Hayden L. Nelson
About Hayden
Hayden L. Nelson is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Kansas. He specializes in environmental, Indigenous history, and the history of capitalism in the nineteenth-century North American Wests. His dissertation is an environmental history of the forested region of northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and Ontario's Lake Superior watershed.
Hayden is committed to making history more accessible and exciting to public audiences. During his M.A., Hayden worked at the University of Montana's Archives and Special Collections. In this position, Hayden collaborated with other archivists and Crow tribal members to create a display for the Crow medicine woman, Pretty Shield (see below). At the University of Kansas, Hayden has been an active member of a group of historians working on a project to rematriate In ‘zhúje ‘waxóbe (lit. “sacred red rock”), informally known as Lawrence's "Big Red Rock," a sacred boulder stolen from the Kanza and co-opted into a settler colonial monument. Currently, Hayden serves as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Arts Research Integration Fellow at the Spencer Museum of Art.
Public History
Hayden is passionate about making history more accessible to the greater public. In so doing, he derives great pleasure in sharing his love of history with diverse audiences. Below are some of Hayden's experiences in Public History.
Biichiweé / I'll Tell A Story
Poster Exhibit. Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library at the University of Montana. Missoula, Montana. Exhibit displayed October 2019-September 2020.
This exhibit centers on the Crow medicine woman, Shitchísh, otherwise known as Pretty Shield, utilizing her perspective to track the monumental shifts that she witnessed in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century Northern Plains. Some of these changes in Crow society included: consequences of increased warfare, the introduction of horses, first-hand accounts of smallpox epidemics, the introduction of guns, as well as some personal relationships that Shitchísh developed during her life, especially to her husband, Goes Ahead, and the writer and ethnographer, Frank Bird Linderman. Exhibit created by Hayden Nelson, Aaron Brien, and Hannah Soukup.
Nature / Travel
As an environmental historian, Hayden is passionate about enjoying nature, traveling, and experiencing new cultures. Please enjoy some of his favorite images that showcase the beauty and diversity of both the environment and human cultures. All photographs are unedited and were taken by Hayden Nelson on his iPhone X and, later, iPhone 14.
Get in Touch
Contact Hayden L. Nelson to discuss his published work, teaching, collaboration opportunities, or for any other inquiries.