This course introduces students to the history of the American West through a variety of primary and secondary sources. The sources include paintings, photographs, government documents, diaries, maps and more from the 15th century through the 20th century depicting important events and themes in the exploration, settlement, and development of the Western United States. Key topics that will be explored include Native American cultures, westward expansion, the Gold Rush, cattle drives, oil boomtowns, irrigation projects, and World War II western home front experiences.

1. History 141: The American West
Introduction to the Course

5. Solomon D. Butcher, "Emigrants at the Gates P.O.,
Custer County, Nebraska" (1886)

7. Promotional poster (1871)

8. Otto Becker, "Custer's Last Fight" (1896)

9. George Caleb Bingham, "Stump Speaking." Chromolithograph (1852)

10. Frederic Remington, "The Cowboy" (1902)

11. F. O. C. Darby, "Emigrants Crossing the Plains" (1869)

12. Ronald Reagan, from the Second Inaugural Address (1985)

13. Detroit Publishing Company, "Sunset Limited to Los Angeles" (c 1890)

15. John White, watercolors (1585)

17. Hartmann Schedel, The Nuremburg Chronicle (1493)

18. Hartmann Schedel,
Nuremberg Chronicle
(1493)

19. Giuliano Dati, La lettera . . . (1493)

20. Theodor De
Bry,
America,
part one
(1590)

21. Patrick Gass, A Journal of the Voyages and Travels
of a Corps of Discovery (1812)

22. Florentine Codex (c 1570)

23. Theodor De Bry, America, part four (1594)

24. Theodor De Bry, America, part four (1594)

25. George Catlin, North American Indian Portfolio (1844)

26. George Catlin, North American Indian Portfolio (1844)

27. Iacobus Theodorus,
Neuw Kreuterbuch (1588)

28. Andre Thevet, Cosmographie vniverselle (1575)

29. Photographs of the construction of an irrigation canal,
Boise City, Idaho (c 1900)

30. United States Bureau of Reclamation (1938)

31. Cartouche, William Faden, A Map of the Inhabited Part of Canada (1777)

32. Alfred Jacob Miller, "The Trapper's Bride" (1845)

33. Henry C. Lewis, Das Illustrirte Mississippithal (1858)

34. Joseph B. Starkweather, "Head of Auburn Ravine" (1852)

35. W. R. Cross, "Deadwood Smelter" (1891)

36. Oil Derricks in Texas (1910)

37. Political pamphlet (c 1910)

38. "Jack Anderson's Minneapolis Steamer" (c 1890)

39. "Typical cow boy" (c 1895)

40. Original Marlboro Man (1955)

41. Thomas Houseworth, "Train on Secret Bridge" (c 1869)

42. Nebraska Indian Cessions

43. Richard Caton Woodville, "News From Mexico" (1848)

44. George Harvey, Scenes of the Primitive Forest of America (1841)

45. Benjamin West, "Indians giving a talk to Colonel Bouquet" (1764)

46. John Wimer, "Massacre of the Conestoga Indians
at Lancaster by the Paxton Boys in 1763" (1841)

47. Henry Howe, Historical Collections of the Great West (1857)

48. George Catlin, Illustration of the Manners, Customs, and Condition
of the Indians of North America (1848)

49. William S. Soule, "Captives, Fort Dodge, Kansas" (1868)

50. "Mohave and Tonto Apache School Children" (1913)

51. Community Picnic, West Texas (c 1900)

52. A. E. Matthews, "Los Angeles" (1873)

53. Men gathered at La Plaza, Los Angeles (1911)

54. Japan Town, San Francisco (c 1910)

55. Japanese farm wife and son, California (c 1910)

56. Dorothea Lange, "Civilian Order No. 5" (1942)

57. Russell Lee, "Evacuation of Japanese from Los Angeles" (1942)

58. Political pamphlets (1942, 1944)

59. Dorothea Lange, "End of Shift." Richmond, California (1942)

60. Promotional pamphlet (c 1941)