The Orion Society:

An inventory of Its Audio-Visual Collection, 1994-2004, at the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library

Biographical Sketch

The Orion Society, founded in 1992, is a group of nature writers, environmentalists, and activists who believe that “humans are morally responsible for the world in which we live, and that the individual comes to sense this responsibility as he or she develops a personal bond with nature” (www.orionsociety.org). The Society focuses on teaching how nature and communities might be healed. Four important events in the Society’s history which this collection documents are: the Forgotten Language Tours, the Watershed, Yaak Valley and Artful Advocacy conferences. The Forgotten Language Tours, 1992-2003, facilitated events in communities across the U.S. in which writers and poets offered readings, workshops, and discussions that attempted to strengthen the local community's understanding of the natural world and human community as well as to promote nature literacy. The Watershed: Writers, Nature and Community conference, which was cosponsored by the Library of Congress, took place in Washington, D.C., April 15-20, 1996, with over three thousand people in attendance. Speakers from the Orion Society also held a conference in Yaak Valley, Montana, home to Rick Bass and the subject of many of his books. Artful Advocacy: Building a New Movement for Responsible U.S. Global Engagement was held in Tarrytown, New York, Nov. 7-9, 2003. It was organized with the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Nathan Cummings Foundation. Speakers in the Orion Society collection include: David Abram, Rachel Bagby, Rick Bass, Wendell Berry, Lucille Clifton, Alison Deming, Cornelius Eady, John Elder, Marion Gilliam, Robert Hass, Linda Hogan, Wes Jackson, William Kittredge, Barry Lopez, Peter Matthiessen, Stephanie Mills, Gary Paul Nabhan, Richard Nelson, David Orr, Michael Pollan, Robert Michael Pyle, Pattiann Rogers, Scott Russell Sanders, Annick Smith, Catherine Sneed, Gary Snyder, Kim Stafford, Terry Tempest Williams, Paul Winter, and Susan Witt.

Scope and Contents

The collection has a variety of audio and visual materials detailing the intellectual gatherings and informal discussions of various Orion Society events: Forgotten Language tours, the Watershed, Yaak Valley and Artful Advocacy conferences. The collection is in good condition and is part of the James Sowell Family Collection in Literature, Community, and the Natural World.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The audio-visual collection is open for research. However, all items must be reformatted to preservation copies prior to use. Therefore, researchers should allow at least 2-5 working days for this processing. Copyright is retained by the authors of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by U.S. copyright law. Please contact Dr. Diane Warner or the Reference Archivist for assistance.

Related Material

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

The Orion Society Audio-Visual Collection, 1994-2004, Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas.

Accession number(s): 2007-0139-A

Gift, 2005

Processed by

Jamie Wormsbaker, Adam Houle, Dr. Diane Warner, 2008-2009.

Collection Inventory