The Georgia Museum of Art will host The American Scene and the South: Paintings and Works on Paper, 1930-1946 from July 13-September 8, 1996. The exhibition uncovers an important body of approximately 90 paintings, prints, and drawings of the South by artists who participated in the American Scene, the predominant art movement of the 1930s and 1940s.

The movement, popular during the Depression, became part of a cultural drive during these years to document the distinctiveness of the American land and its people. The exhibit will be located at the Performing and Visual Arts Complex on the East Campus of the University of Georgia. For more information contact the museum at 706-542-3255.

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The Pioneer America Society will hold its 28th Annual Conference in Austin, Texas, from November 7-9 in the Radisson Hotel on Town Lake. The conference committee is currently soliciting proposals for papers, films, and sessions that will examine material culture topics embracing the lives of the average individual in North America. Proposals from the fields of folklife, American Studies, anthropology, architectural history, historic preservation, and related disciplines are welcome. Interested individuals should submit a 200-word abstract or proposal no later than September 1, 1996.

For conference information, or to submit an abstract, contact Terry G. Jordan or Jennifer Helzer, Department of Geography, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1098; telephone 512-471-0748.

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The Center for the Study of Southern Culture and the Smithsonian Institution will sponsor a voyage on the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers September 18-26, 1996, aboard the Delta Queen. Lectures and activities will explore the frontier between the American South and the Wild West with stops in Memphis, Tennessee; Pine Bluff, and Little Rock, Arkansas; Tahlequah and Tulsa, Oklahoma; and an excursion by vintage rail cars on the Ozark Scenic Railway. For information on the tour, contact Kay Williams by telephone at 800-795-5700.

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The University of Mississippi will host the exhibit Masters of Merigold: 40 Years of McCarty Pottery at the University Museums Lower Gallery. Showing from September 3-December 15, 1996, the exhibit will include approximately 60 works by Lee and Pup McCarty of Merigold, Mississippi, on loan from private collections. For more information contact the University Museums at 601-232-7205.

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The Popular Culture Association in the South and the American Culture Association in the South will celebrate their 25th anniversary meeting in Savannah, Georgia, October 17-20, 1996.

For more information, contact Dennis Hall, PCAS/ACAS Program Chair, Department of English, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292; telephone 502-852-6896.

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One of the most important threatened landmarks in Louisiana is the birthplace of Ernest Gaines at River Lake Plantation in Pointe Coupee Parish, just across the river from Baton Rouge. All that remains of the Cherie Quarters community are two cabins built in the 1840s, a small shed, a 1930s church where Gaines attended school, plus the graveyard where Gaines s family and friends are buried. Vivid scenes of the quarters life can be found in all of Gaines's published fiction, including The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, A Gathering of Old Men, and A Lesson Before Dying. To stop the impending loss of Gaines's birthplace, a group has formed The Friends of Cherie Quarters, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the remaining buildings of the quarters. The long-term goal is to establish a museum/heritage site where visitors can learn about the community where Gaines was born and reared. Interested persons can make tax-deductible contributions to The Friends of Cherie Quarters, 601 St. Joseph Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802. For more information, call Ruth Laney at 504-344-8803, or Sid Gray at 504-383-8165.

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Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, announces a call for papers for the 1997 conference "Mosaic of Texas," to be held April 4-5, 1997. Papers, panels, and other contributions are requested for the symposium that will explore the past, current, and future cultural life of Texas. Submissions should focus on the various influences that have helped shape life in Texas.

The deadline for submissions is December 31, 1996. For more information, contact Laura Pogue, P.O. Box 166215, Abilene, TX 79698-6215; telephone, 915-670-1366.