About
The Western History Association (WHA) is a scholarly organization dedicated to the study and teaching of all aspects of North American Wests, frontiers, homelands, and borderlands. Its mission is to cultivate the broadest appreciation of this diverse history by enabling collaborations among peoples, institutions, and organizations devoted to the study of western history, conducting an annual conference for teachers, scholars, and professionals to share research and exchange ideas, publishing an award-winning peer-reviewed journal, and promoting public education on western history through involvement with teachers, museums, nonprofit organizations, libraries, and other venues.
Funding Opportunities
Charles Redd Center Teaching Western History Award
The Western History Association and the Charles Redd Center are sponsoring four K-12 Teaching awards that will provide teachers the opportunity to attend and present at the Western History Association Annual Conference in Portland, Oregon, October 21-24, 2026. Selected teachers will share their lesson plans and teaching strategies at panels during the conference. The award includes conference registration, award ceremony ticket, ticket to the opening reception, and $1,000 towards conference-related costs. An added benefit is the opportunity to be in conversation with leading scholars in the field of Western history, with winning teachers' lesson ideas and pedagogical expertise adding significantly to the field. Teachers submit a lesson plan on the North American West pertaining to the 2026 conference theme, 'Unsettled: New Wests, New Lessons,' considering the North American West to include northern Mexico and western Canada as well as the western United States. All applicants consent to the Western History Association and the Charles Redd Center posting winning lessons on their websites and other publications.
Howard R. Lamar Award for Mentoring
The Howard R. Lamar Award for Mentoring is awarded annually to a Western History Association member who has provided outstanding encouragement and support of the personal and professional development of students (high school, undergraduate, graduate) or early career scholars both outside and in the classroom. This prize was created in honor of the late Professor Howard R. Lamar, who was a past-President of the WHA and one of the organization's founding members, known for his generosity to colleagues, friends, and especially to his graduate students. Nominees should demonstrate high standards of integrity and ethical conduct while providing ongoing advice and guidance to assist students and early career scholars achieve intellectual and professional breakthroughs. All WHA members are eligible, but special consideration will be given to those who have not been President or won Lifetime Membership or Bakken Awards. Mentors beyond university and college faculty, such as independent scholars, editors, archivists, leaders of research centers, museums, historical societies, and granting agencies will also be considered for this award. The winner receives a $500 check and a certificate. Nominations should include a letter of nomination (no more than 2 pages), short testimonials (up to 5) from students and young scholars who directly benefitted from the nominee's time and efforts, and the nominee's CV. The total nomination should not exceed 10 pages (exclusive of CV).
Gordon Bakken Award of Merit
The Gordon Bakken Award of Merit is given for outstanding service to the field of western history and to the Western History Association. Named after Gordon M. Bakken (1942-2014), a distinguished legal historian and longtime WHA member, this award recognizes WHA members who have made significant contributions to the field through their scholarship, teaching, service, and dedication to western history. To be considered for this award, a WHA member must be nominated through a letter sent to the Award of Merit Committee explaining why the individual deserves recognition. Winners receive a prize certificate and recognition at the Western History Association's annual meeting. The award honors the legacy of Gordon Bakken, who served the WHA for three decades and was known for his generous mentorship, extensive scholarship on legal history and women's history in the American West, and caring approach to teaching. Recipients join a distinguished group of scholars who have received this honor since 1976, representing the best in western historical scholarship and service to the profession.
Robert Trennert-Peter Iverson Conference Scholarship
The Trennert-Iverson scholarship provides two $500 annual awards to graduate students at the M.A. or Ph.D. level to help lessen the burden of costs to attend the annual Western History Association conference. In addition to the $500 cash award, the scholarship covers the cost of conference registration and tickets to the welcoming reception, the graduate student reception, and the Awards Banquet. This scholarship honors two distinguished scholars: Peter Iverson, Emeritus Professor at Arizona State University who served as the 44th WHA president, and Robert Trennert, a charter member of the Western History Association and member of the Emeritus College at Arizona State University. Both scholars were dedicated mentors to graduate students and made significant contributions to American Indian history and Western history. The scholarship supports graduate students pursuing research in Western history and related fields.
Alida Boorn Disability Studies and Disabled Scholar Award
The Alida Boorn Disability Studies and Disabled Scholar Award promotes the place of disability and all of the ramifications that disability, diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion have had in the history of the North American West. The award supports scholars who study this history, whether these scholars have a disability or not. The $1,000 award, funded by independent blind historian Alida Boorn, supports two graduate students ($1,000 per award) who either are working in the fields of disability studies and western history OR identify as disabled and who wish to attend the WHA conference with financial assistance. Funding from the award assists their ability to research and present academic papers and network with other scholars at the annual WHA conferences. Applicants are not required to be conference program participants (presenters, panelists, chairs, etc.). The purpose of this award is to bring awareness about how American communities in the North American West approached persons with sensory, physical, and neurological diverse disabilities in order to understand both how and why current American communities and governments approach the contributions of disabled persons. The study of disability in Western History seeks to understand society's perceptions of disability both today and yesterday, examining how certain laws were written about how persons with sensory, physical, and mental disabilities should be treated by their communities, families, and society in general, and how disability directed citizenship, voting rights, health care, education, and employment opportunities.
WHA-Huntington Library Martin Ridge Fellowship
The WHA-Huntington Library Martin Ridge Fellowship is a one-month research fellowship established in recognition of Martin Ridge's long service to both the Western History Association and The Huntington Library. This fellowship provides $3,500 ($500 from the WHA and $3,000 from The Huntington Library) to support scholars conducting research using The Huntington Library's collections. Recipients are expected to be in continuous residence at The Huntington Library for one month during the academic year following their award. The fellowship is designed to support research in western history, with particular encouragement for projects that utilize specific materials and collections from The Huntington Library's holdings. The fellowship honors the legacy of Martin Ridge (1923-2003), a distinguished historian who was a founder of the Western History Association, served as its 26th President, and was the director of research at The Huntington Library from 1977 to 1993.
WHA Graduate Student Prize
Inaugurated in 2014 by the WHA Membership Committee, the Graduate Student Prize is designed to foster graduate student professional development and to enhance collegial citizenship within the Western History Association. Up to ten students may receive the award each year. Each recipient receives a one-year WHA membership, complimentary conference registration, reception tickets (Welcoming, Graduate Student, Awards), and three nights of lodging in the conference hotel. Prize winners must attend the WHA conference in the award year and cannot defer the award. The WHA Graduate Student Prize may be held concurrently with other WHA graduate student awards. Prize winners are expected to be active in the organization through service on WHA committees and/or through participation in annual conference events and attendance at conference sessions. Recipients should collaborate with the WHA Graduate Student Caucus to help co-host the Graduate Student Reception during their award year. Each winner must submit an 800-1,000-word blog post outlining their conference experience to be posted on the WHA's website and social media platforms.
Indian Student Conference Scholarship
The Indian Student Conference Scholarship provides two annual awards of $500 each to Native American students at the undergraduate, M.A., or Ph.D. level to help reduce the financial burden of attending the annual Western History Association conference. The scholarship aims to support Indigenous students pursuing studies in Western history and related fields. In addition to the $500 cash award, recipients receive comprehensive conference support including the cost of conference registration and tickets to multiple WHA events: the Welcoming Reception, Graduate Student Reception, Presidential Lunch, and Indian Scholars Luncheon. This comprehensive support package ensures that Native American students can fully participate in the conference and benefit from networking and professional development opportunities. The application process requires students to submit a letter of interest and CV in a single PDF file to the committee members, along with a letter of recommendation from their faculty advisor. The award cycle opens January 15 each year with a submission deadline of May 15, and recipients are notified by the end of August.
Sara Jackson Graduate Student Award
In recognition of Sara Jackson's commitment to students of color and graduate research, the Western History Association provides an annual award of $500 in support of graduate student (M.A. or Ph.D.) research on the North American West. The award has been endowed by the friends and colleagues of Sara Jackson, one of the first African American professionals hired by the National Archives in Washington, D.C., where she specialized in western, military, social and African American topics. Preference will be given to African American or other students of color. Applicants should submit a letter of application, CV, a description of their research project (500-750 words), and a letter of support from their faculty adviser to the committee members. The WHA office sends notifications to selected award recipients at the end of August.
Walter Rundell Graduate Student Award
In recognition of the late Walter Rundell, Jr.'s commitment to graduate education in the field of Western History, the Western History Association offers a $1,500 award for graduate student research. The applicant should be a doctoral candidate who has completed comprehensive examinations for their dissertation subject on the North American West. The award supports graduate student research in particular libraries or collections relevant to their dissertation work on Western American history. The award is named after Walter Rundell, Jr. (1928-1982), who was a leading authority on Texas historian Walter Prescott Webb and played a pivotal role in elevating western history within the larger academic canon. Rundell was instrumental in founding the Western History Association in 1961 and served as the organization's twenty-first president before his untimely death in 1982.
Oscar O. Winther Award
The Oscar O. Winther Award is an annual prize established by the Western History Association Council to recognize excellence in historical scholarship. The award honors the best article published in the Western Historical Quarterly during each academic year. Award recipients are selected by the WHQ Board of Editors through a competitive review process. The award carries a monetary prize of $500 and recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of western history. Named after Oscar O. Winther (1903-1970), a distinguished scholar of western transportation and the second President of the Western History Association, this award celebrates scholarly achievement in the study of the American West and related topics. The award has been given annually since the early 1970s and has recognized groundbreaking research on topics including Native American history, borderlands studies, environmental history, gender history, and regional development.
Bert M. Fireman and Janet Fireman Award
The Bert M. Fireman and Janet Fireman Award, first announced as the Bert M. Firemen Award by the Western History Association Council at the 1982 WHA Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, and renamed in 2015, recognizes the best student article published in the Western Historical Quarterly each year. The award provides $1,000 and is generously supported by the Fireman family. Award recipients are selected annually by the WHQ Board of Editors. The award honors the legacy of Bert M. Fireman (1913–1980), an Arizona journalist, historian, and educator who devoted his life to exploring and promoting Arizona and Western history. He believed in accessible, readable history that would involve the broader public, and was a lecturer in Arizona history at ASU and curator of the Arizona Collection in Hayden Library. His daughter Janet R. Fireman, Editor of California History and member of the History Department at Loyola Marymount University, helped establish this award to continue her father's passion for stimulating student research, writing, and achievement in Western history. The WHA office sends award notifications in August each year. The awards cycle opens annually on January 15, and the award recognizes excellence in student scholarship focused on Western history topics published in the Western Historical Quarterly.
At a Glance
- Total Funding Opportunities
- 32
- Active Now
- 12
- Source Domain
- westernhistory.org
Catalog Data
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