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57th Annual WHA Conference
November 1-4, 2017 - San Diego, California
2017 WHA President Stephen Aron
In my dual (and occasionally dueling) roles at the Autry and UCLA, I have sought to bridge the divide between "academic" and "public" history. That has been facilitated by my emphasis in publications, teaching, and museum programming on “convergence” as a lens through which to view the western past. Defined by the Autry as a “a way of seeing the large evolving story of the American West as an interwoven tapestry of cultures and peoples, and a way of understanding how their stories are connected to one another and to us,” convergence, I believe, offers one framework to bring the West and western historians together. Bridging divides and exploring convergences are essential to “expanding western horizons,” the theme of the 2016 Western History Association meeting, for which I am the co-chair of the program committee. They would also be central to my term as president, which, I hope, would allow us to expand the ranks and reach of the WHA. |
Stephen Aron is professor of history and Robert N. Burr Department Chair at the University of California, Los Angeles. He received his B.A. from Amherst College (1982) and his M.A. (1986) and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley (1990). Aron is the author of How the West Was Lost: The Transformation of Kentucky from Daniel Boone to Henry Clay (1996); American Confluence: The Missouri Frontier from Borderland to Border State (2006); and The American West: A Very Short Introduction (2015); co-author of Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: A History of the World from the Beginnings of Humankind to the Present (4th edition, 2014); co-editor of Trading Cultures: The Worlds of Western Merchants (2001); and editor of Convergence magazine (2004-2011). He is currently writing a book with the working title Can We All Get Along: An Alternative History of the American West. In addition to UCLA, Aron has taught at Princeton University, the Université de Paris 1 – Sorbonne, and St. John’s University (where he held the Peter and Margaret D’Angelo Chair in the Humanities in 2015). In 2011, Aron was elected to the American Antiquarian Society and in 2015 to the Society of American Historians. From 2002-2014, Aron split his appointment between UCLA and the Autry Museum, where he served as the founding executive director and then chair of the Autry’s Institute for the Study of the American West.Conference Program & Photos
Browse or download the 2017 Conference Program by clicking on the program cover View the Conference Program Index and Conference Program Errata View the 2017 Call for Papers: "Against the Grain" WHA Members Only: View 2017 conference photos (you must be logged into your account to view this page) |
Program CommitteeKatherine Benton-Cohen, Georgetown University (Co-Chair) Andrew Graybill, Southern Methodist University (Co-Chair) Kelly Lytle-Hernandez, UCLA (Co-Chair) Kent Blansett, University of Nebraska at Omaha | Local Arrangements Comm.Ross Frank, University of California, San Diego (Co-Chair) S. Deborah Kang, California State University, San Marcos (Co-Chair) John Putman, San Diego State University (Co-Chair) Jill Watts, California State University, San Marcos Linda Canada, Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego |
2017 ExhibitsAdam Matthew Digital Center for the Study of the American West Clements Center for Southwest Studies Coalition for Western Women's History Great Oak Press Library of Congress Teaching With Primary Sources Montana Historical Society Oxford University Press Rutgers University Press South Dakota Historical Society Press Texas A&M University Press Texas Tech University Press University of California Press University of North Carolina Press University of Nebraska Press University of Nevada Press University of New Mexico Press University of Oklahoma Press University of Texas Press University of Washington Press University Press of Colorado University Press of Kansas Westerner's International Yale University Press New Mexico Historical Review Western Writers of America Western History Association | 2017 SponsorsUniversity of Alaska Fairbanks Department of History American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming American West Center, University of Utah Arthur T. Fathauer Chair, University of Alaska Fairbanks Boise State University UCLA Dean of Social Sciences UCLA Department of Chicano/a Studies UCLA Department of History Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska Center for the Southwest, University of New Mexico Charles Redd Center at Brigham Young University Clements Center for Southwest Studies California State University, San Marcos Department of History Great Oak Press J. Willard Marriot Library, University of Utah Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Nickoll Family Endowed Chair, UCLA History Department University of Nevada at Las Vegas, Public History Program SDSU Department of History Stevens Historical Research Associates The Papers of William F. Cody, Buffalo Bill Center of the West W.W. Norton University of Wyoming University of Wyoming Department of History |