This web page is devoted to a series of articles, papers and other research projects completed by WISR PhD students, Dennis Hastings and Margery Coffey. Dennis Hastings previously completed his MA at WISR. He has worked tirelessly and very selflessly for decades on behalf of the preservation of Omaha culture and history, and as founder and longtime Director of the Omaha Tribal Historical Project (OTHRP). Hastings and Coffey are working together on a joint PhD to bring the history of the Omaha Tribe back to the people.

Here is their position paper providing An Omaha Point of View on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

The purpose of the paper is, as they state, "to bring a specific Native American perspective to a once-neglected, yet romanticized popular segment of American History, shared by two cultures but not always viewed or experienced in the same light."

"Lewis and Clark Expedition, Omaha Guides: Curzatte and LaBiche, An Omaha Point of View" (doc)

"Lewis and Clark Expedition, Omaha Guides: Curzatte and LaBiche, An Omaha Point of View" [with illustrations] (pdf)

Hastings and Coffey submitted this paper for publication but it was turned down primarily, they believe, because their perspective was seen as unbiased and unfounded, because it conflicts with the prevalent Euro-centric perspective on the Expedition. Some of the critiques that they received they consider to have been useful and valid, and they subequently wrote a rebuttal to their critiques and further refined the paper. Those documents are not yet available on this website. However, the critiques they received are included here, as are Dennis' and Margery's self-evaluative comments that they wrote for their PhD course syllabi at WISR:

Critique of "Lewis and Clark . . ." #1 (jpeg)
Critique of "Lewis and Clark . . ." #2 (jpeg)
Critique of "Lewis and Clark . . ." #3 (jpeg)
Critique of "Lewis and Clark . . ." #4 (jpeg)

Coffey's Course Syllabus (doc) (pdf)
Hasting's Course Syllabus (doc) (pdf)