Lecture series will examine the diversity, culture and identity of Appalachia and its inhabitants

As part of the University of Tennessee’s Appalachian Celebration, the Special Collections Library is hosting a lecture series entitled Appalachian Removals and Relocations, which will examine the diversity, culture and identity of Appalachia and its inhabitants.

Appalachia is a region of great transformations and intersections. Humans have fought over its natural resources, land, and legacy for centuries. In this lecture series, scholars from the University of Tennessee will offer their perspectives on how the people who have lived in and left Appalachia made an enduring mark on this vast territory.

Lecture Calendar
Tuesday, March 20 John Finger, UT history professor emeritus, will present “Cherokee Removal: A National and Regional Perspective.” Dr. Finger is an expert in Native American history, and author of The Eastern Band of Cherokees, 1819-1900 and Cherokee Americans: The Eastern Band of Cherokees in the Twentieth Century.

Tuesday, March 27 Benita Howell, UT anthropology professor emeritus, will present “Nineteenth-Century Come-Heres: Planting Intentional Communities in the Rocky Soil of Tennessee.” Dr. Howell’s research interests include rural development, environmental planning and folk culture studies of Southern Appalachia. Her books include Folklife along the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River and Culture, Environment, and Conservation in the Appalachian South.

Tuesday, April 10 Bruce Wheeler, UT history professor emeritus, will present “Goodbye to the Old Home Place: Removals by the National Park Service and the Tennessee Valley Authority.” Among his many publications, Dr. Wheeler has written the books TVA and the Tellico Dam: A Bureaucratic Crisis in Post-Industrial America and Knoxville, Tennessee: A Mountain City in the New South, which was published in 2005 by UT Press.

Each event will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a reception and lectures will start at 6 p.m. The lectures will be held in the Delivery Hall of the historic James D. Hoskins Library, 1401 Cumberland Avenue, on the UT Campus.

The Special Collections Library will also hold an exhibit featuring original materials that explore the themes of Appalachian removals and relocations. The exhibit opening will be Monday, March 19 at 3:30 p.m. in the Special Collections Library and will run through October 2007.

The lectures and exhibit are free and open to the public. These events are part of the University of Tennessee’s Ready for the World programs, which are chosen to expose students to aspects of another culture. This academic year’s emphasis is on Appalachian culture and its influence. For more information about the Special Collections Lecture Series, visit http://www.lib.utk.edu/spcoll/lecture.

Contacts:
Aaron Purcell, associate professor and university archivist, (865) 974-3674