Pacific Historical Review

08/08/2025

Congratulations Katherine Marino! Her groundbreaking article on Rosa Rayside received honorable mention for the Robert W. Cherny Award of the PCB-AHA. Through Rosa Rayside, Marino uncovers links between the histories of domestic worker activism and anti-fascism, both internationally and in the US. For a limited time, the article is paywall-free at: https://online.ucpress.edu/phr/article/93/3/332/202689/Rosa-Rayside-and-Domestic-Workers-in-the-Fight

University of California Press Portland State University Department of History Portland State University College of Liberal Arts & Sciences UCLA History Department

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08/08/2025

Basque immigrants, Mexican labor, and the history of sheep grazing in the US West--Iker Saitua's PHR article brings together these interwoven histories, providing a new perspective on race, labor, and the environment. The article just won the Robert W. Cherny Award of the PCB-AHA--congratulations to Dr. Saitua! In celebration, we've removed the paywall from "Labor Freezing: Spanish-Basque Immigrants, Mexican Labor, and the Sheepherder Shortage in the American West, for a limited time: https://online.ucpress.edu/phr/article/93/2/263/200448/Labor-Freezing-Spanish-Basque-Immigrants-Mexican

University of California Press Portland State University Department of History Portland State University College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

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08/07/2025

Travis Hancock's PHR article provides the first full biographical account of history’s only known Native Hawaiian whaling captain, a life story ranging across the entire North Pacific, throughout the Bering Sea, and into the Arctic Circle. The article is the co-winner of the first-ever Abbott Johnson Award of the PCB-AHA--created by PSU emeritus professors Carl Abbott and David Johnson for the best journal article in the history of the Pacific world, its peoples, and relations. https://doi.org/10.1525/phr.2024.93.1.1

Portland State University Department of History Portland State University College of Liberal Arts & Sciences PSU College of Urban and Public Affairs University of California Press

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08/05/2025

Cameron Blevins and Annelise Heinz used maps and an underground magazine to illuminate le***an history. Their innovative article in PHR has won multiple prizes, including the Louis Knott Koontz Memorial Award at last weekend's PCB-AHA conference.

Portland State University Department of History Portland State University College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

Historians Cameron Blevins and Annelise Heinz use digital mapping technology to uncover a hidden geography of le***an life in the 1970s and 1980s, tracing patterns of connection among le***an women in urban areas, small towns, and rural America.

08/04/2025

Jonathan van Harmelen's recent PHR article about epidemics and quarantines at War Relocation Authority Camps received the W. Turrentine Jackson (Article) Prize of the PCB-AHA. Check out his recent interview with University of California Press about medical history and Japanese American incarceration.

Portland State University Department of History

Inspired by the COVID pandemic and his ongoing research on Japanese American history, historian Jonathan van Harmelen investigates the medical history of the Japanese American incarceration during World War II.

07/09/2025

David-Paul Hedberg on moving an airplane into the Oregon Historical Society, co-curating a history exhibit, and riding in his grandfather's plane as a child. Dave is a former PHR editorial fellow and an alum of Portland State University Department of History.

What does it take to move an airplane into a museum? In this recent post on “Dear Oregon,” OHS Production Editor Jenny DuVander interviews historian David-Paul B. Hedberg, co-curator of the exhibition “She Flies with Her Own Wings.” In the interview, Hedberg describes the tricky ballet of moves that landed the Oregon-built aircraft — affectionately called “Wimpy” — safely in the exhibition. At around 200 pounds, Wimpy is an iconic, feather-light aircraft that is the centerpiece of the exhibition, which tells the story of the “golden age” of aviation in Oregon. Hedberg also highlights the bold women and men behind the airplanes, whose voices — captured in hundreds of hours of oral histories — shaped the exhibition.

https://www.ohs.org/blog/a-tricky-maneuver.cfm

06/26/2025

Always a treat to see what Portland State University Department of History MA and former PHR fellow David-Paul Hedberg is up to. Thanks for helping history to take flight, Dave!

Portland State University College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

She Flies with Her Own Wings co-curator David-Paul Hedberg introduces tonight’s panel beneath a photo of himself with his grandfather and his grandfather’s plane. Dave and his grandfather spent countless hours in the Oregon skies, often stopping for visits with many of the people whose stories are featured in the exhibit. Thanks to the standing-room-only crowd who joined us for this special evening!

06/06/2025

Great work, Charles Huxley. PHR's Caroline P. Stoel Editorial Fellow received the 2025 Friends of History Award for Outstanding Graduate Seminar Paper, in addition to the award for the highest graduate GPA in history. Charlie has been part of the PHR team for two years now, he'll receive his M.A. in history next week. Congratulations!

Portland State University Department of History Portland State University College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

06/06/2025

Congratulations to PHR fellow Charleen Kepner for her honorable mention for an Honors College Community Engagment Award. Charleen is an undergrad at the PSU Honors College and about to graduate with a BA in Child, Youth, and Family Services. Next fall, she'll continue at Portland State to pursue a graduate certificate in Infant and Toddler Mental Health. Charleen has been our John and LaRee Caughey Fellow for the past two years, managing the workflow of PHR's book reviews, in addition to other editing responsibilities. Congratulations Charleen!

Portland State University Department of History Portland State University College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Portland State University-Honors

05/28/2025

Seeing Cannibalism--or not--in the Enlightenment. We just noted this nice summary of Carol Higham's PHR article in the JStor daily:

The responses British and Spanish explorers had to the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) people and their alleged cannibalism came down to imperialist goals.

05/21/2025

We love this Q&A with Jennifer Bess on border-crossing in the 1890s--which shows just how timely history can be. Bess's article on the border experience of the Quechan and Tohono O’odham received honorable mention for the Judith Lee Ridge Prize of the Western Association of Women Historians.

Portland State University Department of History Portland State University College of Liberal Arts & Sciences University of California Press

Borders mark off the place where one nation ends and another begins. But what happens when you belong to a people that has lived on both sides of the border, since long before the border even existed?

05/09/2025

Welcome to the PHR, Lauren! Lauren Yanase is completing her B.A. and earning her M.A. at Portland State University Department of History. We are excited for her to join the Pacific Historical Review staff next fall, as our Caroline P. Stoel Graduate Editorial Fellow.

Portland State University College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

There are 36 days until graduation! Today we are celebrating Lauren Yanase, an Honors College () student, getting her BA in History while also beginning the MA in our new (BA+MA program).

Lauren writes: “As a declared-history major transfer student who had never taken a collegiate history class (previous college didn’t offer history), the PSU History Department community (staff, faculty, students, ‘Friends of,’ etc.) affirmed and reaffirmed my decision to a) study history and b) transfer to PSU as a history student. I’ve so enjoyed these past few years—so much, that I decided to complete my History MA here as a BA + MA student and further explore and benefit from all that the History Dept has to offer.

The faculty who I’ve been lucky to work with so far are not only experts in their field, but are fabulous instructors who invest in their students. The students who I am honored to call my peers are passionate learners who, regardless of future plans (with or without ‘academic’ history), go above and beyond the grade ‘requirements’ to further historical knowledge for themselves and their communities.

The PSU History Department has helped me pursue my love of history academically and realize a longtime dream to become a published writer; first through the History Honors Thesis (under Prof. Ken Ruoff’s guidance, and in conjunction with the Honors College’s senior thesis), and most recently through a class seminar paper-turned full length research article (HST 492 Environmental History with Prof. Catherine McNeur!) in the Oregon Historical Quarterly. Professors Ruoff and McNeur provided invaluable mentorship as my Undergraduate Honors Thesis Advisor, and Graduate Advisor, respectively. With their support, I’ve been able to make my passion for researching/writing history a viable career path as I now continue at the graduate level in my studies. I am excited for the next ‘chapter’ in my academic history journey at PSU!”

Congratulations, Lauren! We are lucky to not have to say goodbye yet!