Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West
@huscicw.bsky.social
A teaching, research, and service initiative focused on the history and culture of the modern American West.
Pinned
We remain immensely grateful that we can do this work because of the support we receive from USC, from The Huntington, and from all of you.
Please join us at any – or all! – of our programs. If you can help us with a financial gift, we would be so grateful.
dornsife.usc.edu/icw/give-now/
Please join us at any – or all! – of our programs. If you can help us with a financial gift, we would be so grateful.
dornsife.usc.edu/icw/give-now/
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.”
February 11, 2026 at 5:59 PM
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.
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.
February 10, 2026 at 4:29 PM
🎧🎤 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.
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.
Reposted by Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West
Next week, 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
Register here: buff.ly/xdurSrk
February 5, 2026 at 9:10 PM
Next week, 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
Register here: buff.ly/xdurSrk
🎧🎤 Episode 3 of Western Edition Season 5 is live!
Watersheds West: Freeing the Klamath
www.buzzsprout.com/1837352/epis...
This episode shares histories of Native resistance and the movement to bring a century-old system of dams down, free the Klamath, and feed its lakes and wetlands.
Watersheds West: Freeing the Klamath
www.buzzsprout.com/1837352/epis...
This episode shares histories of Native resistance and the movement to bring a century-old system of dams down, free the Klamath, and feed its lakes and wetlands.
February 3, 2026 at 5:23 PM
🎧🎤 Episode 3 of Western Edition Season 5 is live!
Watersheds West: Freeing the Klamath
www.buzzsprout.com/1837352/epis...
This episode shares histories of Native resistance and the movement to bring a century-old system of dams down, free the Klamath, and feed its lakes and wetlands.
Watersheds West: Freeing the Klamath
www.buzzsprout.com/1837352/epis...
This episode shares histories of Native resistance and the movement to bring a century-old system of dams down, free the Klamath, and feed its lakes and wetlands.
🎧🎤 Episode 2 of Western Edition Season 5 is live!
Watersheds West: Adaptation and Repair
www.buzzsprout.com/1837352/epis...
We talk with Dr. Karletta Chief about engaging with Indigenous communities in addressing environmental disasters and a future shaped by climate change.
Watersheds West: Adaptation and Repair
www.buzzsprout.com/1837352/epis...
We talk with Dr. Karletta Chief about engaging with Indigenous communities in addressing environmental disasters and a future shaped by climate change.
January 27, 2026 at 8:19 PM
🎧🎤 Episode 2 of Western Edition Season 5 is live!
Watersheds West: Adaptation and Repair
www.buzzsprout.com/1837352/epis...
We talk with Dr. Karletta Chief about engaging with Indigenous communities in addressing environmental disasters and a future shaped by climate change.
Watersheds West: Adaptation and Repair
www.buzzsprout.com/1837352/epis...
We talk with Dr. Karletta Chief about engaging with Indigenous communities in addressing environmental disasters and a future shaped by climate change.
🎧🎤 The first episode of Western Edition Season 5 is live!
This episode orients us to a region defined by its aridity and considers how humans have interacted with water over the past two centuries, from Indigenous cosmologies to American conquest.
www.buzzsprout.com/1837352/epis...
This episode orients us to a region defined by its aridity and considers how humans have interacted with water over the past two centuries, from Indigenous cosmologies to American conquest.
www.buzzsprout.com/1837352/epis...
January 20, 2026 at 5:05 PM
🎧🎤 The first episode of Western Edition Season 5 is live!
This episode orients us to a region defined by its aridity and considers how humans have interacted with water over the past two centuries, from Indigenous cosmologies to American conquest.
www.buzzsprout.com/1837352/epis...
This episode orients us to a region defined by its aridity and considers how humans have interacted with water over the past two centuries, from Indigenous cosmologies to American conquest.
www.buzzsprout.com/1837352/epis...
January 13, 2026 at 9:59 PM
"Managing fire risk is about more than construction practices, regulations and rules. It is also about people and neighborliness – the ethos and practice of caring for those in your community, including making choices and taking steps on your own property to help keep the people around you safe."
January 8, 2026 at 5:50 PM
"Managing fire risk is about more than construction practices, regulations and rules. It is also about people and neighborliness – the ethos and practice of caring for those in your community, including making choices and taking steps on your own property to help keep the people around you safe."
ICW co-directors Bill Deverell and Elizabeth Logan reflect on the importance of collective care in the face of wildfire threats @us.theconversation.com.
theconversation.com/la-fires-sho...
theconversation.com/la-fires-sho...
LA fires showed how much neighborliness matters for wildfire safety
Managing fire risk is about more than regulations and rules. It’s also about caring for neighbors and taking steps on your own property and in your community to help keep neighbors safe.
theconversation.com
January 8, 2026 at 5:50 PM
ICW co-directors Bill Deverell and Elizabeth Logan reflect on the importance of collective care in the face of wildfire threats @us.theconversation.com.
theconversation.com/la-fires-sho...
theconversation.com/la-fires-sho...
We remain immensely grateful that we can do this work because of the support we receive from USC, from The Huntington, and from all of you.
Please join us at any – or all! – of our programs. If you can help us with a financial gift, we would be so grateful.
dornsife.usc.edu/icw/give-now/
Please join us at any – or all! – of our programs. If you can help us with a financial gift, we would be so grateful.
dornsife.usc.edu/icw/give-now/
December 10, 2025 at 11:19 PM
We remain immensely grateful that we can do this work because of the support we receive from USC, from The Huntington, and from all of you.
Please join us at any – or all! – of our programs. If you can help us with a financial gift, we would be so grateful.
dornsife.usc.edu/icw/give-now/
Please join us at any – or all! – of our programs. If you can help us with a financial gift, we would be so grateful.
dornsife.usc.edu/icw/give-now/
We're excited to co-host, along with our partners @thehuntington.bsky.social, a special event with Dr. Naomi Fraga.
December 12, 2025, 2:00 – 3:00pm
Zoom Passcode: 041228. (No Pre-Registration Needed!)
Dr. Naomi Fraga is Director of Conservation Programs at California Botanic Garden in Claremont
December 12, 2025, 2:00 – 3:00pm
Zoom Passcode: 041228. (No Pre-Registration Needed!)
Dr. Naomi Fraga is Director of Conservation Programs at California Botanic Garden in Claremont
December 4, 2025 at 11:18 PM
We're excited to co-host, along with our partners @thehuntington.bsky.social, a special event with Dr. Naomi Fraga.
December 12, 2025, 2:00 – 3:00pm
Zoom Passcode: 041228. (No Pre-Registration Needed!)
Dr. Naomi Fraga is Director of Conservation Programs at California Botanic Garden in Claremont
December 12, 2025, 2:00 – 3:00pm
Zoom Passcode: 041228. (No Pre-Registration Needed!)
Dr. Naomi Fraga is Director of Conservation Programs at California Botanic Garden in Claremont
🎧 🎤 Season Five of our podcast is almost here!
🔊Sound on to hear the trailer.
Western Edition: Watersheds West launches January 2026, wherever you find podcasts.
Listen to the full prologue: westernedition.buzzsprout.com
🔊Sound on to hear the trailer.
Western Edition: Watersheds West launches January 2026, wherever you find podcasts.
Listen to the full prologue: westernedition.buzzsprout.com
December 2, 2025 at 10:24 PM
🎧 🎤 Season Five of our podcast is almost here!
🔊Sound on to hear the trailer.
Western Edition: Watersheds West launches January 2026, wherever you find podcasts.
Listen to the full prologue: westernedition.buzzsprout.com
🔊Sound on to hear the trailer.
Western Edition: Watersheds West launches January 2026, wherever you find podcasts.
Listen to the full prologue: westernedition.buzzsprout.com
The Cultural Landscape Foundation will be hosting a conference, Soak it Up: Los Angeles, on design and urban flooding in Southern California, including comment from ICW's own Bill Deverell!
For info and to register: www.tclf.org/soak-it-los-...
For info and to register: www.tclf.org/soak-it-los-...
Soak it Up: Los Angeles, CA | TCLF
REGISTER NOW - In honor of the late Oberlander Prize Laureate, Kongjian Yu, global champion of the “sponge cities” concept, leading landscape architects will examine provocative solutions for urban fl...
www.tclf.org
November 20, 2025 at 10:36 PM
The Cultural Landscape Foundation will be hosting a conference, Soak it Up: Los Angeles, on design and urban flooding in Southern California, including comment from ICW's own Bill Deverell!
For info and to register: www.tclf.org/soak-it-los-...
For info and to register: www.tclf.org/soak-it-los-...
Read the full piece, which is free and accessible to the public. Visit the PHR at: online.ucpress.edu/phr/article/...
“No Chinese Should Obey It”A Transpacific History of the Geary Act
In 1892, the Geary Act dramatically expanded Chinese exclusion by requiring all Chinese immigrants in the United States to register, under threat of deportation. Despite the tremendous attention the a...
online.ucpress.edu
November 18, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Read the full piece, which is free and accessible to the public. Visit the PHR at: online.ucpress.edu/phr/article/...
Together with white allies and Chinese across the Pacific, Chinese denizens of the United States formed one of the largest civil disobedience movements of their century. At stake was the future of exclusion and the avenues of belonging for Chinese in America.
November 18, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Together with white allies and Chinese across the Pacific, Chinese denizens of the United States formed one of the largest civil disobedience movements of their century. At stake was the future of exclusion and the avenues of belonging for Chinese in America.
In 1892, the Geary Act dramatically expanded Chinese exclusion by requiring all Chinese immigrants in the United States to register, under threat of deportation. This article unearths the transpacific networks of people and ideas that are revealed by, and mobilized against, the Geary Act.
November 18, 2025 at 5:49 PM
In 1892, the Geary Act dramatically expanded Chinese exclusion by requiring all Chinese immigrants in the United States to register, under threat of deportation. This article unearths the transpacific networks of people and ideas that are revealed by, and mobilized against, the Geary Act.
🧵 New, noteworthy, and open-access Western scholarship!
Our partners at Pacific Historical Review @ucpress have made a piece from their new issue open to our readers and the public: “’No Chinese Should Obey It’: A Transpacific History of the Geary Act” by Alexander Jin.
Our partners at Pacific Historical Review @ucpress have made a piece from their new issue open to our readers and the public: “’No Chinese Should Obey It’: A Transpacific History of the Geary Act” by Alexander Jin.
November 18, 2025 at 5:49 PM
🧵 New, noteworthy, and open-access Western scholarship!
Our partners at Pacific Historical Review @ucpress have made a piece from their new issue open to our readers and the public: “’No Chinese Should Obey It’: A Transpacific History of the Geary Act” by Alexander Jin.
Our partners at Pacific Historical Review @ucpress have made a piece from their new issue open to our readers and the public: “’No Chinese Should Obey It’: A Transpacific History of the Geary Act” by Alexander Jin.
Every year students in our high school program work a shift at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. We’ve witnessed firsthand how they provide crucial resources for families facing food insecurity.
If you can, please consider supporting the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank: lafoodbank.org
If you can, please consider supporting the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank: lafoodbank.org
November 7, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Every year students in our high school program work a shift at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. We’ve witnessed firsthand how they provide crucial resources for families facing food insecurity.
If you can, please consider supporting the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank: lafoodbank.org
If you can, please consider supporting the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank: lafoodbank.org
Really important project from Million Dollar Hoods and @uclacilp.bsky.social explaining the history of race, immigration, and deportations in the US. It's an excellent teaching tool!
mappingdeportations.com
mappingdeportations.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Really important project from Million Dollar Hoods and @uclacilp.bsky.social explaining the history of race, immigration, and deportations in the US. It's an excellent teaching tool!
mappingdeportations.com
mappingdeportations.com
Powerful piece from our partners at The Huntington on the importance of the humanities, now more than ever.
“The humanities are civic infrastructure. They’re the systems of thought and imagination that hold a community together. There has never been a more important time to invest in them.”
“The humanities are civic infrastructure. They’re the systems of thought and imagination that hold a community together. There has never been a more important time to invest in them.”
A Haven for the Humanities | The Huntington
Research Fellows reflect on the archives, art, and gardens that have shaped our world.
www.huntington.org
October 30, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Powerful piece from our partners at The Huntington on the importance of the humanities, now more than ever.
“The humanities are civic infrastructure. They’re the systems of thought and imagination that hold a community together. There has never been a more important time to invest in them.”
“The humanities are civic infrastructure. They’re the systems of thought and imagination that hold a community together. There has never been a more important time to invest in them.”
Join our friends and colleagues at The Huntington for this year's Billington Lecture!
Professor Dustin Tahmahkera
"Archival Captivity Narratives: Who's Capturing Whom in Comanche Archives?"
6:00-7:00 pm
Nov. 6, 2025
Rothenberg Hall
www.huntington.org/event/archiv...
Professor Dustin Tahmahkera
"Archival Captivity Narratives: Who's Capturing Whom in Comanche Archives?"
6:00-7:00 pm
Nov. 6, 2025
Rothenberg Hall
www.huntington.org/event/archiv...
Archival Captivity Narratives: Who's Capturing Whom in Comanche Archives? | The Huntington
Join Dustin Tahmahkera, professor of Native American studies at the University of Oklahoma, for a lecture on stories of Comanches in film and media.
www.huntington.org
October 30, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Join our friends and colleagues at The Huntington for this year's Billington Lecture!
Professor Dustin Tahmahkera
"Archival Captivity Narratives: Who's Capturing Whom in Comanche Archives?"
6:00-7:00 pm
Nov. 6, 2025
Rothenberg Hall
www.huntington.org/event/archiv...
Professor Dustin Tahmahkera
"Archival Captivity Narratives: Who's Capturing Whom in Comanche Archives?"
6:00-7:00 pm
Nov. 6, 2025
Rothenberg Hall
www.huntington.org/event/archiv...
📸 Basque sheep herder leading pack train down from summer camp in Bear Valley, Adams County, Idaho, 1939. Dorothea Lange, Library of Congress.
Read the full article (free!): online.ucpress.edu/phr
Read the full article (free!): online.ucpress.edu/phr
October 24, 2025 at 4:36 PM
📸 Basque sheep herder leading pack train down from summer camp in Bear Valley, Adams County, Idaho, 1939. Dorothea Lange, Library of Congress.
Read the full article (free!): online.ucpress.edu/phr
Read the full article (free!): online.ucpress.edu/phr
October 24, 2025 at 4:36 PM
📸 Sheepherder “tying his horse to chuck wagon [i.e., sheepherder's wagon],” Madison County, Montana, 1939. Arthur Rothstein, Library of Congress.
October 24, 2025 at 4:36 PM
📸 Sheepherder “tying his horse to chuck wagon [i.e., sheepherder's wagon],” Madison County, Montana, 1939. Arthur Rothstein, Library of Congress.