🚨 U.S. historians! Our colleagues at Occidental College are hiring: Ray Allen Billington Visiting Professorship in U.S. History/The Americas www.oxy.edu/working-oxy/...

🧵 1/7 Author Claire Hoffman gave us an inside look at some of the incredible historic images in her new biography of Aimee Semple-McPherson, ‘Sister Sinner.’ Join us: In Conversation with Claire Hoffman Thursday, Sep 18, 2025, 12:00 – 1:00 PST Register Now: bit.ly/sistersinner

Christian Nationalism: In Conversation with Bradley Onishi Thursday, September 11, 2025, 12:00 – 1:00pm PST Join ICW for a conversation with Dr. Bradley Onishi and ICW Co-Director Dr. Elizabeth Logan, part of our Fall 2025 Series Worshiping in the American West. Register: bit.ly/bradleyonishi

📣 Announcing our fall webinar series, Worshiping in the West! We'll be in conversation with leading scholars on religion in the American West. Their new books cover a wide range of topics, from Christian nationalism to multiracial Pentecostalism. RSVP: dornsife.usc.edu/icw/upcoming/

Postdoc opportunity @wesleyanuniversity.bsky.social's Center for the Study of Guns and Society: wesleyan.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/careers/job/...

We have something whimsical for you to read this weekend! PhD student Basak Karaca writes about discovering the US West via the cartoon Lucky Luke while growing up in Turkey. How did this popular Belgian cartoon shape perceptions of the West around the world? icwblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/03/l...

We’re highlighting some of our favorite works on histories of immigration and immigrant communities in the American West as we believe they help us better understand the historical roots of systems of racism, nativism, and xenophobia, and how to confront them now.

"National authoritarians tend to attack their most successful and independent cities—from Istanbul to Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. Do the people of besieged cities have any chance of defeating the authoritarian nation-states that scapegoat and oppress them? Yes. But it won’t be easy."

We know you’ve been waiting for it! Season 5 of our podcast, Western Edition, drops this fall. Season 5 is taking us across the West and we’re sharing a few behind-the-scenes shots. Can you guess where we are and what we’re talking about? 🎧🎧🎧 Stay tuned!

Another postdoc opportunity! This one with UCI's Center for Liberation, Anti-Racism, and Belonging. Two-year position to support “The Historic Origins Project investigating Economic inequality in Orange County (HOPE-OC).” recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09684

Interested in the public humanities? Our friends at the American Conservation Experience are hiring! ACE Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow, "The Fallout of Fallout – Documenting and Contextualizing the Downwinders Experience in rural Nevada and Utah" www.usaconservation.org/ace-staff-jo...

"Matters were hardly any less tense in Southern California. People lined the streets of downtown Los Angeles [in 1894], chanting and cheering for the strikers, many of whom wore American flag lapels," #historian William Deverell. @huscicw.bsky.social #CAhistory #CaliforniaHistory

ICW’s co-director Bill Deverell offers historical context on the Los Angeles protests and federal response in today’s LA Times: “We have been here before, and we would be wise to heed history’s caution." www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

☀️⛱️🕶️📚 ICW’s Bill Deverell has a summer reading recommendation! He recently reviewed Alexis Madrigal's The Pacific Circuit and then joined the author for a conversation with Alta. Read the review, watch their conversation, and pick up a copy of the new book! www.altaonline.com/books/nonfic...

Friends, the California Digital Newspaper Collection (CDNC) needs your help today! For over 20 years the CDNC has preserved and provided access to invaluable historical records, capturing California's rich and diverse stories. Currently, the CDNC faces a $300,000 deficit. Donate: bit.ly/savecdnc

Join author Lisa See for a conversation with @newyorker.com executive editor Michael Luo. They'll be discussing his new book, Strangers in the Land. Tuesday, June 10, 2025 5 pm to 6 pm PDT RSVP: bit.ly/3H0VnnB

Followers of LA true crime may recognize this image...Do you? In the background, you can see Los Angeles coroner Dr. Thomas Noguchi. Award-winning historian Anne Soon Choi joins us to talk about her new biography of Noguchi, ‘L.A. Coroner.’ May 20 12pm PDT RSVP: bit.ly/annechoi

🥳 🎉 🙌 A huge congratulations to these newly minted ICW PhDs! Dr. Corey Blanchard Dr. Dan Wallace Dr. Gary Stein

Join our friends at CHSSC for a conversation today with historian Jessica chew about the global legacy of the Chew family in the 19th century. RSVP: www.eventbrite.com/e/rediscover...

ICW's Bill Deverell on reopening Alcatraz in @npr.org: "It's a way to suggest authority over California. And it's a way to express a kind of disdain for the National Park Service." www.npr.org/2025/05/07/n...

"More than ever, we need a robust #humanities sector as we strive to understand and live up to the nation’s motto, 'out of many, one.'" - Steven Hackel, UC Riverside #NEH #VastEarlyAmerica archived: archive.is/VevC6 www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

Our friend and colleague Steve Hackel in the Los Angeles Times this week. He reflects on the power of the humanities and the significance of the NEH. Read his powerful opinion piece in Monday’s @latimes.com

Fri @ 9:30am: @huscicw.bsky.social hosts “Dam Nation: The Fate & Future of Dams in the American West” at the Huntington Library. www.eventbrite.com/e/dam-nation... #infrastructure #dams #USWest

1/2 Congratulations to Julia Brown-Bernstein! Her dissertation was a finalist for this year’s Allan Nevins Dissertation Prize from the Society of American Historians. Julia completed her PhD with ICW at USC and is currently the Marcellus Clay Postdoctoral Associate at Yale University.

We hope you'll join us to celebrate our 20th anniversary at a day-long conference--“Dam Nation: The Fate & Future of Dams in the American West." 📍 The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens 📅 Friday, May 2, 2025. RSVP: bit.ly/icwdamnation

🧵 1/3 Alice Baumgartner gives us an inside look at her new book project. She and Katrina Jagodinsky will be in conversation about their current research projects on the legal ramifications of freedom and unfreedom in the American West April 24, 12:00-1:00 PST RSVP: bit.ly/icw42425

We have some truly wonderful news — ICW received a $4.4 million pledge from the WHH Foundation. The investment expands our community programming and launches a $10 million endowment campaign to sustain and grow our impact for generations to come. Read more: dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories...

🎧 Our friends at New Books Network/American West have a new episode! This week features Tom Lynch on his new book, Outback and Out West: The Settler-Colonial Environmental Imaginary. For conversations at the cutting edge of scholarship on the American West 👇 newbooksnetwork.com/outback-and-...

Don't forget to join us tomorrow, April 4, for a conversation with James Tejani. His new book, A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth: The Making of the Port of Los Angeles and America, just won the Bancraft Prize! Webinar conversation with James Tejani April 4, 2025 12pm PST RSVP: bit.ly/icwapril4

Our friends at the USC Levan Institute for the Humanities have a great lineup of events this month with Visiting Professor Charlotte Bigg of the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. Free and open to the public: dornsife.usc.edu/levan-instit...

Join us for Freedom and Unfreedom in the American West April 24, 2025 12:00 – 1:00 pm PST A webinar with Alice Baumgartner, Katria Jagodinsky, and Julian Lim about their current research projects on the law and freedom in the American West in the 19th and early 20th centuries. bit.ly/icw42425

The AHA is seeking three graduate students to write a series of two columns each for online publication in #AHAPerspectives. Apply by April 21 to hone your writing skills and share what you do as a historian with a wide audience! 🗃️

🧵Explore historic images of the Port of Los Angeles and read some of the remarkable insights from James Tejani’s new book, A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth: The Making of the Port of Los Angeles and America. Webinar conversation with James Tejani April 4, 2025 12pm PST RSVP: bit.ly/icwapril4

🎧 @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social has a podcast series focused on the history of the American West! The most recent episode features our friend and colleague Drew Isenberg discussing his new book from @uncpress.bsky.social newbooksnetwork.com/the-age-of-t...

James Tejani just won the Bancroft Prize for A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth and will be in conversation with us April 4! April 4, 2025 12pm PST RSVP: bit.ly/icwapril4

In celebration of ICW’s 20th anniversary, join us for a deep dive into the past, present, and future of dams in the American West. May 2, 2025 9:30am – 3:00pm (Conference) 7:00 – 8:30pm (Evening Keynote) Spaces limited and pre-registration is required: bit.ly/icwdamnation

We’re delighted to be partnering with the Pacific Historical Review to highlight some of their latest scholarship on the American West. We’re pleased to feature recent articles that are free and accessible to the public. Keep reading for a look inside the most recent issue!

The Autry is hosting our friend and colleague @sarahkeyesphd.bsky.social for a conversation about her new book, American Burial Ground: Autry After Hours | You Have Died of Dysentery Part of the series Autry After Hours Thursday, March 6, 2025, 6 - 9pm theautry.org/events/conve...

Wonderful reporting from @highcountrynews.bsky.social on Native history and public history via the work of Chuck Sams. "How the first Native director of the National Park Service drew from a legacy of federal boarding schools and Indigenous teachings."

It has been an immensely sad month for Californians. We found some solace in the thoughtful reflections on our state—its history, natural environments, communities, and many paradoxes—in the most recent issue of the USC Dornsife Magazine: dornsife.usc.edu/magazine/cal...

Don't forget to join us tomorrow for this timely conversation about the proposed gondola to Dodger Stadium--

I'll be talking about the Dodger Stadium gondola proposal with urban historian Eric Avila, California State Parks planner James Newland, and Southeast Asian Community Alliance's Sissy Trinh at this @huscicw.bsky.social event Join us Thursday at noon on Zoom: dornsife.usc.edu/icw/upcoming/

Wade Graham, part of our West on Fire Initiative, in @latimes.com: "Do more than clear brush. Garden for fire." www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

Join us next week! Up In the Air: A Dodger Stadium Gondola? Thursday, February 20, 2025 12:00 – 1:00pm PST RSVP: Link in profile or bit.ly/icwgondola

Applications are now open for Visual Wests An NEH Summer Institute for Higher Education Faculty The University of Oklahoma, Norman Oklahoma July 7-August 1, 2025 To apply: visualwest1.com

We're so glad to end this week with good news--a $300,000 NEH grant to continue work on our Chinatown History Project. The project uses augmented reality to digitally reconstruct LA's historic Chinatown, bringing the neighborhood’s cultural legacy to life. dornsife.usc.edu/news-briefs/...

You should attend our grad student Abby Gibson's upcoming lecture at UCLA for the title alone! 'Wild and Ungovernable Passions': Emotional Scripts and the Fate of the U.S. Expansion in the Vigilante Rocky Mountain West, 1864-1866 Link to the Zoom webinar: www.1718.ucla.edu/events/ungov...

Important piece from USC colleague Joan Flores-Villalobos: "By erasing the racial disparities at the center of the Panama Canal construction, Trump gives justification to his expansionist policy while ignoring the cost of U.S. empire and its perceived 'triumphs.'" www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

Join us to celebrate the new anthology, 'Writing the Golden State: A New Literary Terrain' Thursday, February 13, 2025 12:00 – 1:00pm PST RSVP for the webinar: bit.ly/icwgoldenstate

📢 Graduate students in Western history! The deadline for the Western History Dissertation Workshop has been extended to Feb. 7. Apply now to participate in this dynamic writing workshop and get feedback from leading scholars on your works-in-progress