On May 18-19, 2012 the University of Tulsa and Gilcrease Museum of the Americas will host a two-day symposium announcing the Helmerich Research Center (HRC), a new scholarly resource to be constructed on the grounds of the Gilcrease Museum. The TU/Gilcrease partnership is designed to leverage the combined strengths of two premier institutions and enhance opportunities for scholars, teachers, students, and members of the general public. Our many goals include encouraging the use of the Museum’s rich archival and archaeological holdings alongside its internationally known collection of Western American art. We envision the HRC as a destination for archival research, collaborative scholarship, institutes, seminars, and symposia.

This symposium will introduce the Helmerich Research Center to various public and academic audiences. Its title, “Material Memory,” intentionally references the objects of study—art, artifacts, archives—and also the ways scholars use, preserve, and interpret the varied meanings imbedded in those objects. It will feature five topically oriented sessions that stand alone even as they are linked conceptually with our conference theme and organized thematically to highlight aspects of the museum’s holdings.

Keynote Speakers:
David Blight, Yale University
Herman J. Viola, Smithsonian Institution

Session Titles and Confirmed Speakers:
Historiography and Cultural Formation
Eduardo Faingold, University of Tulsa
Jorge Canizares-Esguerra, University of Texas
Andrew Sluyter, Louisiana State University
Jane Ackerman, University of Tulsa

Indigenous Subjectivities in Colonial Spanish America
Kirsten Olds, University of Tulsa
Thomas Cummins, Dumbarton Oaks Professor of the History of Pre-Columbian and Colonial Art, Harvard University.
Susan Schroeder, France V. Scholes Chair in Colonial Latin American History, Tulane University.
Stephanie Schmidt, University of Tulsa

Conservation
Dale Teeters, University of Tulsa
Debra Hess Norris, Chair and Professor, Art Conservation, and Photographic Conservator Henry Francis du Pont Chair in Fine Arts University of Delaware
Jodie Utter, Conservator of Works on Paper at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art

Slavery in the West
Bob Jackson, University of Tulsa
Tiya Miles, University of Michigan
Elliott West, University of Arkansas
Kristen Oertel, Mary Frances Barnard Chair of American History, University of Tulsa

Cultural Sovereignty
Judith Royster, University of Tulsa
Rebecca Tsosie, Arizona State University
L.G. “George” Moses, Oklahoma State University
Brian Hosmer, H.G. Barnard Professor, University of Tulsa.

For more information, contact Brian Hosmer, Symposium Organizer. brian-hosmer@utulsa.edu