Join us in downtown Oklahoma City, a city in transformation, for the 46th Annual Conference of the Pioneer America Society: Association for the Preservation of Artifacts and Landscapes (PAS: APAL), October 9-11, 2014. The theme of this year’s conference is: Brand New State: Oklahoma and the Great Plains in Transition.
The conference hotel is the Hampton Inn located in the Bricktown section of Oklahoma City, the heart of the city’s efforts to redevelop and reinvent itself. Paper sessions will be held a short walk from Bricktown, in the Oklahoma City Public Library Downtown branch, a centerpiece of the redevelopment of the Civic Center area.
(Parking for those not staying at the Hampton Inn & Suites: The parking at the Hampton Inn & Suites is in a public garage. You pay as you go. In addition, there is limited street parking in the vicinity of the Hampton during the day, but parking is not permitted overnight. On Friday, the day of the Paper Sessions, which will be held at the Downtown Library (300 Park Avenue, a 15-minute walk from the Hampton Inn & Suites), there is a large parking garage you may wish to utilize. It is called the Santa Fe Garage and is located at 2 Santa Fe Plaza between E. Main Street and Robert S Kerr Avenue. This is four blocks east of the Downtown Library and is the best parking option since it is huge, and parking spots are always available. In addition, there is the Main Street Garage at E. Main Street and N. Robinson Avenue, which is two blocks E-SE of the Downtown Library. Finally, there is the Metro Garage at 320 Dean A McGee Avenue, which is two blocks north of the Downtown Library.)
The events begin on Thursday with a choice of tours of Oklahoma City, focusing on the historic development of a city that went from a population of zero to over 10,000 in one day. An opening reception on Thursday evening will be held at one of the city’s most historic venues, the Overholser Mansion. Friday will be devoted to paper sessions and the annual Awards Ceremony and Banquet at Tapwerks Ale House in the heart of historic Bricktown. Saturday is the all-day field trip, a bus tour of sites in central Oklahoma that span the history of the state, including Fort Reno, one of the posts manned by the Buffalo Soldiers, and Guthrie, the Territorial Capital.
The Oklahoma City Conference Committee is soliciting proposals for papers, special sessions, and panel discussions relating to the conference theme. Papers on all aspects of material culture that are of interest to the Society are welcome. Please note that all presenters must be members of PAS: APAL, and that only papers submitted by registered conference participants will be accepted for the Friday program.
Rooms at the Hampton can be reserved for $149 (King) or $154 (double Queen); these rates are good through September 9, 2014.
PAS:APAL Conferences are informative and fun, a chance to teach, to learn, and enjoy the camraderie of your peers.