Ideas in the Air: WHA 2025

Rishma Johal 

Albuquerque is well recognized for its balloons flying high in the skies, but the Western Historical Association Annual Conference filled those skies with ideas this year. Thought bubbles were floating from each talk to gathering as I met academics and graduate students across the United States and Canada. I was able to both learn from others and share my knowledge with like-minded individuals, which ensured that I was constantly thinking about key concepts associated with my research work. I can only imagine how many others had thought bubbles floating away as I was inspired to think of new ways to approach my work. What is my research? Did I forget to introduce myself?

Hi, I am Rishma Johal, a PhD candidate at McGill University in the Department of History and Classical Studies. My doctoral project examines intersections and dissension among early South Asian migrants and Indigenous communities of the Pacific Northwest between 1897 and 1947. I was one of the recipients of the Graduate Student Prize this year for which I am extremely grateful as I had the opportunity to make the most of my time in Albuquerque. This was my third year attending the WHA, but it was the only year that I was able to stay for three days and attend a wide range of events thanks to this award. It was an incredibly fulfilling experience to enhance my engagement with other scholars who are exploring similar themes as myself. I attended several banquets and networked with up-and-coming scholars from Berkeley, Montana, Colorado, Vancouver, Seattle, and Texas to name a few. I discussed an array of topics with the students and scholars that I met. We shared notes about teaching and discussed how we were adapting to the use of AI in the classroom. I heard about how others were navigating use of archives in unison with oral histories. I learned how some scholars were working on participant recruitment. I also heard about Albuquerque’s history. As I complete the last two chapters of my thesis, it was especially meaningful that I could reflect on my work and listen to individuals speak who are conducting important work in related fields.

As someone interested in migration, gender, race, Indigenous-settler relations, and migrant settlerhood—I had a tough time deciding which events to attend this year. Opening the conference program and selecting what panels and events to attend was a daunting but exciting experience! I still regret that I was unable to attend two of the panels held at the same time as the roundtable in which I was speaking. Nevertheless, I was able to listen to an array of panelists speak about Indigenous histories that have been overlooked and lost through time. Hearing about how they found those narratives and retraced Indigenous histories sometimes through colonial documents was fascinating. Critical readings of colonial archives and records can convey more than was recorded in a particular way. I also heard enticing talks about settlement in the west, the arrival of pioneers, and memory making. Moreover, I had rich discussions with key thinkers in my field. I have many thoughts about the ways in which I discuss my positionality as a historian, the ways in which I have implemented certain sources, and the strategies that I can adopt to reorient my work by centering Indigenous voices even further. The last point has had a profound impact on the manner in which I am writing my current chapter.

In addition, I spoke at a roundtable on Asian—Indigenous Relationality: Ruptures and Solidarities in the Greater West. I was able to exchange ideas about migrant settlerhood and relationality among other graduate students who were studying interactions with Asians and Indigenous peoples. I have had few other opportunities to discuss South Asian—Indigenous intersections with individuals who are conducting work that is so closely aligned with my research. The talk was well-attended, and we acquired many insightful questions from audience members making this a memorable experience. Being a part of this panel truly felt like I was at the head of an innovative shift in academia in which I was studying a subject that was rarely touched. Dr. Josh Reid chaired this panel whose work in Indigenous studies in the Pacific Northwest is noteworthy. Dr. Reid was my Fulbright advisor at the University of Washington when I was conducting research there so being able to share how much my project has evolved from that period meant a lot to me personally. My supervisor, Dr. Laura Madokoro who is a leading historian in migration and refugee studies also attended my talk, and I had the chance to share my work in a way that she has not yet seen. I was greatly enthused to be able to talk about migrant settlerhood in front of the academic who has so remarkably influenced my understanding on the subject. These were personal milestones that held significance as I was able to present my research and ideas with scholars whose opinion I hold in the highest regard.

Overall, I will always remember 2025’s WHA as it provided a platform to share and exchange knowledge at a time when my writing is coming together. I could utilize what I learned in imperative ways that have helped strengthen my work. It was a meaningful and unforgettable experience. I would like to thank the committee for selecting me for this award and convey my genuine appreciation for the funding that allowed my full participation in the conference. I look forward to seeing everyone in Portland next year!

 

WHA 2025: Enchantment in the Desert

Standing in a line of what I assumed were fellow historians, I boarded the free shuttle provided by the WHA. I quickly discovered that I had boarded the wrong shuttle, and I was on my way not to the Clyde Hotel but rather to the rental car pickup area. The man across from me, responding to the bus’ recorded announcement, “welcome to the Land of Enchantment,” remarked, “land of enchantment? There’s nothing here. It’s just a desert.” Perhaps he had caught wind of the theme of our conference, “Roots/Routes: Relationally in Times of Disenchantment.” When the bus dropped us off at the rental car hub, I stood for a long while in the dry air, waiting for my Uber, considering his remark.

The 2025 WHA conference enchanted me all weekend. On Thursday I expanded my understanding of “the West” by considering “when the West was North.” The brilliant panel, “Early Pacific Wests: Probing the Margins of Western American History,” helped to consider how small of a perspective I maintain as a historian of nineteenth and twentieth century California. It was a useful reminder that we all need to continuously question and expand our understanding of “the West.” I followed that panel up with an inspiring roundtable on “Preserving the Black West: Designating Freedom-Seeking Sites in California.” This panel featured an undergraduate student who is doing impressive work with the National Park Service in the Santa Monica Mountains. This teams’ work preserving freedom seeking sites exposed me to a history of my own backyard that I had never known: the role of the Santa Monica mountains in the Underground Railroad.

The next day I presented my own research in a panel titled “Race Science, Eugenics, and the Limits of Belonging in the American West.” It was extremely gratifying to see the fruition of months of planning with scholars I admire and look up to, including the eminent historian Miroslava Chavez Garcia, whose work inspires me endlessly. I was able to present an idea that had been born in the archive of the Autry Museum of the American West a year earlier. Although my work is not done, I was very pleased to present my archival findings in my presentation titled, “‘Our Pioneers, Products of Right Selection’: Californian Racial Exceptionalism in the Eugenics Era.” At UCLA, I am part of the Science, Technology, and Medicine field, and I was happy that our panel was able to speak to historians who find themselves at the intersection of the history of science, medicine, and the American West.

Saturday brought another thought-provoking panel, “Carceral Healing: Outdoor Recreation, Labor, and Incarceration in Western American History.” This panel will stay with me for a long time and is sure to inform my own research—I was deeply impressed by the thorough and thoughtful work all three panelists put into their presentations. That afternoon, I walked through downtown Albuquerque with my co-panelists. We discussed our panel over lunch, remarking on the intersections of our work that we would never have discovered if we hadn’t presented together. We schemed future plans.

The presentations I was fortunate to attend and to participate in were supplemented with rich conversations among peers and professors. The Presidential Plenary, the Graduate Student Reception, and the Award Ceremony all served as excellent opportunities to make new connections with talented and kind WHA attendees. I connected over dinner with a historian of the Early Modern Spanish empire who gave me priceless academic and personal advice despite the fact that we study different regions and time periods. I also talked with people whose work is similar to my own, an occasion that happens only rarely in my day-to-day life as someone in the throes of dissertation writing. Each evening ended with catching up with old friends and meeting new ones, leaving me disappointed when I had to return to my room and go to sleep.

On Sunday, I walked to the train station with two friends. On the way there we ran into someone I knew from Los Angeles. The four of us had all individually decided, at different points during the weekend, to journey from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. One of the best parts about the WHA is the opportunity for these unplanned moments, which often lead to formative experiences. On that hour-long train ride I learned from my train-mates about the indigenous history of New Mexico, Oaxacan labor in Oregon, and Nauhatl translation in Spanish Mexico City. As our train wound past mesas, Pueblos, sagebrush, and pines, I recalled the comments on the bus that I had boarded by mistake a few days ago. Whether one thinks the “land of enchantment” is an apt nickname or not, New Mexico is certainly more than “just a desert.”

I am incredibly grateful for the Graduate Student Prize for enabling me to attend and present at my first Western History Association conference. As a PhD candidate studying the environmental, visual, and cultural history of eugenics in California, I felt truly welcomed by the WHA community. All of our work crosses fields, and the WHA celebrates the interdisciplinary reality of the American West (and beyond). My understanding of race, indigeneity and disability in the West was and will remain profoundly shaped by the panels I attended and conversations I had at the WHA. I look forward to becoming a regular at the WHA’s future conferences.

The 65^th Annual Conference of the Western History Association (WHA) coincided with a formative and stressful part of my graduate school career. Two weeks prior to arriving in Albuquerque, I had completed written comprehensive exams; I was scheduled to complete my oral examinations to advance into candidacy a week after the conference. Coupled with the ongoing stress of exams and the current state of academia, the conference was timely for me to gain motivation and continue through with the work that I am doing. The WHA conference also broadened my perspective on the type of opportunities and networks that may be available to me while progressing through graduate school and into a career.

For first-time attendees like me this year, I must say that initial introductions to the WHA conference can be somewhat overwhelming. This year’s conference included over two hundred panels, breakfast talks and luncheons, plenary speeches, tours, and events. With so many events and people, it can initially feel difficult to find grounding. I know I felt senses of imposter syndrome stepping into the hotel lobby.

However, I was fortunate to participate as graduate student staff that allowed me to connect with fellow students. I met people pursuing a variety of historical topics from various graduate programs. Some folks even related to my interests in histories of Mexican-origin communities of the Pacific Northwest. I was happy to meet Sharon Salgado Martinez and to learn that folks like her are working toward more fully developing and sharing the histories of Mexican-origin communities.

Along with networking opportunities, serving as graduate student staff also exposed me to the on-the-ground work that made the WHA conference possible. Shania Lopez-Cabrera created a welcoming and well-organized environment for graduate students who staffed the conference. She also made sure that graduate staff were aware of free food and books that were available to us. For someone just being introduced to the broader world of academic conferences, my involvement as a graduate staff member opened me up to connecting with people and scholars dedicated to their respective fields of study and dedicated to ensuring smooth operations of the WHA conference.

Supported by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, the Graduate Student Workshop was another meaningful activity that I had the opportunity to be involved in. I met passionate archivists who were more than enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge, expertise, and resources in support of my research and the research of fellow graduate students. Hannah Abelbeck, Libby Trones, and Dylan McDonald even sent follow up correspondence about funding resources to the affinity group I was part of for the workshop.

I also got the chance to meet fellow graduate students through the Graduate Student Workshop. Their passion and approaches to their work motivate me and push me to reconsider how to frame and approach my research. I was particularly interested in listening to Bethany Bass and Kara Culp about their research projects on the educational histories of Black and Brown communities in Texas. Their work connects with histories I hope to further understand; part of my research involves considerations of how children of migrant farm-working families experienced education. Overall, I felt that participating in the Graduate Student Workshop was immensely beneficial to me. I am grateful to the workshop organizers who put together the “Education, schools, desegregation, and policy” affinity group for the workshop.

Along with new people I met at the WHA conference, I had the opportunity to spend time with people close to home and to rekindle past working connections with folks who are part of my origin communities. I presented on the panel “Community Across Borders: Pan-Latino Histories in a Vast West” with Jonathan Angulo—whose thorough research and kind questions made me think through ways I could improve my own work. I had time to have lunch with faculty from my home department at Washington State University (WSU)—Dr. L Heidenreich, Dr. Iván González-Soto, and Dr. Shiloh Green-Soto. I had coffee with a former work colleague, Dr. Jerry Garcia. My time with Dr. Garcia turned toward a conversation about potential archival donations to WSU’s Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections. Rekindling previous connections while fostering new ones has led to pathways in building onto the history of Mexican-origin and Latino communities.

Overall, the 65th Annual WHA Conference broadened ideas about what is possible for me as a graduate student in history. Editors at book presses were kind enough to set time aside and discuss with me the steps and long processes that authors and presses take to publish books. If I had not attended the conference, I most likely would not consider the possibility of publishing the work that I set out to do. I feel that my participation and involvement at the conference opened potential pathways, collaborations, and conversations with people I would otherwise not have had the chance to meet. I hope to cross paths with folks I met at this conference in the future and to continue our conversations. I appreciate the experience of attending the WHA conference and thank the WHA Graduate Student Prize Committee for allowing me to attend. I am hopeful to attend next year’s conference in Portland!

Bend, OR — November 5, 2025 — Today, the High Desert Museum announces the Schnitzer Prize of the West, an inaugural initiative launched in close partnership with Jordan D. Schnitzer and the Harold and Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation. The new Prize—the first of its kind in the region—will award $50,000 annually to an individual or a small group of individuals whose work addresses environmental and conservation challenges of the American West, with a particular focus on honoring, innovation, social impact, and uncommon collaboration. The open call for self- and third-party nominations runs on the High Desert Museum’s website from today through January 1, 2026.

In a moment when the American West—and the world-at-large—is confronting unprecedented ecological challenges, the Prize seeks to highlight innovative responses to urgent issues such as water scarcity, tribal rights and sovereignty, land-stewardship, changing climate, and more—offering models that can be replicated in other areas of the country facing similar pressures.

Since its founding in 1982, the High Desert Museum has been dedicated to sharing the stories of the American West through wildlife, art, cultures, history, and interdisciplinary experiences, creating a shared connection and dialogue among its community. The Prize builds on this commitment to conservation and on past initiatives such as the Earle A. Chiles Award—which recognized significant “Win-Win” contributions to managing the High Desert region's natural resources—as well as the Museum’s partnership with lifelong Portland resident and West Coast businessman Jordan D. Schnitzer, a dedicated steward of the local community and the region’s advancement.

“The Schnitzer Prize of the West is an exceedingly timely and relevant effort to shine a light on the innovators, collaborators and visionaries among us,” says Dana Whitelaw, Ph.D, Executive Director of High Desert Museum. “Their work demonstrates that we can look toward our future together even as we consider the economic and ecological challenges before us.”  

“The Schnitzer Prize celebrates remarkable individuals and teams, who through their uncommon collaborations, are producing actionable solutions to the legacy challenges we face in the West,” said Jordan D. Schnitzer, President of Schnitzer Properties and The Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation.

Administered through the High Desert Museum, Prize nominations and applications will be evaluated by an esteemed panel of advisors comprised of former tribal leaders, ranchers & farmers, water policy and river restoration practitioners, a poet laureate and renowned historian, directors of prominent academic centers that focus on the study of the American West and more. To learn more about this dynamic group, visit the High Desert Museum website. 

The Prize is now accepting nominations, and selected nominees will be invited to submit a formal application in early 2026. Nominations not selected in this inaugural cycle will automatically carry over for two forthcoming cycles. The Prize Winner will be announced in the spring of 2026. In addition to the $50,000 cash prize, the Winner will also receive a unique piece of art during an award ceremony in Portland, Oregon.

For more information on the Schnitzer Prize of the West, nomination eligibility, and selection process, please visit highdesertmuseum.org/schnitzer-prize.

Anne Gregory

Graduate Student Scholarship Blog Post

The Western History Association 2025 Annual Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico was only my second WHA, my first being the year before in Kansas City, Missouri. This year, I had a wonderful experience and treasure the many great conversations I had in the hallways and ballrooms of the Albuquerque Convention Center. Attendees are the heart of the annual meeting and I met other graduate students, archivists, librarians, locals, professors, and independent scholars. Disenchantment was this conference’s annual theme, a fitting expression for a challenging year. I have been inspired by this year’s conference theme to be more expansive in my scholarship and to devote more time in service to my community. I believe we, as historians, hold the potential to change the future by clearly narrating the past, bolstering society by telling artful histories.

I attended talks that opened possibilities for my scholarship. A highlight was a panel on African American history, titled “The Black Man’s Hope: Black Towns in the Trans-Mississippi West.” The panel presentation, featuring Jeanette Eileen Jones, Tonia M. Compton, Victoria McKeller-People, and Anthony Wood, was outstanding, with examples from Kansas and Colorado, in rural, urban, recreational, and organizational settings, with tips on sources and methodologies, and a discussion of current theories. I look forward to hearing more from these researchers at future gatherings.

I was fortunate to attend some great events. I heard this year’s Presidential Address from William Bauer, an inspiring reflection on family, titled “Indigenous Travelers in the American West.” Bauer shared a story about commemoration in the Round Valley community that touched on intergenerational memory and experience. I also met some great folks at the Presidential Lunch and had a nice chile relleno. Friday night’s Awards Ceremony and Reception was a whirlwind and I want to send best wishes to everyone that attended. Congratulations to all the recipients! Saturday’s Native Scholars Lunch was another wonderful get-together. Brenda Child received honors, and gave a poignant talk that reflected on work, family, and the field. 

My own panel on Indigenous health took place on Saturday, featuring Juliet Gilmore-Larkin, Maria John, and David DeJohn. Our conversation was fruitful and interesting. I presented my findings about health on the Dawes Enrollment Cards for the Muscogee Nation. After reading through the bulk of the enrollment records for the Muscogee and Seminole Nations, I could trace trends on marriage, mobility, maternity, child care, disability, and mortality during allotment. I shared a summary of this data plus a few initial conclusions, as well as some favorite allotment stories, to a receptive audience.

Conferences give graduate students like myself opportunities to hear up-to-the-moment research from leaders in the field and this year, I was lucky to see David DeJong give his presentation on successes working with the Gila River community in southern Arizona. I was also excited to hear about Juliet Gilmore-Larkin’s work on health, agency, and ableism. I am appreciative to everyone that came to hear us share our work. It is so crucial to have the opportunity to present my research to scholars in my field and I am grateful to everyone on my panel for their hard work. A special thank you to Juliet Gilmore-Larkin, our organizer, and Maria John, our chair.

Service is important to our organization and I had the exciting opportunity to join the Accessibility Committee. I am glad to have the chance to work with them to improve the WHA experience for everyone, as well as promote scholarship about ableism and disability in the West. I want to extend a thank you to this committee for supporting access both in the Western history community and beyond. I would also like to say thank you to everyone that organized and facilitated this year’s conference. Congratulations on a job well done.

My visit to the city was memorable. Albuquerque served crisp mountain air and the kind of sunshine that only happens in the desert. Downtown had a peaceful kind of quiet, its history present in muted colors. I made sure to find time to explore and try a few spots. I found a great little pizza place, JC’s New York Pizza Dept., where I ordered a cheese slice for lunch and indulged in vegetarian rolls at Sushi Hana, located on Central Ave.. for dinner. I also made time to splurge on an iced latte at The Brew, a vibrant coffee shop tucked away a few blocks from the Clyde. If I regret anything, it was not plunking down a dollar for the zine workshop. To the zine folks, please bring back the zine workshop in Portland, Oregon so that I can get a chance to make one next year.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at PDX 2026!

Balancing Networks: Reflections on the WHA Graduate Student Prize

Attending the Western History Association conference this year was an exercise in balance. Winning the Graduate Student Prize was deeply gratifying. Still, what stayed with me most was not this much-appreciated recognition—it was the challenge of juggling roles: committee chair, presenter, attendee, and colleague. The WHA has always been a place where scholarship and service overlap, and this year I felt that overlap acutely. I left Albuquerque with a renewed admiration for how this organization sustains the very networks of collaboration and service that enable historical practice and scholarship in the first place.

As Chair of the Public Education and Teaching Committee and a member of the Digital Scholarship Committee, much of my time in Albuquerque was spent in meetings and conversations about how we can better connect Western history to broader audiences. Our committee sponsored a session titled “Teaching Local History in/of the West,” featuring educators from Colorado State University who have been developing hands-on, place-based history programs for K–12 students. Learning about how their students learned about their own community’s history was a vivid reminder that teaching Western history isn’t only about revisiting the past; it’s about grounding the next generation in the complexity of where they stand.

That session set the tone for my week. The Teaching and Public Education Committee meetings were full of energy—new members with creative ideas, veterans sharing lessons learned, and genuine enthusiasm for how history education can adapt to the moment. Balancing those responsibilities with my own desire to attend panels, meet colleagues, and listen to cutting-edge research was difficult. There were moments I felt the tug between wanting to sit in on a discussion of Indigenous mapping projects or nineteenth-century irrigation politics and needing to return to a committee room to review proposals or plan our next initiative. But in that tension, I realized something fundamental: professional service isn’t a distraction from scholarship; it’s one of the ways we make it matter.

As historians, we often talk about networks—the formal and informal relationships that shape movements, communities, and change. At the WHA, I experienced what that actually feels like in real time: a web of conversations, panels, hallway introductions, and late-night debates that give life to an otherwise solitary discipline. I spent part of my week serving and the other part trying to absorb everything the conference offered, from digital scholarship workshops to panels on rural reform. Somewhere between those rooms, I began to see that these connections—between people, methods, and ideas—are the real architecture of the field.

I also presented my own work on a panel titled “Prairie People and Progressive Politics: Entrepreneurs, Money, Political Media, and Revolt on the Great Plains since 1877.” My paper, “Mobilizing the Middle Border,” examined the cooperative politics and entrepreneurial reform networks of agrarian activists in the Midwest during the Gilded Age. The feedback from my co-panelists, chair, and audience was sharp and generous, forcing me to think more critically about how reformers navigated their own contradictions—between profit and community, autonomy and solidarity. In a sense, that same contradiction mirrored my own week: the push and pull between personal intellectual ambition and collective responsibility.

The conference also offered a front-row seat to how a major professional gathering comes together. I was privileged to be invited to join the 2026 Program Committee. Observing how proposals are evaluated and sessions are balanced gave me new respect for the organizational labor that makes what seems effortless from the outside possible. Like the cooperative ventures my research examines, conferences depend on a shared commitment to process—sometimes slow, often imperfect, but ultimately democratic.

Beyond panels and meetings, one recurring topic seemed to animate nearly every hallway conversation: artificial intelligence. The range of views was striking. Some colleagues saw AI as a new pedagogical tool; others viewed it as a threat to critical thinking itself. The debate reminded me that our field has always lived at the intersection of technology and interpretation. The question isn’t whether to resist or embrace change, but how to teach discernment in a moment when both the archive and the classroom are rapidly transforming. This will remain a focus of both the Digital Scholarship and Teaching and Public Education committees.

By the time the conference ended, I felt both exhausted and recharged. Balancing committee obligations with intellectual curiosity had not been easy. I missed panels I wanted to attend, skipped social events I had planned for, and made edits to my talk between meetings. But that balancing act was instructive. It showed me that professional service is not an accessory to academic life; it is a form of practice—a way of learning to think collectively, to collaborate, and to understand the field as a living organism rather than an audience for our individual work.

If anything, my week at the WHA reaffirmed that history is a cooperative enterprise. The same values that shaped the reformers I study—mutual aid, shared labor, and the belief that small, local action can yield significant results—still animate the best of what we do as historians. Watching teachers, students, and scholars find common cause in public education sessions, seeing digital humanists and labor historians swap ideas, or hearing arguments spill over into the hotel lobby long after panels ended—all of it underscored that the WHA is not just a professional association. It is a community that continues to experiment with how to make history public, relevant, and humane.

Winning the Graduate Student Prize was, of course, an honor. But more importantly, it reminded me that recognition is less a culmination than an invitation—to keep showing up, to keep balancing curiosity with service, and to keep contributing to the shared project that is western history. If the people I study built cooperative institutions to navigate an uncertain world, then perhaps our own committees, classrooms, and conferences are their modern analogues: experiments in connection, held together by trust, debate, and the stubborn hope that collaboration still matters.

Every year, the Western History Association brings together scholars, students, and community members who share an interest in the histories, stories, and lived experiences of the North American West. This year’s conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was no exception. My week in Albuquerque was a whirlwind of scholarship, networking, delicious food, and a few logistical hiccups, but it left me energized and grateful to be part of this community of historians.

I arrived on Tuesday as part of the graduate student staff and dove right into behind-the-scenes work. It gave me an early glimpse of the scale of the conference and a chance to meet the other grad staff members. By the end of the evening, we had organized over one thousand tote bags – which I know many of us look forward to getting each year.

Wednesday, after taking the day to walk around the city with friends, the conference officially kicked off with the opening reception at the Albuquerque Museum. The venue itself was amazing, and felt like the perfect spot for historians to come together. In between conversations, I wandered through the exhibits, learning more about the city in which I found myself for a few short days.

Thursday began early with the Environmental History breakfast, one of my favorite events of the conference. Over the course of the breakfast, scholars discussed their projects, shared advice, and caught up on each other’s progress. This year, I had the opportunity to meet some new folks at my table and even solicit a few words of wisdom as I continue working on my dissertation proposal. After breakfast, I spent the morning and early afternoon attending panels that highlighted graduate student research on water history and the histories of empire in the American West.  Next, as a member of the WHA Graduate Student Cacus, I attended the Graduate Student Caucus lunch, and I was thrilled by the turnout. There’s something energizing about being in a room full of graduate students navigating similar stages of academic life, sharing concerns, celebrating wins, and brainstorming the future of the Grad Cacus and the WHA. Plus, the food was delicious. Afterward, I took some time to catch up with old friends and wandered the city a bit. Finally, Thursday ended on a high note with the Graduate Student Reception. Leah and the 2024–25 committee truly outdid themselves in planning the event. It was lively, welcoming, and full of opportunities to connect with students from across the country.

Friday was another busy day, beginning with the Coalition for Western Women’s History breakfast. It was my first time attending, and I left feeling inspired by the incredible work being done by scholars dedicated to gender and women’s history in the West. From there, I headed straight into presenting at an 8:15 a.m. roundtable titled “New Voices in the Histories of Gender and Sexuality in the American West.” Despite the early hour, we had a strong turnout, and the audience’s engagement made the session memorable. The questions and discussion that followed affirmed the direction of my project and helped me think more deeply about its broader implications. After the roundtable, I prepared for my second presentation of the day as part of the Early-Stage Research Lightning Round. Presenting work at such an early point in my dissertation process was both vulnerable and exciting, and it was encouraging to see the support and curiosity from my fellow presenters and attendees. With my presentations complete, I allowed myself a bit of time to wander through the exhibit hall. Of course, no WHA exhibit hall experience is complete without buying a few new books. Later in the afternoon, I attended the CWWH/CRAW reception to continue conversations from the morning’s breakfast. Then, I headed to the Awards Ceremony, where I was honored to receive the graduate student prize. It was a moment that made me pause and appreciate how grateful I am for the mentorship of Leisl Carr Childers and Mike Childers which introduced to the WHA back in San Antonio in 2022. The day wrapped up with the Veterans and Allies Reception hosted by the Applied History Initiative. There, I made new connections and even began sketching out ideas for a panel I hope to submit for next year’s conference. The collaborative spirit of WHA is always strong in informal gatherings like this, where unexpected conversations spark new ideas.

Saturday, I took the morning to explore Albuquerque’s food scene and squeezed in a few final panels before shifting into travel mode. Unfortunately, a cancelled flight meant an extra night, but I eventually made it back to Champaign on Sunday, tired yet full of gratitude. Even before I left New Mexico, I found myself already making plans for next year’s conference and I already can’t wait.

Furthermore, I am incredibly grateful for the support of the WHA and the scholars I have come to call friends since my first conference in 2022. This award comes a crucial point in my trajectory as a student and being able to fully engage in the conference was more valuable than many can know. The WHA always make a point to support grad students the best they can, and it shows in their awards, the program, and the number of graduate students that participate every year. It is for this reason, among others, I am proud to be a part of the WHA, and continue to look forward to attending each year.

 

Dale Mize

University of Illinois

I am grateful to the Western Historical Association for awarding me the Graduate Student Prize, which made my first WHA conference a truly memorable experience. The WHA Conference is the largest conference I have ever presented at, and the first conference at which I took advantage of all the different networking events and ceremonies. I am in a unique position compared to other awardees, as I have recently graduated from a master's program and am currently applying to PhD programs. This further pushed me to use every spare minute and session as an opportunity to meet graduate students and professors. In the months leading up to the conference, I studied the program closely and meticulously planned every hour of the three days.

After the eleven-hour drive through miles of Texas and New Mexico desert, my colleague, Madeline Johnson, and I finally arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico. On the drive up, I reached out to multiple professors and graduate students at potential PhD programs I plan to apply to this upcoming cycle. I hit the ground running and met up with a graduate student right as we stepped into the hotel on Wednesday night. After an invigorating two-hour conversation about the program, our research, and the application process, I moseyed off to bed feeling excited for the days to follow.

Madeline and I woke up bright and early the next morning to meet up with Dr. Valerio-Jimenez before our 8 o’clock panel, “Critical Histories of Archives in Texas”. Although we struggled with the AV system, the intimate, casual setting created a great atmosphere for engaging with fellow public historians and archivists. The next panel I was particularly excited for was “Emotional Frontiers: Towards a History of Feelings in the North American West”, because the panel focused on queer and Chicano activism. What was most striking to me was Magaly Ordonez’s presentation on the cannabis culture and queer activism in the 1970s. The panel inspired me to consider how/if cannabis culture influenced queer activism in San Antonio during the 1970s.

When “Doing Queer History” was added to the program at the last minute, I was ecstatic! The session led to an open discussion among professors, students, and public historians about the current state of queer history, the issues, and ongoing political developments. The inclusive and caring atmosphere during the session and for the entire conference cultivated a safe environment that allowed all scholars to speak freely. As a historian from Texas, I understand the importance and urgency of these conversations. As a new historian in queer history, it was informative to hear from historians who have been researching queer history for much longer than I have.

Between sessions, I had the opportunity to talk with professors about what I am looking for in a PhD program and to understand how programs can vary. To end the long day, I headed to the presidential plenary and the graduate student reception! Not only was the food so needed after a long day, but it also allowed me to unwind with fellow graduate students and make connections for future potential collaborations. I meet archivists from Big Bend, Kentucky, and Phd students from Massachusetts and Lubbock, Texas. Everyone was so nice and eager to share their research interests, as well as suggest potential sources, archives, or ideas that might help my research.

Friday was another early morning since I sat on another panel titled “New Voices in the Histories of Gender and Sexuality in the American West”. Before the session, I met the other amazing historians working in the field of gender and sexuality in the West, and hearing about their research was truly captivating and inspiring. It was an amazing feeling to be surrounded by peers who were in similar stages of their research and building connections within our field. In uncertain times, it is easy to become disillusioned with reality, but I left this session being reminded that I am not alone in my experience and that others are as determined as I am to preserve this history.

After my session, I spoke with attendees who shared similar research interests with me and exchanged information and reading suggestions. The rest of my day was packed with panels, one of my favorites was “Market Relationships and the Migrant Entrepreneurs”, where I learned about new histories of swap meets and street vendors in Los Angeles, California, alongside histories of Indigenous Hawaiian lei markets in Honolulu, Hawaii. One of the biggest takeaways was Dr. Julia Brown Bernstein’s concept “plazamaking,” which describes how migrants create a sense of belonging and adapt to life in urban Los Angeles in the neoliberal era. As someone interested in Mexican American history, Dr. Bernstein’s presentation demonstrated various ways to analyze foundational concepts in the field, such as identity, cultural negotiation, and autonomy.

The last event I attended was the award ceremony, where I gathered with all the friends I made throughout the conference and congratulate my fellow historians on their accomplishments in history. On the long drive home, I reflected on my experience at the WHA Conference and felt supported with a renewed sense of purpose. I am deeply grateful to the WHA for this opportunity and to every person who shared their work and encouragement with me, and I look forward to carrying this momentum into the next chapter of my academic journey.

TSLAC Research Fellowship in Texas History

The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) is now accepting applications for its 2026 Research Fellowship in Texas History. The fellowship includes a $2,000 stipend and is awarded for the best research proposal utilizing the collections of the State Archives in Austin or the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center in Liberty, Texas.

The TSLAC Research Fellowship in Texas History is made possible by the generous support of the Texas Library and Archives Foundation.

The application must include the purpose of the proposed research, collections of interest, a discussion of how this research will contribute to a greater understanding of Texas history, plans for dissemination and a curriculum vitae. The recipient of the fellowship will be asked to present the results of their research at a TSLAC event. Judges may withhold the award at their discretion.

Visit www.tsl.texas.gov/arc/researchfellowship to apply by January 15, 2026.

In partnership with Penn State’s Africana Research Center, the Richards Center established a competitive, one-year postdoctoral fellowship in 2012. The fellowship rewards recently graduated Ph.D.s studying aspects of the African American experience from slavery to Civil Rights.

Since 2020, Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts, Department of History, and the Richards Center have hosted a second Center-sponsored postdoctoral fellowship (in addition to our joint RCWEC/ARC fellowship). The fellowship rewards recently graduated Ph.D.s studying aspects of the Civil War Era, particularly focusing on slavery and emancipation.

Both fellowships are one year with the possibility of renewal for a second year. While in residence, the fellows have access to the Center’s professional resources, receive guidance from a mentor, and participate in a series of professional development workshops. The fellows will present their research to the graduate community and will invite senior scholars in their field to the university to review and comment on their work.

https://richardscenter.la.psu.edu/fellowships/past-postdoctoral-fellows/

Application and Submission Process

Successful applicants must have completed all requirements for the Ph.D. within the previous four academic years. Salary/benefit package is competitive.

To be considered for this position, submit a complete application packet including a cover letter describing your research and goals for the scholarship year, a curriculum vita, and a list of three references. We will request writing samples and letters of recommendation from candidates who advance in the search process. Successful candidates must either have demonstrated a commitment to building an inclusive, equitable, and diverse campus community, or describe one or more ways they would envision doing so, given the opportunity.

Review of materials will begin November 1, 2025, and continue until the position has been filled. Please direct questions about the process via e-mail to richardscenter@psu.edu.

Postdoctoral Scholar, African American History

The Richards Center and the Africana Research Center invite applications for a postdoctoral scholar in African American history, beginning July 1, 2026. This is a one-year position, with a high possibility of renewal for a second year. All research interests spanning the origins of slavery through the civil rights movement will receive favorable consideration. Proposals that align with the Richards Center’s interests in slavery, abolition, and emancipation are especially welcome. During their residency, the scholar will have no teaching or administrative responsibilities. In addition, they will attend workshops, professional development sessions and other relevant events, and will be expected to take an active part in Penn State’s community of researchers.

For more information and how to apply, see here.

Postdoctoral Scholar, Civil War Era

The Richards Civil War Era Center, in conjunction with the Department of History and the College of the Liberal Arts, invites applications for a postdoctoral scholar in the history of the Civil War Era, beginning July 1, 2026. This is a one-year position, with a high possibility of renewal for a second year. All research interests spanning the pre-war period through Reconstruction will receive favorable consideration. Proposals that align with the Richards Center’s interests in slavery, abolition, and emancipation are especially welcome. During their residency, the scholar will have no teaching or administrative responsibilities. They will attend workshops, professional development sessions and other relevant events, and will be expected to take an active part in Penn State’s community of researchers.

For more information and how to apply, see here.