Manifest Destiny Comes to the Great American Desert

Manifest Destiny Comes to the Great American Desert: How Expansionist Legends Fared in the Rocky Mountain West.

Presented by Katherine Scott Sturdevant, Senior US History Professor, Pikes Peak State College.

Sponsored by the Pikes Peak Chapter of the Colorado Archaeological Society in Colorado Springs.

Colorado became America’s focal point for much of its nineteenth-century fascination and interpretation of westward expansion. This makes for a fascinating study of that both grand and grim expansionism, which can border on the absurd now but was inspirational then. A highly informed and engaging speaker (and a long-time, favorite guest speaker of our chapter), Katherine Scott Sturdevant will share much of that vision in her presentation through the reporters, investors, and critics of the time.

Katherine Scott Sturdevant is the Senior US History Professor at Pikes Peak State College. She specializes in Colorado, Western, women’s, family, ethnic, Native American, and general social history. She also team-teaches learning communities with public speaking. She has written two books on how to research and write family history/genealogy with scholarly history methods and sources, as well as many articles and papers, and she regularly speaks on topics related to Colorado and the Pikes Peak Region.