🧵 Los Angeles just renamed Pershing Square in honor of Biddy Mason, who was born into slavery but won her freedom and went on to become a prominent landowner, philanthropist, and community leader. Learn more about her extraordinary life with Kevin Waite about his new biography: bit.ly/icwSept24

🧵 Take a look inside Daniel Lynch's new book, Dancing with Manifest Destiny! Daniel joins Bill Deverell to discuss Dancing with Manifest Destiny: Elite Men of Color and the Making of Los Angeles September 17, 2026, 12:00 – 1:00pm PT bit.ly/icwSept17

🧵 Take a look inside David Igler’s new book, All Species of Knowledge! David joins Bill Deverell to discuss All Species of Knowledge: A Voyage of Discovery, Failure, and Natural History in the Pacific Ocean (@oxunipress). September 10, 2026, 12:00 – 1:00pm PT bit.ly/ICWSept10th

ICW’s Bill Deverell co-authored an essay for Zócalo Public Square in defense of public history and the work of Anthea Hartig, the director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (NMAH). Read the full story👇 or follow 🧵 for excerpts: www.zocalopublicsquare.org/in-defense-o...

In Defense of Public History | Essay

Four Scholars Refute the Attacks on the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig

zocalopublicsquare.org

Thibaut Clément, associate professor at the Sorbonne, joined us as a Fulbright scholar this year. He recently joined ICW co-director Bill Deverell for a conversation about his innovative research on ethnic shopping malls in Los Angeles. 🎧 to the full conversation! vimeo.com/1208557810?s...

Join ICW's Bill Deverell in conversation with Alice Baumgartner about her book, South to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to the Civil War on July 14. Tickets: event.pasadenaplayhouse.org/WcNANa

Historian James Buckley offers insights on his new book, City of Wood Check out the full webinar recording on our website or Vimeo channel: dornsife.usc.edu/icw/2026-eve... Dive into our archived programming this summer! 😎⛱️☀️

Chiara Barzini offers insights on her new book, Aqua: Check out the full webinar recording on our website or Vimeo channel: dornsife.usc.edu/icw/2026-eve... Dive into our archived programming this summer! 😎⛱️☀️ #cahistory #westernhistory #skystorians

David-James Gonzalez offers insights on his new book, Breaking Down the Walls of Segregation. Check out the full webinar recording on our website or Vimeo channel: dornsife.usc.edu/icw/2026-eve... Dive into our archived programming this summer! 😎⛱️☀️ #cahistory #westernhistory #skystorians

In honor of #Juneteenth, we put together a list of some of our favorite books on the history of slavery, freedom, and the African American experience in California and the West. Do you have additional favorites or suggestions? Drop them in the comments! #skystorians #westernhistory #cahistory

Marla A. Ramírez shared some historic images with us from her award-winning new book. Follow🧵 for photos from Banished Citizens: The Mexican American Women Who Endured Repatriation. Marla Ramírez in conversation with Natalia Molina June 11, 2026 12pm PST RSVP: bit.ly/banishedcitizens #skystorians

David-James Gonzalez shared some historic images with us from his pathbreaking new book. Follow🧵 for photos from his research on the Mexican American civil rights movement and its roots in Orange County. David-James in conversation with Natalia Molina May 21, 2026 12pm PST RSVP: bit.ly/DJGonzales

Sign up to join the conversation. This Thursday, 12 pm PT.

Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West@huscicw.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Join us for a conversation with @jdaldern.bsky.social and Theresa Gregor celebrating the release of their new book, Landkeeping: Restoring Indigenous Fire Stewardship and Ecological Partnerships, published by @osupress.bsky.social. Thursday, April 30, 2026, 12-1 pm PST RSVP: bit.ly/landkeeping

Join us for a conversation with @jdaldern.bsky.social and Theresa Gregor celebrating the release of their new book, Landkeeping: Restoring Indigenous Fire Stewardship and Ecological Partnerships, published by @osupress.bsky.social. Thursday, April 30, 2026, 12-1 pm PST RSVP: bit.ly/landkeeping

We're absolutely delighted to share good news this week! Please join us in congratulating Julia Brown-Bernstein on her new position as an assistant professor of U.S. history at Scripps College. Julia completed her dissertation with ICW at USC before going on to a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale.

Save the date! April 30, 2026 12:00 pm PT. Landkeeping: In Conversation Online Event with Jared Aldern and Theresa Gregor. Registration is now open!

Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West@huscicw.bsky.social · 7mo ago

We’re excited to announce our spring webinar series—Wood, Water, Land. Join us to consider how human interactions with wood, water, and land transformed and continue to impact the American West. It launches in April, just in time for Earth Month 🌎🌱 RSVP: dornsife.usc.edu/icw/upcoming/

Join Natalia Molina, ICW, and Third LA for two dynamic conversations! D.J. Gonzales (Brigham Young University) and Marla Ramirez (University of Wisconsin, Madison) join us to discuss their new books. RSVP: bit.ly/usc-icw-events

We’re excited to announce our spring webinar series—Wood, Water, Land. Join us to consider how human interactions with wood, water, and land transformed and continue to impact the American West. It launches in April, just in time for Earth Month 🌎🌱 RSVP: dornsife.usc.edu/icw/upcoming/

📖 🔊We have your weekend reading (and listening)! The new season of our podcast is accompanied by a series of pieces published in partnership with KCET. Today's is by Erika Bsumek at UT Austin about the work of botanist and suffragist Ellen Powell Thompson. www.pbssocal.org/ellen-powell...

Ellen Powell Thompson: How Women’s Suffrage Benefitted from the Work of a Botanist in the Nineteenth-Century American West

Ellen Powell Thompson’s life illustrates how environmental exploration and women’s reform were deeply interconnected.

pbssocal.org

New article from IEHS member Laura Gutierrez: "From Deportees to Coerced Workers: Managing Labor and Migration Within Mexico After the Bracero Program,” in the Hispanic American Historical Review read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article...

From Deportees to Coerced Workers: Managing Labor and Migration Within Mexico After the Bracero Program

Abstract. In 1971, agents from Mexico's secret intelligence agency began to report that hundreds to thousands of Mexican men recently detained in the United States were being taken every night from Me...

read.dukeupress.edu

📖 🔊We have your weekend reading (and listening)! The new season of our podcast is accompanied by a series of pieces published in partnership with KCET. Today's is by Amy Bowers Cordalis, a Yurok tribal leader and recipient of the UN’s highest environmental honor. www.pbssocal.org/from-the-wat...

From 'The Water Remembers: My Indigenous Family’s Fight to Save a River and a Way of Life'

An excerpt from the book "The Water Remembers" by Amy Bowers Cordalis, member and former General Counsel of the Yurok Nation.

pbssocal.org

We are seeking applications for a one-year postdoctoral research position in the history of the American West! The position runs from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027. Details and to apply:

🎧🎤 The season finale of Western Edition Season 5 is live! Our last episode considers the future of the Colorado River and how our predictions and priorities for water management, specifically in Southern California, must shift in an era of climate change. www.buzzsprout.com/1837352/epis...

📖 🔊We have your weekend reading (and listening)! The new season of our podcast is accompanied by a series of pieces published in partnership with KCET. The first is by journalist Jacques Leslie, who has written for years about the Klamath River: www.pbssocal.org/the-endanger...

🎧🎤 Episode 5 of Western Edition Season 5 is live! Watersheds West: The Mighty Snake www.buzzsprout.com/1837352/epis... The Snake captured the heart of host William Deverell decades ago. He explores the river's historical and contemporary complexities as it flows into an uncertain future.

We were proud to report this news and are grateful not only for this generous pledge, but also for ICW's terrific work!

Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West@huscicw.bsky.social · 8mo ago

We’re so honored to share that we just received a $4 million pledge toward our $10 million endowment campaign from a friend of the institute who wishes to remain anonymous. The gift will support our mission to create “new understandings of the past to inform public dialogue in the American West.”

Tomorrow (Feb 12) at 12:00pm PST, join @huscicw.bsky.social for a virtual event with Martha Sandweiss! With Bill Deverell, she'll discuss her work, The Girl in the Middle, exploring a haunting image of an unnamed Native child and a recovered story of the American West Register here: buff.ly/xdurSrk

“From the get-go, California provided an example of bilingual governance.” In 2017, @rosinalozano.bsky.social gave a talk at USC about her research on the history of #Spanish in the US. @huscicw.bsky.social audio -> soundcloud.com/husc-icw/11-... #skystorians #AcademicSky

Rosina Lozano@rosinalozano.bsky.social · 8mo ago

A quick thread about the long use of the Spanish language in the politics of the U.S. Southwest, which includes some of the readily accessible documents I used to write my book. www.ucpress.edu/books/an-ame... /1

We’re so honored to share that we just received a $4 million pledge toward our $10 million endowment campaign from a friend of the institute who wishes to remain anonymous. The gift will support our mission to create “new understandings of the past to inform public dialogue in the American West.”

🎧🎤 Episode 4 of Western Edition Season 5 is live! Watersheds West: Trouble at Glen Canyon www.buzzsprout.com/1837352/epis... We explore how Glen Canyon is tied to colonialism and Western settlement, water use and management, and the future of water across the American Southwest.