University of Washington

Lewis O. Saum, a faculty member in the UW Department of History between 1965 and 1998, died on June 24, 2014 at the age of 80. Saum earned his Ph.D. at the University of Missouri. He taught courses on American intellectual history, the American West, and the Pacific Northwest, and supervised numerous disser- tations. He served a term as Managing Editor of Pacific Northwest Quarterly from 1987 to 1992. His publications included four books: The Fur Trader and the Indian (1965); The Popular Mood of Pre- Civil War America (1980); The Popular Mood of America, 1860- 1890 (1990); and Eugene Field and his Age (2001). Colleagues remember Lew as an original. His books challenged conventional wisdom about American popular culture because they looked beyond the usual scholarly reliance on printed sources to uncover what common people had left of their beliefs and sentiments in the local archives that Lew scoured during his many research trips across his beloved mid-America. His lectures chal - lenged students to share his passionate engagement with words and ideas, albeit leavened by his darkly mischievous sense of humor. A gifted athlete, both intellectually and physically, Lew engaged with colleagues in Smith Hall — and on the handball court. The Department drew much from his constant dedication to its work and from his own remarkably original scholarship. The big Webster's Dictionary in the History main office — his daily resort and place of worship — no longer marks his presence amongst us. Howard Kaminsky, a faculty member in the Department of History between 1957 and 1973, died on May 14, 2014, just short of his 90th birthday. Professor Kaminsky received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1952, and taught at Stanford and the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee before coming to Seattle. A nationally renowned scholar of late European medieval history, he published studies of the Hussite Revolution and of the Great Schism, among many other writings. In 1973 he moved to join the faculty of Florida International University, leaving a heritage of powerful teaching and scholarship in medieval history since sustained by his successors in the field. Colonel Donald W. Wiethuechter, an alumnus and very good friend of the Department of History, passed away in the spring. He earned his BA from our department in 1961. Col. Wiethuechter had a long and distinguished career in the U.S. Army. After his retirement, he was involved in the ROTC program on campus, fervently supported Husky sports teams, and volunteered with local organizations including the Red Cross. He was also an active and generous member of our Department of History Visiting Committee. In 2006, he established the Colonel Donald W. Wiethuechter, USA. Ret. Endowed Faculty Fellowship in Military History to support faculty development in the area of military his - tory or the history of war and society. Professor Bruce Hevly is the current holder of the Wiethuechter Fellowship. Muriel Williams, a good friend of the Department of History, passed away in February 2014. She and her late husband Captain Gordon B. Williams did not study at the University of Washington, but two of their children attended the UW as undergraduates. The Williams, who had a particular interest in History, became dedicated to supporting our excellent faculty in the Department of History. When Mrs. Williams passed away this past winter, the Department received funds to create the Williams Family Endowed Professorship in History, a gift made in appreciation of the education that their children, Stan and Maureen, received at the University. In Memorium... (cont'd from page 4) In October and November 2013, the annual History Lecture Series focused on "Slavery and Freedom in the Making of America." Professors Sandra Joshel, Stephanie Smallwood, Stephanie M. H. Camp, and Moon-Ho Jung considered the imagined roots of slavery in Greco-Roman antiquity, the origins and development of racial slavery across the Americas and its centrality to the creation of the United States, and the continued legacies of slavery in post-emancipation American life. In November 2013 Kenneth B. Pyle, the Henry M. Jackson Professor of History and Asian Studies, gave the Griffith and Patricia Way Lecture on "Hiroshima and the Historians" in which he discussed historical debate surrounding the controversial deci - sion to drop the atom bomb. In December 2013 Professor Devin Naar, Director of the University of Washington Sephardic Studies Program, co-hosted events in conjunction with the first annual International Ladino Day that included UW faculty and local community members discussing the history of Seattle's Sephardic history. In December 2013 Bruce Hevly, the Col. Donald W. Wiethuechter Faculty Fellow in Military History, gave a lecture entitled "Why Should Soldiers Know How to Shoot? Making Marksmanship in the Early Twentieth Century." The event was co-sponsored by the Department of History and the Military History Fund. In October 2013 Harvard historian Jill Lepore gave the Walker- Ames Lecture, "Unseen: A History of Privacy" in which she con - sidered the strange history of the relationship between the unseen and the unknown. In October 2013 the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest hosted the Emil and Kathleen Sick Lecture in which Diana Di Stefano presented a lecture on her new book, Encounters in Avalanche Country: A History of Survival in the Mountain West, 1820-1920. In January 2014 the Department of History hosted Professor Afsaneh Najmabadi, who gave a public Stice Lecture on "Professing Selves: Transsexuality and Same-Sex Desire in Contemporary Iran" as well as a colloquium presentation on "Writing History in a Digital Age." 2013-14 Lectures and Symposia Department of History PAGE 5 history matters history matters

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