Pacific Historical Review

10/24/2025

Shout out to Iker Saitua's work on Basque and Mexican sheepherders. The article is paywall-free at https://doi.org/10.1525/phr.2024.93.2.263

10/20/2025

Congratulations to all the award winners at and thank you to the Western History Association for a fantastic conference.

Great to see "California History" celebrated at the Western History Association among other award-winning books and journals (including fellow UC Press-published journal, Pacific Historical Review). Congrats again to this year's "California History" award winners, Eric Gonzaba and Erica Toffoli!

10/14/2025

Heading to ? Enjoy a Q&A with Ray Allen Billington Prize winner, Nicole Martin. She talks about attitudes toward Native Americans, Chinese immigrants, and Mormons in the Reconstruction-era US West.

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

WHA award-winner Nicole Martin discusses the history behind who has had the right to possess homes and, by extension, American citizenship.

10/09/2025

Here's an emerging scholar to watch. Of course we're impressed at Nicole Martin's WHA Ray Allen Billington Prize--but all the more so since it's her first-published article. Martin's Pacific Historical Review article, "The Indian, Chinese, and Mormon Questions: The American Home and Reconstruction Politics in the West" is available paywall-free at https://doi.org/10.1525/phr.2024.93.3.445

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

Congrats to the Ray Allen Billington Prize winner Nicole Martin for "The Indian, Chinese, and Mormon Questions: The American Home and Reconstruction Politics in the West."

For more on the Ray Allen Billington Prize visit: westernhistory.org/awards/billington

09/25/2025

Congratulations to PHR author Travis Hancock, co-winner of the Abbott-Johnson Award of the Pacific Coast Branch, American Historical Assoc. Hancock's research illuminates the complex life of George Gilley, a Native Hawaiian whaling captain.

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

Uncovering the history of Kāpena (Captain) George Gilley, the first Native Hawaiian known to lead whaling expeditions.

09/17/2025

Congratulations to Iker Saitua. His PHR article on Basque and Mexican sheepherders weaves together histories of race, labor, and immigration. Saitua received the Cherny Prize of the Pacific Coast Branch-American Historical Association.

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

Who counts as a "skilled" worker for immigration purposes, and who doesn't and why?

08/27/2025

An interview with Katherine Marino on the history of anti-fascist activism by domestic workers. Prof. Marino's PHR article on Rosa Rayside received honorable mention for the Cherny Award of the PCB-AHA, for the best article in U.S. labor or political history. Congratulations! https://www.ucpress.edu/blog-posts/domestic-worker-activism-and-anti-fascism-a-q-a-with-katherine-m-marino

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

Who speaks out against fascism—is it only the most powerful or politically connected who can do so, or is it those whose rights are most in danger?

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.