The program for the 2008 annual meeting of the Western History Association is now available on-line. The meeting will be in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 22-25, 2008. Please feel welcome to attend the event, even if you are not a member of the WHA. (Links: conference program (12mb) | WHA main site | Salt Lake City conference site)

Exhibition: George de Forest Brush: The Indian Paintings
Combining extraordinary technical skills acquired in Paris with firsthand experience living among the Arapahoe, Shoshone, and Crow in Wyoming and Montana, George de Forest Brush (1854/1855 - 1941) created an important series of paintings of American Indians much celebrated by his contemporaries but rarely seen since. Many of these works were quickly acquired by major American collectors and have remained in private hands through several generations. The accompanying catalogue, incorporating new research, is the first scholarly study of this series. This exhibition will be on display at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., from September 14, 2008 to January 4, 2009.

Exhibition: Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities. This exhibition celebrates the deep commitment to the American landscape by these two iconic artists—and how both artists intensely focused their attention on beauty in nature. The exhibition includes 43 paintings from public and private collections and 54 photographs borrowed primarily from the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona. The exhibition runs from September 26, 2008 through January 4, 2009, at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Exhibition: Beyond Tradition: The Pueblo Pottery of Tammy Garcia. Pueblo Artist Tammy Garcia will be featured at the National Museum for Women in Art in Washington, D.C. The exhibition features a select group of Garcia's most important pots and will be the first exhibition of her work at The National Museum of Women in the Arts. The NMWA is located at 1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. The exhibition runs from August 22, 2008 - February 3, 2009. Learn more about Tammy Garcia at the Blue Rain Gallery in Taos, New Mexico.

The Journal of the West has issued a Call for Papers for its forthcoming issues. Corral members interested in submitting articles or reviewing books for the journal should read the attached message.

Roundup, the journal of Western Writers of America, has published an article discussing the top Western movies of all time. Read about it in Roundup....

The Traditional Cowboy Arts Association has released its winter 2008 newsletter. The TCAA was founded in 1998 by a group of practicing gear makers with the intention of preserving the skills of their trades and setting uncompromising standards of craftsmanship. Members contribute their time to educate craftspeople, collectors and the public, as well as serve as specialized advisors to museums and collectors.

Country Music Television annual Music Awards: This year, the CMT Music Awards promise to be better than ever with more video categories, more live performances and more of your favorite country stars. Mark your calendars for the only fan-voted awards show in country music. Broadcast live from Nashville, Tennessee, on April 14 at 8:00 p.m. ET.

The Western Writers of America has announced the winners of its 2008 Spur Award contest. Among the winning authors are two former members of the Potomac Corral: Robert M. Utley and Joseph B. Herring. Utley's Lone Star Lawmen: The Second Century of the Texas Rangers won first place in the "best Western nonfiction contemporary" category, and Herring's “Selling the ‘Noble Savage’ Myth: George Catlin and the Iowa Indians in Europe, 1843-1845,” published in the winter 2006/2007 issue of Kansas History, won first prize for "best Western short nonfiction." Congratulations, Bob and Joe!

The Spring 2008 newsletter of the Western History Association is now available on-line. The next annual meeting of the WHA will be in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 22-25, 2008. Please feel welcome to attend the event, even if you are not a member of the WHA.

Exhibition at the Library of Congress: Exploring the Early Americas features selections from the more than 3,000 rare maps, documents, paintings, prints, and artifacts that make up the Jay I. Kislak Collection at the Library of Congress. It provides insight into indigenous cultures, the drama of the encounters between Native Americans and European explorers and settlers, and the pivotal changes caused by the meeting of the American and European worlds. The exhibition is open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Library of Congress's Northwest Gallery Second Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building. Click here for visitors information.

President George W. Bush bestows Medal of Honor on Sioux Indian Woodrow Wilson Keeble, hero of Korean War. President Bush apologized Monday, March 3, 2008, that the country waited decades to honor Master Sgt. Woodrow Wilson Keeble for his military valor in Korea. Keeble received the Medal of Honor more than 25 years after he died. He was the first full-blooded Sioux Indian to receive the nation's highest military award. But it came almost six decades after he saved the lives of fellow soldiers. Keeble died in 1982. Read about or view the award ceremony on the White House web page.

Television Documentary: PBS American Experience on Buffalo Bill. In 1886, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show played to over one million people in New York City. It was one of the most elaborate shows on earth. There were cowboys and Indians, sharp shooters including the famed Annie Oakley, hundreds of horses, buffalo, elk and donkeys, with more than two hundred cast members, all moving about in a sweeping western landscape of mountains and plains. Soon after the show's stunning success in New York, it would go on to dazzle crowds in London, Paris, Rome and Barcelona, cementing the legend of the Wild West in the minds of people around the globe. Monday, February 25, 2008, at 9:00 p.m., on PBS. Check local listings for further information.

Corral member Dr. Herman Viola is making a presentation to the local chapter of the Lewis and Clark Heritage Trail Foundation. On February 27, 2008, at 7:30 p.m., Dr. Viola will lecture on traveling the Lolo Trail over the Bitterroot Mountains. Dr. Viola is a curator emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution and former director of the Smithsonian's National Anthropological Archives. His research specialties include the American Indian, and the exploration of the American West. He has authored numerous books, including Exploring the West, Ben Nighthorse Campbell: An American Warrior, Little Bighorn Remembered, and The North American Indian. For the past several years, Dr. Viola has led a tour of contemporary Americans on the most challenging portion of the Lewis and Clark Journey-across the Bitterroot Mountains in Idaho. Recently, he was accompanied by a camera crew and produced a film of the trek. He will show In Their Footsteps, a film which he produced for Public Television and answer questions. This presentation will be at the Fairfax Station Railroad Museum, 11200 Fairfax Station Road, Fairfax Station, VA 22039.

New Western Movie: No Country for Old Men is a modern-day Western that's high on suspense, thrill, and violence. It is produced by Academy Award-winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, based on the acclaimed novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning American author Cormac McCarthy. Read an interview with star Tommy Lee Jones in True West Magazine, and check local movie listings for times and theaters.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum presents Obata's Yosemite, February 22 through June 1, 2008. In 1927, Chiura Obata (1885–1975) visited Yosemite National Park and the Sierra Nevada, where he made approximately 100 drawings in pencil, watercolor and sumi ink. Between 1928 and 1930, while Obata was in Tokyo, he transformed these California landscape watercolors and sketches into a limited-edition portfolio titled "World Landscape Series." Obata's Yosemite features 27 prints and watercolors and a series of 20 progressive proofs. This display is the first time the artist's prints have been publicly exhibited on the East Coast. The Smithsonian American Art Museum is located above the Gallery Place Metro station at 8th and F Streets N.W. and is open from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

Going West! Quilts and Community, an exhibition featuring more than 50 quilts, is on display at the Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC, through Jan. 21, 2008. This exhibition reveals the essential role that quilts and the making of quilts played in the lives of women on the frontier. The Great Platte River Road was the principal route for America's western expansion as early as the 1830s. Pioneers headed for a new life in the Nebraska Territory packed their wagons with necessities that almost always included quilts.