2017 Mari Sandoz Symposium, September 30, 2017
"Nebraska 150 and the Future"
The 2017 Mari Sandoz Symposium celebrated Nebraska’s sesquicentennial. Friday presentations began with Twyla M. Hansen, the Nebraska State Poet, who read from her published works and from new compositions in honor of Nebraska’s 150th statehood anniversary. You can read more about Hansen through Humanities Nebraska at http://humanitiesnebraska.org/twyla-m-hansen/. She was followed by Steven Rolfsmeier the director of the Herbarium at Chadron State College who regaled the audience with his knowledge of “Plants of Nebraska.” Robert Roy Foresman was the 2017 Sandoz Research Award recipient, he presented “Mother’s Joy: Early 20th Century Technological Innovations on the Great Plains.” The afternoon sessions were all dedicated to time capsule events. Shortly before her death in 1966, Mari Sandoz made some astounding predictions of what life would be like in 2017. After celebrating the truths and errors of these prognostications, a panel of dignitaries provided their own projections about what the future for Nebraska at its bicentennial. The time capsule was buried at the Center and will be opened in 2067.
