Welcome
The Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West (ICW) is a center for scholarly investigation of the history and culture of California and the American West. Through sponsorship of innovative scholarship, research and programming, ICW draws on the resources of the University of Southern California and The Huntington Library to build a unique collaboration amongst a research university, a research library, and the public.
News
Welcome to ICW’s new website. Some of our menus above have changed and we appreciate your patience as we continue to add features.
Hosted by the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, the Research Division at The Huntington, and the Autry Museum of the American West, the 19th annual Western History Dissertation Workshop will be held May 15-16, 2025, at The Huntington Library in San Marino, California. Selected participants will share a chapter of their work at the workshop and receive feedback from other participants and from senior scholars affiliated with the sponsoring institutions. All PhD candidates are encouraged to apply.
The Beinecke Library has hired a cohort of six new curators—including USC and ICW alum Dr. Sarah Keyes—who will shape how Yale Library special collections are selected, taught, and used for decades to come.
Launched on Sept. 3, 2024, the fourth season of Western Edition — the podcast from the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West (ICW) — digs deep into the “Crown City” of the San Gabriel Valley. Western Edition: Hidden Pasadena shares six little-known Pasadena stories, from Simons brickyard to Vroman’s bookstore, St. Barnabas church to the Shoya House at The Huntington. It also considers Pasadenans from the past, from John Brown’s children to John Birch’s followers.
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About Us
Founded in 2004, the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West (ICW) is a collaborative teaching, research, and outreach initiative focused on the history and culture of the modern American West.
We are committed to utilizing history to provide critical perspective on contemporary issues. We see history as a problem-solving tool on its own and a mechanism by which to provide context, background, and additional insight. ICW engages a wide range of scholars, teachers, and students, as well as members of broadly conceived public audiences. We welcome those who are personally invested in this history, and we have a special interest in reaching and collaborating with members of traditionally underrepresented groups when it comes to scholarly interface and interaction with the public.
We work on the history of the American West. What we know must be informed by the questions we ask, every bit as much as the answers we offer. What is the American West? Where is it? When is it? We have some answers, but we do not have all of them. The dialogues we build with others – with you – will help us ask our questions and, in turn and in collaboration, answer them and raise new ones.
From the Directors
On behalf of the Institute on California and the West, welcome to ICW’s website. We invite you to scroll through these pages to see the range of ICW projects over the last two decades. We will mark our 20th anniversary in 2024 and are hopeful you can join us in the celebration. Our work investigating the history and culture of the modern American West is characterized by a set of activities that seek to bridge scholarly and public audiences, dialogues, and contributions to knowledge. We are committed to our work and our many collaborations, and we urge you to reach out to us with questions, comments, and suggestions about other directions we might explore. We take every suggestion seriously, and our dialogues with you strength our work and outreach.
Olive View Sanitarium
Amber Santoro
In 1933, Virginia B. Lujan, a twenty-seven-year-old resident of East Los Angeles, found herself grappling with a life of isolation as a tuberculosis patient at Olive View Sanitarium in the San Fernando Valley. My grandmother, Frances, was Virginia’s eldest daughter, and a mere four years old when her mother fell ill and entered Olive View during the Great Depression. For twenty-one months, Virginia endured quarantine. Most of her interactions with her family occurred from a distance and through a glass window to the outside world. As she slowly healed, holidays offered fleeting moments of physical proximity, such as short outdoor interactions during an Easter celebration.
Publications
Published in partnership with the University of California Press, ICW’s scholarly series Western Histories questions and deepens collective understanding of the history of California and the American West. In addition to the partnership with UC Press, ICW has published stand-alone texts including, Form and Landscape and Past Due.
USC Courses
Through ICW, USC faculty teach undergraduate courses at USC and graduate courses at The Huntington, directly weaving the library’s scholarly materials into the professional training of students. Doctoral and postdoctoral students in USC Dornsife College utilize the breadth of The Huntington collections in their path-breaking research on the history of the American West. At the graduate level, ICW is at the nexus of inter-university collaboration with students and scholars from UCLA, University of California, Riverside, University of California, Irvine, and others.
Los Angeles History Syllabi
Drawing on academic partners throughout the region, syllabi from courses focused on Los Angeles history reflect the range of approaches to better understanding this space.
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Contact Us
Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West
University of Southern California
Van Hunnick Department of History
Los Angeles, CA 90089
Los Angeles Service Academy (LASA)
University of Southern California
Van Hunnick Department of History
Los Angeles, CA 90089