Tate, Michael L. 1947- (Michael Lynn Tate)

PERSONAL:

Born January 24, 1947. Education: University of Toledo, Ph.D., 1974. Hobbies and other interests: Golf, travel.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of History, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 287 Arts and Sciences Hall, West Wing, 2nd Fl., 6001 Dodge St., Omaha, NE 68182. E-mail—mtate@mail.unomaha.edu.

CAREER:

Writer, educator. University of Nebraska at Omaha, Ralph Wardle Diamond Professor of History, 1998-2003, Charles and Mary Martin Chair of Western History, 2003—, graduate faculty fellow.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Burlington Northern Faculty Achievement Award for Teaching and Research, and Excellence in Teaching Award, both 1990; Muriel Wright Award, Oklahoma Historical Society, 1995; Nebraska Book Award, 2000, for The Frontier Army in the Settlement of the West; Merrill Mattes Award, Oregon-California Trails Association, 2001; UNO Graduate Mentor Award, 2005.

WRITINGS:

The Indians of Texas: An Annotated Research Bibliography, Scarecrow Press (Metuchen, NJ), 1986.

The Upstream People: An Annotated Research Bibliography of the Omaha Tribe, Scarecrow Press (Metuchen, NJ), 1991.

(Compiler) Nebraska History: An Annotated Bibliography, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1995.

The Frontier Army in the Settlement of the West, University of Oklahoma Press (Norman, OK), 1999.

(Editor and author of introduction) Maria Parsons Belshaw, Crossing the Plains to Oregon in 1853 (based on the journals of George Belshaw), Ye Galleon Press (Fairfield, WA), 2000.

Indians and Emigrants: Encounters on the Overland Trails, University of Oklahoma Press (Norman, OK), 2006.

The American Army in Transition, 1865-1898, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 2007.

Editor-in-chief, "Native American Bibliography and Resources Series," Scarecrow Press.

SIDELIGHTS:

Michael L. Tate earned his doctorate degree in 1974 from the University of Toledo, then went on to become an educator. He serves as the chair of graduate studies and a professor of history and Native American studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where he also holds the Charles and Mary Martin Chair of Western History. Prior to that, he held the Ralph Wardle Diamond Professorship. Tate's primary areas of research and academic study include American frontier history, Native American history, and the nineteenth-century American West. He has won a number of awards for his teaching and his writing, including the Burlington Northern Faculty Achievement Award for Teaching and Research and the Excellence in Teaching Award, both of which he won in 1990, the Muriel Wright Award from the Oklahoma Historical Society, in 1995, the Nebraska Book Award for The Frontier Army in the Settlement of the West, in 2000, the Merrill Mattes Award from the Oregon-California Trails Association, which was awarded in 2001, and the UNO Graduate Mentor Award, in 2005. He has written and/or contributed to several books on subjects pertaining to the American West and the treatment of Native Americans by the United States Army and by westward-bound Americans and immigrants, including The Indians of Texas: An Annotated Research Bibliography, The Upstream People: An Annotated Research Bibliography of the Omaha Tribe, The Frontier Army in the Settlement of the West, Indians and Emigrants: Encounters on the Overland Trails, and The American Army in Transition, 1865-1898.

The Upstream People is part of a larger series of Native American bibliographies, and focuses on the Omaha tribe. Tate collects references to many previously unfamiliar works that are archived at the University of Nebraska in Omaha, and provides scholars of the tribe or the Plains peoples in general with a good overall reference. Martha Ellen Webb, in a review for the American Indian Quarterly, questioned Tate's purpose and audience however, as he makes reference to sparking interest in the tribe in general readers, but fails to offer sufficient background history to make the work an acceptable primer. However, she ultimately concluded that the work is a "well-researched and highly-recommended bibliography."

In The Frontier Army in the Settlement of the West, Tate provides a historically accurate accounting of the role of the United States Army in the westward expansion of the country, shining light on the preconceptions that many Americans have of this part of the nation's history. Tate shows that many people have gleaned their ideas of the period from Hollywood films and television programs that are based only partly on fact. He illustrates the ways in which the Army not only functioned as a military power, but also served to bring shape to society when the West was very sparsely populated. The Army established order and law, but also in many cases provided education, churches, and supplies when necessary, and encouraged the development of self-sustaining towns across the new territories. Tate also discusses the relationship between the Army and the Native Americans, showing how, in many instances, the U.S. forces served as advocates for the rights of the latter. Roland Green and Gilbert Taylor, reviewing for Booklist, found Tate's book to be "a valuable overview of the army's role in U.S. expansion beyond the Mississippi."

Indians and Emigrants analyzes the period of history in the American West when immigration by wagon train was at its height. The book attempts to shed light on the relationship between these emigrants and the Native Americans they met on their journeys. In particular, Tate addresses the commonly held theories regarding violence on the frontiers at this time. Peter J. Hill, writing for Books & Culture, declared the book to be "an important insight into a relatively peaceful period of interaction between two very different civilizations." He went on to add: "We ought not to be too quick to assume that people of very different backgrounds will always find their interactions laden with conflict."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, February, 2001, William H. Goetzmann, review of The Frontier Army in the Settlement of the West, p. 167.

American Indian Culture and Research Journal, summer, 2006, Robert L. Munkres, review of Indians and Emigrants: Encounters on the Overland Trails.

American Indian Quarterly, summer, 1993, Martha Ellen Webb, review of The Upstream People: An Annotated Research Bibliography of the Omaha Tribe.

Art in America, October, 2003, "The Norton Museum of Art," p. 168.

Booklist, October 1, 1999, Roland Green, Gilbert Taylor, review of The Frontier Army in the Settlement of the West, p. 342.

Books & Culture, March 1, 2007, Peter J. Hill, "Don't Circle the Wagons," p. 10.

Choice, June, 2000, M. Morrison, review of The Frontier Army in the Settlement of the West, p. 1879; October, 2006, L. Graves, review of Indians and Emigrants, p. 362.

Infantry Magazine, September 1, 1999, Richard D. Starnes, review of The Frontier Army in the Settlement of the West, p. 51.

International History Review, December, 2006, David La Vere, review of Indians and Emigrants, p. 842.

Journal of American History, March, 2001, Garna L. Christian, review of The Frontier Army in the Settlement of the West, p. 1497.

Journal of the West, April, 1993, Kathleen Danker, review of The Upstream People, p. 106; fall, 2006, Cary C. Collins, review of Indians and Emigrants.

Pacific Historical Review, August, 2001, H. Craig Miner, review of The Frontier Army in the Settlement of the West, p. 495; May, 2007, Walter Nugent, review of Indians and Emigrants, p. 275.

Pacific Northwest Quarterly, spring, 2001, Mary Ellen Rowe, review of The Frontier Army in the Settlement of the West; spring, 2007, John Mack Faragher, review of Indians and Emigrants.

Reference & Research Book News, fall, 1986, review of The Indians of Texas: An Annotated Research Bibliography; August, 1991, review of The Upstream People, p. 9; December, 1995, review of Nebraska History: An Annotated Bibliography, p. 18; August, 2006, review of Indians and Emigrants; August, 2007, review of The American Army in Transition, 1865-1898.

Roundup Magazine, December, 2006, Doris R. Meredith, review of Indians and Emigrants, p. 25.

Southwestern Historical Quarterly, April, 2007, Todd M. Kerstetter, review of Indians and Emigrants, p. 550.

Western Historical Quarterly, November, 1991, review of The Upstream People; p. 505; spring, 1996, review of Nebraska History; summer, 2007, Robert M. Utley, review of Indians and Emigrants.

ONLINE

Friends of the Little Bighorn Battlefield Web site,http://www.friendslittlebighorn.com/ (February 3, 2008), Bob Reece, review of Indians and Emigrants.

University of Nebraska at Omaha Web site,http://www.uomaha.edu/ (February 3, 2008), faculty profile of author.