Institute of American Indian Studies

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Cash Lectures

About the Lectures

Part of the Institute of American Indian Studies mission statement directs that we organize "campus programs to promote education and awareness of American Indian culture, issues, and problems." Because of this charge, and after consultation with the Cash family, the annual lecture series was inaugurated in the Fall of 1995. Featuring scholars in the fields of Indian studies, frontier, western, and mining history, the University community is annually enlightened on current scholarship in the respective fields. The four major areas of study reflect the interests of the late Dean Cash.

The Cash Memorial Lecture series was developed through private donations from Dr. Cash's family and friends and continues to grow as other contributions are received. If you are interested in joining the donor's list, please contact us.

Professor Cash never forgot his roots in Bonesteel, South Dakota and the surrounding community. Having forged lifelong friendships with Indian and non-Indian people in his immediate vicinity during his early life, he never forgot the people. He always admonished his students to remember history from small places. His memorial lecture series is built on that thesis: History From Small Places.

This Year's Lecture

The 2009 Cash Memorial Lecture was delivered by Patricia Cochran, President of the Alaska Native Science Commission.

Past Lecturers

Biographical sketch of Dr. Cash

Dr. Joseph Harper Cash, 64, historian, educator, and former Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Dakota, died in his Vermillion home on Tuesday, April 23, 1991. Born in Mitchell, South Dakota, on January 3, 1927, he was graduated from Bonesteel High School and, as a young man, served in the United States Marine Corps. On December 18, 1952, he married his college sweetheart, Margaret Ann Halla, in Vermillion.

Cash earned his undergraduate and master's degrees from the University of South Dakota and his doctorate in history from the University of Iowa in 1966. He served on the faculty of Eastern Montana College (Billings) for three years, spending summers conducting oral history interviews on South Dakota's Indian reservations.

In 1968 Dr. Cash joined USD's faculty as professor of history. He held the position of Duke Research Professor of History and served as director of the American Indian Research Project, the Oral History Center, and the Institute of Indian Studies. He was founder and director of the South Dakota Oral History Project, a division of the Oral History Center. In 1977 he was named Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, a position he held for ten years before returning to full-time teaching in the Department of History.

Dr. Cash was the author of ten books and numerous articles on South Dakota history, mining, Indians, and oral history, including To Be An Indian, The Sioux People, and The Practice of Oral History. His book, Working the Homestake, was a Francis Parkman Prize nominee.

In 1990 he received the Robinson Award in recognition of his work in preserving South Dakota history. His accomplishments while serving the state historical society included work with the state's centennial celebration and realization of the Cultural Heritage Center constructed at Pierre.

A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Delta Theta, and many professional associations, Dean Cash was recognized in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the Midwest, and Who's Who of Authors. He was a charter member of the South Dakota Committee on the Humanities.

Survivors include his wife; one son, Joseph, Gaithersburg, Maryland; two daughters: Sheridan Cash Anderson, Pierre, and Meredith Cash Long, Denver, Colorado; and one granddaughter, Ayla Ann Cash. Memorial services were held at 10:30 a.m., Friday, April 26, in the United Church of Christ, Vermillion; long-time friends and colleagues, Dr. John Milton and Leonard Bruguier delivered eulogies.

Memorials may be directed to the Dean Joseph H. Cash Endowed Scholarship Fund at the University of South Dakota.

Dr. Cash

Dr. Cash Topics of our lectures reflect the interests of the late Dean Cash.

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