UW professor’s lecture features Sandhills women

The Mari Sandoz Heritage Society sponsored guest speaker Renee Laegreid, professor of history of the American West at the University of Wyoming, Laramie, last Thursday in the Student Center for the Pilster Great Plains Lecture Series.

Laegreid’s lecture, titled “These Were the Sandhills Women: Stories, Images, and Mari Sandoz” focused on the women of the Sandhills during the 19 and mid 20th centuries and how they often did not fit the stereotypes that many people believed of them, but were still often viewed as unimportant and “seldom the feature of pioneer stories.”

Themes from Mari Sandoz’s books “Old Jules,” “Miss Morissa,” and “Slogum House” were all used by Laegreid to portray the “complex, wide-ranging, and sometimes shockingly unexpected experiences of 19th century Plains women.”

The themes of these books revolved around plains women being either, “good, sad, or bad.” The “good” woman was “self-sacrificing, pious, domestic, and submissive.” The “sad” woman was “reluctant, unhappy, and suicidal.” The “bad” woman was “scandalous, a failure, manly, and promiscuous.”

Laegreid believes that Sandoz challenges stereotypes of women during this period through her stories, and made them important and multi-dimensional characters so the reader achieves a greater understanding of what it was really like to be a pioneer woman in the Sandhills.

The Mari Sandoz Heritage Society works to build an appreciation of Mari Sandoz’s body of work by bringing people together for discussions of her works and the issues that arise in them.

In addition to the three major annual events, the society works to preserve the literary works and legacy of this distinguished historian, Mari Sandoz.

More information about the society and upcoming events is available at http://www.marisandoz.org.