Dan Flores
Encyclopedia
Dan Louie Flores is an American
historian
who specializes in cultural and environmental studies of the American West. He holds the A.B. Hammond Chair in Western History at the University of Montana in Missoula
, Montana
.
, Louisiana
, where during the 1970s he procured the Master of Arts
degree in history from Northwestern State University
. He thereafter obtained his Ph.D.
from Texas A&M University
in College Station
, Texas
, where he studied under Professors Herbert H. Lang
and Garland E. Bayliss
. He then taught at Texas Tech University
in Lubbock
under the chairperson Alwyn Barr
. Thereafter, Flores relocated to the University of Montana and divides his year between the Bitterroot Valley
of Montana and the Galisteo River Valley outside Santa Fe
, New Mexico
.
, a southwestern journey authorized by U.S. President Thomas Jefferson
at the same time that Meriwether Lewis
and William Clark were completing their journey along the Missouri River
from St. Louis
, Missouri
, to the Pacific Northwest
from 1804-1806. The Red River Expedition, led by Thomas Freeman and Dr. Peter Custis, never received the attention garnered by Lewis and Clark and is mostly unknown to most educators and many historians as well because Freeman and Custis were turned back by the Spanish
before they had accomplished their goals.
With Eric Bolen, Flores in 1993 published The Mississippi Kite: Portrait of a Southern Hawk. With Amy Winton, he published in 1989 Canyon Visions: Photographs and Pastels of the Texas Plains. Still another Flores work is a study of the Indian
trader Anthony Glass, entitled Journal of an Indian Trader: Anthony Glass and the Texas Trading Frontier, 1790-1810. In 2004, Flores wrote the chapter "Societies to Match the Scenery: Twentieth-Century Environmental History in the American West," in A Companion to the American West by William Deverell, ed.
Flores' work has also appeared in such popular venues as Texas Monthly
magazine
, The Big Sky Journal, Southwest Art, and High Country News. His publications have been recognized by the Western History Association, Western Writers of America
, the University of Oklahoma Press
, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City
, and the Texas State Historical Association
.
In 2010, Flores published Visions of the Big Sky: Painting and Photography in the Northern Rocky Mountain West. In promoting his book, Flores wrote: "It's been said that a place doesn't exist until a writer, a photographer, or a painter portrays it and presents a version of it to the rest of the culture." In 2010, Flores also released a 20th anniversary edition of his 1990 volume, Caprock Canyonlands: Journey Into the Heart of the Southern Plains, a study of the unique terrain of West Texas
.
In 2008, Flores presented the prestigious C. Ruth and Calvin P. Horn Lecture in Western History and Culture at the University of New Mexico
's Center for the Southwest. His talk was entitled "Art and Regional Identity in the Northern Rocky Mountain West."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
who specializes in cultural and environmental studies of the American West. He holds the A.B. Hammond Chair in Western History at the University of Montana in Missoula
Missoula, Montana
Missoula is a city located in western Montana and is the county seat of Missoula County. The 2010 Census put the population of Missoula at 66,788 and the population of Missoula County at 109,299. Missoula is the principal city of the Missoula Metropolitan Area...
, Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
.
Background
Flores is a native of NatchitochesNatchitoches, Louisiana
Natchitoches is a city in and the parish seat of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. Established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis as part of French Louisiana, the community was named after the Natchitoches Indian tribe. The City of Natchitoches was first incorporated on February...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, where during the 1970s he procured the Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
degree in history from Northwestern State University
Northwestern State University
Northwestern State University, known as NSU, is a four-year public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the University of Louisiana System.NSU was founded in 1884 as...
. He thereafter obtained his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
from Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
in College Station
College Station, Texas
College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, situated in East Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley. The city is located within the most populated region of Texas, near three of the 10 largest cities in the United States - Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, where he studied under Professors Herbert H. Lang
Herbert H. Lang
Herbert Howard Lang was an historian of the American West who spent nearly all of his academic career at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas....
and Garland E. Bayliss
Garland E. Bayliss
Garland Erastus Bayliss is a retired historian and director emeritus of academic services at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, whose research was primarily in the history of his native Arkansas and the American South...
. He then taught at Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the...
in Lubbock
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...
under the chairperson Alwyn Barr
Alwyn Barr
Chester Alwyn Barr is an American historian who specializes in African American studies, the American South, the American Civil War, and Reconstruction. He is a professor emeritus and former history department chairman at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.-Works:Barr received his Ph.D...
. Thereafter, Flores relocated to the University of Montana and divides his year between the Bitterroot Valley
Bitterroot Valley
The Bitterroot Valley is located in southwestern Montana in the northwestern United States. It extends over 100 miles from remote Horse Creek Pass north to a point near the city of Missoula...
of Montana and the Galisteo River Valley outside Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
.
Publications
Flores is the author of eight books, including Horizontal Yellow: Nature and History in the Near Southwest (1999),The Natural West: Environmental History in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains (2001), and Southern Counterpart to Lewis and Clark: The Freeman and Custis Expedition of 1806, a 2002 study of the Red River ExpeditionRed River Expedition (1806)
The Red River Expedition, also known as the Freeman-Custis Expedition, Freeman Red River Expedition, Sparks Expedition, or officially as the Exploring Expedition of Red River in 1806, was one of the first civilian scientific expeditions to explore the Southwestern United States...
, a southwestern journey authorized by U.S. President Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
at the same time that Meriwether Lewis
Meriwether Lewis
Meriwether Lewis was an American explorer, soldier, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark...
and William Clark were completing their journey along the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
from St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, to the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
from 1804-1806. The Red River Expedition, led by Thomas Freeman and Dr. Peter Custis, never received the attention garnered by Lewis and Clark and is mostly unknown to most educators and many historians as well because Freeman and Custis were turned back by the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
before they had accomplished their goals.
With Eric Bolen, Flores in 1993 published The Mississippi Kite: Portrait of a Southern Hawk. With Amy Winton, he published in 1989 Canyon Visions: Photographs and Pastels of the Texas Plains. Still another Flores work is a study of the Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
trader Anthony Glass, entitled Journal of an Indian Trader: Anthony Glass and the Texas Trading Frontier, 1790-1810. In 2004, Flores wrote the chapter "Societies to Match the Scenery: Twentieth-Century Environmental History in the American West," in A Companion to the American West by William Deverell, ed.
Flores' work has also appeared in such popular venues as Texas Monthly
Texas Monthly
Texas Monthly is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Austin, Texas. Texas Monthly is published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. and was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy, Texas Monthly chronicles life in contemporary Texas, writing on politics, the environment, industry, and education...
magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
, The Big Sky Journal, Southwest Art, and High Country News. His publications have been recognized by the Western History Association, Western Writers of America
Western Writers of America
Western Writers of America, founded 1953, promotes literature, both fiction and non-fiction, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional western fiction, the more than five hundred current members also include historians and other non-fiction writers as well as authors...
, the University of Oklahoma Press
University of Oklahoma Press
The University of Oklahoma Press is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. It has been in operation for over seventy-five years, and was the first university press established in the American Southwest. It was founded by William Bennett Bizzell, the fifth president of the University of...
, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma City is the capital and the largest city in the state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's population, from the 2010 census, was 579,999, with a metro-area population of 1,252,987 . In 2010, the Oklahoma...
, and the Texas State Historical Association
Texas State Historical Association
The Texas State Historical Association or abbreviated TSHA, is a non-profit educational organization, dedicated to documenting the rich and unique history of Texas. It was founded on March 2, 1897. As of November 2008, TSHA moved from Austin to the University of North Texas in Denton.The executive...
.
In 2010, Flores published Visions of the Big Sky: Painting and Photography in the Northern Rocky Mountain West. In promoting his book, Flores wrote: "It's been said that a place doesn't exist until a writer, a photographer, or a painter portrays it and presents a version of it to the rest of the culture." In 2010, Flores also released a 20th anniversary edition of his 1990 volume, Caprock Canyonlands: Journey Into the Heart of the Southern Plains, a study of the unique terrain of West Texas
West Texas
West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....
.
In 2008, Flores presented the prestigious C. Ruth and Calvin P. Horn Lecture in Western History and Culture at the University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
's Center for the Southwest. His talk was entitled "Art and Regional Identity in the Northern Rocky Mountain West."