Upcoming Events

Location: Center of Southwest Studies Gallery

Free and open to the public

Join us in celebrating the summer solstice on Saturday, June 21. At the dawn of the solstice, a spiral of sunlight from the Center's solstice window makes its way across the gallery walls. Arrive early to ensure you don't miss the impressive display. Light refreshments will be provided.

Location: Center of Southwest Studies Lyceum

Free and open to the public. Light breakfast provided. 

Join us for breakfast and a conversation with Dr. Elena Carrara, Associate Research Curator with The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s (The Met’s) Department of Scientific Research. Her talk explores how scientific analysis deepens our understanding of museum collections, revealing hidden histories and shaping new narratives. An open discussion will follow.

This public event kicks off a multi-day collaboration between The Met’s Department of Scientific Research, the Center of Southwest Studies, and Fort Lewis College’s Chemistry Department as part of The Met’s Scientific Research Partnerships program. Funded by generous grants from the Mellon Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, this initiative was designed to explore materials and techniques used in art across cultures and time to deepen understanding, appreciation, and preservation of museum collections. From June 30-July 2, we will conduct non-invasive XRF analysis on textiles from the Center’s collections, laying the groundwork for future student research and ongoing interdisciplinary collaboration.

Center of Southwest Studies Lyceum 

Free and open to the public

The Center of Southwest Studies welcomes award-winning author and journalist Zak Podmore, who will present on the history of the Bureau of Reclamation, a populist project that became central to the New Deal's public power programs in the 1930s. Drawing from his latest book, Life After Dead Pool: Lake Powell's Last Days and the Rebirth of the Colorado River, Podmore will cover the controversial construction of the Glen Canyon Dam in the early 1960s before bringing the historical narrative into the present.

Location: Center of Southwest Studies Lyceum

Free and open to the public.

A modern-day crew of adventurers goes back in time to the age of the western outlaw seeking to find the ghosts of Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch by visiting their old haunts.  Along the way, they explore both the real and imagined lore of this age in hopes of understanding the allure such times continue to have on the American psyche.