Summer 2019
Hardship to Homeland: Pacific Northwest Volga Germans
Histories of migration and struggle come alive in "Hardship to Homeland: Pacific Northwest Volga Germans" by Richard D. Scheuerman and Clifford E. Trafzer. » More ...
American West
Winter 2018
Bison
The day the bison herd swam across the river says it all.
About 80 of the legendary mammals, known for hardiness and stubbornness, decided to cross the half-mile wide Pend Oreille River in 1994—bulls, cows, and even calves—and all survived the crossing, recalls Ray Entz, natural resources director of the Kalispel Tribe of Indians in northeast Washington.
That same rugged strength of the wooly North American bovines—whether you call them bison or buffalo—helped the entire resilient species survive. Although bison are now the national mammal of the United States, they once balanced on the cliff of extinction … » More …
Winter 2018
Spirit in the Rock: The Fierce Battle for Modoc Homelands
Jim Compton
WSU Press: 2017
Descending a great bluff towering above an endless sea of black in early 1873, the militiamen clench their rifles tighter as they wade into a thick gray fog among southern Oregon lava beds. A deafening crack and the flash of gunpowder pierces the dense mist. War paint-clad Modoc snipers poke their muzzles out between cracks in the blackened rock and fire unseen upon their adversaries. The bewildered U.S. troops search frantically through the … » More …
Summer 2018
Out West
We make so many assumptions about gender expression and identity, and sexual orientation, that it’s sometimes a shock to realize that ideas about them have changed over time. Take pink and blue.
Pink is for girls, blue is for boys—except when it wasn’t. A Ladies’ Home Journal article from 1918 clearly states that “the generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.”
A decade later, Time magazine repeated the … » More …
Spring 2018
Briefly noted
On the Arctic Frontier: Ernest Leffingwell’s Polar Explorations and Legacy
Janet R. Collins
WSU Press: 2017
Arctic explorer and geologist Ernest deKoven Leffingwell(1875–1971) helped determine the edge of the continental shelf—the first solid evidence that searching for land north of Alaska was likely futile. He also left detailed, accurate maps of Alaska’s northeast coast, groundbreaking permafrost studies, and charted the geology and wildlife of the region. Collins, a Western Washington University librarian intrigued by Leffingwell’s work, reveals a relatively unknown, meticulous, and detailed explorer devoted to the Arctic.
Re-Awakening Ancient Salish Sea Basketry: Fifty Years of Basketry Studies in Culture and Science
Ed … » More …
Spring 2018
Losing Eden: An Environmental History of the American West
Sara Dant ’91 MA, ’00 PhD
Wiley: 2017
The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition welcomed millions of people to Chicago to celebrate the rise of industrial America, the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival on the continent, and the romanticization of the “frontier” West. Historian Frederick Jackson Turner presented his thesis that the western advance into a wild and savage frontier defined the American spirit, and … » More …
Winter 2017
Green and Roughshod: I Should’ve Stayed a Montana Cowboy
Dan H. McLachlan ’66, ’69 MA
Aventine Press: 2016
The dream of a little boy to become a cowboy came true for Dan McLachlan. He read a 1927 text, All in the Day’s Riding, as an eighth-grader in Palo Alto, California, and became enamored with the vision of a wide blue sky viewed from horseback. After earning enough to buy two horses and tack, he eventually ended up in Montana for … » More …
Fall 2016
Gallery: The Northwest in the National Park Service Centennial collection
A sampling of Northwest locations in the National Park Service Centennial Photo Gallery.
Explore additional NPS centennial photo gallery images across the United States.
Read about “Preserving the story of America.”
Spring 2016
Trout Culture: How Fly Fishing Forever Changed the Rocky Mountain West
Jen Corrinne Brown ’12 PhD
University of Washington Press: 2015
With help from Hollywood and even popular beer labels, the Rocky Mountain region of the American West enjoys an iconic reputation for wild and natural fishing. It’s where rugged individualists reconnect with nature through timeless traditions.
Missing from the customary narrative are the generations of human intervention, environmental manipulation, and social transformation.
Brown, who earned a history doctorate from WSU in 2012, calls … » More …
Gallery: Self-portraits of Okanogan, Washington photographer Frank Matsura
The works of Frank Matsura, a photographer born in Japan who moved into the Okanogan valley in 1903, chronicle the end of mining in the area and the influx of farmers and families. He also shot a number of self-portraits that capture frontier life.
» More ...