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NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

The WHA Office often receives notifications about awards, scholarships, fellowships, and events that might be of interest to our members. We are also happy to share the news and accomplishments of individual members and programs.


When our staff receives requests to post news and announcements, you will find them here and on our social media platforms. Please email us if you wish to be included in our news and announcements feed! 

  • Friday, January 20, 2023 10:25 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Research Fellowships at the American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming

    The American Heritage Center (AHC) at the University of Wyoming invites applications forfellowships on topics related to the American West, western politics, women in public life, and economic geology. Applications are due March 31, 2023. For descriptions of the fellowships, please see http://www.uwyo.edu/ahc/grants/index.html. 

    Each fellowship aims to support a 20-day research stay at the AHC. The fellowship includes a $3,000 stipend which is paid at the end of the Fellow's stay and the receipt of a precis outlining sources consulted, how those sources shaped the research findings, and how the Fellow will incorporate this information into a final product.

    The annual competition is designed to encourage academic scholars to disseminate their findings from the AHC's abundant collections that relate to the fellowship's theme. Academic scholars at any level, from graduate students to tenured faculty, may apply.  Members of under-represented communities and multi-discipinary scholars are encouraged to apply.

    Applications should include:

     Curriculum Vitae, including contact information, education, publications, scholarly activities, teaching experience, and any other relevant work experience.

     Research proposal of no more than two single-spaced pages that includes a brief statement of purpose for the project, specific reference to how the AHC's collections will significantly contribute to the project's success, and a timeline outlining the plan of research and dates for anticipated products.

     Names and contact information of three references.

    Proposals will be awarded based on the following criteria:

     Extent to which the proposed project draws upon the collections of the AHC.

     Research project's potential contribution to the understanding of the fellowship's theme.

     Potential for professional presentation and/or publication upon completion of the Fellow's research.

     Applicant's ability to complete the research project in a timely fashion.

    A selection committee composed of AHC staff and University of Wyoming faculty choose each year's fellows. Recipients are informed by email.

    Please email all application materials in pdf form by March 31, 2023, to AHC Simpson Archivist Leslie Waggener at lwaggen2@uwyo.edu.

    Information about the American Heritage Center:

    The AHC is a public research institution located on the campus of the University of Wyoming in Laramie. The Center houses collections of local, regional, and national significance. Its holdings emphasize the American West from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. It has extensive collections in western political history, mining and petroleum, popular entertainment (including Hollywood and comics), environment and natural resources, journalism, and military history. The AHC also serves as the University of Wyoming's rare books library and university archives. With more than 90,000 cubic feet of materials and 3,500 collections, the AHC stands among the largest non-governmental repositories in the nation.

    To learn more about the AHC, please see www.uwyo.edu/ahc. For more information about the fellowships, see  http://www.uwyo.edu/ahc/grants/index.html or contact Leslie Waggener at lwaggen2@uwyo.edu.


  • Wednesday, January 18, 2023 2:50 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Need financial aid to help complete your history project? The Wyoming Historical Society, a non-profit membership driven educational organization, offers cash grants to people involved in research activities based on various aspects of the state’s history. The grants, ranging from $100.00 up to $1500.00 are awarded based on applications submitted to the Society’s Lola Homsher Endowment Fund Committee. The deadline is February 28, 2023, with applicants notified of the results in the spring. All applications must be submitted electronically via the Society’s website at www.wyshs.org.

    WHS President Cindy Brown says that work done by amateur and professional historians through these grants supports the Society’s mission to make Wyoming’s past accessible to present and future generations. Brown said, “Providing funds for researcher travel and for research-related costs such as scanning can make all the difference in completing a project. Creating opportunities for original research is a mainstay of the Homsher Grant program.”

    Grant monies are drawn from a fund established by the late Lola Homsher, a noted historian and state archivist. One of Homsher’ s most significant contributions to preserve Wyoming history came when she spearheaded creating the Wyoming Historical Society in 1953. After her retirement, Homsher made a major donation to the Society that has been used as an endowment to help fund Society programs.

    The committee reviews all proposals and makes awards after the selection process has been completed, usually in spring. Preference is given to proposals that promise original research on topics related to Wyoming history. Wyoming residents are also given preference, but all applications are welcome. Proposals must include a statement of purpose, an explanation of the project, the value to Wyoming history and a description of how the public will benefit from the research.

    Brown says it is always exciting to see the creative avenues being explored in Wyoming history. Last year’s recipients used funds to enhance their research on topics ranging from an Arapaho Episcopal priest and long-term resident of the Wind River Reservation to the use of bears in advertising Yellowstone National Park, and the Civil War Cavalry in pre-Territorial Wyoming, plus research about the murals painted by Italian Prisoners of War at Camp Douglas. “Applications that touch upon all aspects of Wyoming history are welcome,” Brown says.

    Applications and rules can be obtained by visiting the Society’s website at www.wyshs.org and selecting “Programs” and then “Lola Homsher Research Grant Program.”  If you do not have access to the web, please contact the Wyoming Historical Society at 307-322-3014 or linda@wyshs.org to receive a copy of the application. Electronic proposals are due February 28, 2023. All recipients must provide the Society with an interim report and a final report about their projects.


  • Monday, December 05, 2022 7:00 AM | Anonymous

    World History Connected, an affiliate of the World History Association, is seeking contributions to the Summer 2023 issue's Forum devoted to "The American West in World History." Contributions may include archival research, field work, and the scholarship of teaching.

    The submission deadline is March 19, 2023.

    For more information about the Forum and its CFP, including submission details, please consult the full Call for Papers here: https://bit.ly/3FihMJF

  • Friday, December 02, 2022 7:30 AM | Anonymous

    Texas Public Radio aired the WHA panel, "The Politics of Exclusion and the Protocols of Resistance: Understanding the Political Landscape of 21st- Century Texas," on Friday, November 18.

    The panel, which originally took place on Saturday, October 15 at 10:15am, went by the same name, and included Jeff Blodgett (President, American Association of University Professors-Texas), Jessica Luther (Freelance Journalist and University of Texas at Austin), Aimee Villareal (Texas State University), and local elected officials, with Norma Martinez (Texas Public Radio) and Tyina Steptoe (University of Arizona) serving as co-chairs.

    Norma Martinez, the host of "Fronteras" and Marian Navarro, the producer, edited the panel into a 30-minute episode. 

    The panel's airing is available as a podcast episode here: https://bit.ly/3XMZ5VE

  • Thursday, December 01, 2022 11:00 AM | Anonymous

    The National Park Service is seeking a qualified historian to serve as the Intermountain Regional National Historic Landmark Program Coordinator. This position would be duty stationed in Lakewood, Colorado and serve the eight states of the Intermountain West (AZ, CO, MT, NM, OK, TX, UT, WY). 

    The Department of the Interior is accepting the first 75 applicants or until 12/07/2022, whichever comes first. 

    For more information on the position and how to apply, please visit the original job posting here: https://bit.ly/3Uj3D37

  • Monday, November 28, 2022 8:05 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    The Department of History at the University of Nebraska at Omaha invites applications for a tenure-track position in Latin American History. Geographic area and chronological period are open. Appointment will be at the assistant professor rank, to begin August 14, 2023. The successful candidate will teach a 3/3 load (nine hours a semester). Candidates should be able to teach surveys of World Civilizations, Latin American History, one of the department’s methodology courses, and upper-level courses in their area of specialization (at both the undergraduate and graduate level) . The successful candidate is expected to maintain a program of research and publication, to participate in History Department Programs, and to develop and participate in UNO activities associated with the Office of Latino and Latin American Studies (OLLAS).

    To apply, please submit the following application materials:

    · Cover letter

    · C.V.

    · Diversity, equity, & inclusion statement, including how this would influence the candidate’s approach to teaching the diverse student body at UNO.

    · Names and contact information of three references (references will only be contacted for finalists)

    · Teaching statement which should include the candidate’s approach to different teaching modes: in person, online, and hybrid.

    Candidates who advance beyond the first round will be asked for letters of reference, sample syllabi, and a writing sample.

    Applications must be submitted directly through the UNO website to be considered for this position. Any applications submitted via email or any other website will not be reviewed or considered.

    Review of applications will commence on 12/5/22. The position will remain open until filled.

    Inquiries can be directed to: Dr. Danielle Battisti, Department Chair, Department of History, dbattisti@unomaha.edu.

    To apply: https://unomaha.peopleadmin.com/postings/16629?fbclid=IwAR0Sv15gKcg_a3wxZyTljycE7tkXRbgv_BFPc7ShnuSOvZBnKfbWoIOr4Co



  • Friday, November 18, 2022 9:30 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    The History Department at the University of Utah is pleased to announce that it will offer three fully funded Master’s Degrees (two years of tuition and teaching assistantship stipend) in the history of the US West, Environmental History and the History of Indigeneity (the last two are open region) beginning Fall Semester 2023. Applications for the graduate program close December 1, 2022.

    Please direct any questions to our Academic Advisor, Amarilys Scott amarilys.scott@utah.edu, or our Director of Graduate Studies, Elizabeth Clement elizabeth.clement@utah.edu.


  • Thursday, November 17, 2022 3:30 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    I regretfully write to inform you that Dr. Carol O'Connor, notable western history scholar and prominent WHA member, died on November 10, 2022, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was 76 years old. O'Connor was involved in the organization since the late 1980s and has participated in numerous conferences in addition to serving on WHA committees such as the Caughey and Malone award committees.

    You can learn more about Dr. O'Connor's life and career in her obituary below.

    Carol Ann O'Connor, 1946-2022

    Carol Ann O’Connor notable historian of urban America and the North American West died in Tulsa, Oklahoma on November 10, 2022 of complications from Lewy body dementia. Born on February 14, 1946 in Evanston, Illinois, she was age 76 at her death. A 1967 graduate of Manhattanville College, O’Connor brought a lifelong interest in local and community studies to her professional career. As a graduate student at Yale where she completed her Ph. D. in 1976, O’Connor gravitated to the subject of her hometown and produced the book, A Sort of Utopia: Scarsdale, 1891-1981 published in 1983. During 25 years on the faculty at Utah State University, her interests shifted westward. Along with her husband and colleague, Clyde A. Milner II, and Martha A. Sandweiss who recently retired from Princeton University, O’Connor coedited the Oxford History of the American West (1994) and wrote the chapter “A Region of Cities.” That volume received international reviews and recognition as well as two prominent book awards. In collaboration with her husband, she also co-authored As Big as the West: The Pioneer Life of Granville Stuart published by Oxford University Press in 2009. At Utah State in 1999, students in campus government and the honors program invited her to present the 24th annual Last Lecture. She was the first woman to do so and took the occasion to explain her love of history and her devotion to teaching as well as her hope that her personal journey provide worthwhile insights for other women. In that spirit combined with her warm smile and bountiful humor, generations of undergrad and graduate students as well as faculty colleagues can attest to her generous support of their work.

    In 2002, O’Connor became professor of history at Arkansas State University where she served as associate dean and then dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences before her retirement in 2012. She then moved in 2014 to Albuquerque, New Mexico and eventually in 2021 to Tulsa. Oklahoma. Her interest in the daily administration of a university will not surprise those who knew her as a graduate student. During the first year of coeducation at Yale College, O’Connor lived in Vanderbilt Hall as a freshman counselor followed by two years as a graduate resident in Saybrook College. She also had her 1977 wedding to Clyde Milner on the Yale campus in Connecticut Hall under the care of the New Haven Quaker meeting. Their daughter, Dr. Catherine Milner, a neonatologist in Tulsa, graduated from Guilford, a Quaker college in Greensboro, NC before beginning her medical studies at Oklahoma State University. Their son Charles Milner studied physics at Yale and then completed his master’s degree in computer science at the University of Pennsylvania. He presently is a manager and software engineer for YouTube. Carol O’Connor is survived by her husband; two brothers – John O’Connor of Alpharetta, Georgia and Brian O’Connor of Fairport, New York; two daughters-in-law – Dr. Megan Woslager, M.D. of Tulsa, Oklahoma and Dr. Ashley Tallevi, Ph.D. of Mamaroneck, New York; and two granddaughters – Madeleine Marie Milner and Caryl Ann Milner. Her parents Joseph and Veronica O’Connor predeceased her as did an older brother Terence O’Connor.

    Contributions to honor Carol O’Connor are requested for Planned Parenthood Federation of America (see https://www.plannedparenthood.org) or to the Albuquerque Friends Meeting (Quakers) P.O. Box 25462, Albuquerque, NM 87125-5462. A memorial service at the Albuquerque Friends Meeting will be scheduled at a future date.

  • Friday, November 11, 2022 7:00 AM | Anonymous

    The Autry Museum of the American West is now accepting applications for their research fellowships. The Autry offers one fellowship exclusively to UCLA graduate students, as well two others open to Ph.D. candidates, postdoctoral researchers, and independent scholars from across the U.S. Research Fellows must be U.S. citizens and in-residence at the Autry during June, July, August, or September 2023. 

    Interested applicants should apply by the January 30, 2023 deadline.

    For more information on the different fellowships available, as well as application procedures and fellowship expectations, please visit the Autry's Fellowships page here.

  • Monday, November 07, 2022 7:00 AM | Anonymous

    The Colorado State University Water Resources Archive is now welcoming applications for the Water Scholar Award. This annual award grants funding to researchers whose work on western water would benefit from access to the collection. The award is intended to help offset the expenses of researchers engaged in studies that will benefit from access to the holdings of the Water Resources Archive as well as costs associated with presentations, publications, or other products resulting from that research. For the 2023 award, the total amount of funding is capped at $3,200.

    Applications are due January 31. Additional information and application details can be found here.

    About the Colorado State University Water Resources Archive:

    Part of the Colorado State University Libraries and in partnership with the Colorado Water Center, the Water Resources Archive consists of collections from individuals and organizations that have been instrumental in the development of water resources in Colorado and the West. Subject areas include water resources management, irrigation, engineering, law and legislation, endangered species, and more.



Western History Association

University of Kansas | History Department

1445 Jayhawk Blvd. | 3650 Wescoe Hall

Lawrence, KS 66045 | 785-864-0860

wha@westernhistory.org 


The WHA is located in the Department of History at the University of Kansas. The WHA is grateful to KU's History Department and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for their generous support!