ST. MARYS — The Auglaize County Historical Society will present “The Shawnee Struggle against Removal: Then and Now” with Stephen Warren as a Facebook Live event on Tuesday, Sept. 8, at 7 p.m. on the historical society’s Facebook page. The event is free and open to the public. Stephen Warren’s presentation is made possible through the Historical Society’s OH CARES grant from the Ohio Humanities Council.

To access the event, simply go to the Auglaize County Historical Society’s Facebook page (also accessible via https://www.facebook.com/AuglaizeCountyHistory).

Warren holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Indiana University, and master’s and doctoral degrees in American History from Arizona State University and Indiana University, respectively. Since 2014 he has served as an Associate Professor of History & American Studies at the University of Iowa. From 2002 to 2014 Warren was affiliated with Augustana College, chairing the history department from 2011 to 2014.

Warren previously visited Wapakoneta in 2007, when he served as a presenter for the Historical Society’s Institute for educators entitled “Ohio’s American Indians: Diverse Culture, Influence, and Legacy.” Teachers in attendance represented five Auglaize County school districts as well as six other counties. The Institute coincided with the 175th year since the Shawnee were forced to leave Wapakoneta and Ohio (1832).

“Our pandemic programming has allowed many of our previous speakers to revisit the community virtually on topics ranging from German immigration to canals, railroads, and even professional baseball players. Professor Warren’s return to us to speak about his current research seemed very timely,” Historical Society Administrator Rachel Barber said.

In his first book, The Shawnees and Their Neighbors, 1795-1870 (The University of Illinois Press, 2005), Warren uses Shawnee history to explore how Native peoples adopted national governments modeled after the United States in response to American missionaries and the federal policy of Indian removal.

Warren’s second book, The Worlds the Shawnees Made: Migration and Violence in Early America (The University of North Carolina Press, 2014), stitches together archaeology, history, and ethnography to show how Shawnees made a life for themselves at the crossroads of empires and competing tribes, embracing mobility and often moving willingly toward violent borderlands.

Warren’s recent work reflects his commitment to community-engaged scholarship. In 2017, he edited The Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma: Resilience through Adversity (University of Oklahoma Press). This book was the product of a three year, tribally directed project funded by the Administration for Native Americans. In April 2018, he co-authored “Salvaging the Salvage Anthropologist.” In 2021, SUNY Press is scheduled to release Replanting Cultures: Community-Engaged Scholarship in Indian Country. Warren is co-editor for this book, which includes 15 chapters from leading Native and non-Native scholars in the field.

His research has been supported by numerous fellowships and grants, including a Mellon Sabbatical Fellowship. In 2009, Warren served as a consultant and commentator for the History Channel as well as the WGBH/American Experience documentary, Tecumseh’s Vision.

Founded in 1963, the Auglaize County Historical Society collects, preserves, interprets, and shares the history of Auglaize County and its people through exhibits, programs, and publications.

For more information about this event or the Auglaize County Historical Society, please contact [email protected] or 419-738-9328.