“Communication on the Santa Fe Trail” is the theme for the Rendezvous 2010 history seminar to be held in Larned, KS on September 16 – 19.

The seminar is sponsored by the Santa Fe Trail Center, Fort Larned National Historic Site and the Santa Fe Trail Association. Primary funding is provided by the Kansas Humanities Council.

This year’s theme will examine how individuals of various cultures on the Santa Fe Trail communicated with each other. Featured during the seminar will be talks on the evolution of the U.S. mail service between
Missouri and Santa Fe. Presentations will show how the establishment of communication across the trail helped lead to statehood for Kansas and opened communication throughout the southwest.

Fees to attend the Rendezvous seminar will be $25.00 for Full Registration and $15.00 for Single Day. Costs for meals and bus tour are additional. For registration information contact the Santa Fe Trail Center at 620-285-2054 or e-mail museum@santafetrailcenter.org.

The tentative schedule of events is as follows: (for a printable version click here)

-- RENDEZVOUS 2010 Agenda --

Thursday, September 16
8:00 a.m. - SFTA Board Meeting at SFTC (open to the public)
4:30 p.m. - Presentation by Dr. Alice Anne Thompson, Golden, CO on the
four trail sites of Finney County, Kansas
6:00 p.m. - Opening Event at SFTC – Dinner and Program Program – “Letters of Fort Dodge and the Santa Fe Trail”
(Letters of Isadore Douglas and Post Commander Maj. Henry Douglas)
– Joanne VanCoevern, SFTA President, Salina, KS

Friday, September 17
8:30 – 8:45 a.m. - Welcome and Introductions at the Larned Community Center
8:45 – 9:15 a.m. - Speaker: Harry Myers, SFTA Manager, Santa Fe, NM
Topic: Introduction to Theme – “What’d you take for that....”
9:15 – 10:00 a.m. - Speaker: Harry Myers, SFTA Manager, Santa Fe, NM
Topic: “Before the ‘protecting care of the nation’ Mail Service
on the Santa Fe Trail up to 1850”
10:00 – 10:30 a.m. - Coffee Break
10:30 – 11:30 a.m. - Speaker: Dr. David Clapsaddle, Historian, Larned, KS
Topic: “Regular Mail Service on the Santa Fe Trail”
11:30 – 1:00 p.m. - Lunch on your own
1:00 – 2:00 p.m. - Speaker: Dr. Michael Olsen, Historian, Colorado Springs, CO
Topic: “Mail on the Santa Fe Trail – 1860-1880: The Impact
of Political and Technological Changes”
2:00 – 3:00 p.m. - Speaker: Otis Halfmoon, National Park Service Tribal Liaison, Santa Fe, NM
Topic: “The Moccasin Telegraph”
3:00 – 3:30 p.m. - Coffee Break
3:30 – 4:30 p.m. - Speaker: Dr. Susan Calafate Boyle, National Park Service, Santa Fe, NM
Topic: “Commission Merchants: Anglo-Hispano Joint Business Ventures”
6:00 p.m. - Dinner, Program and SFTA Awards at J.A. Haas Building
Program: “My Life on the Santa Fe Trail” – Faye Gaines,
owner of the historic Point of Rocks Ranch, New Mexico

Saturday, September 18
8:45 a.m. - Welcome and Introductions at the Larned Community Center
9:00 – 10:00 a.m. - Speakers: Dr. Alexa Roberts & Greg Holt, Bent’s Old Fort NHS, LaJunta, CO
Topic: “Bent’s Fort as a Mail Station on the Santa Fe Trail”
10:00 – 10:30 a.m. - Coffee Break
10:30 – 11:30 a.m. - Speaker: Dr. Leo Oliva, Author and Historian, Woodston, KS
Topic: “The Mail Station at Pawnee Fork and Founding of Fort Larned”
11:30 – 12:15 p.m. - SFTA Membership Meeting
Afternoon activities move to Fort Larned National Historic Site; Talks in Quartermaster Storehouse
12:15 – 1:30 p.m. - Lunch – Soldiers’ Barracks, Fort Larned
1:30 – 2:30 p.m. - Speaker: Dr. Doug Scott, Retired Archaeologist, National Park Service, Lincoln, NE
Topic: “Mail Station at Fort Larned: Archeological Reality of the Station”
2:30 – 3:30 p.m. - Speaker: Megaera Ausman, Historian, United States Postal Service, Washington, DC
Topic: Mail Service on the Expanding Frontier and Use of the Santa Fe Trail
3:30 – 4:00 p.m. - Wrap Up Session: All Speakers (Led by Harry Myers)
4:00 – 5:00 p.m. - Special U.S. Post Office Cancellation Station – Visitor Center – Larned Postmaster Stephen Penick
All Afternoon - Parade Ground Activities at Fort Larned National Historic Site
12 – 6 p.m. - Historic Mail “Mudwagon” Demonstrations, Historic Freight and Other Assorted Wagons on Display, Living History in Barracks, Blacksmith Shop and Officers Row
6:00 p.m. - Retreat Ceremony
6:15 p.m. - Dinner in Quartermaster Storehouse
Program: “Escorting Mail on the Santa Fe Road” - First person portrayal
of Private Robert Morris Peck, Company K, First U.S. Calvary by Dr. Leo Oliva, Author and Historian, Woodston, KS

Sunday, September 19
8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. - Bus Tour from Larned to Dodge City following the Dry Route which was used by the mail companies almost exclusively in preference to the Wet Route. Tour Guide: Dr. David Clapsaddle, Historian, Larned, KS