2021 Hoover Dam and the Shaping of the American West Schedule
Please note that this schedule is subject to changes.
SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
Sunday
June 27 |
Evening | Registration and Meet and Greet, Boulder City, Nevada |
Monday
June 28 |
Morning
Afternoon |
Michael Green – Keynote Lecture
Sally Denton – Bechtel |
Tuesday
June 29 |
Morning
Afternoon |
Richard Guy Wilson – Architecture and Design of the dam
Site visit to Hoover Dam |
Wednesday
June 30 |
Morning
Afternoon |
Anthony Arrigo: Visual History of Hoover Dam
Jeffrey Hinton: Pedagogy Workshop I, Boulder City Hoover Dam Museum & Archives |
Thursday
July 1 |
Morning
Afternoon |
Site Visit to Springs Preserve/Nevada State Museum
Andy Kirk: Environmental History |
Friday
July 2 |
Morning
Afternoon |
Donald C. Jackson: Dams of the New Deal Era, Postcard Culture
Jeffrey Hinton: Pedagogy Workshop II with Doris Dwyer |
Saturday
July 3 |
Morning
Afternoon |
John Shields: Bureau of Reclamation
Off, Optional trips and events suggested |
Sunday
July 4 |
All day | Day Off, Optional trips and events suggested |
Monday
July 5 |
All day | William Bauer: Native Americans, Hoover Dam, and the Colorado River |
Tuesday
July 6 |
All day | Karen Harry and Stephen Rowland: Archeology of Native lands
Site Visit to Lake Mead, Lost City Museum, Valley of Fire |
Wednesday
July 7 |
Morning
Afternoon |
Paul Gilmore: California and Hoover Dam
Deanna Beachley: Women and the New Deal/Great Depression |
Thursday
July 8 |
Morning
Afternoon |
Michelle Turk: Labor and Occupational Safety of Hoover Dam
Jeffrey Hinton: Pedagogy Workshop III |
Friday
July 9 |
Morning
Afternoon |
Claytee White: African Americans, Oral History Workshop
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 guided tours, explore site on your own
Guided tour by the Bureau of Reclamation accompanied by Professors Arrigo, Green, and Wilson. |
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: Springs Preserve, State Museum, Environmental History
Scholars/Lecturers:
- Andy Kirk, UNLV
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 |
9:15 – 12:00
|
Springs Preserve
Dr. Andy Kirk will lead a tour of the Spring Preserve, explaining water and the local environment. |
12:00 – 1:30 | Lunch |
1:30 – 2:30 | Nevada State Museum Las Vegas
Participants also will tour the museum |
2:30 – 4:00 pm | Lecture/Discussion
Dr. Andy Kirk will discuss how to do environmental history in the classroom. |
4:15 – 5:00 | Return to Boulder City |
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, and Dr. Doris Dwyer, UNLV
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: Doris Dwyer and Chautauqua
Mr. Jeff Hinton will run a pedagogy workshop along with Dr. Doris Dwyer and discuss using Chautauqua in the classroom. |
Saturday July 3 – Day 7: The Bureau of Reclamation
Scholars/Lecturers:
- John Shields, engineer, Bureau of Reclamation
Readings:
- Shields, John W. “Elwood Mead’s Establishment of the Constitutional Foundations of Wyoming’s Water Law.” Annals of Wyoming 85 (2013), 22-42.
Schedule:
9:00 am | Introduction of the theme/overview of the day
Dr. Anthony Arrigo |
9:15 – 11:30 | 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. |
11:30 | Free the rest of the day.
Optional events for participants, include 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 or Nevada State Museum 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:
- Bauer, William. We Were All Like Migrant Workers Here: Work, Community, and Memory on California’s Round Valley Reservation, 1850-1941. University of North Carolina Press (2009). Ch 8. Labor Economy and Community in the Great Depression
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
- Stephen Rowland, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Readings:
- “Archeologists Racing to Unearth Indian City That Dam Will Flood.” Los Angeles Times 8 Sept. 1937.
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
Professors Karen Harry and Stephen Rowland 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. “A Visit to the Hoover Dam Site.” New Reclamation Era 22 (1931): 172–174
- 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: African Americans, Oral History, Wrap up Presentations
Scholars/Lecturers:
- Claytee White, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Readings:
- 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
Ms. Claytee White will discuss the history of African Americans in Nevada, and conduct a workshop on doing oral histories. |
11:45 – 1:15 | Lunch |
1:15 – 3:45 | Final Presentations
Participants will present their lesson plans and reflect on their time at the institute. |
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