DAVID L. La VERE
Professor
Department of History – University of North Carolina
Wilmington
601 S. College Road, Wilmington, NC 28403-5957
1520
Chestnut Street Email:
Wilmington, NC 28401
lavered@uncw.edu
(910)
343-6970 (Home)
lavered@yahoo.com
(910)
962-3315 (UNCW)
(910)
962-7011 (FAX)
RESEARCH
SPECIALTIES AND TEACHING CAPABILITIES:
Native
American (Southeastern, Great Plains, Texas, Louisiana, and North Carolina), American West, Spanish Borderlands, Texas
History, Ethnohistory, and U.S.
surveys.
EDUCATION:
Ph.D.: 8/93. Texas A&M
University, College Station, TX.
History. Dissertation: “Strangers for Family: Gifts, Reciprocity and Kinship in
Caddoan-Euroamerican Relations, 1685-1835.”
M.A.: 7/89.
Northwestern State University, Natchitoches,
LA. History. Thesis: “Barr, Davenport, Murphy and
Smith: Traders on the Louisiana-Texas Frontier.”
B.A.: 5/82.
Northwestern State University, Natchitoches,
LA. History and Journalism.
TEACHING
EXPERIENCE:
8/01 - Present. Professor of
History. University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
8/99 – 8/01 – Associate Professor of
History, University of North Carolina at Wilmington
8/93 – 8/99 – Assistant Professor of
History, University of North Carolina at Wilmington
1/90 - 7/93. Lecturer. Blinn Junior College,
College Station, TX.
8/92 - 12/92. Lecturer. Texas A&M
University, College Station, TX.
1/89 - 5/89. Lecturer. Northwestern State University,
Natchitoches, LA.
ADMINISTRATIVE
DUTIES
Graduate Program Coordinator, 2005-Present.
CLASSES
DEVELOPED:
American
Indian History to 1900 (HST 336)
American
Indian History after 1900 (HST 337)
American
Indian Wars (HST 338)
Ethnohistory
of Southeastern Indians (HST 350)
History of
the American West (HST 348)
U.S. – American Indian Diplomacy and
Warfare (HST 290) (Team-taught)
CLASSES
TAUGHT:
Besides the
above and various undergraduate and graduate seminars on similar topics, I have
taught the following:
United
States History to 1865 (HST 201) (also as an online web class)
United States History from 1865 (HST 202)
Antebellum U. S.
(HST 354)
The
Practice of History (HST 290)
Graduate
History Methodology (HST 500)
Distance
Learning Class, Southeastern Indian Ethnohistory
PUBLICATIONS:
BOOKS:
Looting Spiro Mounds: An American King Tut’s Tomb. Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press. 2007.
The Texas Indians. Texas A&M
University Press, January
2004. (2004 T. R. Fehrenbach Book Award for Texas History presented by the
Texas Historical Commission & Philosophical Society of Texas Book Award for
2005.)
Contrary Neighbors: The Southern
Plains and the Removed Indians in Indian Territory.
University
of Oklahoma Press,
October 2000. (2001 Oklahoma Book Award
for Best Non-Fiction presented by the Oklahoma Center
for the Book.)
The Caddo Chiefdoms: Caddo Politics
and Economics, 700 A.D. to 1835. University of Nebraska
Press, October 1998.
Life Among the Texas Indians: The WPA Narratives. Texas A&M
University Press, April
1998.
CO-AUTHORINGS:
North Carolina’s Shining Moment:
World War II in North Carolina. Our State Books, Greensboro,
NC., 2005.
North Carolina Churches: Portraits
of Grace. Our State Books, Greensboro, NC.
October, 2004.
UNDER DEVELOPMENT:
The Lost Rocks: The Strange
Case of the Dare Stones and the Unsolved Mystery of Sir Walter Raleigh’s Lost
Colony. Currently
being shopped to literary agents.
Hard Country:
Violence, Death, and the Tuscarora War. Currently in the writing/research stage.
REFEREED
HISTORICAL ARTICLES
“The 1937 Chowan River
‘Dare Stone’: A Re-evaluation.” North Carolina Historical Review 86 (July 2009):
251-281. Winner of the R. D. W. Connor Award for the
best article appearing in the North
Carolina Historical Review during 2009.
"Minding Their Own Business:
The Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Business Committee of the Early 1900s" in Native
Pathways: American Indian Culture and Economic Development in the Twentieth
Century. Economic Development and American Indian Culture. Edited by Brian
C. Hosmer and Colleen O'Neill. University Press of Colorado., 2004.
“Facing Off: Indian-Spanish
Relations in the Greater Southwest.” They Made Us Many Promises: The
American Indian Experience. Edited by Phillip Weeks. Wheeling, IL.: Harlan Davidson, Inc., 2002.
"Between Kinship and
Capitalism: French-Spanish Rivalry in the Colonial Louisiana-Texas Indian
Trade." Journal of Southern History. 64 (May 1998): 197-218.
"An Expedition to the Kichai:
The Journal of François Grappe, 24 September 1783" (with Katia Campbell). Southwestern
Historical Quarterly 98 (July 1994):
58-78.
"Friendly Persuasions: Gifts
and Reciprocity in Comanche-Euroamerican Relations" Chronicles of Oklahoma 62 (Fall 1993): 322-37.
"Edward Murphy (1761-1808): Irish
Entrepreneur in Spanish Natchitoches" Louisiana
History 32 (Fall 1991): 371-91.
"P-Checks, Sweet Potatoes, and
Sack Shirts: A Social History of the Natchitoches
Farmer during the Depression." North Louisiana
Historical Journal 20 (Fall 1989):
99-112.
"Down Town: The City of Natchitoches During the
Great Depression." Louisiana
Folklife 12 (September 1988): 31-35.
ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES
“Indian
Territory.” World Book Encyclopedia. Spring 2007.
“Oklahoma Territory.”
The Encyclopedia of the New American Nation. Charles Scribner’s Sons.
TELEVISION/FILM CONSULTANT
On-air historical consultant.
History Channel series Digging for the
Truth. “Roanoke
and the Lost Colony” episode. Aired 20 February 2006.
BOOK & FILM REVIEWS
Journey to the West: The Alabama-Coushatta Indians by Sheri Marie Shuck-Hall. “Gone to
Texas.” Reviews in American History 37
(September 2009): 371-377.
Epidemics and Enslavement: Biological Catastrophe in the Native
Southeast, 1492-1715
by Paul Kelton. Louisiana History. At Press.
Exiles and Pioneers: Eastern Indians in the Trans-Mississippi West by John P. Bowes. Cambridge,
2007). Ethnohistory 56 (Winter 2009):
205-207.
Children of Perdition: Melungeons and the Struggle of Mixed America by Tim Hashaw. Journal of Southern History 73 (November 2007): 871-72.
Indians and Emigrants: Encounters on the Overland Trails by Michael L. Tate. International History Review 28
(December 2006): 842-43.
From Dominance to Disappearance: The
Indians of Texas
and the Near Southwest, 1786-1859 by F. Todd Smith. American
Indians Culture and Research Journal. 30 (Winter 2006): 142-45.
A Rediscovering of Caddo Heritage: The W. T. Scott Collection at the American Museum
of Natural History and other Caddo Collections from Arkansas
and Louisiana. By Bobby Gonzalez, Robert Cast,
Timothy K. Perttula, and Bo Nelson. Chronicles
of Oklahoma,
84 (Summer 2006): 242-43.
Unaffected by the Gospel: Osage
Resistance to the Christian Invasion (1673-1906): A Cultural Victory by Willard Hughes Rollings. The Catholic
Historical Review. 91 (July 2005): 550-51
Three Nations, One Place: A Comparative Ethnohistory of
Social Change Among the Comanches and Hasinais During Spain's Colonial Era, 1689-1821 by Martha McCollough. American
Historical Review. 110 (February 2005): 127-28.
Telling Stories the Kiowa Way by Gus Palmer, Jr. New Mexico
Historical Review. 80 (Spring 2005): 250-51.
A
Dancing People: Powwow Culture on the Southern Plains by Clyde
Ellis. Western Historical Quarterly
36 (Spring 2005): 72.
A Sentimental Journey: Memories of a Wartime Boomtown by Wilbur J. Jones, Jr. Our State North Carolina Magazine. At Press.
The Native Americans of the Texas Edwards
Plateau, 1582-1799 by Maria F. Wade. American
Indian Culture and Research Journal.
27 (2003): 168-69.
The Ancient Mounds of Poverty Point:
Place of Rings by
John L. Gibson. Louisiana
History 44 (Winter 2003): 112-114.
A Raising Up: Memories of a North Carolina Childhood by R. C. Fowler. Our State North Carolina.
(July 2002): 15.
Comanches in the New West,
1895-1908: Historic Photographs by Stanley
Noyes. Ethnohistory 49 (Fall 2002): 877-78.
Learning to Win: Sports, Education,
and Social Change in Twentieth-Century North
Carolina by Pamela Grundy. Our State North Carolina. (November 2001).
W. R. Trivett, Appalachian
Pictureman: Photographs of a Bygone Time by Ralph E. Lentz II. Our State North Carolina.
(July 2001).
Duck: An Outer Banks Village
by Judith D.
Mercier. Winston-Salem, NC: John F.Blair, Publisher, 2001. Our
State North Carolina.
(July 2001).
The Wichita
Indians: Traders of Texas
and the Southern Plains, 1540-1845 by F. Todd Smith. Journal of Southern History 68
(May 2002): 430-31.
The Rumble of a Distant Drum: The
Quapaws and Old World Newcomers, 1673-1804 by Morris S. Arnold. Louisiana
History 43 (2002): 105-6.
It Took Brave Men: Deputy U.S.
marshal of Fort Smith.
Video produced by Michael Paskowsky. Journal of American History 88
(December 2002): 1186-87.
Les Sauvages Américains:
Representations of Native Americans in French and English Colonial Literature by Gordon M. Sayre. Journal of North Carolina
Association of Historians. At Press.
The Indian Southwest: 1580-1830:
Ethnogenesis and Reinvention. By Gary Clayton Anderson. Great
Plains Quarterly. 20 (Fall 2000): 330-31.
Satanta: The Life and Death of a War Chief by Charles M. Robinson III. The
Journal of Southern History. 65 (November 1999): 893-94.
Contested Ground: Comparative
Frontiers on the Northern and Southern Edges of the Spanish Empires by Donna J. Guy and Thomas E.
Sheridan. Pacific Historical Review.
68 (November 1999): 659-661
William Bartram and the Southeastern
Indians by Gregory
Waselkov and Kathryn Braund. Gulf
Coast Historical
Journal. 14 (Spring 1999): 130-31.
A History of the Timucua Indians and
Missions by John
Hann. New Mexico
Historical Review. 73 (July 1998): 300-301.
Indian Depredation Claims, 1796-1920 by Larry C. Skogen. Florida
Historical Quarterly. 65 (Winter 1997): 359-360.
The Native Americans. Produced by Jonathan Taplin. TBS
Superstation. 6 hours. 1994. Journal
of American History. 83 (December
1996): 1113-1114.
Poquosin: A Study of Rural Landscape
and Society by Jack
Temple Kirby. Journal of the
Association of Historians of North
Carolina. 4 (Fall 1996): 90-92.
The Caddo Indians: Tribes at the
Convergence of Empire
by F. Todd Smith. Journal of Southern
History. 62 (Aug 1996): 536-537.
"Dancing on Common Ground:
Tribal Cultures and Alliances on the Southern Plains by Howard
Meredith." Locus. 8 (Spring 1996): 263-264
"The Caddo Nation:
Archaeological & Ethnohistoric Perspectives by Timothy
Perttula." Southwestern
Historical Quarterly. 97 (April
1994): 677-8
"The Last Conquistador: Juan
de Oñate and the Settling of the Far Southwest by Marc Simmons." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 96 (January 1993): 448-9.
CONFERENCE
PRESENTATIONS:
“Writing Spiro.” The American West. Northeastern State Oklahoma
University Living
Literature Center,
Tahlequah, Okla., 7 November 2008.
“Blood and the Burden of Lumbee History.” Oxford Round Table. St.
Anne’s College, Oxford University, Oxford,
England, March
17, 2006.
“Indian History Without the Indians:
A Call for an Ethnohistorical Approach.” Texas
State Historical Association, Corpus Christi, Texas,
8 March 2002.
"The Kiowa-Comanche-Apache
Business Council of the Early 1900s." The American Society for
Ethnohistory, London, Ontario, Canada,
21 October 2000.
Commentator, “Anglo-Indian Relations
in the Early South.” The Citadel Conference on the South, Charleston, SC,
7 April 2000.
Commentator, “American Indians Past
and Present: Applications from Ethnohistory.” The Southwest/Texas Popular
Culture Association/American Culture Association, Albuquerque, NM,
12 February 2000.
Session Chair, “Powwows, Mountain
Spirits, and Song: Understanding the Power of Music and Dance on the Southern
Plains.” Western History Association
Conference, St. Paul, MN, 18 October 1997.
"The Burden of Lumbee History:
A Plainsman 'Discovers' Indians in Eastern North Carolina." Issues in Native American Culture series, University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill,
NC, 6 March 1997.
"Dehahuit and Caddo Leadership:
The Great Indian Conference at Natchitoches,
Louisiana in 1807." American Society for Ethnohistory, Kalamazoo, MI,
4 November 1995.
"The Caddo Chiefdoms."
Native Americans and Native American Studies in North Carolina, University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 8 April 1995.
"Between Kinship and
Capitalism: French-Spanish Rivalry in the Colonial Louisiana-Texas Indian
Trade." Association of Historians of North Carolina, North Carolina State
University, Raleigh, NC, 31 March 1995.
"Gifts, Reciprocity, and
Kinship in Caddo-Franco Relations, 1685-1803." Texas
State Historical Association, Austin, TX,
29 February 1992.
"The Evolution of
Indian-Euroamerican Kinship Bonds in the Lower Red River
Valley, 1685-1835."
American Society for Ethnohistory, Tulsa,
OK, November 1991.
"Edward Murphy: Irish Entrepreneur in Spanish Natchitoches." Louisiana State
Historical Association, Baton Rouge,
LA, March 1989.
"P-Checks, Sweet
Potatoes, and Sack Shirts: A Social
History of the Natchitoches
Farmer during the Depression." Louisiana State Historical Association. New
Iberia, LA, March
1988.
SPEECHES, LECTURES,
DISCUSSIONS
“Stealing Virginia Dare: Forging Raleigh’s Lost Colony of 1587.” Saturday,
April 19, 2008, Old Dobbs Genealogical Society, Wayne
County Public Library, Goldsboro, NC.
“Stealing Virginia Dare: Forging Raleigh’s Lost Colony of 1587.” Thursday,
March 27, 2008. Winchester Lecture at Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN.
“What Happened to the Lost Colony.” Saturday, 2 p.m.,
February 16, 2008. Currituck County Library, Barco,
NC.
“What Happened to the Lost Colony.” Saturday, 7:30
p.m., February 16, 2008. Currituck
County Library, Corolla,
NC.
“What Happened to the Lost Colony.” Monday, 10:45
a.m., April 16, 2007. Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the Beach, Pine Knoll Shores, NC.
“Looting Spiro Mounds.” Monday, 7 p.m., October 8,
2007. Sponsored by the Hayes Native American
Studies Center,
Raymond Estep
Center, East
Central University,
Ada, Oklahoma.
“What Happened to the Lost Colony.” Saturday, 2 p.m.,
October 27, 2007. North Carolina Museum of History,
Raleigh, NC.
This was part of their “Mysteries of the Lost Colony: A New World: England’s
First View of America” exhibit in which the original drawings of John White
were on display.
“North Carolina Indians Before the English.”
The Best of Our State. Pinehurst,
NC, June 30, 2006.
“America
Without Indians: An Imaginary Journey.” Duke Institute of Learning and
Retirement, Trinity Center, Pine
Knoll Shores,
NC., April 3, 2006.
“The Lost Colony: What Happened.”
College Day, November 12, 2005. UNC Wilmington.
“America Without Indians: An Imaginary Journey.” Guilford College,
Greensboro, NC. August 29, 2005. To Native American
Club.
“America Without Indians: An Imaginary
Journey.” 6 February 2004. Columbia,
NC. North Carolina Humanities
Council Speaker’s Bureau Forum.
“Lets Talk About It: The Legacy of Conquest by
Patricia Limerick” – 8 September 2003. North Carolina Humanities Council and
Speakers Bureau. Beaufort, NC. I led a discussion on the book.
“1950s –“ Film Series, Onslow County
Public Library. Led a discussion on a documentary about the 1950s every Tuesday
evening for 6 weeks. Oct.-Nov. 2003
“North Carolina Indians Before the English” –
12 November 2003. For UNCW Division for Public Service and Extended Education.
“Lets Talk About It: The Legacy of Conquest by
Patricia Limerick” – 29 March 2003. North Carolina Humanities Council and
Speakers Bureau. Bayboro, NC. [They read the book and I lead a
discussion on it.]
“North Carolina Indians Before the English”
– 11 February 2003. Ocean Isle Beach Museum, Ocean
Isle Beach, NC.
“America Without Indians: An
Imaginary Journey.” 14 March 2002. Topsaol
Beach Historical Society.
North Carolina
Humanities Council Speakers Bureau Forum.
“From Rosie to Roosevelt:
A Film History of Americans in World War II. The American Command.” Film
Series, Onslow County Public Library. Led a discussion
on a documentary about American commanders in World War II every Tuesday
evening for 6 weeks. Oct.-Nov. 2002
PANELS & FORUMS
"Texas Indian
Women." Texas State Historical Society Conference, Houston, Texas,
March 2001.
National Endowment for
the Humanities Collaborative Evaluation Panel for Western Hemispheric Projects.
Washington D.C., 7 December 2000.
National
Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar, 13 June-22 July, 1994.
"Ethnohistory of Southeastern Indians." University
of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky.
Led by Michael Green and Theda Perdue.
HONORS,
AWARDS & MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
2009 R. D. W. Connor
Award from the Historical Society of North Carolina for the best article
appearing in the North Carolina Historical
Review during 2009. “The 1937 Chowan River
‘Dare Stone’: A Re-evaluation.” North Carolina Historical Review 86 (July 2009):
251-281.
2005
Philosophical Society of Texas
Book Award of 2005. For The Texas
Indians.
2004 T. R. Fehrenbach Book Award for
Texas
History. For The Texas Indians presented
by the Texas Historical Commission.
2004 UNCW Award for Faculty
Scholarship.
2001 Oklahoma
Center for the Book -- Award for Best
Non-Fiction for Contrary Neighbors: Southern Plains and Removed Indians in Indian Territory.
1996-97 UNCW Teacher of the Year,
Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society.
1995-1998, Faculty Advisor, Phi
Alpha Theta History Honor Society.
1996 Cahill
Award. UNCW research grant.
1975-1978 United States Marine
Corps. Infantryman. 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st
Marine Division.
ORGANIZATION
MEMBERSHIP:
Phi Kappa
Phi, Phi Alpha Theta, Western History Association, Texas State Historical
Association, the American Society for Ethnohistory, and the North Carolina
Association of Historians.
OTHER INFORMATION
Manuscript
and article evaluator for the University of Nebraska Press, Texas A&M
University Press, University of Oklahoma, Ethnohistory, Louisiana History, and
Plains Anthropologist. Writer of several
newspaper editorials.
FREELANCE & POPULAR ARTICLES
“Allied Force:
George Watts Hill,” Our State North Carolina, Aug.
2008, p. 33-3
“Ports of
Call” [Port of Wilmington,”
Our State North Carolina, May 2008, p. 108-117.
“North Carolina Celebrities: Fame to Claim, “Our State North Carolina, January 2008, p. 106-12.
“Goldsboro.” Our State North Carolina, January 2008, p. 22-28.
“Tree
House” (NC Museum of Forestry), Our
State North Carolina,
April 2007, p. 152-60.
“Whiteville,”
Our State North Carolina, January 2007, p. 18-33.
“Inter-Connected
(NC Highways), Our State North Carolina, January
2007, p. 60-66.
“Joan Leotta: Story Performer,” Our State North Carolina, November 2006, p.
106.
“UNCW’s Teaching Hall of Fame,” Our State North Carolina, September
2006, p. 78-84.
“Guardians of the Realm,” Our State North Carolina, May 2006, p. 110-16.
“North Carolina’s American Indians in World
War II.” Tar Heel Junior Historian,
Spring 2006, p. 28-29.
“Ivey League” [NC Painter Ivey
Hayes]. Our State North Carolina.
November 2005, p. 222-227.
“Fossil Finds.” Our State North Carolina.
September 2005, p. 94-99.
“Walking Preservationist” (Tour
Guide Bob Jenkins of Wilmington).
Our State North Carolina.
August 2005, p. 134-138.
“Relic Hunter” (Frisco Native
American Museum),
Our State North Carolina.
May 2005, p. 86-90.
“Go With the Flow” (Slow-water
kayaking), Our State North Carolina. May 2005, p. 116-119.
“Pocketful of Posies.” Our State North Carolina.
April 2005, p. 108-112.
“Temperature Control.” Our State North Carolina.
February 2005. p. 25-27.
“Bath” (Tar Heel Towns).” Our State North Carolina.
January 2005, p. 18-23.
“College Towns – Great Places to
Call Home.” Living Southern Style. Summer 2004, p. 22-30.
“Pickle Passion.” Our State North Carolina.
August 2004, p. 110-117.
“With Silver Bells & Cockle
Shells” (New Hanover
County Arboretum). Our
State North Carolina,
April 2004, p. 78-83
“Old
Waynesborough.” Our State North
Carolina. February 2004, p. 144.
“Getting Their Hands Wet: Volunteers
of the Cape Fear River Watch.” Our State North Carolina.
January 2004, p. 92-97.
“A Cape Fear
Christmas.” Our State North
Carolina. December 2003, p. 76-80.
“Country Schoolhouse.” Our State North Carolina.
September 2003, p. 108-113.
“The House Dr. Pope Built.” Our
State North Carolina.
August 2003, p. 86-89.
“Spanning the Decades.” [Note: I
wrote Introductory sections for each decade in North Carolina history, from the 1930s
through the 1990s. Our State North
Carolina. June 2003, pp. 46, 48, 58, 68, 80, 92,
102, 114.
“North Carolina Natives.”
Our State North Carolina.
June 2003, p. 101.
“Shipping Lanes: 300 Miles of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.” Our State North Carolina. May
2003, p. 94-99.
“Living in An Historic Area: The
Jewel of Wilmington.”
Living Southern Style. Summer 2003, p. 15-19
“Avian Airs: Orton Plantation
Gardens.” Our State North Carolina.
April 2003, p. 82-86.
“Old Beliefs in a New Age.” Our
State North Carolina.
December 2002, p. 75-77.
“The Road to Enlightenment: Wat Carolina Buddhajakra
Vanaram.” Our State North Carolina.
December 2002, p. 68-71.
“The Secrets of Topsail Island.”
Our State North Carolina.
August 2002, p. 24-26.
“Flamenco Style -- Paco Strickland.”
Our State North Carolina.
July 2002, p. 28-30.
“Native Flavor.” Our State North Carolina. May
2002, p. 88-94.
“Southeast Communities Look to
Traditional Neighborhood Lifestyle.” Living Southern Style. Summer 2002,
p. 58-61.
“Wilmington’s Lost Tunnels.” Our State North Carolina.
April 2002, p. 26-29.
“Studying Public History.” Our
State North Carolina.
November 2001, p. 49.
“Belle of Wilmington.” Our State North Carolina.
November 2001, p. 48-49.
“The New
Urbanism.” Our State North
Carolina. November 2001, p. 44-49.
“Walking Man.” Our State North Carolina. November 2001.
"Politics
Not As Usual." Our State North
Carolina. November 2000.
“Up for Independence." Our
State North Carolina.
March 2001.
“The Royal
Tour." Our State North
Carolina. March 2001.