The Reel West: Women in Western Films
John Wayne… the “stuff of legends.” Much as the Marlboro Man, the Ringo Kid has become part and parcel of the mythic male American West. But who is his female counterpart? What roles did women play in the development of the filmic west? From Lillian Gish and Marlene Dietrich to Barbara Stanwyck and Jane Fonda, western women have been portrayed in stereotypical ways: as Gentle Tamers, sturdy Pioneer Helpmates, Hellraisers, and, of course, as Prostitutes. Schackel examines these stereotypes and their variations – the spunky ranchwoman, the whore with a heart of gold, among others – and looks at the role of gender in this once the most popular of film genres. And if movies mirror the culture in which they are made, as some argue, then the images under discussion here reflect society’s views of women as the American West was developed and settled in the nineteenth century. Finally, the slide presentation concludes with a discussion of the Western in the 1980’s and 1990’s, asking the question, “Has the Western outlived its ‘usefulness’ in American Culture?”

Family Cultures: Women and Ethnicity in Idaho
Westering was a family experience. Women and children filled the sturdy wagons and provided the foundations for new communities in the West. Packed among the flour barrels, spinning wheels, and cookware were the traits of piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity – the cultural baggage of middle class nineteenth century women. But these traits were often overlooked or modified to meet family and community needs. Both men and women did what they had to do to settle and prosper, whether it meant constructing a soddy, plowing fields, or building a schoolhouse. While Idaho is remarkably diverse, this slide lecture focuses on the major ethnic groups, which include Native Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Basques.

“We Had Nothing to Lose and We Might Gain a Fortune”: Women and Families on the Oregon Trail
Women’s diaries and journals are a rich source for the study of trail life and form the basis of this slide presentation. Such sources relate the everyday hazards of the emigrant experience, from the baby falling out of the wagon to the loss of a family’s possessions while crossing a swollen creek to the death and burial of a loved one, perhaps a newborn, on the trail. They demonstrate the eagerness of women to take their chances in unfamiliar territory, and they support women’s beliefs that “going to the far west seemed like the entrance to a new world, one of freedom, happiness and prosperity.”

The Hub of the Wheel: Ranch and Farm Women in the Rural West
This slide presentation examines the lives of ranch and farmwomen since WWII, based on oral histories the author has done in recent years, many of them of Idaho women. She looks at the changes women have experienced in the last five decades, such as getting running water and electricity, raising crops as well as kids, working in town so the farm family can afford to live on the farm and the growth of the agribusiness and technology that has made the family farm an endangered species in the early twenty-first century.