Baird (1999) Reflections of a Historian of Native American History

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The Western History Association

Reflections of a Historian of Native American HistoryAuthor(s): W. David BairdReviewed work(s):Source: The Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 4 (Winter, 1999), pp. 441-444Published by: Western Historical Quarterly, Utah State University on behalf of The Western HistoryAssociation

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Cutter, Gressley, Fite, Baird, and Rileyutter, Gressley, Fite, Baird, and Riley

Why has no scholarundertaken his kind of historicalproject?The first answer sthat it would be a huge multi-year ask to do the necessaryreadingandresearch,andthen write, synthesize,and interpretsuch a vast quantityof information.Aspects ofeconomic, political, social, environmental,and the role of women and other areasofhistorywould need to be considered to do the qualityof work the subjectdeserves.The time and effort involved in such a projectwouldprobablynot providea quickprofessionalreturn.

Moreover,neithereconomichistorynoragricultural istoryispopularamongthecurrentgenerationof historians.Exceptpossiblyfor the Journal f SouthernHistory,alook at anyof the major ournalsdealingwith Americanhistoryconfirms hisobserva-tion. The WesternHistoricalQuarterlyWHQ) haspublishedrelativelyfew articlesonaspectsofwesternagriculture, resumably ecause ewgoodstudieshave been submit-ted.

A betterconfirmationof the lackofpopularityof agricultural istorycanbe foundin the list of dissertations.Forexample, in 1994 the WHQ listed 2 dissertationsonagricultureand ranching, 12 on Native Americans,8 on ethnicity and race, 10 onenvironmentaltopics,and 2 on mining.In 1997, only 3 dissertationsdealtspecificallywith agriculture ndranching,17with ethnicityandrace,and36 with Native Ameri-cans. The trendysubjectshave taken overmuch of the profession, eavingagricultureand economic historyin the professionaldustbin.This is no place to arguewhat as-pectsof historyarethe most important n understandinghe past,butfew woulddenythat economic development is a worthy,but neglected, aspect of the region'spast,present,andfuture.In this, agriculturehad a majorrole.One and one-half centuries afterthe Californiagold rush,which did so much toinitiate the settlement and subsequentgrowthof the West, it is time for some ener-getic and imaginativescholarto undertakea comprehensivehistoryof the region'sagriculture.The task is challenging, but the rewardfor filling this huge historicalgapwould be great,not in money,but in helpingthis generationto betterunderstandthe West.

REFLECTIONS F A HISTORIANOFNATIVEAMERICANHISTORYW. DAVIDBAIRD

I READODMANAUL'Salifornia old Cambridge,MA, 1947) as a graduatestudentat the Universityof Oklahoma.Even then it wasconsidereda classic. In 1978, I met ProfessorPaul at the Hot Springs,Arkansasmeet-ing of the WesternHistoryAssociation and was as awedby his disdainof "southerncookingandsouthernhousekeeping" sbyhis encyclopedicknowledgeof goldminingA native of Edmond,Oklahoma,W.David Bairdreceivedhis Ph.D. at the Universityof Oklahoma. He iscurrently he HowardA. White Professor f Historyat Pepperdineanddeanof SeaverCollege, Pepperdine's ndergraduatechool. WHA President,1989.

Why has no scholarundertaken his kind of historicalproject?The first answer sthat it would be a huge multi-year ask to do the necessaryreadingandresearch,andthen write, synthesize,and interpretsuch a vast quantityof information.Aspects ofeconomic, political, social, environmental,and the role of women and other areasofhistorywould need to be considered to do the qualityof work the subjectdeserves.The time and effort involved in such a projectwouldprobablynot providea quickprofessionalreturn.

Moreover,neithereconomichistorynoragricultural istoryispopularamongthecurrentgenerationof historians.Exceptpossiblyfor the Journal f SouthernHistory,alook at anyof the major ournalsdealingwith Americanhistoryconfirms hisobserva-tion. The WesternHistoricalQuarterlyWHQ) haspublishedrelativelyfew articlesonaspectsofwesternagriculture, resumably ecause ewgoodstudieshave been submit-ted.

A betterconfirmationof the lackofpopularityof agricultural istorycanbe foundin the list of dissertations.Forexample, in 1994 the WHQ listed 2 dissertationsonagricultureand ranching, 12 on Native Americans,8 on ethnicity and race, 10 onenvironmentaltopics,and 2 on mining.In 1997, only 3 dissertationsdealtspecificallywith agriculture ndranching,17with ethnicityandrace,and36 with Native Ameri-cans. The trendysubjectshave taken overmuch of the profession, eavingagricultureand economic historyin the professionaldustbin.This is no place to arguewhat as-pectsof historyarethe most important n understandinghe past,butfew woulddenythat economic development is a worthy,but neglected, aspect of the region'spast,present,andfuture.In this, agriculturehad a majorrole.One and one-half centuries afterthe Californiagold rush,which did so much toinitiate the settlement and subsequentgrowthof the West, it is time for some ener-getic and imaginativescholarto undertakea comprehensivehistoryof the region'sagriculture.The task is challenging, but the rewardfor filling this huge historicalgapwould be great,not in money,but in helpingthis generationto betterunderstandthe West.

REFLECTIONS F A HISTORIANOFNATIVEAMERICANHISTORYW. DAVIDBAIRD

I READODMANAUL'Salifornia old Cambridge,MA, 1947) as a graduatestudentat the Universityof Oklahoma.Even then it wasconsidereda classic. In 1978, I met ProfessorPaul at the Hot Springs,Arkansasmeet-ing of the WesternHistoryAssociation and was as awedby his disdainof "southerncookingandsouthernhousekeeping" sbyhis encyclopedicknowledgeof goldminingA native of Edmond,Oklahoma,W.David Bairdreceivedhis Ph.D. at the Universityof Oklahoma. He iscurrently he HowardA. White Professor f Historyat Pepperdineanddeanof SeaverCollege, Pepperdine's ndergraduatechool. WHA President,1989.

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history.Because I had read and talked with the master,subsequent tudies of the goldrusheramade little impressionon me. Mymind-setchanged,however,with the pub-lication of Malcolm Rohrbough'sDays of Gold (Berkeley,1997). While Paul'sworkhad established the basic narrative,Rohrbough'saccount asked new questions,em-ployed new categoriesof analysis,and used source material imaginatively.It was aremarkably etailed,insightful,sensitive,andpassionatestoryof the forty-ninersandtheir world. It also illustratedthat historians of westernAmerican mining practicetheir craft muchdifferently han did their colleaguesone-halfcenturyearlier.The same,of course,can be saidof almosteveryfield of historicalinquiry.Yet,asin overland and westernmining history,the change in some areas is moreprofoundand dramatic.Consider what has happenedin Native Americanhistory.Thirty-fiveyearsagowhen I began graduate tudies,Indianhistoryas a field of studydid not exist,at Oklahomaorelsewhere.I took courseworkand wrotecomprehensiveexaminationsin westernAmericanhistory,as well as in American and earlymoder Europeanhis-tory.Researchseminarswith Donald Owings,Arrell M. Gibson, Donald Berthrong,andEugeneHollon convinced me that historywas all aboutprimary ources,originalresearch,and cogent presentationof the facts. My professorseven pointed to RodPaul's work as a model. Their credo of "no documents, no history"caused me tobe suspiciousof oralsourcesand to devaluethe social sciences,especially anthropol-ogy,as a methodof analysis.In time, I definedmyselfas awesternAmericanhistorian,even a Turnerian,drawnto the field by its preference or narrative,exceptionalism,andnationalism.Although my dissertationwas a biographyof Choctaw chief Peter Pitchlynn,it was no differentfromdissertationsof other students in westernAmericanhistory.Ichose Pitchlynnas a topicbecausehe had leftenoughpersonalpapers o fill two four-drawerile cabinetsandbecausehis frequent nteractionswith the federalgovernmenthad left a trailof documentssubsequentlydepositedin the National Archives. I ap-proachedPitchlynn, I am embarrassed o admit,as if he were a typicalfrontiereliteand as if the Choctaws were a typical frontier community.As a tool of analysis,I borrowed"acculturation"romRalphLinton,but I do not remember onsultingthework of any other anthropologists.There was no need to. I had documents in abun-dance,and my storycentered in "fact" atherthan theory.In due time, the University of Oklahoma Press published my biography ofPitchlynn.The editor,Ed Shaw,requiredrevisions,of course.Among them was theelimination of anyreference o acculturation.One manuscript eaderhad objectedtomy use of the term,not becauseI had applied t superficiallywhich would have beenvalid), but becausethe concept wasof little interest to moder scholars.As an assis-tant professorat the University of Arkansas,Fayetteville,who needed a publishedbook, I did not arguethe point. Actually, I internalized it. Over the next decadeI crankedout one long and three brief tribalhistorieswithout a single reference toanthropological heoryor practice.The style wasstrictlynarrative; he sourceswereprimarily overnmentdocuments; he resultswereunembellishedaccounts of Indian-White relationswithin the framework f westernAmericanhistory.

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Cutter,Gressley,Fite, Baird,andRileyLestIappear o have beenhopelesslydense,myscholarlyefforts n the 1970swerenot unlikethose of otherhistoriansworking n the samefield. PaulPrucha,TomHagan,

andAngie Debo, threeof my professional olemodels,producednationallyacclaimedstudiesof Indian-White interaction. In 1972, the National Archives even hosted aconference on the subjectin Washington,DC, whereI servedas a commentator,metD'Arcy McNickle, and got my firstglimpseof Stan Steiner's"New Indian."Otherjourneymanhistorians ike me wrote tribalhistoriestoo, usually or the American n-dianCivilization eriespublishedby the Universityof OklahomaPress.And like me,few had trainingin anthropology;ewerstill thoughtof themselves as anythingbut astudentof the Americanfrontier.

Myview of the discipline,and that of mypeers,changedas we practicedourcraft.In the early1970s,like colleaguesin otheruniversities,I organizeda surveycourseonthe historyof the American Indian.The first set of notes for the class,which camedirectlyfrommy West I and West II lectures,provedwholly inadequate.To providecontext and coherence, I looked beyondfrontierhistoryto anthropology, ociology,andpsychology.The work of HaroldDriverand CharlesHudsonwererevelations tome. A varietyof "New"histories,especiallythe New Social History,offered resh cat-egoriesof analysisand new paradigms f interpretation.The classwasverysuccessful,and by the third time I had taught it, I consciously thought of myselfas an Indianratherthan a frontierhistorian.The mini-transformation ccurringin Fayettevillewas more dramaticand more rapidat the national level. In Chicago, the NewberryLibrary adorganizedtsD'ArcyMcNickleCenter forAmericanIndianHistory,undedin partby the National Endowment for the Humanities.Under the able leadershipof FredHoxie, it sponsored eminarsandconferencesthatencouragedan interdiscipli-nary approach to Native American studies. Youngerscholars from a variety ofdisciplinesspent theirsummers n residence at the Newberry,eavingwith new ques-tions, methodologies,and modesof analysis.They practicedwhat RobertBerkhoferhad defined as the "NewIndianHistory"and often thought of themselves as ethno-historians.Above all, they produceda body of scholarshipnotable for its freshness,strongtheses,new questions,andgraceful tyleofwriting.Among the betterpractitio-ners, although not necessarilygraduatesof the NewberrySchool of Indian historyitself,wereJamesAxtell, FrancisJennings,RichardWhite, William Cronon, DavidEdmunds,MichaelGreen,andJamesMerrell.Merrell'sTheIndians'NewWorldChapelHill, 1989) representsNew IndianHistoryat its nuanced best.My scheduleneverpermittedme to spenda summerat the Center forAmericanIndianHistory,especiallyafter1978, when I becamechairof the historydepartmentat OklahomaState University.I discovered he new methodologybyreadingscholarswho practiced t (RichardWhite, forexample),marvelingthat they sawthings I hadnot seen in the verysamesourcesI had used. I learnedtoo byparticipatingn profes-sional conferenceswherethe New IndianHistorywasfeatured.Of these, most influ-ential were an NEH-sponsored symposiumin 1982 at Utah State University on"Churchmenand the WesternIndians"and a seminarat UCLA'sAmerican Indian

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Studies Center in 1986 (alsofundedbythe NEH butorganizedbythe McNickle Cen-ter)on "TheImpactof IndianHistoryon the Teachingof United StatesHistory."Andover the years,Iwas educatedbyhistoriansparticipatingn the annualmeetingsof theWesternHistoryAssociation and the Organizationof American Historians. In addi-tion to those alreadymentionedwere PatriciaLimerick,WilliamMcLoughlin,AlvinJosephy,andJ.LeitchWright.In 1988, when I moved to California and PepperdineUniversity, I went as ahistorianof Native Americansrather han of frontierAmerica. From hatorientation,I coauthoreda historyof Oklahoma.'I wrote the half of the book that relatedto theexperiencesof the Wichita,Osage,andFive Tribespeople. Mycontributionwashardlya tour deforceof interdisciplinarymethodology,but it did representa conscious at-tempt to look at Oklahoma'searlyhistoryfrom "the Indianpoint of view,"to takeIndian oral sourcesseriously, o accept Indian traditionsas legitimate,and to cast In-dianpeopleas actorsrather han reactorson the historicalstage.In 1989, I tried to dothe same thing in my presidentialaddressto the Western HistoryAssociation, al-though with less success.2On that occasion, I learned that the New IndianHistory,like the old, had blind spots, specificallya veneer of politicalcorrectness.

My own odysseyas a student and practitionerconfirmsthat Indianhistoryhaschangedprofoundlyas a field of inquiry.Earlyon, it had no identity beyondwesternAmericanhistoryand was framedwithin a context of Indian-White relations.Today,it has its own methodology, questions, and vocabulary,as well as its own graduateprograms, cademicappointments,studycenters,andpublishingoutlets. Institution-alization,however,givesno guaranteesof field durability.Several Indian studies cen-tershave curtailed their activities;new teaching opportunitieshave diminished;thenumberof sessions at professionalmeetings (excludingthe WHA) devoted to NativeAmericanhistoryhas declined.And some olderpractitioners,amongwhom I numbermyself,have concluded that they lack the credentialsto do the field justiceand haveturned heir attention to otherprojectsandmore traditional nterpretativeparadigms.In my case, this meansa returnto my roots:Native Americanswithin the context ofwesternAmericanhistory,althoughwithout Turner. nall, the futureofNative Ameri-can studies as a distinct historical field seemsproblematic.Whether the field survives or Native American historyis written by ethno- orwestern-Americanhistorians shardly mportant.Developmentsover the past35 yearsassurethat whatever is written will address more intelligent questions, use morerelevant sources,and offer more richly textured narrativesthan in the past. Likegold rushstudies,Indianhistorywill be moresophisticatedand meaningful.A com-parisonof myPeterPitchlynnNorman, 1972) with DavidEdmund'sTecumseh ndtheQuest orIndianLeadershipBoston, 1984) and TomHagan'sQuanahParker,ComancheChief(Norman,1993) will illuminatethe differencebetweenwhat has been and whatwill be.

W.David Bairdand DanneyGoble, TheStoryof Oklahoma,Norman, 1994).2 W. David Baird,"Are the Five Tribesof Oklahoma'Real' Indians?"WesternHistorical

Quarterly 1 (February 990): 5-18.

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Documents

Baird (1999) Reflections of a Historian of Native American History