Seminar History of American West (Hist 5630)
Autumn Term, 2015
Phil Roberts Meeting Place: History Seminar Room
Office: 356 History, 766-5101 or 5311 Course Time: Mon., 7-9:30 p.m.
E-mail: philr@uwyo.edu
Course Objective: This course will explore the major issues involving the people, politics, economy, environment and culture in Western history through reading, researching, writing and class discussions. The aim of the course will be to prepare students in specific areas of Western history through substantial reading and research, the specific research paper tailored to each student’s research goal.
Course Requirements: The essential requirement for this course is diligent reading and thinking about Western issues and their history. A major research paper or bibliographic essay will be required as well as oral contributions to class discussions. As preparation for writing the paper/essay, students will be expected to read significant works on the topic as well as to gain familiarity with primary source materials. Because students are expected to understand the breadth of Western history as well as their specific research area, students will be assigned four books, no two on the same general topic. Brief written reviews will be done for each book. Also, students will participate in brief group exercises.
Additionally, because the history of the West involves continuities from the past and contemporary issues are based on earlier events, students are expected to read about Western issues regularly as articles about such issues appear in the national and regional press. Ideally, each student will have a general understanding of the more traditional Western historiography, although readings will be made available to those who wish to either refresh their knowledge of the topic or bring it up to date. The course grade will be based primarily on the oral reviews and on a final paper, the topic to be chosen in consultation with the instructor.
Individually Assigned Readings: These will consist of four books, no two from the same discussion category, for each seminar participant. While an occasional common reading may be assigned, the class will be based primarily on discussions derived from individually assigned readings addressing the below-listed specific areas of Western history. During the second class meeting (Sept. 14), the assignment schedules will be distributed, indicating when each student will be expected to recite on his/her individually assigned readings.
Four Brief Reviews: Reviews written for this class must resemble the format of an academic book review appearing in a scholarly journal. The review will not be a descriptive summary of the books’ content. You will be presenting an analytical critique of the authors’ theses, themes, sources, and methodology. Each review must be no longer than 500 words. All will be due the week following Thanksgiving vacation, but it is expected that the book will have been read by the assigned date for oral recitation.
Brief Essays: Throughout the semester, brief essays will be assigned. Students may select three (3) to complete of the seven assigned.
Final Paper: Each student will complete a formal essay/research paper which may take one of several forms. It may be a chapter of a longer study such as a thesis, dissertation or book. It may be a self-contained article about a particular issue in the history of the West or biography of an individual. It may be a bibliographic essay based on the specifically assigned books read during the semester. Whatever the form, the product should be the result of careful reading of existing works on the topic as well as sound, careful, original research. Presentations based on “rough drafts” will be scheduled during each of the last classes of the semester. (This will include bibliographic essays although the form of the presentation likely will be distinct from the research-oriented papers).
Because an important component of the course will concern writing for scholarly historical publication, students are expected to be conversant with the contents of recent issues of the following five history journals: Western Historical Quarterly, Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Pacific Historian, Annals of Wyoming, Montana: Magazine of Western History, and to be familiar generally with all state/regional history journals relating to the West, accessible in Coe Library’s serials collection/webpages.
The last two class sessions will be devoted to discussion and critique of the major paper. This process will be done constructively. Given that each of us has different goals for the project (as a thesis chapter, an article for possible publication, etc.), the style and length may differ from student to student.
Each presenter will also serve as a commentator on the week during which she/he does not present. The commentator will lead the [constructive] discussion about the paper. He/she will be responsible for checking footnote citations and bibliography. Each critic will provide the presenter with constructive suggestions. They may take the form of a brief written report or legible suggestions written on the draft. In either case, the commentator’s remarks must be returned to the presenter on the evening of her/his presentation.
Following (constructive) class critiques of drafts, students will have either one or two weeks to prepare the final, formal document. Although the category of the topic may determine when you will present, the primary means for determining the date of your presentation will be by a random drawing. The final product, due no later than finals week class (Mon., Dec. 14, 9:30 p.m.), should conform to a recognized style, preferably Chicago Manual of Style or a recognized alternative. Deadlines are important; therefore, no late papers will be accepted.
Students should check my website periodically for updates on individual assignments. It is: www.wyominglamanac.com and click on the “Seminar” title in the left column on the homepage.
Grading:
Four brief analytical reviews: 20 percent
Final paper: 50 percent
Class participation/commentary: 15 percent Brief papers based on common readings: 15 percent
There will be NO final exam in this class.
Outline of Topics, Meetings and Assignments (revised and subject to change)
Aug. 31: Introduction
Sept. 7: NO CLASS. LABOR DAY.
Sept. 14: Writing about the West: From Turner to the “New Western History”
Common Reading: Frederick Jackson Turner essay
Individual book assignments
Writing Assignment #1 (due Sept. 21):
The “New Western historians” emphasized many aspects of Western history that Turner either minimized or completely ignored. Select someone you might identify as a “New Western historian,” read at least one primary book he/she wrote, and compare/contrast the approach and findings with what you might have expected from Turner and earlier Western historians. The following essays may be of value in considering this assignment: William Cronon,”Turner’s First Stand: The Significance of Significance in American History,”in Richard Etulain, Writing Western History. (Reno: Univ. of Nevada Press, 2002), pp. 73-101; and various other entries in the book.
Sept. 21: Western Travel and Transportation
Common Readings:
Roger D. Launius and Jessie L. Embry, “Cheyenne v. Denver: City Rivalry and the Quest for Transcontinental Air Routes,” Annals of Wyoming 68 (Summer 1996), 8-23.
David Wrobel, “Considering Frontiers and Empires: George Kennan’s Siberia and the U. S. West,” Western Historical Quarterly 56 (Autumn 2015), 285-309.
Sept. 28: Agriculture, Ranching, Public Lands
Common Readings:
Andrew P. Duffin, “Vanishing Earth: Soil Erosion in the Palouse, 1930-1945,” Agricultural History 79 (Spring 2005), 173 (JSTOR)
Sherry L. Smith, Single Women Homesteaders: The Perplexing Case of Elinore Pruitt Stewart,” Western Historical Quarterly 22 (May 1991), 163-184.
Taylor Spence, “Jeffersonian Jews: The Jewish Agrarian Diaspora and the Assimilative Power of the Western Land, 1882-1930,” Western Historical Quarterly 41 (Autumn 2010), 327-351.
Robert G. Rosenberg, “To the Man Who Will Roll Up His Sleeves: Dry Land Farming in Southeastern Wyoming,” Annals of Wyoming 82 (Summer 2010), 2-19.
Writing Assignment #2 (due Oct. 12):
Perhaps the most intimate connections made by the federal government in the West have involved agriculture–ranching and farming. Analyze the validity of this statement, taking into account such events as passage of the Homestead Act, creation of the Department of Agriculture, and development of Western waterways.
Oct. 5: Water and the Environment
Common Readings:
Monica Perales, “Fighting to Stay in Smeltertown: Lead Contamination and Environmental Justice in a Mexican American Community,” Western Historical Quarterly 39 (Spring 2008), pp. 41-63.
Norris Hundley, Jr., Water and the West in Historical Imagination,” Western Historical Quarterly 27 (Spring 1996), 5-31.
John Wesley Powell, Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States…. Read the Introductory materials, chapters 1 and 2 only.
Writing Assignment #3 (due Oct. 19)
Federal government spending has been significant to the development of the 20th century West. You will write about one national park, national monument, federal facility or project, summarize how it came to be established where it was, who the key people responsible for placing it there were, and what impact it had on the local community nearby. These sites also may include military bases, reclamation projects (dams), and other significant federal locations (for instance, Hanford Atomic Works, United Aircraft Modification Plant).
Oct. 12: Oil and Mining
Nicholas G. Malavis, “Sword or Constitution?: Martial Law in the Oil Patch,” Western Legal History 8 (Winter/Spring 1995), 61-90.
Eric L. Clements, “Pragmatic Revolutionaries?: Tactics, Ideologies, and the Western Federal of Miners in the Progressive Era,”Western Historical Quarterly 40 (Winter 2009), pp. 445-467.
Phil Mellinger, “How the IWW Lost Its Western Heartland: Western Labor History Revisited,” Western Historical Quarterly 27 (Autumn 1996), 303-324.
Oct. 19: Law
Common Readings:
Gabriel J. Chin, “Citizenship and Exclusion: Wyoming’s Anti-Japanese Alien Land Law in Context,” Wyoming Law Review 1 (2001), 497-521.
Modure Labode, “The ‘stern, fearless settlers of the West’: Lynching, Region and Capital Punishment in Early 20th Century Colorado,” Western Historical Quarterly 45 (Winter 2014), 389-410.
Phil Roberts, “Murder in the Freeze-outs: Loyalty, Sedition and Vigilante Justice in World War I Wyoming,” Annals of Wyoming 85 (Winter 2013), 2-21.
Randolph Roth, Marcus D. Maltz, and Douglas L. Eckberg, “Homicide Rates in the Old West,” Western Historical Quarterly 42 (Summer 2011), 173-196.
Writing Assignment #4: (Due Nov. 2)
Identify and research one racial incident that occurred in the American West. Write 6-8 pages on the incident, describing the event, the participants, the causes, and the outcome. Why might the event have occurred at the time and place that it did?
Oct. 26: Changing Demographics and Diversity
Your paper proposal is due tonight. (One-page statement of what your paper will involve, including preliminary list of secondary works you intend to cite).
Lori A. Flores, “A Town Full of Dead Mexicans: The Salinas Valley Bracero Tragedy of 1963 and the Evolution of California’s Chicano Movement,” Western Historical Quarterly 44 (Summer 2013), 125-144.
Quintard Taylor, “Facing the Urban Frontier: African American History in the Reshaping of the 20th Century West,” Western Historical Quarterly 43 (Spring 2012), 5-28.
Matthew C. Whitaker “Desegregating the Valley of the Sun: Phillips v. Phoenix Union High Schools,” Western Legal History 16 (Summer/Fall 2003), pp. 135-157.
Eduardo Contreras, “Voice and Property: Latinos, White Conservatives and Urban Renewal in 1960s San Francisco,” Western Historical Quarterly 45 (Autumn 2014), 253-278.
Writing Assignment #5: (Due Nov. 9):
The American West once was a hotbed of radical labor progressive legislation and Populist farmers. What developments changed the politics of the American West ? Contrast and compare the Progressive era and the years after World War II.
Nov. 2: Industry, Business and Labor
Common Readings:
Todd Holmes, “The Economic Roots of Reaganism: Corporate Conservatives, Political Economy and the United Farm Workers Movement, 1965-70,” Western Historical Quarterly 41 (Spring 2010), 55-79.
Paul Spitzer, “Boeing as a Start-up Company, 1915-17,” Pacific Northwest Quarterly 95 (Summer 2004).
Writing Assignment #6: (Due Nov. 23)
With particular attention to the West in the 19th century, analyze how modern media depictions and Western mythology compares/contrasts with the workings of law during the period. For instance, how common were shoot-outs on main streets? How much violence occurred in overland travel? Try to limit your inquiry to a particular sub-region and decade.
Nov. 9: Western Politics
Common Readings:
James Gregory, American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), “Chapter 1: Out of the Heartland,” pp. 3-35
Carl Hallberg, “The Socialist Party in Wyoming, 1902-40,” Annals of Wyoming 81 (Summer 2009), pp. 13-47.
W. J. Rorabaugh, “Introduction: Gold” and “Chapter 1: White,” Berkeley at War, The 1960s (New York: Oxford, 1989), 3-47.
Phil Roberts, “Regulating Liquor: Prohibition Enforcement, Official Corruption, and State Efforts to Control Alcohol After Prohibition Repeal,” Wyoming Law Review, 12 (2012), pp. 389-451.
Eve Vogel, “Defining One Pacific Northwest among Many Possibilities: The Political Construction of a Region and Its River During the New Deal,” Western Historical Quarterly 42 (Spring 2011), pp. 28-53.
Nov. 16: World War II and the Rise of the Urban West
Common Readings. TBA
Writing Assignment #7: (Due Nov. 30)
In a brief 8-10 page paper, identify at least one contribution to the architecture or the culture of your community that was the result of a New Deal project or program. Describe the purpose for the project (putting skilled craftsmen to work or reducing unemployment, for instance), why the particular project/program was selected and how it was accomplished in your community. Be sure to identify the main players at each stage of the process. What was the long-term value of the project/program? What role did the project have in the local economy at the time?
Outline of research paper/bibliographic essay due tonight. (Outline should include preliminary listing of relevant primary source materials).
Nov. 23: Western Art and Culture
Common Readings: TBA
Nov. 30: Presentations, Group 1.
Presenters will see that Phil and the person assigned to direct the class critique each receive the paper through e-mail attachment. Phil will serve as a second “commentator” for every paper.
All book reviews due tonight.
Dec. 7: Presentations, Group 2.
Dec. 14: Final paper due tonight, 9:30 p.m. No final exam and no class meeting scheduled.