Letter from the Chair, Peter Richardson

February 2009

Peter Richardson
Interim Chair, California Studies Association

 

Dear Friends of CSA,

For twenty years, the California Studies Association has sponsored an ongoing conversation about one of the world's most remarkable regions. That discussion has included teachers, students, policymakers, labor organizers, business people, activists, writers, and artists. Although everyone brings different experiences and concerns to the conversation, we’re all committed to developing a deeper, richer, and more integrated understanding of the state's politics, history, and culture.

As part of its work, CSA hosts annual conferences and informal dinner colloquies on California subjects. This year's conference, devoted to the Silicon Valley, will take place at De Anza College on April 24. Our recent dinner speakers have included Charles Wollenberg on the history of Berkeley; Gray Brechin on the New Deal in California; Rick Wartzman on the banning and burning of The Grapes of Wrath in 1939; and Frances Dinkelspiel on Isaias Hellman and the history of California finance.

Please browse our website and feel free to join us at our next conference or dinner. If CSA's mission speaks to you, we welcome you to join the Association and help us chart its future.

Sincerely,
Peter Richardson

» Letter from past chair, Louise Nelson Dyble, September 2007