2003-2004 Frederick W. Beinecke Senior Fellow in Western Americana
Susan H. Armitage

Susan H. Armitage, Claudius O. and Mary R. Johnson Distinguished Professor of History at Washington State University, has been a formative influence on the field of western women's history since the mid-1970s. She co-edited two special issues of Frontiers (1974 & 1983) that stimulated the creation of new oral history archives documenting women's experiences. Armitage's scholarly contributions include a host of essays, including important articles on African American women in the West, and seven books. In 1983 she spearheaded the organization of "The Women's West Conference" that created a framework and a community of scholars that nourished the next generation of scholarship. She has played a major role in guiding the Coalition for Western Women's History over the last 20 years. Both her scholarship and her organizational leadership have insured the multi-cultural focus of western women's history, and expanded it beyond the frontiers of Euro-American settlement. In all her work, Armitage has been a thoughtful and consistent examiner of western history: posing new questions, probing the old ones, and encouraging others to join her in exploring new ground.

Selected Publications:
The Politics of Decontrol of Industry: Britain and the United States (London:
Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1969).
With Elizabeth Jameson, The Women’s West (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987).
With Christiane Fischer and Ruth Moynihan, So Much To Be Done (Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 1990; second edition, fall 1998).
With Helen Bannon, Katherine Morrissey, Vicki Ruiz, Women in the West: A Guide to
Manuscript Sources (New York: Garland Press, 1991).
With John Faragher, Mari Jo Buhle and Daniel Czitrom, Out of Many (New York: Prentice-
Hall, 1993; second edition 1996, third edition 1999, fourth edition 2002).
With Elizabeth Jameson, Writing the Range: Race, Class and Culture in the Women’s West
(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997).
With Patricia Hart and Karen Weathermon, eds., Women’s Oral History: The Frontiers
Reader (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002)

 

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