The Willa Cather Conference at Mesa Verde


The actual title of the conference was "Willa Cather on Mesa Verde: A Symposium," held on October 20-24, 1999 in Mesa Verde, Colorado, and sponsored by Occidental College and  The Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation. It was hosted by John Swift of Occidental College and took place in the Far View Lodge in Mesa Verde National Park. Sixty papers were given by scholars from all across the United States as well as from Canada, Japan, and Spain. The photos below begin when we boarded our flight from Denver to Cortez, Colorado. (map of the area)
Gilbert R. Wenger's book The Story of Mesa Verde  is now available on-line.

	Mary K. Stillwell, my wife, in Denver just before we boarded our small craft which seated about 18 passengers. She gave a paper at the conference entitled "Willa Cather and Ecology: O Pioneers! and Its Dialogue through Time."
	A group photo with everyone on board. My son Wil on the left, my daughter Anna on the right, yours truly , and Mary K.
	Looking out of the aircraft window. You can see some of the mesa formations just above the wing of the plane. Mesa Verde National Park is located in southwest Colorado near the Four Corners area (where the state lines of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico cross at right angles to each other) and is the only national park in the United States set aside for the preservation of human culture. At its height, the Four Corners area had a population of 20,000 to 50,000 people who are referred to as the Anasazis which means in Navaho "ancient ones." However, the Navaho are not themselves descendants of these people. Actually, the "Anasazis" are the ancient Pueblan ancestors of the Zunis, the Hopis, the Lagunas, and other Pueblan peoples of today.
	Susan and Jim Rosowski from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln were also on board. Susan, a well-known Cather scholar, editor of Cather Studies, and general editor of the Cather Scholarly Edition, presented a paper at the conference entitled "The Greening of Language in The Professor's House." Her paper gave me some ideas I'd like to develop on Heidegger and Cather's use of language. There is also an abstract of her paper "Willa Cather's Ecology of Place" on-line. She is currently working on the development of the on-line project The Willa Cather Archives. (For more on the Archive, see The Cather Archive: A Scholarly Website in Progress.)

	A view of the mesas around the airport at Cortez, Colorado. A map of the area is provided.
	You got it! This is the airport outside of Cortez, Colorado.
	Getting on the bus at Cortez airport. The ride to Mesa Verde National Park took about 45 minutes. This is the view from the back of our very pleasant accomodations at Far View Lodge in Mesa Verde National Park. We are on top of the mesa now. The rooms have no phones and no televisions! Also, you get tired quickly because the altitude is about 7000 feet. (map of the park)
	Some of the papers were given "on location," so to speak. The amphitheater served us well here. The sun was fairly hot so you'll see most of the scholars bunched in the shade at either end of the amphitheater.
	Mary K. "posing" with Sue Rosowski in the amphitheater. It was a very congenial group. The spell of the place does a great deal to enhance that sensibility.
	Our group at the promontory which looks over the canyon. We were divided into two groups of about fifty for the tours of Cliff Palace. They accept only fifty at a time. If you were on the promontory behind the tree on the left and looked down, you would see Cliff Palace. See the photos below.
	This is a shot looking down through the canyon in which Cliff Palace is located. It was taken from the promontory above.
	Magnificent Cliff Palace taken from the promontory above. It is the largest of the cliff dwellings housing a population of about 150 people. There are over 600 cliff dwellings in the larger area. Although the time period of the "Anasazis" is roughly from 300 AD to 1280 AD, these structures belong to the later classical period from about 1150 to 1280. During this period, a major shift occurred in the population from living on top of the mesas to living in these alcoves. For a map of the Chapin Mesa , see Mesa Verde National Park. For more historical information on the Anasazis, see the history page. See also the Anasazi Heritage Center.
	Another look at Cliff Palace. There are two circular towers/dwellings -- the one off-center left and the one which is the last building on the right. There are small alcoves in the ceiling of the cliff used for storing food.

	The tallest square tower or dwelling at Cliff Palace. The precise function of the towers remains a mystery. Some believe they were used for defense; others say that their function was protection against the weather. There are others towers in some of the other alcoves which are 5 to 6 stories tall. I tried to take a photograph from the lower doorway looking up inside the tower because there is a painting about halfway up. Unfortunately, it came out too dark. Thanks to the WWW, there is a photograph available on-line from the University of California at Riverside ( courtesy of Debadarshi Dipen Bhattacharya).
	Looking down into the kiva from the foot of square tower at Cliff Palace. For more on kivas and their religious function, see Spirit of the Anasazis.
	A closeup of the round tower or dwelling on the far right side of Cliff Palace.

Looking up the square tower or dwelling at Cliff Palace.