2023 Pilster Great Plains Lecture & Sandoz Symposium

"Mari Sandoz’s Homeland Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: A High Plains Symposium"

September 28-30, 2023 in Chadron, NE

This year's event took place on the campus of Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska with sessions in the Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center and the CSC Student Center Ballroom. Off-campus activities took place at the Bean Broker in downtown Chadron.

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.

The annual Pilster Great Plains Lecture was presented by Dr. Andrew Graybill, Professor and Director of the Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

The Mari Sandoz Symposium included presentations and panel discussions as well as a luncheon, Friday afternoon activities and a coffee and conversation send-off on Saturday morning in downtown Chadron at the Bean Broker.