search articles: 

   from the issue of September 1, 2005

     
 
Tolstoy, John Wayne featured in 200th Olson seminar

 BY TOM SIMONS, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

The namesake of the Paul A. Olson Seminar in Great Plains Studies is returning for a milestone presentation.

In the 200th lecture of the series, Paul A. Olson - a founder and first director of the UNL Center for Great Plains Studies - will tap the work of Leo Tolstoy and John Wayne to show how the duo had a significant influence on political and social history of the Great Plains and its corresponding legend or myth of violence and peace.

Olson, Kate Foster regents professor of English at UNL, will lecture on that topic Sept. 13 when he presents the 200th Paul A. Olson Seminar in Great Plains Studies, a series that began in 1979. The lecture begins at 3:30 p.m. in the Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q St. It is free and open to the public, as is a reception following the talk.

The idea for the seminar series was reported in the minutes from a Great Plains Studies meeting on Nov. 13, 1975. UNL faculty and interested individuals from the community were invited to hear Dennis Shaw from the University of California at Los Angeles present the first seminar on Sept. 13, 1979, in the faculty club dining room and enjoy "coffee and cookies." By the time Olson gave the April 1980 seminar on how Black Elk tried to change history, the series had moved from the faculty club to St. Mark's on the Campus. In 1992, the seminars moved to the Great Plains Art Collection in Love Library, and finally to its present location in the Great Plains Art Museum.

In 1995, Olson stepped down as chair of the seminar series, and the Center for Great Plains Studies and its faculty fellows decided to name the series after him.

"It is a fitting tribute to Paul Olson to invite him back to present the 200th seminar in this 26th year of such a long, enduring series that connects the university to the community of Lincoln and Nebraska," said James Stubbendieck, director of the center.

Olson said about his talk, "It is, I believe, time to explore the role of Count Tolstoy in the life of the democratic Plains from 1860-1930, even as Stratcom moves us toward becoming the center of our country's war-making capacities."

Two other Olson seminars are scheduled for the fall semester (both begin at 3:30 p.m. in the Great Plains Art Museum and are free and open to the public): Oct. 19 - "A Unified Field Theory of the Great Plains," Frances W. Kaye, professor of English, UNL; and Nov. 16 - "Music at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, Omaha, 1898: The Career of Willard Kimball and the UNL Alumni Organ," Peter M. Lefferts, professor of music, UNL.

For more information, contact the center at 472-3082 or visit www.unl.edu/plains.


GO TO: ISSUE OF SEPTEMBER 1

NEWS HEADLINES FOR SEPTEMBER 1

'Father of Computing' retires after 50 years of UNL service
Husker impact gauged
Morrill Hall to unveil new exhibit
Perlman to chart academic objectives
Chancellor offers welcome as term begins
Early Christian expert to open E.N. Thompson series
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Service Awards 2005
Tolstoy, John Wayne featured in 200th Olson seminar
U.S. foreign policy experts discuss European perspective

732190S34839X