Freedom and Unfreedom in the American West
Thursday, April 24, 2025
12:00 – 1:00pm PST
Join ICW for a conversation between Professors Alice Baumgartner and Katria Jagodinsky, moderated by Prof. Julian Lim, about their current research projects on the legal ramifications of freedom and unfreedom in the American West from the late 19th into the early 20th centuries.
Free with Pre-Registration (Click Here)
Featuring:
Alice Baumgartner is an associate professor of history at the University of Southern California. She holds a Ph.D. from Yale University and an M.Phil in Latin American Studies from the University of Oxford where she was a Rhodes Scholar. Her first book, South to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to Civil War, was selected as an Editor’s Choice by the New York Times Book Review and as a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize in History.
Katrina Jagodinsky is Associate Professor of History at University of Nebraska Lincoln and founder of the Digital Legal Research Lab, a hub for critical legal research applying digital tools to chronicle and measure marginalized people’s use of the law in the United States. Dr. Jagodinsky recently launched Petitioning for Freedom: Habeas Corpus in the American West, 1812-1924, a database of legal cases featuring the efforts of petitioners to challenge their wrongful confinement and coercive detention: https://petitioningforfreedom.unl.edu/
Moderated by Julian Lim is the Arthur Eisenberg and Susan Engel Associate Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University. Lim’s work explores connections between Asian, Latinx, African American, and Indigenous histories and how laws shape notions of belonging within the U.S. and across national boundaries. Lim’s first book, Porous Borders: Multiracial Migrations and the Law in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, examined the history of diverse immigrants in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, and the development of immigration policy and law on both sides of the border.
Image credit: Petitioning for Freedom Database, Center for Digital Research in the Humanities.
Dam Nation: The Fate & Future of Dams in the American West
Friday, May 2, 2025
9:30am – 3:00pm (Daytime Speaker & Panel Sessions) ║ 7:00 – 8:00pm (Evening Keynote)
Location: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
In celebration of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West’s 20th anniversary, join us for an exploration of the past, present, and future of dams in the American West. Expert speakers and panels examine the impact of dams across the region and address debates swirling around dam removal. From the Klamath to Glen Canyon, don’t miss this opportunity to dive deep into the complex world of dam management, removal, and environmental conservation. See you there!
More information about the conference is available here. Please note: This event includes 2 parts, which can be registered for together or separately. Spaces limited and pre-registration is required. Register Today!
Image credit: Huntington Digital Library Collection
Western Edition Season 4 Podcast
More than 50 million viewers begin each new year looking to Pasadena, tuning into the Rose Parade to see flower and seed-coated floats cruise slowly down Colorado Boulevard. But to nearly 1450,000 of those viewers, the “City of Roses” is home, a complex suburb of downtown Los Angeles with a deep history. Pasadena has played a greater role in American and Pacific histories than most of its residents even know.
This new season of Western Edition digs deep into the “Crown City” of the San Gabriel Valley with 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.