The Alliance for Texas History wishes to enlist a public history editor for its new publication, The Journal of Texas History. The journal will be an open access publication available through the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries and by print-on-demand. JTxH will publish two issues a year, beginning in summer 2025.

The person in this role will identify museum exhibits, historical markers, podcasts, documentaries, digital history resources, and other projects that seek to bring serious historical scholarship and knowledge of Texas history to the public. The public history editor will develop standards for reviews of these projects, identify reviewers with appropriate expertise, assign and edit the reviews; and participate in the Journal’s editorial board meetings (held at least biannually). 

The public history editor will be supported by Journal of Texas History co-editors, Benjamin Johnson and Rebecca Sharpless, and reviews editor, Felipe Hinojosa. Resources and recommendations will also be available via the databases and email lists of the 600+ member-strong Alliance for Texas History.

We seek a historian familiar with Texas’ public history scene, broadly defined, and with enough publication experience to plausibly edit reviews. A willingness to work in a team with the other volunteer editors and an appreciation for the wide range of subjects within Texas history are essential.

To apply, please send a cover letter describing your interest in the position along with a CV to reviews@jtxh.org by August 15 for first consideration. This is an unpaid position. For general inquiries about the journal or the Alliance for Texas History, please email contact@atxh.org

Attending the 2024 Western History Association Conference was both a fun and productive experience for me thanks to the WHA Graduate Student Prize! It was my first time staying in a room in the hotel hosting the conference, and I appreciated the easier access it gave me for attending panels and events. Additionally, I was able to allow a fellow graduate student from the University of Oklahoma to use my complimentary room as well. The service and hospitality of the hotel staff was also top notch. Overall, I felt grateful to have the opportunity to enjoy the conference and not have to worry about lodging or transportation. It made this conference one of the best I have ever attended!

The University of Oklahoma always brings dozens of graduate students and faculty to the WHA conference, and I was glad I could attend many of their panels and give my support! Some of the panels I attended included “Gender and the Struggle for Indigenous Sovereignty,” “Black Health in the West,” “Identity and Activism: Western Women Campaigning for Suffrage and Against War,” “Beyond the West: Thinking about the American West Transnationally,” and “No Constitutional Right to Abortion: Reproductive Justice, Teaching, and Research after Dobbs.”

It was nothing short of amazing to see the work that my fellow graduate students were accomplishing! For example, Tom Kahle presented a paper based on interviews he had personally conducted with Native American leader Madonna Thunder Hawk, Ben Folger discussed a little-known African American doctor in Oklahoma during the late 1800s, and Alejandra Herrera explained how the Mexican American cultural practice of “lowriders” had been adopted by people from all across the world, from Saudia Arabia to Japan. My advisor, Jennifer Holland, presented on the timely issue of abortion in our modern American society, and it felt both cathartic and productive to talk about issues and questions associated with this topic.

I also attended a roundtable of History Graduate Student Associations. It was a small one, but it gave everyone the opportunity to share their experiences with creating and maintaining organizations for the academic and social needs of graduate students. I enjoyed reminiscing on past events and discussing potential goals and activities for the History Graduate Student Association at the University of Oklahoma.

It was also a proud moment for me to receive my award at the ceremony, and many of my fellow University of Oklahoma representatives were there to support me and offer their congratulations. I appreciated that the WHA takes the time to recognize people for their accomplishments in a short yet meaningful way.

Besides attending panels, I also participated in the Welcoming Reception at the World War I Museum and Memorial and the Graduate Student Reception at the Westin. At both events, I not only enjoyed delicious snacks and free drinks, but I also caught up with friends and networked with various historians. Funnily enough, riding the free shuttle from the hotel to the reception at the World War I museum gave me an opportunity to speak to people sitting near me. For example, I spoke to Dr Tyina Steptoe, a professor at the University of Arizona, and talked to her about my research on Tucson’s Chinatown.

Additionally, since the University of Oklahoma had so many members at the conference, we also held our own event at a bar in the hotel. Since I am currently working on my dissertation, there were many graduate students and faculty I was able to reconnect with and talk about how the conference was going and how their research and work was developing.

During the WHA, I presented on a panel entitled “Finding Belonging, Navigating Space: Migration, Legislation, and Community Creation in the West, 1970s-2000s.” I presented a paper on Oklahoma City’s Asian District, which is a significant part of my planned work for my dissertation. I explained the history of the Asian District as a neighborhood mostly for refugees from Vietnam, but then over time, it developed into a space for all Asian American Oklahomans. Through this panel, I was able to share my ideas with audience members and get feedback on my arguments and ideas for my work.  

I also partook in some of the best food Kansas City had to offer, including some of the best barbeque I’ve ever had! The burnt ends at Joe’s BBQ were especially good. My friends and I also had Korean BBQ, which had a large selection of meats, including my favorite: beef belly. My friend is originally from Missouri, so it was great visiting some of his old favorite places.

On our last day, we visited the World War I memorial and museum, which was both educational and moving. The artifacts and displays were quite impressive, and it was definitely a unique experience. I especially appreciated the care the museum curators took to showcase what experiences were like for soldiers.

I am very appreciative of the opportunities and experience the WHA Graduate Student Prize gave me. I would like to extend my thanks to everyone in the WHA staff who made it possible. I look forward to my free year of WHA membership!

When I initially applied for this award, I was absolutely sincere when justifying the “why” of my submission. I am one of those historians who comes from a Religious Studies department, and while I do not have a monopoly on oddness, I pretty regularly experience some form of confusion meets unfamiliarity in academic spaces. As a scholar of Indigenous childhood and American Catholicism, my interdisciplinary methodologies generate a multiplicity of question marks. This is not necessarily a complaint—they breed a lot of excitement too, and its fantastic being able to collaborate with so many different fields! But it has primed me to expect to operate in the fringe spaces at conferences, and thus my opening statement. When I initially applied for this award, I expected some substantial networking, better positioning as a scholar of religion in a history space, and a satisfying panel discussion. I was beyond surprised to have a far more complex experience!

My encounter with the 2024 WHA conference has impacted the way I think and do research and pedagogy. I actually scheduled my flight to attend one of the earliest panels, “Removal and Dispossession: Teaching Indigenous Histories in University/College Classrooms.” The contributions of Dr. Elise Boxer (Dakota) and Dr. Jerome Clark challenged how I practically and theoretically engage with Native American Indigenous Studies, and have helped me tremendously in both strengthening my pedagogy and clarifying the why behind practices I intuitively valued but could not quite explain. I was also able to attend a panel addressing child removal and dispossession that Dr. Brenda Child participated in, the day that President Biden issued his public apology regarding boarding schools. As is the case for so many of us who do Indigenous history, Child has been foundational to my own scholarship, and being able to hear her succinctly articulate the complexity of that moment was a moment I will be referencing in classrooms forever.

These panels were unexpectedly insightful and innovative, and I’m quite certain its not only because of the brilliance of so many of the WHA’s scholars, but due to the vibrant community that forms the organization. While so many academic spaces give in to competitiveness and posturing—and understandably so with so much scarcity meets overwork meets bureaucratic negligence—somehow the WHA has resisted this fate. Because of my own positionality and scholarly focus, I was especially moved by the incredibly robust and active Native community composed of so many scholars of differing nations, backgrounds, trajectories, and career stages. I was able to renew existing relationships and form new ones, which I am confident will be collaborative, reciprocal, and long-lasting. As a scholar who has not been situated in spaces with such a strong and continuously growing Native presence, I know where I am bringing future graduate students and precious friends. I’m excited to contribute to a panel and a roundtable discussion (assuming the proposals are accepted!), and I have already involved a dear friend (also from Religious Studies!) in one of these projects. I’m excited to collaborate, network, and learn during future meetings.   

My own panel, while somewhat unluckily scheduled at the end of the conference, deeply benefitted from the WHA’s emphasis on community and its dedication to history that does something. While one of our panelists had to drop out very unfortunately, we managed to maintain a solid temporal flow and a generative Q&A. I received valuable feedback, interesting questions, and important reading recommendations. I met the publisher behind one of my favorite books who just happened to be attending our panel. While receiving this prize was so validating as an early career scholar, even more validating was my reception throughout the meeting. I am very careful when recommending venues to my Indigenous and other minority friends and colleagues, because I’m aware of how academic spaces can reproduce violence even when the work is directly counter to hate and inequity. While I am not trying to present the WHA as a paradisical space immune to the reproduction of social and cultural systems of harm, my experience was decidedly not disheartening, and I have a good sense this was not a one off, but the labor and love of a community of brilliant scholars dedicated to inclusivity and sharedness.  

My experience at the WHA Conference was both enriching and transformative for my professional growth as a historian. The conference offered a wealth of opportunities, from attending diverse sessions and plenary discussions to participating in receptions that fostered meaningful connections. I had the privilege of presenting my historical research and serving as a panel chair, both of which honed my skills in public speaking and scholarly discourse. Engaging in thought-provoking conversations throughout the event deepened my insights and broadened my perspective, reinforcing my development as a dedicated historian.

As a graduate student and emerging scholar, I attended the Graduate Student Reception to connect with peers navigating similar academic journeys. Through conversations, I gained valuable insights into their historical research, methodologies, and fellowship opportunities that could inform and enhance my own work. In turn, I was eager to share resources and offer my support, encouraging a spirit of mutual exchange and collaboration.

Among the many panels I attended, one of the most impactful was “Rising Up on Contested Ground: Women’s Gender, and Sexualities History in the Western and Southern Borderlands,” sponsored by the Coalition for Western Women’s History. As a junior scholar focusing on women, race, and labor, I eagerly attended this panel seeking guidance and inspiration. One persistent challenge in studying women’s history is demonstrating their roles and significance in historical narratives. The panelists offered invaluable strategies for uncovering and incorporating women’s voices into history, sparking numerous insights. I found myself fully engaged, taking detailed notes, and deeply inspired by the compelling discussion, especially by panelist Dr. Tiffany Jasmine Gonzalez.

After the session, I approached Dr. Gonzalez to thank her for her wisdom and participation. As a Latina with a Ph.D. in history, she embodies a rare and empowering presence in the field. Seeing her success and passion renewed my determination to pursue my own path, making this panel an unforgettable highlight of the conference.

I had the opportunity to present my primary research on the panel “Sex, Labor, Mobilization: Early Twentieth Century Women of the California and Texas Borderlands,” chaired by Dr. Sonia Hernandez. My presentation explored the experiences of Chicanas and Mexicanas working in the El Paso garment industry during the 20th century. It was incredibly rewarding to see audience members engaged, asking thoughtful questions, and showing genuine curiosity about our work. Dr. Hernandez, with her expertise in gender, labor, and the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, was an ideal chair for the panel. Our shared research interests led to an exciting invitation to collaborate on another conference panel, which I eagerly accepted.

Presenting my research at the WHA conference not only allowed me to refine my presentation skills but also to build valuable professional networks that enhance my curriculum vitae for the job market. More importantly, the conference provided a platform to amplify the history of ethnic Mexicans and their labor experiences along the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, fostering connections with scholars who share a passion for this critical field of study.

In addition to presenting my research, I had the honor of chairing the panel “Early-Stage Research Lightning Round,” sponsored by the WHA Graduate Student Caucus. This panel provided three graduate students with a valuable platform to present their dissertation topics and receive guidance from esteemed historians on navigating the research and writing process. The room was filled with engaged audience members, captivated by the students' innovative topics and the insightful advice offered by Dr. Larisa Veloz and Dr. Brian Frehner.

After the session, Dr. Veloz expressed her admiration for the panel's success and complimented me on my effectiveness as chair. Her enthusiasm and positive feedback were particularly meaningful, and she encouraged me to chair a similar panel at the following year's conference in Albuquerque. This experience not only strengthened my organizational and leadership skills but also reinforced the importance of fostering supportive spaces for emerging scholars.

Lastly, attending the book publishing tables prompted me to reflect on potential publishing avenues. As an advanced Ph.D. candidate, identifying suitable publishers is an essential next step in my academic journey.  These conversations marked my first direct interaction with editors, whose enthusiasm for my work was both affirming and invigorating. I left the press booths with a clearer vision of pursuing publication with either the University of North Carolina Press or the University of Texas Press, both distinguished for their contributions to borderlands scholarship, which aligns profoundly with the scope and intervention of my research.

I have consistently pursued opportunities that have shaped me into the scholar I am today and continue to strive to become. By actively sharing my historical research and engaging in meaningful conversations, I have built valuable professional networks. Attending the WHA this year allowed me to achieve these goals and exceed my expectations. Another highlight was receiving an invitation from scholars specializing in the political economy of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands to join their panel at next year’s WHA—an opportunity I enthusiastically accepted. Experiences like these reaffirm my commitment to contributing to the field and building connections that enhance my academic journey, especially in spaces like the WHA conference.

 

I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to attend the Western History Association Conference in Kansas City this past October, an experience made possible thanks to the WHA Graduate Student Award. It was my first WHA Conference, and my first in-person conference as a graduate student, and I didn’t really know what to expect. In addition to a more general fear of putting myself and my work into the world beyond my graduate program, I was nervous to even share a space with scholars whose work I have read and admired for years. I somewhat expected (and maybe even hoped!) that I would go the whole conference without talking to a single other person. 

I learned quickly, however, that the WHA conference is not a space that would abide me sticking to myself. In fact, I think I spent most of the weekend meeting and talking with other people, and I am so glad that I did! I was pleasantly surprised to find that despite the professional nature of the conference, all the conversations I had felt friendly and even casual. I got much more confident as the week went on–I certainly would never have guessed at the beginning of the week that I’d work up the confidence to introduce myself to Elliot West at the hotel bar! I feel like those kinds of spontaneous interactions are promoted by the inclusive and positive culture of the WHA conference, and I am so appreciative of all the scholars who took the time to speak with me and welcome me to the WHA community.

In addition to the social aspect, I found that the conference was intellectually crucial as I continue to develop a proposal for my dissertation project. Despite the wide-ranging methodological and geographical areas of studies captured under the umbrella of the WHA, I found that each time slot had multiple panels that I wanted to attend and felt relevant to my academic interests. In addition to the panel that I participated in, I went to ten different panels from subjects as wide-ranging as Native women, Greater Reconstruction, and the political economy of settler colonialism. Though some were highly attended, I found that my favorites were the more intimate panels where I felt comfortable asking questions and introducing myself to panelists afterwards. This kind of close engagement with each panel continues to pay off: I still go back to my notes from the Conference as I craft fellowship applications and my dissertation prospectus. The information and methodologies that I was introduced to at the conference have been extremely helpful as I work to situate my own work in the broader field of Western History. 

Steeping myself in this scholarship felt particularly significant for me, as I come from a university that does not have much representation of Western history among the faculty or course offerings. I had hoped that being an active member of the WHA would help make up for this, particularly in terms of learning from other historians of the West and starting to build a network of colleagues. And it certainly has! There were many events at the conference that allowed me to meet and learn from like-minded historians and educators, from the Coalition for Western Women’s History Breakfast to the Public History Reception. All these events were structured to promote conversation between historians at different levels of their careers and in different kinds of historical professions. I spoke to many folks who referred to the WHA as their “home conference” that they come back to year after year. After returning from Kansas City, I immediately started working on assembling possible panels because I was excited about the possibility of the WHA becoming my “home conference” as well. 

Perhaps the best part of the WHA was the opportunity to get to meet other graduate students from across the country who will hopefully be my colleagues for years to come. I found that the conference does a lot to promote graduate student attendance and engagement. One thing I appreciated was how the conference promotes the inclusion of scholars at different stages in their careers in panels. For this reason, many of us who were in Kansas City were not only spectators, but participants, which was really empowering. Sharing one’s research at any stage of one’s career is scary–that graduate students are made to feel comfortable sharing their work at various stages of progress speaks to the culture of the WHA and the strength of graduate student representation. In addition to promoting graduate student presence and involvement, the conference schedule also builds in specific events for graduate students to meet one another and to participate in the Graduate Student Caucus. The very existence of the WHA Graduate Student Award is another great example of the WHA’s commitment to graduate student involvement and leadership in our community of historians.

Attending the 2024 WHA Conference was an extremely positive experience for me, and I look forward to experiencing it all over again in Albuquerque!

I had a great time attending the WHA!! I had the opportunity to learn so much from both junior scholars (like myself) and senior scholars as they discussed their research and the significance of their work. I attended many different panels, met new people, attended the Graduate Student Reception, and bought sooooo many books. Not only was I able to hear about exciting and important new research by junior and senior scholars, but I also connected with fellow graduate students from various institutions, which I would not have had the chance to do without this conference. It was so enjoyable to meet new people, such as fellow junior scholars. And, of course, it was great to gain new Instagram followers. (LOLOLOLOL)

I introduced myself to well-known academics in Western History. At one point during the WHA, Loneise Thomas (one of my peers and dear friend) and I were waiting for an elevator when the 2024 WHA president, Dr. Kelly Lytle Hernández, came out from an elevator on the other side of the hallway. Loneise and I saw Dr. Hernández, and I (not shy at all) made eye contact with her, waved, and said, “Oh!! Hello, Madam President!!” President Hernández politely said hello to us, and we introduced ourselves as PhD students from the University of Oklahoma. I am sure that Dr. Hernández does not remember this interaction as fondly as Loneise and I do, but it remains one of those moments that stands out in my memory. Almost immediately after our interaction with President Hernández, Loneise and I excitedly told all our conference friends that we had introduced ourselves to the WHA President by chance as she walked out of the elevator!! It was so funny and such a great memory.

I also made nice memories with my conference buddy and dear friend, Zach Nora, and I met and introduced ourselves to several senior scholars. We attended multiple panels discussing Latino communities. In one instance, we went to a panel on Latina women and the various ways they resisted and challenged legal and social obstacles aimed at controlling and oppressing their lives and autonomy as women. We were very interested in the panel because it covered an important and engaging topic, but we also attended because we recognized the name of the panel chair, Dr. Mary E. Mendoza from Penn State University. In our Race and Environment seminar with Dr. Kathleen Brosnan, we planned to discuss proofs of Dr. Mendoza’s book (where Mendoza served as an editor) Not Just Green, Not Just White: Race, Justice, and Environmental History, the week after the WHA. Zach and I met Dr. Mendoza excitedly, but we were NOT done with our assigned readings of Not Just Green, Not Just White!! It was an interesting experience to meet a scholar whose anthology we had not completed reading. We DID finish reading the proofs before we met for seminar the week after the WHA, with Dr. Mendoza as a guest speaker.

On the last morning of the conference, Zach wanted to go to a panel focusing on Texas and California borderlands in the early twentieth century, one of Zach’s research interests. Being a good conference buddy, I got up early and was ready to attend this panel with my friend, which started at 8:15am!! We went because we were both interested in the panel aaaaand we were able to meet Dr. Sonia Hernández from Texas A&M University!! Meeting and speaking with Dr. Hernández was great; she took time out of her very busy day to speak to Zach and I about our

research and who we are. It was really nice to see one of my friends make such a great connection with a scholar he really wanted to connect with.

Not only was I able to speak with scholars, such as Drs Hernández and Dr. Mendoza, but I also made new grad student friends that I met at the Graduate Student Reception. I had so much fun at that reception!! I won the raffle, which gave me a mug with “WHA” on it (!!), and I met grad students from different institutions and various graduate career stages. I also gained Instagram followers, which may not seem significant in the grand scheme of things. Still, it mattered to me because I enjoy getting new followers on Instagram. (I felt as if I were an Instagram influencer every time I got a ‘new follower notification’ LOLOLOL.) In addition to meeting new people, I finally had the opportunity to meet the junior scholars who presented with me on our panel about the transnational American West. I had previously communicated with Faith Bennett, Annie Delgado, Jonathan Laska, Abigail Scott, and Ashley Harms Somawang online, so it was wonderful to see them in person and hear their voices!!

Overall, I truly enjoyed my time at the conference. I got to meet new people, make new friends, and reconnect with old friends. My online friendships (including but not limited to junior scholars Abigail Scott and Ashley Harms Somawang) transformed into real-life connections, too, as we met in person!! Now, I have both online and in-person friends because of this conference. I bought several books that I will read when I have time (as a grad student, I cannot guarantee when that will be LOLOLOLOL). I had the opportunity to speak with many junior and senior scholars; it was a fantastic experience. It was so much fun to learn new things and take a selfie with Dr. William Bauer for my mom!! Dr. Bauer was a professor I had during my undergrad years and, luckily, again during my time as an MA student. I shared the selfie in our family group chat (like my mom asked), and my siblings, in true sibling fashion, responded with, “you’re such a nerd but that’s cool. have fun.” And I DID have fun!! I give this conference a 10/10 rating and highly recommend attending!!

Para empezar, le debo a la gente y comunidad de WHA gracias para el apoyo y confianza que me han dado sobre estos años. Con un gran abrazo desde el corazón, gracias.

In 2022, I began my Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies program at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. I was unsure what to expect, what to research, or how my community engagement museum experience would translate to academia. It was a risk, but the journey paid off with fellowships, scholarships, and opportunities to present on past and developing research in history, interpretation, and my constantly developing love and passion for digital humanities.

My WHA Conference History:

The first WHA Conference I attended was in San Antonio in 2022 when I was invited to chair the panel titled Challenging Erasure: Exploring Community Pathways to Collecting, Preserving, and Sharing Black Texas History, featuring presenters Claudia Espinosa, Pamela Nicole Walker, Teresa Van Hoy, and Roseann Bacha-Garza. I’d be remiss not to thank María Esther Hammack for initially recommending me to chair. As I learned more about WHA, I saw an opportunity to serve on the Grad Staff, which included benefits like a room stay and, what is as good as gold to a student, meal tickets. Moreover, serving with the Grad Staff gave me an incredible support network of inspiring researchers at what can sometimes be an overwhelming conference. Where do I go first? How do these elevators work? Have I eaten? All these questions are relinquished when you are on the WHA Grad Staff.

I was immediately astounded by the diversity of presenters, panel topics, and attendees at the WHA Conference. Plus, the intention and accountability with which the WHA addresses its organizational history on the website impressed me greatly. That conference week in San Antonio was unforgettable. It felt like all the stars of history were there, and my conference experience made the researchers and writers of many historical works and projects that I admired real and tangible. Realizing that I, too, was a peer and colleague with professional historians, instilled confidence in me and further inspired my work, studies, and community. I was hooked on the WHA Conference.

My second WHA in Los Angeles was also astonishing. I was privileged to participate in the Teaching Local History “Across Many Wests”: A Roundtable Conversation with Patricia Loughlin, Jessica Barbata Jackson, Sarah R. Payne, Benjamin Kiser, Todd Laugen, Cristina Rodriguez, and Jennifer O’Neal. Including K-12 history topics for the awareness of our profession is necessary for the future of our places because we never know what young people will become after they leave the classroom or museum. I returned to serving with the Grad Staff and attended the Graduate Student Research Workshop. The research workshop is yet another way that the WHA supports students in our research at and beyond the conference.

Graduate Student Prize: Kansas 2024:

Receiving the Graduate Student Prize in 2024 helped me immensely. I am forever grateful to the WHA and the donors who continue to make opportunities like this available to students. Getting support for stay, travel, and food allowed me to attend many more sessions and meet even more outstanding professionals. The concurrent scheduling with the SHA and stay in Kansas City were all expertly planned.

The 2024 conference week was a whirlwind for me since immediately after, I traveled to attend the PastForward conference held by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It was another week of history and connections that only the WHA can provide. Kansas City was the first WHA Conference where I did not work on the Graduate Staff. Regardless, the staff embraced and welcomed me as if I were. I am deeply grateful to my colleagues, peers, allies, and friends I have connected with through the WHA Grad Staff.

The sessions I participated in included the Digital Scholarship Lightning Round chaired by Sean Fraga with presenters Adam Sundberg, Dave Tell, Siriana Lundgren, David Grua, Haleigh Marcello, Johnathan Daniel Laska, and Gregory Payne. I also presented on the Practicing Digital Heritage on Contested Grounds panel with Christy Hyman, Amparo Chavez-Gonzalez, Linda Garcia Merchant, and Shine Trabucco. After our session, Linda and Shine invited me to present a graduate student keynote as part of the Digital Humanities at the University of Houston 2025 event series. I excitedly accepted and am now reflecting on how many of my professional long-term relationships would not have been possible without the networking and support provided by the hard work of the WHA staff, board, and committees.

Conclusion:

My journey with the WHA, from tentative beginnings to impactful presentations and invaluable connections, underscores the profound power of community. From the initial feelings of belonging to the incredible opportunities for growth and recognition, the WHA has played a pivotal role in shaping my academic and professional trajectory. Thank you for these opportunities and for reminding everyone that at the heart of any field of study are the people and connections we forge that truly make it meaningful. I look forward to staying connected with WHA forever.

In closing, if you have received a tlacuache/possum/zarigueya sticker in the past three years of WHA conferences, it was my way of representing the Rio Grande Valley. If you have one saved on your laptop, water bottle, or bicycle, think of me and the RGV.

This October, I was fortunate enough to win one of the Western History Association’s Graduate Student Prizes, allowing me to attend WHA Kansas City with minimal personal expenses and continue to participate in a community that I look forward to convening with every year. This year’s conference was exceptionally full of panels, receptions, and catching up with colleagues. I left with a strong feeling of accomplishment, plans for next year’s conference in Albuquerque, and momentum to continue through the rest of the fall semester.

I arrived at the conference hotel an hour after the opening reception began. Once ditching my bags, I ran into a good friend that I met at WHA 2021 and we hurried over to the World War I museum. There, I reconnected with my former Master’s advisors and met a few participants in the first of two panels I was on. I also reconnected with other Applied History Initiative fellows before heading to a dinner with that group.

I started day two of WHA, my first full day, with the Environmental History Breakfast. The spread was good and the coffee was hot, which is all you can ask. But being around all of my peers is what really makes this breakfast special every year. I sat next to Dale Mize, a fellow Colorado State alum currently at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and caught up with him. As is tradition at this breakfast, we went around the room and everyone shared their current research. It was nice putting faces to names, topics to scholars, and absorbing some of the intellectual brilliance while my coffee kicked in.

After breakfast, I went to “New Visions of Northern Plains Politics: Shifting Ideologies and National Impacts,” where panelists discussed Catherine McNicol Stock’s Nuclear Country: The Origins of the Rural New Right. As a public lands historian, I took away great insights on the relationship between military lands, federal presence in the West, and deeply-reactionary politics. For the second concurrent session, I went to “Doing Community Engaged History in the American South and West” and attended the Graduate Student Caucus Lunch and Meeting afterward. At lunch, I sat with Hailey Doucette, another good friend from my time at Colorado State, and met many of the other smart and welcoming University of Kansas graduate students.

During the field trip sessions, I grabbed a beer with my former MA advisor and talked through some ideas within our shared topic of public lands recreation. We walked over to the Public History Reception, where I continued catching up with familiar faces and chatting about my current research. I then went to the Graduate Student Reception and introduced fellow Montana State students to peers from other universities. While enjoying the camaraderie at the reception, many of us watched a thunderstorm roll through town from our perch on top of the Westin.

Day one was busy, but day two was slated to be even busier. After grabbing a quick lobby breakfast, my MSU classmate, Jacob Northcutt, and I attended “Parks, Public Lands, and Indigenous Efforts to Resist Settler Colonialism.” We had to take off early to prepare for our panel on mountain recreation, but I was able to start planning a Colorado Plateau themed panel for WHA 2025 with one of the panelists of “Parks, Public Lands…” later in the day. The panel Jacob and I were on went well, and, like all good panels, discussion overflowed into the lobby afterward. I had a great conversation with a fellow grad student from University of Oregon about the role power plays in recreational access which we continued while poaching a SHA reception the last evening of the conference.

My second panel, “Rivers, Peaks, and Ranches: Unveiling the Interconnected Threads of Climate, Economic Flux, and Cultural Evolution in the American West,” happened after lunch (back-to-back panels, geez!), so my fellow panelists and I prepared after grabbing a quick lunch at Crown Center. I organized this one by pulling largely from my network of graduate students and early career scholars, who happen to be the people I spend the most time with at WHA. Presenting with them was such a blast; being so familiar with each other’s work, we had a very compelling discussion covering a variety of topics related to the rural West. While still milling around the room after our panel, I met the editor of Utah Historical Quarterly who expressed interest in my work on industry in Vernal, Utah. This publication was at the front of my mind when doing this research, so it was very exciting to make that connection.

After briefly gathering myself following two panels, I attended the CRAW reception, where the Montana State contingent caught up on how the conference was going for all of us. We then filtered into the Award Ceremony and sat next to Jared Orsi, the new editor of the Western Historical Quarterly and my former supervisor at CSU’s Public & Environmental History Center. After celebrating everyone’s accomplishments, I congregated with my fellow mountain recreation panelists (the first one) to grab dinner and continue our discussion on recreation’s role in the history of the West.

After two and a half whirlwind days that caused a latent cold to reemerge, I decided to rest the last day and get breakfast with Matt Klingle, Michael Childers, and two graduate students. We discussed where we are with our research, connections between the West and my home state of Maine, and shared resources for future work. I then raided the book exhibit, attended two panels on recreation and land, said my goodbyes, and took a much needed nap. As a prize recipient, I felt a great amount of anxious anticipation for this year’s conference. Three days of catching up with friends made at past WHAs, expanding my professional network, and sharing my research, however, greatly reaffirmed that WHA is my academic home—and I can’t think of a better one.

Read about 2024 Grad Prize winner Darby Ratliff's experience at the Kansas City Conference:

One of the things I love most about conferences is the orchestrated serendipity. Sitting in the “Time, Temporality, and the Indigenous Environments” panel on October 24th, I felt one of my comprehensive examination reading lists come to life as Brenda Child presented on her new project, taking questions from Louis Warren, Ned Blackhawk, and Col Thrush, all of whose work I read as part of an Indigenous Studies field list. In graduate school, there is so much discussion of being in conversation with scholars and learning where one’s work fits within that field that to see it literally embodied at the Western History Association’s conference this year was such a gift. It was also a reminder that though academic work can seem to exist in a vacuum as we sift through archives or at our respective desks, there is an intensely collaborative and community-based element to it as well. 

While at first overwhelmed by the sheer number of activities, events, and panels at WHA, I quickly settled into a routine of trying to absorb as much of its opportunities as I could. One of my favourite sessions was the first “Roundtable on Keywords in Western History.”. The four keywords were “treaties,” “expansion,” “queerness,” and “Whiteness.” As someone consistently wrestling with many of the same terms in my work, it was really useful to hear established scholars in the field discussing these terms, offering suggestions for reading, and explaining their approach. I was particularly interested in Jennifer Holland’s discussion of “queerness,” given that I am both not trained in queer studies, but I am interested in the way that historians of the nineteenth century can use it as a lens of examining same-sex relationships. In particular, I was interested in her assertion that queer theory dovetails particularly well with western history, given that geographically the West can be seen as placing the fringe as the center.  

This conference was particularly special to me because my home department in American Studies at Saint Louis University covered registration for anyone in my doctoral program who wanted to attend. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m an intensely team-oriented person, and so getting to do a conference with my team allowed for a reflection-based component that was helpful for processing elements of the experience relating to my research. For example, I was delighted to discuss  the “Contested Land and Competing Futures in Indian Territory, North and South” panel with my colleague. Dr. Katie Walkiewicz incorporated their family history into their presentation, discussing the nuances of being Cherokee, matriarchal traditions, and their grandfather’s service in the Confederate Army. Dr. Walkiewicz’s background is in literature, and both my colleague and I discussed how we appreciated their approach to storytelling through family history and through history in general, since we’re both more traditional historians.  

Moreover, I was delighted to be on a panel with a friend to discuss the intersections between Native history and the Catholic Church. Carving out time to talk about religious history and empire, it was wonderful to be in conversation with Zara Surratt and Danae Jacobson. Having been encouraged to attend WHA in the first place based on the idea of putting a panel together, it was great to see it come together and for us to be able to share our work and research. Moreover, I’d never been on a panel with a a commenter before, and so I’m eternally grateful to Dr. Jacobson for her time and attention to both my paper and Zara’s, as well as the questions she posed as I work to incorporate this paper back into my dissertation, certainly with her feedback in mind. It’s always interesting to hear one’s work reflected back, and so I was amazed to hear Dr. Jacobson noted how my paper incorporated print culture–which absolutely made sense given the inclusion of a Lakota-language newspaper–pointing out something obvious that being so in the weeds with the work itself, I had not recognized. Overall, the whole conversation made me excited to return to my research and my dissertation, giving me a second wind in a process that can feel so long and isolating. 

In the elevator one night, I was talking with a fellow attendee who said that conferences are great for scheduling time to see friends each year, and I feel lucky to have heard the many enriching papers, to have participated in great conversations and, of couse, to have seen so many new and old friends, both expected and otherwise. In a true moment of serendipity, I was chatting with someone from Stanford University for the first time after the Awards Ceremony, and I asked her if she happened to know someone I used to work with. Imagine my surprise when she told me that that person was flying in that night to present at the Southern Historical Association conference the next day! It was so delightful to catch up and, because both presentations on Saturday, not only were we able to see each other, we were also able to attend each other’s panels. Altogether, it was an incredible week, and I’m grateful for the support of the WHA Graduate Student Prize for making it possible.  I look forward to attending WHA in the future and seeing the folks I met for the first time again, exchanging stories and continuing conversations started at this one in Kansas City. 

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