Pacific Coast Branch Awards and Prizes
All awards and prizes recognize distinguished scholarship produced by members of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association living in the PCB-AHA region.
Donations to one of the award endowments can be made by contacting PCB-AHA executive director Michael Green. For more information, please email him at [email protected].
The W. Turrentine Jackson (Dissertation) Award for the most outstanding dissertation on any aspect of the history of the American West in the twentieth century.
The Pacific Coast Branch Book Award for an outstanding first book on any historical subject by a scholar who resides within the states and provinces from which the Branch draws its membership.
The Norris & Carol Hundley Award for an outstanding book on any historical subject by a scholar who resides within the states and provinces from which the Branch draws its membership.
The Tonous & Warda Johns Family Book Award for an outstanding book on U.S. foreign relations, immigration history, or military history.
The Robert W. Cherny Award for an outstanding article in U.S. labor and political history published in the Pacific Historical Review and/or by a member of the PCB-AHA.
Distinguished Service Award
Each year, the PCB-AHA presents an award to a member who has provided distinguished service to the organization through such activities as committee service and conference participation. A three-member committee determines the winner. The honoree receives a plaque, and a lifetime membership in the American Historical Association. The inaugural winner in 2019 was Stacey L. Smith of Oregon State University, followed by Albert Camarillo of Stanford University in 2020, Susan Wladaver-Morgan, formerly of Portland State University and the Pacific Historical Review, in 2021, and Mary Ann Irwin, the editor of California History and a history educator with long involvement not only in the PCB-AHA, but also in the Western Association of Women Historians and other professional organizations.
The PCB-AHA is accepting nominations for the 2023 award. To make a nomination, please get in touch with one or all of the committee members:
David Johnson, Portland State University, [email protected]
Susan Wladaver-Morgan, [email protected]
Mary Ann Irwin, California History and California State University, East Bay, [email protected]
Presidents’ Graduate Student Travel Award
The PCB-AHA Presidents’ Graduate Student Travel Awards are awarded by the selection committee to graduate students participating on the program as presenters on a panel, poster session, or roundtable. Priority for these awards will be given to doctoral candidates, although graduate students at all levels are invited to apply.
In order to be considered for a Travel Award, a proposal (including the applicant’s name, institution, current graduate student status, copy of the PCB-AHA acceptance letter for the presentation, and brief curriculum vitae) should be sent to each member of the selection committee.
Proposals must include: an email requesting consideration for the award, including the student’s name, university, the year of matriculation in a Ph.D. program, the candidate’s current status in her or his program and anticipated date of completion. A copy of the PCB–AHA Conference acceptance letter and a CV must also be included.
For reasons listed below, those who are presenting on topics that do NOT address the North American West will be given priority.
Please send your application material by May 15 to the members of the Travel Award Committee for the 2022 conference:
David Johnson (2023)
Department of History
Portland State University
[email protected]
Marsha Weisiger (2024)
Department of History
University of Oregon
[email protected]
Stacey Smith (2025)
Department of History
Oregon State University
[email protected]
Charles Redd Center Awards
The Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University will be providing funding for travel awards for graduate students presenting at the PCB-AHA conference on topics in the history of the North American West.
In order to be considered for a Travel Award, a proposal (including the applicant’s name, institution, current graduate student status, copy of the PCB-AHA acceptance letter for the presentation, and brief curriculum vitae) should be sent to each member of the selection committee.
Proposals must include: an email requesting consideration for the award, including the student’s name, university, the year of matriculation in a Ph.D. program, the candidate’s current status in her or his program and anticipated date of completion. A copy of the PCB–AHA Conference acceptance letter and a CV must also be included.
Please send applications to Michael Green, executive director of the PCB-AHA, at [email protected], by May 10.
Pacific Historical Review Prizes (sponsored by the University of California Press)
The W. Turrentine Jackson (Article) Prize to a graduate student whose essay on a topic within the fields of concentration of the Pacific Historical Review has been adjudged to be of outstanding quality.
The Louis Knott Koontz Memorial Award is given annually for the most deserving contribution to the Pacific Historical Review.
