Visual Wests

An NEH Summer Institute for Higher Education Faculty

The University of Oklahoma, Norman Oklahoma

July 7-August 1, 2025

Explore the West, Visualize the Past

Engage with your intellectual community and develop exciting scholarly projects, supported by eminent scholars and unparalleled research resources that illuminate the western past.

Discover exciting new sources

This institute explores visual imagery and material culture – paintings, sculptures, maps, films, clothing – that shaped ideas about the American West since the nineteenth century, while analyzing artistic, cartographic and archival silences that supported settlers’ political and cultural hegemony and contemplating overlooked visual practices by Indigenous and African American actors.

Develop innovative research methods

The institute directors, Dr. Kathleen Brosnan (History), Dr. Emily Burns (Art History), and Dr. Kalenda Eaton (African and African American Studies), and other OU faculty will lead 25 college and university faculty and advanced graduate students on a course of reading, discussion, and research.

Research with world-class collections

A primary feature of the seminar will be workshop sessions in which participants immerse themselves in the rich archival, library, and museum resources at the University of Oklahoma.

Visit evocative cultural sites

The Institute includes day trips with local guides to Tulsa’s Greenwood District, mural arts in rural communities, the former Concho Indian Boarding School, historic Black towns, and a visit to the First Americans Museum.

Build intellectual community

Participants will learn with one another, building professional networks and fostering intellectual connections.

Share results

The institute culminates with an opportunity for participants to share their work and identify next steps for their research.

The Visual Wests Institute for Higher Education Faculty has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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