Nicole Tonkovich, Professor of Literature at the University of California, San Diego whose research focuses on nineteenth-century cultural productions by American women, will give two different lectures in the Northwest. Celebrating the release of her newest book, a collection of Alice C. Fletcher’s writing, the events are free and open to the public.
Dr. Tonkovich’s first lecture will take place on the Washington State University (WSU) Pullman campus on Thursday, September 22, at 4 p.m. in the Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation (CDSC), on Holland Library’s fourth floor. There is easy access to the CDSC via the Holland and Terrell Library elevators. The following afternoon, Friday, September 23, at 1 p.m., Dr. Tonkovich will give a second talk, this time at the Nez Perce National Historical Park Spalding Visitor Center, 39063 US Hwy 95 in Lapwai, Idaho. She will sign books at both events.
Dr. Tonkovich’s most recent title, published by WSU Press, is Dividing the Reservation: Alice C. Fletcher’s Nez Perce Allotment Diaries and Letters, 1889–1892. Ethnologist Alice C. Fletcher helped conceptualize the Dawes General Allotment Act of 1887, became one of the first female federal Indian agents, and supervised the allotment of the Nez Perce reservation. Her writing offers insight into how policy was applied, resisted, and amended, as well as her internal conflicts over dividing the lands.
Using Fletcher as a case study for the Pullman lecture, Dr. Tonkovich will discuss how examining an individual’s correspondence in its entirety—including both official reports and unofficial letters—diminishes the boundaries between public and private, and challenges prevalent assumptions in contemporary scholarship that minimize the role played by the “sentimental” and “merely personal” in late nineteenth century western expansion.
Dr. Tonkovich’s Lapwai lecture will discuss how Fletcher’s letters reveal a highly personal set of arbitrations rather than a top-down process. In addition, Nimiipuu voices and actions emerge as the Indian agent reported on her work and wrote to Nez Perce diplomats, tribal leaders, and others. Dr. Tonkovich will share fascinating and important details about those Fletcher encountered, negotiated with, and represented during her four seasons on the reservation.
The two events are sponsored by the WSU Department of English, the Sherman and Mabel Smith Pettyjohn Memorial Fund from the WSU Department of History, the WSU Libraries, the Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation, and the WSU Plateau Center.
Dividing the Reservation: Alice C. Fletcher’s Nez Perce Allotment Diaries and Letters, 1889–1892 is paperback, 7″ x 10″, 376 pages in length, and has a list price of $29.95. It can be purchased through bookstores nationwide or direct from WSU Press at 800-354-7360 or online at wsupress.wsu.edu. A nonprofit academic publisher associated with Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, WSU Press concentrates on telling unique, focused stories of the Northwest.
