Skip to main content

2022 Pilster Great Plains Lecture & Mari Sandoz Symposium

"Health and Wellness on the Great Plains: Historic and Contemporary Views Featuring the Writings of Mari Sandoz (1896-1966)"

September 22-23, 2022 in Lincoln, NE

CLICK HERE to view the recordings of the Pilster Lecture, Symposium Sessions, In The Spirit of Mari Sandoz Award presentation, and luncheon program.

This year's event was presented in partnership with the Center for Great Plains Studies on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and was held in the Great Plains Art Museum and Lied Commons.

Mari Sandoz, 1896-1966, is celebrated for her histories of the Native Americans and homesteaders living on the High Plains. As the daughter of a Swiss immigrant who had some medical training before emigrating and settling in the Nebraska Sandhills, it is not surprising that health and wellness is one of the many themes Mari explored in her writings.

The Mari Sandoz Heritage Society’s annual Pilster Great Plains Lecture and Symposium on September 22-23 looked at health and wellness on the Great Plains from a historical perspective while relating to the modern Indigenous people of Nebraska and the Plains.

The annual Pilster Great Plains Lecture was presented by Taylor Keen, a full-time instructor in the Heider College of Business Administration in Strategy and Entrepreneurship at Creighton University. Keen is also the Founder of Sacred Seed, a not-for-profit entity whose mission is to propagate tribal seed sovereignty, battle for tribal sacred geography and the seek cultural revitalization among tribal peoples. 

The Mari Sandoz Symposium included presentations as well as a luncheon, presentation of the "In the Spirit of Mari Sandoz" award and afternoon activities--

  • Health and Wellness in the Writings of Mari Sandoz presented by Dr. Kimberli Lee, Courtney Kouba, and Broc Anderson
  • Discussion on Indigenous Health Care on the Great Plains past and present featuring Joe Starita, Siobhan Wescott, MD of UNMC and Melodie Edwards of Wyoming Public Radio
  • Opening presentation by the 2021-2022 Sandoz Scholar, Dr. Cathryn Halverson on Custer and Sandoz
  • Presentation about Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte and the restoration initiative of her hospital in Walthill, NE with architect Dan Worth
  • Afternoon tour of the Sandoz archives at UNL and Jamison Wyatt's "Stalking the Ghost of Mari Sandoz" walking tour

Thank you to our generous partner, the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Please visit their website to find out more about their work and programs https://www.unl.edu/plains/welcome

This program was funded in part by Humanities Nebraska and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment