Guest lecturer Brian Delay.

California holds many histories. In March, history graduate students from throughout the state will converge at California State University, Northridge to discuss a small but diverse sampling — topics ranging from the history of real estate education in California (and a countervailing movement of home ownership resistance­) to the publishing of black queer periodicals in Los Angeles.

The seventh annual Whitsett Graduate Seminar and lecture, hosted by the Department of History, honors the memory of W.P. Whitsett and his pioneering role in the San Fernando Valley and brings competitively selected graduate students together with internationally renowned history professors, who moderate the discussions and provide valuable feedback on students’ presentations. This year’s seminar welcomes history professors from universities in California, Nevada, Wisconsin and Paris.

The culminating lecture will be presented by Brian Delay, professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley. His lecture — “So Far From God, So Close to the Gun Store: Borderlands Arms Trading and the Travails of Mexican History, 1810–1920” — will offer fresh historical insights while touching on issues still confronting California today.

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