History of California Podcast

Today, we have Craig Walsh on the show. Walsh is the son of the legendary San Francisco 49ers head coach Bill Walsh and himself a former executive of the 49ers. He also co-authored the book The Score Takes Care of Itself, with his father and writer Steve Jamison,  which crystallizes Bill Walsh’s principles of leadership. This was a fascinating conversation. Please enjoy. 

In this episode, we begin our series on California and the Civil War. 

Today, we have an interview with Kolin Perry about the new exhibit at Nevada Museum of Art called End of the Range: Charlotte Skinner in the Eastern Sierra. Charlotte B. Skinner (1879-1963) was an artist and educator living in the Eastern Sierra of California from 1905 to 1933. Skinner counted herself among the artistic circles of renowned photographers and artists of the West. Her home became a r...

Today, we have Paul Carter on the show. Carter is an attorney with more than twenty years of experience in investigation and trial work and the author of the new biography Richard Nixon: California's Native Son. Please enjoy our conversation

In this episode, we conclude our three part episode series on the life and art of Chiura Obata.

Today, we have an interview with Malcolm Harris. Harris is a writer, critic and journalist and the author of, among other books, Palo Alto: ​​A History of California, Capitalism, and the World, which is the subject of today’s episode. Please enjoy this wide ranging conversation.

Today, we have Katherine Blunt on the program. Katherine is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and author of California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric and What it Means for America’s Power Grid. The book, a national bestseller, won the 2022 Golden Poppy award for nonfiction. Her coverage of PG&E, a collaboration with two colleagues, was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize...

Today we have Dr. James Zarsadiaz on the show. Dr Zarsadiaz is Associate Professor of History and Director of the Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program. He specializes in United States history, particularly urban and suburban history and Asian American history. Prof. Zarsadiaz was a fellow at both the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History and Asian Pacific American Center. T...

In this episode, we continue Obata's story as he journeys to Yosemite and ventures into the High Sierra. 

Today we have Dr. Mitchell Schwarzer on the show. Dr. Schwarzer is a Professor in the Department of the History of Art and Visual Culture at California College of the Arts, and a historian of architecture and urbanism. He has written books on architectural theory, visual perception, and the buildings of the San Francisco Bay Area. His most recent book and the subject of our conversation is Hella T...

In today's episode, we meet Chiura Obata, learn about his early, his immigration to the United States, and set the stage for his career as one of the most famous artists in California History. 

Today, we have Dr. Virginia Scharff on the show. Dr. Scharff is an emeritus professor of History from the University of the New Mexico and has written and edited many books about women and the west and curated many museum exhibits at the Autry. This is a wide-ranging conversation where we touch on many of her intellectual projects that cover a breath of topics. Please enjoy.

In this episode, we look at the fascinating life of Mary Ellen Pleasant, an African American woman who blazed trails in Californian politics. 

Today, we have an interview with Dean King. King is an award-winning author of ten nonfiction books. Dean relishes the adventures involved in making history come to life while at the same time diligently searching out the truth and turning up new historical detail. The focus of our conversation is his newest book Guardians of the Valley: John Muir and the Friendship That Saved Yosemite. Please enj...

In this episode, we continue our series by discussing Whigs and Republicans in California. 

Today, we have Dr. Jenni Sorkin on the show. Dr. Sorkin is an Associate Professor of the History of Art and Architecture at UCSB. Dr. Sorkin writes on the intersections between gender, material culture, and contemporary art. Her most recent book is Art in California (2021), written for Thames & Hudson’s acclaimed World of Art series. As a state, California is the site of tremendous diversity i...

In this episode, we wrap the section on the Democratic Party in California in the 1850's. 

Kim Bancroft earned a B.A. in English from Stanford, an M.A. in English and a teaching credential from San Francisco State University, and a doctorate in education from UC Berkeley. She has taught at high schools and community colleges in the Bay Area, at the Universidad de Guanajuato in Mexico, and at Sacramento State.  In 2014 Kim edited the 1890 autobiography of her great-great-grandfather, Hub...

Donald Worster is one of the founders of, and leading figures in, the field of environmental history. Worster’s books include  Nature’s Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas ;  Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s ;  Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity, and the Growth of the American West ;  A River Running West: The Life of John Wesley Powell;  and  A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Mui...

Today, we have Dr. Elliott West on the show. Dr. West received his B.A. from the University of Texas (1967) and his Ph. D. from the University of Colorado (1971). He joined the University of Arkansas faculty in 1979. Two of his books, Growing Up With the Country: Childhood on the Far-Western Frontier (1989) and The Way to the West: Essays on the Central Plains (1995) received the Western Heritage...

In the third episode in the series, we turn our focus to Democratic Party in California. 

Today on the show we have Apsara DiQuinzio, the Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Nevada Museum of Art, to discuss an amazing current exhibition about the artist Adaline Kent. Here’s the press release about this amazing exhibition: The Nevada Museum of Art will host the first retrospective exhibition of one of mid-century America’s most innovative and underrecognized artists to occur in ne...

In the second episode in this series, we wrap up our discussion of the Know Nothing party's influence in California. 

Today, we have an interview with Dr. Joshua Paddison. Dr. Paddison teaches at Texas State San Marcus and is the author of, among other works, American Heathens: Religion, Race, and Reconstruction in California, which is the focus of our conversation. 

In this first episode in a three-part series, we will look politics in California by setting first some context before digging into the Know Nothing Party's heyday at the state level in California.