Our History
Originally named the West Coast History Association in 1969, the organization brought together women historians from colleges and universities throughout California to share scholarship and develop networking opportunities. It played a crucial professional development role for women historians who were largely excluded from academic employment and other professional occupations. In 1970, the named was changed to the West Coast Association of Women Historians.
By 1980 the organization had become a voice for employment equity and more inclusive history curricula at every educational level. That year, the members voted to change the name to the Western Association of Women Historians (WAWH).
For more than 50 years the WAWH has facilitated intellectual exchange, promoted career opportunities, and fostered friendship among women scholars.
Read more about the history of the organization, its leadership, past conferences, its logo, and even its website in the sections below.
Online Archive
Conferences, since 1969
Presidents, since 1969
WAWH Newsletter Archive
Members may now access more than 50 years of WAWH history through back issues of The Networker in the newsletter archive (link to through the membership site).
A Brief History of the Logo
1972
1972
1972
Inspired by second-wave feminist iconography, members were invited to comment on this logo when it first appeared in the May 1972 newsletter.
1973
1972
1972
By March 1973, the logo had become
a thickly lined graphic with the organization's name embedded.
1980
1972
1980
The logo was revised once again when the name changed to its current iteration.
1993
1993
1980
The inclusion of a map of western states by the Fall of 1993 reflected the growing membership beyond the organization's orginial California base.
2001
1993
2001
By the new millenium, additional states -- including Alaska and Hawaii, were added to the logo.
2009
1993
2001
While the previous two logos continued to be used for various purposes, a grey oval replaced the map in the The Networker newsletter beginning in 2009.
2023
2023
2023
In 2023 WAWH introduced a fully reconceptualized logo.
SHARP: Scholars & New Leaders Program, 2022 - 2023
The Western Association of Women Historians is honored to have been a recipient of the American Historical Association / National Endowment for the Humanities SHARP grant. Read more about the program HERE.
WAWH has been on the web since 2001.
2001-2007
2001-2007
2001-2007
2007-2014
2001-2007
2001-2007
2014-2023
2001-2007
2014-2023
Internet Archive Wayback Machine
Do you want to see other snapshots in time of the WAWH website? Visit https://web.archive.org/web/20200000000000*/wawh.org to see previous iterations of the WAWH website.
WAWH in the Archives
A collection of the WAWH minutes, reports, newsletters, awards, photographs, and artifacts are housed at the Donald & Beverly Gerth Special Collections & University Archives (SCUA) at Sacramento State University in Sacramento, California. Most of the photographs that are circa pre-2010s on this website can be found in the archival collection.
The collection's finding aid may be found at the Online Archive of California.
