This event has unfortunately been canceled due to unforeseen circumstances.
OCH welcomes two-time American Book Award winner Debra Magpie Earling (Bitterroot Salish, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes) for a reading and discussion on what history hides—and how we might continue to experience it in its uncovering. “Forget evaluative fairness,” says Magpie Earling. “Lewis and Clark may have been unaware of the hidden stories within their narratives but what of the historians who study the journals and retell their tales—fabricate, ignore evidence and perhaps outright lie to support legendary mythologies? And yet, fabulous wonders and hidden truths can illuminate history when we take a closer look.” Author of The Lost Journals of Sacagawea and Perma Red welcomes UTulsa and the community at large to gaze deeper, look again, and read between the li(n)es.
Debra Magpie Earling is the author of the novels Perma Red and The Lost Journals of Sacajewea, long listed for the Andrew Carnegie Medal, and winner of the 2023 Montana Book Award. Both novels received the American Book Award. She is the recipient of a Montana Governor’s Arts Award and has received both a Guggenheim and NEA fellowship. The Atlantic Monthly lists Perma Red as one of the Great American Novels of the last 100 years. She was named professor emerita at the University of Montana. She is Bitterroot Salish and a citizen and member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes of the Flathead Nation.
Join the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities in welcoming Sarah Bond, associate professor of ancient history at the University of Iowa, to 101 Archer. Bond will discuss Strike: Labor, Unions, and Resistance in the Roman Empire, the first book to explore how Roman workers used strikes, boycotts, riots and rebellion to get their voices—and their labor—acknowledged.
Bond retells the traditional story of Ancient Rome to show that the history of labor conflicts and collective action goes back thousands of years, revealing a world far more similar to our own than we realize. Workers often turned to their voluntary and involuntary associations for solidarity and shared identity in the ancient world. Some of these groups even negotiated contracts, wages and work conditions in a manner similar to modern labor unions. As the world begins to consider the value—and indeed the necessity—of unionization to protect workers, this book demonstrates that we can learn valuable lessons from ancient laborers and from attempts by the Roman government to limit their freedom.
About the guest speaker:
Sarah Bond is the Erling B. “Jack” Holtsmark Associate Professor in the Classics within the Department of History at the University of Iowa. She blogs on antiquity and digital humanities, and is the author of Trade and Taboo: Disreputable Professions in the Roman Mediterranean and Strike: Labor, Unions, and Resistance in the Roman Empire (Yale University Press, February 2025). She is a contributor to Hyperallergic and has written for Forbes, the New York Times, the Washington Post, MSNBC, and even Sports Illustrated for Kids.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: This event with Sarah Griswold has been postponed. We are working with Sarah to reschedule the talk and will make that announcement as soon as it is decided.
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World War I opened the door for a French occupation the Middle East, including territory once ruled by medieval Frankish Crusaders, and for the modern-day occupiers, Crusader myths became a propaganda tool. French archaeologists, architects, prime ministers and tourism magnates flocked to the Middle East from 1918 to restore Crusader castles left over from the 1100s. They used the myths and their modern-day archaeological work to justify France’s presence in the region. But these restoration projects also caused discord, including with local populations. This talk will examine one massive castle in particular, the Crac des Chevaliers, to show both the power and the limits of myth when it came to French empire in the Middle East.
Sarah Griswold is an associate professor of French history at Oklahoma State University. Her first book, Resurrecting the Past: France’s Forgotten Heritage Mandate was published by Cornell University Press in September 2025. Her articles have appeared in Journal of the History of Collections, Future Anterior: Journal of Historic Preservation, Journal of the Western Society for French History, and War & Society. Her next major project examines the afterlives of Nazi and WWII collaborationist regimes’ material culture from 1944.
Professor McLaughlin and Professor Walker wrote the dissertations that would later become books on the topic of popular science in early America as office neighbors in Philadelphia in 2015. They quickly became close friends and incisive readers of each other’s work. Professor Walker’s book, “Beauty and the Brain: The Science of Human Nature in Early America”, published in 2023, has received numerous accolades, including the Mary Kelley Book Prize in Gender and Women’s History from SHEAR in 2024. Join us for a discussion of early popular science and psychology as we celebrate Professor McLaughlin’s 2025 book, “Phobia and American Literature, 1705-1937: A Therapeutic History.”
In partnership with the Route 66 Alliance, and renowned author/historian Michael Wallis, “Faces of the Mother Road: The Portraits of S.J. Tyler,” features dozens of photographs taken between 1913 and 1943 in Tyler’s Afton, Oklahoma, studio. Photographer Adam Forgash discovered the antique glass negatives of these rare images in 2023, and in collaboration with The University of Tulsa and the Oklahoma Center for Humanities, the Tulsa community will be the first to see them. The traveling exhibition bridges art, history and cultural identity and features portraits of Black, White, Asian, Indigenous and Latino Americans taken during the peak of Route 66’s popularity.
“Although the photo studio was in Afton, this is really a story about the travelers of the Mother Road,” said Forgash. “Most of the photographer’s subjects were everyday travelers passing through the region, making this collection a unique and unseen glimpse into the history of Route 66, northeast Oklahoma, and the people and cultures that shaped the region.”
Join us for the opening night of the exhibition on Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, as part of the First Friday Art Crawl at 101 Archer.
Project: “The Depictions of Injustice: Tribute Records from Culhuacan in the Conway Collection”
Presenter(s): Dr. Ana Pulido Rull, Associate Professor of Latin American Art History (University of Arkansas)
This Works-in-Progress Seminar explores Indigenous tribute records created in the mid-sixteenth century by tlacuiloque (Indigenous artists) from towns in the Basin of Mexico. Painted on amatl (fig-bark paper), these long pictorial manuscripts (known as tiras) are part of the Spanish Colonial Manuscript Collection (Conway) at the Helmerich Center for American Research.
The presentation examines how these visually rich records document the labor, goods, and personal service demanded of Indigenous communities under Spanish colonial rule, while also functioning as tools of resistance. Used as legal evidence in colonial courts, the tiras enabled Indigenous towns to challenge excessive tribute demands and negotiate reductions through formal legal proceedings. Special attention is given to the distinctive features of HCAR’s collection, including rare depictions of Indigenous artists and the portrayal of books and paper as tribute, as well as differences between tributes mandated by law and those represented in the pictorial records.
A digital copy of the paper will be available closer to the seminar date. Check back soon!
Special Note: There are road closures currently affecting access to the Helmerich Center for American Research. If you are driving to the seminar, please plan to use the designated detour route. You can reach HCAR by taking Newton via Union Street.
City officials are advising drivers to follow posted detours throughout the construction period. Please plan accordingly to ensure a smooth arrival.
Questions about the event can be sent to william-smith@utulsa.edu.
Join us for a presentation by Dr. Lisa Barnett about her new book Peyote Politics: The Making of the Native American Church, 1880-1937 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2025).
Check back soon for more details to come!
Join us for a presentation by short-term fellow Russell Cobb, as he shares insights from his time in residence at the Helmerich Center for American Research. Drawing from research conducted in both the HCAR and McFarlin Special Collections, this talk, rooted in a forthcoming book project, explores Tulsa’s transformation into a global oil capital through an idiosyncratic, archival lens. This informal and generative session invites feedback, conversation, and collaboration. All are welcome!
Come learn about the ancient traditions surrounding a papal transition in the Catholic Church with Donald Prudlo, Ph.D., Warren Professor of Catholic Studies. Q&A to follow. Free and open to the public.
