Join us for a series of webinars exploring the new topics featured in the forthcoming update to the 2007 World War II and the American Home Front Theme Study. All but one of these 5, one-hour webinar presentations will be facilitated by Project PI Matthew Basso, University of Utah, along with a research partner.

The webinar schedule is as follows:

Thursday, August 29, 3:00 pm Eastern - Environmental History of the Home Front, Matt Basso and Scott Morris

Thursday, September 5, 3:00 pm Eastern - Native American and Indigenous History of the Home Front, Matt Basso and Nicholas Backman

Thursday, September 12, 3:00 pm Eastern - LGBTQ History of the Home Front, Matt Basso and Emory Ogaard

Friday, September 13, 7:00 pm Eastern – I Hinanao-ta, Our Journey: A Story of the CHamoru People and WWII on the Island of Guam, Joe Quinata

Thursday, September 19, 3:00 pm Eastern - Disability History of the Home Front, Matt Basso and Selena Moon

Thursday, September 26, 3:00 pm Eastern - Latino History of the Home Front, Matt Basso and John Flynn

Missed a webinar? Approximately a week after each session the recording will be added to this YouTube playlist.

Presenter Biographies

Matt Basso is an Associate Professor of History and Gender Studies at the University of Utah (UU) and the author of Volume 2 of the National Park Service’s World War II and the American Home Front Theme Study. He is the author or editor of four other books including Meet Joe Copper: Masculinity and Race on Montana’s World War II Home Front (University of Chicago Press, 2013). His current monograph project uses New Zealand history to consider settler masculinity through the lens of work and war. In collaboration with his students, he has partnered on public history projects with the NPS, Forest Service, Smithsonian Institution, Utah Humanities, the Utah Division of Indian Affairs, and other state and local organizations. Please contact him if you would like to information about Utah’s funded MA and PhD programs.

Scott Morris is a PhD Candidate at the University of Utah, where he studies environmental, economic, and colonial history of the American West. He lives with his wife, newborn son, three dogs, ten chickens, and one fish in Lander, Wyoming. He received an MFA in creative nonfiction from Goddard College and, in his vanishingly rare free time, enjoys trail running and gold panning. He is currently the Marriner S. Eccles Fellow in Political Economy working on a history of the Great Salt Lake, a part time preschool teacher, and a contributor to several NPS World War II Home Front history projects.  

Nicholas Backman is a doctoral candidate at the University of Utah and works at the intersection of environmental history, Native American history, and United States expansion in the nineteenth century American West. He is also a research associate at the American West Center and currently working on a multi-year public history project with the National Park Service. The “National Trails Tribal Engagement Project” seeks to understand how Native American peoples experience(d) and perceive(d) the Pony Express, California, and Mormon Pioneer Trails in Utah as a step toward enhancing public interpretation along these historic routes.

Emory Ogaard (They/She) is an independent scholar of modern gender and sexuality. A recent Master’s graduate from the University of Utah, Emory’s research focuses on trans* identity and community formations in the 20^thcentury, as well as practical applications of queer history in contemporary queer community development. Currently, Emory works as an intern with the National Council for Preservation Education (NCPE) in collaboration with the National Park Service WWII Heritage Project. Additionally, Emory works as the head of the Queering the Character Sheet Oral History Project, an oral history examination into the intersections of tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) and queer explorations, community developments, and identity formations. 

Joe Quinata is currently the Chief Program Officer of the Guam Preservation Trust and served a three-year term (2021-2023) as the Chairperson for the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) Advisory Group and an ex-officio member of the NTHP Board of Trustees. Mr. Quinata is a founding and board member of the Asian & Pacific Islanders American for Historic Preservation (APIAHiP). His career in historic preservation started over 30 years ago when he opened the office of the Guam Preservation Trust, a non-profit, public corporation. Joe Quinata received the 2011 NTHP Trustee’s Award for Organizational Excellence for his administration of the Guam Preservation Trust. He was cited an Honorary Architect from the American Institute of Architects, Guam and Micronesia Chapter and a recipient of the Pioneer in Preservation Award honored by APIAHiP. Joe grew up in the heritage village of Humåtak, Guam, where he initiated the heritage walking tour with Humåtak youth as docents to the many historic sites and the coral reef youth ambassadors learning and caring for the environment’s ridge to reef. Joe is a volunteer mediator and board member of the mediation center Inafa’måolek. 

Selena Moon is a mixed race, disabled Japanese American public historian who has been researching Japanese American mixed-race history for twenty years and disability history for five years. Beginning this fall she is a PhD student in the University of Minnesota’s American Studies program, where she will continue her work on Japanese American disability (and intersections with mixed race) history. She also advocates for and advises on historic site, museum, conference, and website accessibility.

John Flynn works as the Assistant Director of the American West Center and is also a PhD Candidate at the University of Utah, where he researches public lands in the American West and the intersections of environment, outdoor recreation, atomic landscapes, and Indigenous history. As a public historian, John has worked on projects for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, the National Park Service, the Department of Energy, and Brown University’s Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage.