Gerald D. Nash - Creating the West: historical interpretations, 1890-1990
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Creating the West: historical interpretations, 1890-1990
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Creating the West : Historical Interpretations, 1890-1990 Calvin P. Horn Lectures in Western History and Culture
author
:
Nash, Gerald D.
publisher
:
University of New Mexico
isbn10 | asin
:
0826312675
print isbn13
:
9780826312679
ebook isbn13
:
9780585187419
language
:
English
subject
West (U.S.)--Historiography.
publication date
:
1991
lcc
:
F591.N37 1991eb
ddc
:
978/.0072
subject
:
West (U.S.)--Historiography.
Page iii
Creating the West
Historical Interpretations 1890-1990
Gerald D. Nash
The Calvin P. Horn Lectures in Western History and Culture, University of New Mexico, September 30-October 3, 1990
UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO PRESS/ALBUQUERQUE
Page iv
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nash, Gerald D. Creating the West: historical interpretations, 1890-1990 / Gerald D. Nash.-1st ed. p. cm.-(The Calvin P. Horn lectures in western history and culture) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8263-1266-7 (cl.)-ISBN 0-8263-1267-5 (pa) 1. West (U.S.)-Historiography. I. Title. II. Series. F591.N37 1991 978'.0072-dc20 91-8584 CIP
Map for the jacket and cover: Courtesy, Cartographic History Library, The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. Photography of Frederick Jackson Turner: Courtesy, The Huntington, San Marino.
1991 by the University of New Mexico Press All rights reserved. Second printing, 1993
Page v
Contents
Introduction
vii
I The West as Frontier, 1890-1945
3
II The West as Frontier, 1945-1990
49
III The West as Region, 1890-1990
101
IV The West as Urban Civilization, 1890-1990
159
V The West as Utopia and Myth, 1890-1990
197
Conclusion
259
Bibliography
279
Index
301
Page vii
Introduction
THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY of the supposed closing of the Western frontier in 1890 provides a good opportunity to review the course of historical writings about the West during the past century. In addition, an invitation to deliver the sixth annual Calvin P. Horn Lectures in Western History and Culture at the University of New Mexico prompted me to prepare the lectures that comprise the substance of this book. These dealt with four major perceptions of the West which historians have reflected in their studies. As I reviewed the literature I found that over the years historians have considered the West as a frontier, as a region, as an urban civilization, and as a mythical utopia. My primary aim in this volume is to provide a succinct interpretive synthesis of these efforts since 1890. It is not to propound a new hypothesis about the course of Western history. But my hope is that such an analysis will provide context and perspective on the subject which will be helpful in its future development.
In undertaking this survey of historical writing about the West, I have chosen to focus on the ecology of historians who have been associated with the field. I have borrowed this usage of the term ecology from my mentor, John D. Hicks, to characterize the relationship between changes in the contemporary environment and the shifting views of historians. I do not wish to imply that contemporary events are the sole determinant of historical interpretations. That could be misleading. As Robert Wohl noted in TheGeneration of 1914, the generational approach to self-understanding may be confining and
Page viii
misleading if it is used as the only norm for historical understanding.1 On the other hand, the major events of any age do exert a very strong influence on those who experience them, and scholars are no exception. Obviously, historians have examined many aspects of this relationship so that to mention it again is hardly news. Yet it has not been explored in detail with specific reference to the study of the American West, a field in which an exploration of its philosophical assumptions could be fruitful. Hopefully, this study will also make a modest contribution to further inquiry along such lines.
In the context of such ecology it is almost a truism to note that each age interprets the past from its own particular perspectives. As Carl Degler noted in 1976:
All historical interpretations are shaped by values. No interpretation can transcend the values that a historian brings to his or her own investigation of the past any more than historical figures at the time could escape their values .... The difference between historical antiquarianism and history is that the latter has a vital connection with the present while the former does not. In short, if historians did not change their minds as values shifted, their history would cease to be a living part of their culture-and thus incapable of illuminating the present with the past.2
Even those who would not agree fully with such an unabashed relativism would still emphasize the importance of contemporary affairs in shaping the perspectives of historians. As John D. Hicks, a more moderate relativist than Degler, once wrote:
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