The WHA’s Fall Newsletter is now available online. This special issue marks the sesquicentennial of the birth of Frederick Jackson Turner, the start of the American Civil War, and the admission of the territories of Colorado and Nevada.   To read the newsletter, click here.

The Texas Chapter of the Great Western Cattle Trail Association is proud to announce the recipient of the first annual Young Texas Trail Blazer Award, Jeremy Richard McLain of Vernon, Texas completed a service project pertaining to the Great Western Cattle Trail.  He is the son of Jerry and Karon McLain of Vernon.

A member of the Boy Scouts Troop 87 chartered by the First Presbyterian Church of Vernon, McLains project was done as part of obtaining his Eagle Scout rank.  The project of Video Oral History of the Great Western Cattle Trail took 9 months to complete.  The project included identification of persons with extensive knowledge of the history of cattle in Texas, the Great Western Trail, Doan’s Crossing and the “Marking of the Western Trail” project by the Vernon Rotary Club.

Because of the surge of interest in the Great Western Trail there was a definite need for a method of compiling information about the trail, by collecting second hand information about the trail from historians and descendants of trail drivers and early day settlers.  With today’s emphasis on visual as well as audio media, a useful tool was video recording of oral history interviews.  Little of this work has been done regarding the Great Western Trail and McLain took this opportunity to preserve some of the trails history and to begin a process that will hopefully continue for years to come.

McLain completed the project while a senior at Vernon High School.  He graduated 7th in his class at Vernon High School where he served as senior drum major for the Roarin’ Lion Band, was active in Spanish Club and was recipient of numerous leadership and academic awards.

McLain now attends the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin where he is majoring in Biomolecular Engineering.  As head of the Hook ‘Em Hybridizers” team at UT they received an award from BIOMOD, a worldwide biomolecular design competition.  The competition was held at Harvard University in November of this year.

To be eligible for the Texas Youth Award the project must have been completed by a person 18 years of age or younger, a US citizen and a resident of Texas.  The project should be a minimum of 25 hours and pertain to the Great Western Cattle Trail.  The project should be approved by a GWCTA Board Member and a written and oral report should be given at the end of the project.

The various  types of projects include the categories of:

Research: Oral Histories, Photography, Research of the Great Western Trail Drives, Research of people of the Great Western Trail Drives

Education: Prepare and present program on the Western Trail to Civic Club, School Group, Scouting Group etc., Prepare a visual application on the Western Trail which would be beneficial to a tourist organization such as a Chamber of Commerce or museum.

Landscaping: Weeding around Western Trail markers, Repainting Western Trail markers, Planting and landscaping around Western Trail Markers

For further information on Great Western Trail Youth Awards send requests to: Mary Ann McCuistion, Chair GWCTA Texas Youth Award, 2701 Highland Park Drive, Vernon, Texas 76384.  Inquiries may also be e-mailed to

Contact Information:

Mary Ann McCuistion, 2701 Highland Park Drive, Vernon TX 76384

Phone:  (940) 552-9697     E-mail: ladywt@sbcglobal.net

At the WHA’s Semi-Centennial Conference in Oakland, California (October 13-16th, 2011), C-SPAN taped two sessions: the Cronon-White-Limerick session, which took place at the Oakland Museum of California on October 13th, and Quintard Taylors’s Presidential Address, which was given at the Oakland Marriott City Center on October 15th.

As yet, the Cronon-White-Limerick session has not been scheduled to air. However, Quintard Talyor’s address will air later this week on C-SPAN’s American History TV.

Please note:

FRIDAY 11:30AM, 7:30PM; SAT 3:30AM ET – all on C-SPAN3

Twentieth Century Urban West (Aquarius #30256701)

University of Washington Professor Quintard Taylor looks at the intersection of twentieth century African American history and the development of cities on the west coast. Taylor’s area of expertise is African American history and the American west. He examines how factors like community organizing, deindustrialization, housing and employment have shaped the “urban west” and how they reflect changes in American culture.

The National Endowment for the Humanities announces a 2012 Summer Institute for School Teachers

American Frontiers in Global Perspective

June 24 through July 14, 2012

The very word “frontier” calls out historical and mythic images for Americans and people around the world. The U.S. story undoubtedly is unique in its own ways, and it often has overshadowed similar stories from other parts of the world in popular culture. But have frontiers made U.S. history exceptional and beyond comparison, as Frederick Jackson Turner claimed in his famous “frontier thesis”? This institute focuses on reconsidering the uniqueness and nature of U.S. frontiers and closely associated ideas of American “exceptionalism.” We will look at colonial North American and U.S. frontiers both on their own terms and from global and comparative perspectives. We think this approach will offer you dynamic new material for your social studies and U.S. and world history classes.

This history is not just for scholars. As teachers we can better meet our goal of educating the next generation—as Americans, world “citizens,” and participants in a global economy—if our students learn about U.S. history in a global context and see how world history relates to that of their own nation. Many students in U.S. schools are themselves immigrants (or their children), and they can more easily see how their experiences fit into the U.S. story when it is taught in ways shaped by global perspectives.

Our three-week institute will be held at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It will host 25 NEH Summer Scholars with a $2700 stipend to help defray costs. Topics and events will include:

–Turner’s “frontier thesis” and alternative approaches from around the world.

–The mythology of the American frontier and its influence on American identity.

–Frontiers in the Midwest, South, and far West.

–A fieldtrip to Lowell, Michigan, to explore the history of its logging frontier.

–Native peoples as settlers, notably the Cherokee in the Oklahoma Territory.

–The “Indian Wars” and comparisons to wars in Canada, Mexico and South Africa.

–Is the cowboy “American”? Cattle workers and ranching from Argentina to Canada.

–Gold rushes from California to British Columbia, the Yukon, and Australia.

–Frontiers and overseas empires—similar forms of expansion or essential different?

–The impact of frontier era land law on the U.S. West in the twentieth century.

In addition to studying these topics together with an eye to how to teach them in the school classroom, participants will develop curricular materials and share their work with each other, bringing home a body of classroom appropriate material. We encourage you to consider topics that we have not been able to fit in the institute schedule.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

William Katerberg, Director wkaterbe@calvin.edu

For more Information and Application Material go to:
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/history/katerbergneh/

Application Deadline: March 1, 2012

Distinguished scholars in History or Political Science are invited to apply for the Wayne N. Aspinall Chair at Mesa State College.  For a $10,000 stipend, the visiting professor will spend three weeks on the Mesa State College campus in late March-early April 2012, teach a one credit course, give a major public lecture, and make any other invited appearances.  Applications must include a vitae, a brief outline of a course proposal and a topic for the major public lecture.  Submit application by February 14, 2012 to: Professor Steven C. Schulte, Department of History, Mesa State College, 1100 North Ave., Grand Junction, CO 81501.  Feel free to direct any inquiries to Schulte@mesastate.edu or 970 248-1418.

The 2011 WHA Election Returns Are In:

Mark Fiege of Colorado State University and Marsha Weisiger of the University of Oregon won seats on the Council; Kathy Brosnan of the University of Houston and Margaret Jacobs of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, won seats on the Nominating Committee.

CALL FOR PAPERS AND ELECTRONIC POSTERS. “1862-2012: The Making of the Great Plains” will be held March 28-30, 2012, on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. The event is sponsored by the UNL Center for Great Plains Studies in collaboration with Homestead National Monument of America, National Park Service. Featured speakers will include Richard White, Donald Worster, Elliott West, Daniel Wildcat, Sarah Carter, Myron Gutmann, Martin Jischke, David Von Drehle, David Wishart, and William G. Thomas III. Electronic posters may feature animations, mapping, or other special effects, be under 5 minutes, and will be shown on 40-inch TVs; technical assistance will be available. Deadline for proposals is Nov. 1, 2011. Submit your paper or poster proposal and find information at www.unl.edu/plains. Contact: cgps@unl.edu.

The Western History Association seeks a new Executive Director and home for its executive office, beginning July 1, 2012. University-based applicants should be tenured with appropriate publications and administrative experience. Applicants from other institutions, such as a research library or museum, should have sufficient seniority and institutional backing to provide assurance of security of tenure and ongoing support. The successful applicant should be able to demonstrate institutional support (office space, clerical-administrative staff, etc.) and the ability to devote fifty percent of his or her time to the WHA. Applicants should send a c.v., a letter of interest, and the names of three references (including a letter of interest from the institution) by regular mail or e-mail to Prof. Albert Hurtado, Chair of the Search Committee, Department of History, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019-0535, or <ahurtado@ou.edu>. Deadline for applications is September 1, 2011, with interviews to follow at the annual WHA meeting in October. The WHA is an AA/EOE.