The American West was an alluring vision that invited both use and exploitation. America was to be a new order of the ages; the West was where American settlers would build it. As settlers streamed west, however, the land of open resource and opportunity was quickly transformed. The seminar will examine early visions of the west, some of the many ways the land was used and changed in the nineteenth century, and the rise of the conservation and environmental movements in the twentieth century.

This is a private event.