There was a time when a person had to write a letter to get ahold of someone.
Nowadays, “@MLanik92 Kobe is life” does the trick. While that tweet is debatable, one thing isn’t.

On April 25, the John G. Neihardt Foundation will sponsor the Neihardt Spring Conference. The theme of the conference is “Correspondence on the Great Plains.”

It will focus on “the role of letters in the lives of individuals with vastly different experiences living in the Great Plains region in the 19th and 20th century,” according to Kinley Hadden, Executive Director of the John G. Neihardt Foundation.

The conference kicks off at 8:30 a.m. and is $25 per person if they preregister, but $30 at the door. Students will be able to get in for $18. Tickets for the luncheon are $10 each and must be purchased by April 18.

“The conference will examine the correspondence of Neihardt and Willa Cather and the collections of the lesser known whose letters bear witness to the struggles of frontier settlement or of displacement,” Hadden said.

The keynote speaker for the event is Dr. Pamela Gossin, who is presenting at 9:15 a.m. Gossin is a professor of history, science and literary studies at the University of Texas. She is currently working on two book projects on Neihardt: “Neihardt on Science: Selected Essays and Reviews 1913-1938” and “Voice and Visions: The Selected Letters of John G. Neihardt.”

Her presentation will describe the importance of bringing Neihardt’s studies into the 21st century. She is currently developing a scholarly website and digital archive with UNL’s Center for Digital Research in the Humanities (CDRH).

The event will also feature other various presentations. One will be held by Dr. Clifford Canku of North Dakota State University. Canku is a native Dakota speaker from childhood, and will present the Dakota Prison of War Letters: Dakota Kaskapi Okicize Wowapi.

The letters were written in the Dakota language after 279 men were moved from Mankato, Minn., to prison at Camp McClellan in Davenport, Iowa. The prisoners were captured after the largest mass execution in U.S History. Thirty eight Dakota men were hung after the Dakota War of 1862.

Other presentations include “Will Carter’s Life in Letters: The Role of Correspondence in Literary Creation,” by Dr. Andrew Jewell from UNL; “Letters of Great Plains Homesteaders: A Lifetime to Family, Friends, the Past and Future” by Steve Kinsella and “The Art of Calligraphy” by Cheryl Dyer, a professional calligrapher in Omaha.

For more information, contact the Neihardt site at (402)-648-3388, or email [email protected].