lake created by Hoover Dam) and Valley of Fire for a discussion of the environmental history of the Colorado River, topography of Black Canyon and surrounding areas, and important anthropological and archeological aspects of the area. |
| 3:45 – 5:15 | Travel back to Boulder City |
Wednesday, July 7 – Day 11: California, Women in the Great Depression
Scholars/Lecturers:
- Paul Gilmore, Fresno City College
- DeAnna Beachley, College of Southern Nevada
Readings:
- Worster, Donald. “Hydraulic Society in California” in Worster, Donald. Under Western Skies: Nature and History in the American West. New York: Oxford University Press,1992. 53-63.
- Carmody, D.L. “What the Reclamation Women Do in Las Vegas.” New Reclamation Era 22 (1931): 202–203.
- Bethune, Mary McLeod. A Century of Progress of Negro Women. 1932.
- Shallcross, Ruth. Shall Married Women Work?
- Le Sueur, Meridel. The Despair of Unemployed Women. 1932.
- Mitchell, Louise. Slave Markets in New York City. 1940.
Schedule:
| 9:00 am | Introduction of the theme/overview of the day Dr. Anthony Arrigo |
| 9:15 – 11:45 | Lecture/Discussion Paul Gilmore will discuss the role of a booming California in getting Hoover Dam built. |
| 11:45 – 1:15 | Lunch |
| 1:15 – 3:45 | Lecture/Discussion Dr. DeAnna Beachley will discuss working women in the Great Depression, women and the New Deal, the role of women in Nevada history and at Hoover Dam. |
Thursday, July 8 – Day 12: Labor, Pedagogy Workshop III
Scholars/Lecturers:
- Michelle Turk, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
- Jeffrey Hinton, Teaching Mentor
Readings:
- Turk, Michelle F. “Dead Roses and Blooming Deserts: The Medical History of a New Deal Icon.” The Nevada Historical Society Quarterly3 (2007): 239–264.
- Turk, Michelle F. “Work on the River: Employment at the Hoover Dam.” Journal of the West 2 (2013): 66–76.
Schedule:
| 9:00 am | Introduction of the theme/overview of the day Dr. Anthony Arrigo |
| 9:15-11:45 | Lecture/Discussion Dr. Michelle Turk will discuss the role of labor in building the dam, and what it was like to work at the dam. |
| 11:45 – 1:15 | Lunch |
| 1:15 – 3:45 | Pedagogy Workshop III Jeffrey Hinton will lead a final pedagogy workshop to help participants finalize their lesson plans and prepare for their presentations on Friday. |
Friday, July 9 – Day 13: Wrap up Presentations
Schedule:
| 9:00 am | Introduction of the theme/overview of the day Dr. Anthony Arrigo |
| 9:15 – 12:00 | Final Presentations and Conclusion to the Institute Participants will present their takeaway projects and reflect on their time at the institute. |
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Hoover Dam and the Shaping of the American West 