California and the West
29 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 5 years ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingThe Huntington is among the nation’s most important centers for the study of the American West with an unsurpassed collection of materials that spans the full range of American western settlement, including the overland pioneer experience, the Gold Rush, and the development of Southern California. Diverse in scope and range, the collection attracts scholars of the early California missions as well as the aerospace industry. The Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West brings together historians and other scholars, students, writers, journalists, and policymakers to investigate and debate the rich history of California and the American West.
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Episodes
Busted: Brash New Stories from Texas and New Mexico
March 08, 2019 03:30Join authors Bryan Mealer and Joshua Wheeler in a discussion about hardscrabble times, places, and people in Texas and New Mexico. Bryan Mealer's The Kings of Big Spring, has been called "the Texas version of Hillbilly Elegy," a saga of God, family, and oil across many generations of the author's own family. Joshua Wheeler's Acid West, is a collection of essays about Southern New Mexico, and has been called a "freaky, stylish, heart-cracking-open book." The evening's discussion is moderated b...
The Landscape Designs of Ralph Cornell
November 17, 2017 18:26 - 66.6 MBAmong the first generation of landscape architects in Southern California, Ralph Cornell (1890–1972) is considered the most influential. His wide scope of projects included college campuses, city parks, and significant residential commissions. Noted architect Brian Tichenor discusses Cornell’s life and milieu while examining three of his highly significant landscape designs. The lecture is presented in collaboration with the California Garden and Landscape History Society. Recorded Nov. 12, ...
The Art of Farming: How a Farmer Sees the Future
May 07, 2017 17:26 - 59.3 MBDavid Mas Masumoto, organic farmer and acclaimed author of Epitaph for a Peach and Harvest Son, is joined by his wife, Marcy Masumoto, for a lively talk about life on their Central California farm. Through stories that offer a personal perspective on growing organic crops, the Masumotos share their reflections on the vision required of artisan farmers in today’s food world. This talk is part of the Brody Lecture series at The Huntington. Recorded May 7, 2017.
The St. Francis Dam Collapse of 1928
May 20, 2016 17:26 - 56 MBConsidered the worst civil engineering failure in the history of California and the state’s second-worst disaster in terms of lives lost, the collapse of the St. Francis Dam ended the storied career of William Mulholland, the man who earlier had masterminded construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. To contextualize Mulholland’s responsibility for the dam’s failure, historians Norris Hundley, Jr. and Donald C. Jackson relied extensively on items in The Huntington’s collections for their book ...
The Chinese Question: The Gold Rushes and Global Politics
May 15, 2016 17:26 - 56 MBMae Ngai, Lung Family Professor of Asian American Studies and professor of history at Columbia University, discusses the role of Chinese miners in the 19th-century gold rushes of California, Australia, and South Africa, and the rise of anti-Chinese politics in the West. This talk is part of the Cheng Foundation Lecture series at The Huntington. Recorded Mar. 15, 2017.
Ruth Patricia Shellhorn: Mid-Century Landscape Architecture & the Southern California Look
April 21, 2016 00:22 - 46.6 MBLandscape architect Kelly Comras, author of the biography Ruth Shellhorn, examines Shellhorn’s legacy in a lecture and short film screening.
In Conversation with Liz Goldwyn
October 15, 2015 02:30 - 18.5 MBAuthor and filmmaker Liz Goldwyn discusses her book "Sporting Guide", a series of interlinked stories that evoke a lost world on the margins of Los Angeles society in the 1890s.
Motoring West
August 09, 2015 02:30 - 27.2 MBPeter Blodgett,discusses his book, Motoring West: Automobile Pioneers, 1900–1909. Travel back in time to the the turn of the 20th century when Americans were hitting the road to explore the West by automobile. Blodgett is the H. Russell Smith Foundation Curator of Western Historical Manuscripts at The Huntington.
Game Day at the Coliseum
January 29, 2015 03:30 - 46.7 MBFrank Guridy, associate professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin and the Ray A. Billington Visiting Professor at Occidental College, discusses the rituals of labor and leisure that have played out at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum over the past century. This is part of the Haynes Lecture series.
Beyond the Wild West: Violence and Death in the Pacific Ocean (Billington Lecture)
April 17, 2014 22:29 - 38.3 MBDavid Igler, author of “The Great Ocean: Pacific Worlds from Captain Cook to the Gold Rush,” reflects on the causes of widespread violence during the age of exploration and maritime commerce. Igler is professor of history at the University of California, Irvine. His talk was the 2013–14 Billington Lecture.
Green Screen: How Trees Made California Modern (Haynes Foundation Lecture)
November 19, 2013 03:30 - 64.1 MBJared Farmer’s new book, “Trees in Paradise: A California History” (Norton, 2013), explores California’s first hundred years as a state through four trees: redwoods, eucalypts, citrus, and palms. During this time, horticulturists planted innumerable trees, importing ornamental and commercial species to create moneymaking orchards and tree-lined boulevards. In this lecture he describes the impact of this era on Southern California. Farmer is associate professor of history at Stony Brook Univer...
The World in the Curl: An Unconventional History of Surfing
October 30, 2013 17:31 - 45 MBPeter Westwick discusses his new book, “The World in the Curl: An Unconventional History of Surfing”, co-authored with Peter Neushul. This Dibner Lecture covers the high-tech aspects of the history of surfing, including how surfboards and wetsuits derive from military technology and how coastlines and even waves are increasingly engineered. In 2013–14 Westwick was the Searle Visiting Professor in the History of Science at Caltech and The Huntington. He is an assistant professor of history at ...
Paving the Past: The Los Angeles River as Flood Control Device
April 22, 2013 22:33 - 51.4 MBWilliam Deverell explores the history of the Los Angeles River and investigates the ways in which large-scale environmental projects such as cementing a river can inevitably reveal much about regional culture and identity. Deverell is professor of history at USC and the director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West.
Raymond Chandler and the Simple Art of Murder (Haynes Foundation Lecture)
January 24, 2013 03:30 - 47.4 MBJudith Freeman talks about her latest book “The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved”. Chandler drew on many real events and people to create his iconic Los Angeles mystery novels. Freeman discusses Chandler’s real-life sources, including a 1922 celebrity murder case that became the inspiration for much of Chandler’s work.
Fire Season: Philip Connors and William Deverell in Conversation
October 13, 2011 02:30 - 48.4 MBPhilip Connors discusses his book Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout with William Deverell, professor of history at USC and director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West.
Guest Workers: Western Origins, Global Future
April 16, 2011 05:30 - 11.7 MBMatthew Garcia introduces the Huntington conference “Guest Workers: Western Origins, Global Future,” which looked at the role of guest workers in the United States—from the U.S.–Mexican Bracero program of 1942–64 through the H2 programs today. It considered how guest workers have shaped the world we live in, both domestically and globally.
Are We All Braceros Now?
April 16, 2011 05:15 - 38.1 MBDon Mitchell, Distinguished Professor of Geography at Syracuse University, speaks at the Huntington conference “Guest Workers: Western Origins, Global Future,” which looked at the role of guest workers in the United States—from the U.S.–Mexican Bracero program of 1942–64 through the H2 programs today. It considered how guest workers have shaped the world we live in, both domestically and globally.
No Man’s Land: The Global History of Deportable Workers
April 16, 2011 05:00 - 44.4 MBCindy Hahamovitch, history professor at the College of William & Mary, speaks at the Huntington conference “Guest Workers: Western Origins, Global Future,” which looked at the role of guest workers in the United States—from the U.S.–Mexican Bracero program of 1942–64 through the H2 programs today. It considered how guest workers have shaped the world we live in, both domestically and globally.
For Whom Bell Tolls: What Can Be Done about Local Governance in California?
December 16, 2010 23:31 - 102 MBThe controversy over city salaries in Bell, Calif., has generated a wave of proposed reforms. Raphael J. Sonenshein discusses some of the best ideas for improving local government.
Ghosts of the White City
June 17, 2010 20:50 - 20 MB"Ruins and Antiquities in 19th-Century America" (March 12–13). In a fledgling nation, ruins helped reassure Americans of their own antiquity. This scholarly conference explored the “necessity for ruins” and how it helped America cope with the modern pace of change. In this talk, Sam Truett discusses ruins, lost worlds, and the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.
Indians and Yellowstone
May 21, 2010 22:00 - 49.4 MBElliott West spoke about Indians and Yellowstone at the conference “Ed Shannon’s West,” sponsored jointly by The Huntington and the Autry National Center. He is the author, most recently, of “The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story” (2009). He is Alumni Distinguished Professor of American History at the University of Arkansas.
Indians and Railroads
May 21, 2010 21:44 - 33.1 MBRichard White spoke about Indians and the Railroads at the conference “Ed Shannon’s West,” sponsored jointly by The Huntington and the Autry National Center. White has since published the book “Railroaded: The Transcontinentals ad the Making of Modern America” (2011). He is the Margaret Byrne Professor of American History at Stanford University.
The Fossil-Fueled West
May 21, 2010 17:47 - 29.3 MBThomas G. Andrews discusses the history of coal in the American West. Andrews is author of “Killing for Coal: America’s Deadliest Labor War,” published by Harvard University Press and the winner of the 2009 Bancroft Prize. He spoke at the conference “Ed Shannon’s West,” sponsored jointly by The Huntington and the Autry National Center.
Bohemians West: A "Free" Love Story
May 11, 2010 18:25 - 32.1 MBWriters Charles Erskine Scott Wood and Sara Bard Field advocated, and practiced, free love as one element of their commitment to anarchistic politics. Sherry Smith, professor of history at Southern Methodist University and the Los Angeles Times Distinguished Fellow for 2009-10, examines the interplay between what they preached and what they practiced in early 20th-century Oregon and California.
Can We All Just Get Along? In Search of an Alternative History of the American West (Billington Lecture)
April 06, 2010 18:38 - 47.5 MBConflict and conquest have long defined the history of the American West. But what of events shaped by concord? Stephen Aron explores episodes in which peoples put aside their differences and the lessons we might take from them.
Concrete Utopia: Roads and Freeways in Los Angeles (Dames Lecture 2009-10)
October 01, 2009 02:30 - 66.4 MBFreeways have long embodied some of L.A.’s most powerful contradictions: a city moving ahead boldly into the future and a sprawling metropolis scarred by its dependence on the automobile. Such contradictions are not merely a matter of opinion but were built into the fabric of this complex public works enterprise. Matthew Roth, Ph.D., discusses the origins, engineering, and political back story of L.A.’s “concrete utopia.” He’s the historian for the Automobile Club of Southern California.
James Mason Hutchings of Yo-Semite
September 28, 2009 03:27 - 29.1 MBAuthor and book collector Dennis Kruska gives a lecture based on his new book, "James Mason Hutchings of Yo-Semite: A Biography and Bibliography," published by the Book Club of California. Hutchings (1820–1902) was one of California’s most important 19th–century publishers and a tireless promoter of Yosemite, the Sierra, and the wonders of California.
Little Girl Lost: The Kathy Fiscus Tragedy (Haynes Foundation Lecture)
March 31, 2009 03:23 - 38.7 MBIn the spring of 1949, a three-year-old girl fell into an abandoned well shaft while playing near her home in San Marino. For more than 24 hours, local television stations KTTV and KTLA covered the unsuccessful rescue attempt, making it one of the first news events in the nation to be televised outside the station. At year’s end, The New York Times referred to the tragic death of Kathy Fiscus as the single most significant photographic event of 1949. Deverell explores the accident and afterma...
Democratizing the Beach: From Therapy to Recreation
April 30, 2008 03:18 - 34.9 MBDuring the 19th century, beach culture shifted from an emphasis on the therapeutic value of sea water to a growing interest in the recreational pleasures of a trip to the shore. Dr. Ritchie takes a closer look at the changing world of the beach, including concerns over appropriate fashions.