Lonely Diarist of the High Seas
As ship stewardess, Ella Sheldon tended to upper-crust women onboard and battled a range of workplace demons. Her journals tell her story.
In the Shipyards of San Francisco
Photographer E. F. Joseph captured the dignity of the hundreds of Black women and men who worked on SS George Washington Carver during World War II.
Could “Rosie the Riveter” Be Chinese American?
Despite having their citizenship withheld before the war, Chinese American women in the Bay Area made significant contributions to the wartime labor force.
What We’re Reading 2023
Enjoy a fresh batch of year-end book reports from all of the readers, writers, and editors at JSTOR Daily!
The Long Shadow of Adelbert von Chamisso
An exiled French aristocrat who wrote in German and explored California in the name of Russia, von Chassimo inspired Marx, Offenbach, and even Wilde.
Genocide in California
The extermination campaigns against the Yuki people, sparked by the California Gold Rush and statehood, weren’t termed genocide until the mid 1970s.
Racist Humor: Exploratory Readings
An introduction to the history and theory of racist humor and the social role it plays in Western societies.
Reading Between the Lines of an “Americanization” Campaign
Manuals used to teach “American” ways of homemaking in California c. 1915–1920 offer a rare opportunity to hear the voices of Mexican immigrant women.
Lost in Translation: Ezra Pound’s Imagism and the Angel Island Poets
As Pound was making a splash with “translations” of Chinese poetry, immigrants from China were etching poems of despair into the walls of a detention facility.
Julia Morgan, American Architect
Morgan, the first licensed woman architect in California, helped bring parity to the built environment, the community, and the profession.