search articles:     from the issue of September 13, 2007         Book prize winner opens Olson Seminars Sept. 19 Michael Tate, who received the Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize for his book, "Indians and Emigrants: Encounters on the Overland Trails," will deliver the fall's first Paul A. Olson Seminar in Great Plains Studies. Tate's presentation will begin at 3:30 p.m., Sept. 19 at the Great Plains Art Museum. The book prize was created to stress the interdisciplinary importance of the Great Plains in today's publishing and educational market. In pursuing the real story of the overland trails, Tate found the reality of transcontinental migration was much different than public perceptions. "Between 1840 and 1860, probably fewer than 400 overlanders out of a half-million were killed in Indian attacks along these heavily traveled byways," Tate said. "Far more died from disease, accidental gunshot wounds and other trail mishaps than died in actual combats. In truth, acts of cooperation and even compassion more accurately define the trail experience during the mid-19th century, even though the two peoples operated in exceedingly different cultural worlds." Tate's presentation will focus on understanding those acts of cooperation, the diverse motivations behind them, the complex set of intercultural relationships between peoples, and the reasons for increasing conflict in the late 1850s. Tate is professor of history and Native American studies and the Charles and Mary Martin chair of western history at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. "Indians and Emigrants" was published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 2006. Tate is also the author of "The Frontier Army in the Settlement of the West" (University of Oklahoma Press, 1999), which won the Nebraska Book Award. Tate's lecture is free and open to the public, as is a reception following the talk. 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. 17: "Global Treasures: The Origins of Plants that Sustain Life," P. Stephen Baenziger, Eugene W. Price distinguished professor, Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, UNL. • Nov. 14: "What Kinds of Farms and Ranches Can Survive in Urbanizing Areas? Hobby and/or Commercial? Temporary and/or Lasting?" J. Dixon Esseks, visiting scholar, Center for Great Plains Studies, UNL, and emeritus professor of public administration, Northern Illinois University. GO TO: ISSUE OF SEPTEMBER 13 ARTS HEADLINES FOR SEPTEMBER 13 PBS to premiere Kuroki documentary Sept. 17 American Life in Poetry Book prize winner opens Olson Seminars Sept. 19 Plains Song Review seeks submissions Ross to host experimental cinema expo School of Music offers organist training 'Sheldon Connections 3' exhibition opens Sept. 14 WWII programming complements Burns’ ‘The War' series 732932S37269X