I hope everyone had a good day yesterday. I certainly did. Today, we will look at the Environmental Impact of the California Gold rush. I would like to begin, as i said, by trying to think larger than we normally do. What is going on . My advisor, university of colorado he said, historians only ask one question, what is going on here . I nodded and thought, that is about the dumbest thing i have heard a smart man say. It is the only question we have to go back to an earlier time. The past as a foreign country, this time in the past and we look around and say, what is going on . What is going on . Lots of stuff. I hope you are getting that idea so far. One of the things is the place itself, the environment itself is being fundamentally transformed, remade. This is an episode in american westward expansion, expansion that starts here on the Atlantic Coast and moves across the country, a dramatic develop and come 1845 to 1888, acquisition of texas and the northern territory, so in 1853, w
Gary not from adults. [laughter] peter we dont want to speak only about your scholarship. You said you didnt want to make it all about you. Im interviewing you, so that is going to be hard to avoid. He says no. Its going to be ok. Gary i said ill do whatever you want to do. Thats what i said. Peter i can assure you he did not say that. Case any of you are wondering, this is the profound flaw in oral history. [laughter] gary because there you are. Youre going to write about tonight. You have two diametrically different comments. You need to pick one and pretend thats correct. Peter so this evening, we did agree upon this. Again, were going to come back to your scholarship, but we vote tonight about the lesserknown gary gallagher, the unknown gary gallagher. We wont divulge all your secrets. Is that ok . We didnt agree upon that either. We did . Ok. Were having trouble getting out of the gate, arent we . Gary im just listening, peter. Youre the one controlling the gate. [laughter] peter
Skaggs scads of books and articles. You dont hear the word scads very often. Gary not from adults. [laughter] we dont want to speak only about your scholarship. You said you dont want to make it all about you. He says no. Its going to be ok. Gary i said ill do whatever you want to do. Peter i can assure you he did not say that. Gary this is the profound flaw in oral history. [laughter] gary because there you are. Youre going to write about tonight. You have two diametrically different comments. You need to pick one and pretend thats correct. Peter so this evening, we did agree upon this. Again, were going to come back to your scholarship, but we vote tonight about the lesserknown gary gallagher, the unknown gary gallagher. We wont divulge all your secrets. Is that ok . We didnt agree upon that either. We did . Ok. Were having trouble getting out of the gate. Gary im just listening, peter. Youre the one controlling the gate. Peter so your first professional job, can you tell us a little
This 45minute talk was part of a daylong conference hosted by the university of virginias center for Civil War History. So we will begin this mornings lecture with gary w. Gallagher. As many of you know, we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to professor gallagher. He was the founding director of the nau center, retired just last spring from uva where he held the john l. Nau chair in Civil War History from 1999 to 2018. He is the author or editor of at least 39 books, including the union war, the american war and most recently civil war places which, too, is in the back, beautiful book, his son will took the photographs and this is an absolute treasure if you havent had a chance to see it yet. So with that id like to welcome gary gallagher. It yet. So with that id like to welcome gary gallagher. Thank you, carrie. We are on a very tight schedule today which carrie has made clear to all of us in the front row, especially steve. Steve asked me to say that he will be signing 8 by 10 gloss
Retired just last spring from uva where he represents Civil War History from 1999 until 2018. He is the author and editor of at least 39 books, including the union war, the american war, and most recently, coedited, civil war places, a beautiful book, his son took the photograph, and this is an absolute treasure if you have not had a chance to see it yet. With that, i would like to welcome gary gallagher. [applause] dr. Gallagher thank you, carrie. We are on a very tight schedule, which all of us are aware of, especially steve cushman. [laughter] dr. Gallagher steve asked me to say he would be signing autographs in the back after his talk. So just keep that in mind. I am delighted to be back for this years signature conference, and i would like to start by thanking carrie and liz for inviting me. This is redundant, will, but will sees to all the details and seamlessly, with amazing good humor. I really appreciate that. Its also fun to see so many friends here. It is like a homecoming,