William A. Dobak was born on June 22, 1943. In 1966 he graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S. in International Affairs. From there he crossed the Missouri River and undertook graduate studies at the University of Kansas. During the academic year he served as a copy editor at American Studies; for three summers he worked as a seasonal ranger at Fort Laramie, Wyoming. At the Newberry Library in Chicago, he held a fellowship at the Center for the American Indian (now the D’Arcy McNickle Center) from 1975 to 1976.

Resuming graduate studies in 1991, he completed a dissertation on the economic life of Fort Riley; the published work, Fort Riley and Its Neighbors: Military Money and Western Development, 1853-1895, received the Edward A. Tihen Award from the Kansas State Historical Society. After working as an archives technician at the National Archives, Dobak gained employment with the United States Army Center of Military History. With Thomas D. Phillips, he co-authored The Black Regulars, 1866-1898, winner of the Robert M. Utley Prize. His final book, Freedom By the Sword: The U.S. Colored Troops, 1862-1867, appeared in 2011. This publication won the Richard Leopold Prize for best book written by a U.S. government historian and was a runner-up for the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize. A member of the Western History Association for nearly three decades, Dobak served on the editorial board of the Western Historical Quarterly. He authored twelve scholarly articles on topics such as bison, the fur trade, and the enlisted soldiers of the United States Army. The latter appear in the Western Historical Quarterly, Montana: The Magazine of Western History, Kansas History, the Journal of the Early Republic, and other publications.  

After a protracted clash with stage IV pancreatic adenocarcinoma, he died at home in Hyattsville, MD, on September 16, 2022. He is survived by his wife Catharine R. Franklin.   

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is now seeking submissions for its new grant program, Spotlight on Humanities in Higher Education. This grant supports the exploration and development of small projects that would benefit underserved populations through the teaching and study of the humanities.

Eligible applicants include small- to medium-sized two- and four-year institutions of higher education and nonprofit organizations whose work advances the humanities at these institutions and among their faculty and students. The Spotlight program supports activities such as curricular or program development, expert consultations, speakers' series, student research, creation of teaching resources, and community engagement.

The program deadline is November 2, 2022.

Interested applicants can email spotlight@neh.gov or read the full call here: https://bit.ly/3QZCXTG

The Department of History at Utah State University (USU) invites applications for an Assistant Professor in the History of the United States, with specialization in at least one of the following subfields (in no particular order): environmental history, Native American history, or history of the American West. This is a tenure-track, nine-month, academic year position, located at USU’s Uintah Basin Campus in Eastern Utah. The successful candidate can choose to work from either the Roosevelt or Vernal location. Teaching is the primary focus of this position, and the faculty member will be responsible for teaching six courses per year. These will include one or more of the History Department’s American history survey courses (HIST 1700, HIST 2700, and/or HIST 2710) as well as courses in the Department’s upper division curriculum. Given USU’s statewide mission, courses will be taught primarily in a distance format, including asynchronous online courses and synchronous hybrid courses with face-to-face and remote broadcast students. The department seeks a colleague who can show evidence of teaching excellence and scholarly productivity. The anticipated start date is August 2023.

Please direct questions to Dr. Tammy Proctor, Search Committee Chair, at tammy.proctor@usu.edu (do not send application materials to this email address. Please use the 'Apply for this job online' link).

For the full job listing, see https://bit.ly/3eEJCow

The 17th annual Western History Dissertation Workshop will be held May 18-19, 2023, at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Five advanced western history Ph.D. students will be selected to present a chapter of their work to a collegial group of 10-12 leading scholars from participating institutions across the United States, listed below. Applicants who are most likely to benefit from this workshop are those who have completed a few chapters of their dissertation and who expect to defend sometime in 2023. Selected participants will share a chapter (of no more than fifty pages) at the workshop and receive feedback from other participants and from senior scholars affiliated with the sponsoring institutions.

This year’s workshop is hosted by the University of Kansas. KU will pay travel expenses for up to five advanced graduate students writing a dissertation exploring any topic dealing with the history and culture of the American West. The workshop is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest at the University of Washington; the Center for the Southwest at the University of New Mexico; the University of California-Los Angeles Department of History; the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West; the Research Division of the Huntington Library; the Hemispheric Institute on the Americas at the University of California-Davis; the Center of the American West/University of Colorado Boulder Department of History; the University of Nebraska Department of History; the Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University; the Pennsylvania State University History Department; the Princeton University History Department; and the Center for American History at the University of Kansas.

To apply, please provide a brief cover letter, a short CV, and a dissertation prospectus/description of not more than two single-spaced pages. Your cover letter should indicate which chapter of your dissertation you intend to circulate for the workshop. Send all items in a single PDF document to Andrew Isenberg (isenberg@ku.edu). Please arrange for your dissertation adviser to send a letter of recommendation via email to Andrew Isenberg as well; that letter should address the significance and the status of the dissertation to date.

Applications are due March 3, 2023, and participants will be notified of their selection by March 31. Selected applicants must submit a complete draft of a dissertation chapter for distribution to the group by April 17.

Questions about the workshop and/or application process should be directed to Andrew Isenberg (isenberg@ku.edu).

The Buffalo Bill Center of the West, one of the premier institutions worldwide devoted to the history, cultures, and environment of the American West, is seeking an energetic and visionary Housel Director of its McCracken Research Library!

The McCracken ranks with the likes of the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley, the Beinecke Library at Yale, The Huntington Library, and the Western History Collections at the University of Oklahoma in terms of the depth and quality of its Western Americana research collections. Through its collections and services, the Library supports the work of the five Center museums: Draper Natural History Museum; Buffalo Bill Museum; Plains Indian Museum; Whitney Western Art Museum; and Cody Firearms Museum. The McCracken’s rare books, historic photographs, maps, manuscripts, and rich ephemeral collections feature heavily in the museums’ exhibitions and programs and are used extensively by distinguished visiting researchers and curators.

For more information on this position, including qualifications, expectations, and remuneration, please click here! https://bit.ly/3OJWirn

The Arizona History Convention has put out an updated Call for Papers, which announces their plenary speaker, provides a direct link for proposal submissions, and gives more information about prize money available to graduate students.

Click here for the updated CFP!

Western Washington University is looking for a one-year replacement for the 2022-2023 academic year starting on September 16, 2022.

The History Department at Western Washington University is searching for a one-year replacement position in Indigenous and Public History for the 2022-2023 academic year at the Instructor or Visiting Assistant Professor level. The position begins on September 16, 2022, and the successful candidate will teach six undergraduate courses over three academic quarters. Courses include The Indian in American History survey as well as upper-division courses. ABD or PhD preferred. Courses will be taught in person. WWU is located in Bellingham, WA between Seattle and Vancouver. Interested individuals should reach out to Department Chair Susan Costanzo at susan.costanzo@wwu.edu.

The Department of History at Yale University is looking to hire an assistant or associate or full professor in the history of the U.S. West, including Hawaiʻi and the Pacific, to begin on July 1, 2023. Candidates in all subfields are encouraged to apply. Scholars who work on topics related to race, gender, sexuality, Indigeneity, empire and borderlands, religion, commerce, politics, intellectual history, and the environment are encouraged to apply. Applicants should have demonstrated achievement and/or strong potential for scholarship, undergraduate and graduate teaching, and academic impact. Yale welcomes applications from historians who already hold teaching positions, as well as recent PhDs and those who expect their PhD or equivalent degree by the time of appointment.

Qualifications

PhD or equivalent degree by July 1, 2023

Application Instructions

Applicants should submit an application via http://apply.interfolio.com/107956. They should submit a cover letter, CV, research and teaching interests statements, and a chapter-length writing sample. Please also submit contact information for three individuals who have agreed to provide letters of recommendation, which may be solicited at a later stage. Review of applications will begin September 23 and will continue until the position is filled. For questions regarding this position, please email Dana Lee at dana.lee@yale.edu.

History Camp, an annual one-day event for adults from all walks of life, started in 2014 and now takes place in several cities including Boston, Richmond, and Denver, as well as online for a nationwide audience – History Camp America. 

This year History Camp America will take place online on November 5 from 9am to 5pm ET.

They are looking for our nation’s most interesting and informative history presenters—authors, researchers, and teachers, historians, Park Rangers, and docents—anyone who has a passion for history, is deeply knowledgeable about their topic, and is a seasoned presenter who can capture and hold an audience’s attention.

In 2021, History Camp America had 450+ attendees in 2021 from across the nation as well as Canada and England. 

Apply online by August 20, 2022: https://historycamp.org/presenters/

History Camp is a project of the non-profit organization The Pursuit of History (ThePursuitOfHistory.org), which engages adults in conversation about history and connects them with historic sites in their communities and across the country through innovative in-person and online programming. 

For more information, contact Carrie Lund, Executive Director, Carrie@ThePursuitOfHistory.org.

The National Humanities Center invites applications for academic-year or one-semester residential fellowships. Mid-career, senior, and emerging scholars from all areas of the humanities with a strong record of peer-reviewed work are encouraged to apply.

Scholars from all parts of the globe are eligible; stipends and travel expenses are provided. Fellowship applicants must have a PhD or equivalent scholarly credentials. Fellowships are supported by the Center’s own endowment, private foundation grants, contributions from alumni and friends, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Located in the vibrant Research Triangle region of North Carolina, the Center affords access to the rich cultural and intellectual communities supported by the area’s research institutes, universities, and dynamic arts scene. Fellows enjoy private studies, in-house dining, and superb library services that deliver all research materials.

Applications and all accompanying materials are due by 11:59 p.m. EDT, October 6, 2022. For more information and to apply, please visit: https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/become-a-fellow/.

Application requirements:

Fellowship applicants are asked to complete the online application form and to upload the following documents:

• 1,000-word project proposal
• Short bibliography (up to 2 pages)
• Curriculum vitae (up to 4 pages)
• One-page tentative outline of the structure of the project (if the project is a book, provide an outline of chapters; otherwise, give an outline of the components of the project and their progress to date)

Applicants will also be asked to provide names and contact information for three references. References will receive an email prompt inviting them to upload a letter of recommendation on behalf of the applicant. All letters are also due by October 6, 2022.

Applicants are encouraged to read through the Frequently Asked Questions before beginning their application. Questions can be emailed to fellowships@nationalhumanitiescenter.org.