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James C. Williams
History Department
James Williams is a native Californian and emeritus professor at De
Anza
College. He
is no longer teaching courses but is still active in historical
scholarship: research, writing, and some consulting. His latest
publications include the online
essay “History of Energy,” Scientists and the Franklin
Institute: Making Their Cases (2006); and
“The
American Industrial Revolution,” in A
Companion to American Technology, ed. Carroll
Pursell (New York: Blackwell Publishers, 2005), pp. 31-51; later this
year is essay “Understanding the Place of Humans in
Nature” will appear in 2009 as the lead chapter in Illusory Boundary: Technology
and the Environment (Charlottesville: University of
Virginia Press). He can be found cruising the Bahamas or Chesapeake Bay on his sailboat Alizée, a Cabo Rico 36 (2001) and occasionally sailing San Francisco Bay on Dog
Days, his Islander Bahama 28 (1981). He still plays jazz piano, each year with his group Article 19, and wherever else he can pick up with a group.
Home page index:
A note on history
Curriculum Vitae:
Education
Teaching
and Related Experience
Honors
Professional
Activities
Publications
Technical
Reports and Exhibitions
A note on history:
Those
of us who are fortunate to live long enough inevitably discover that we
do not own the world in which we live. We face our own mortality
and realize that we are but runners in a relay race who happen for a little
while to be carrying the baton. We discover that the values embraced
by our parents, grandparents, and generations before them endure in us
even as the material world changes. If we have gotten this far, even
though the world sometimes seems to change at light-speed, we understand
that life is evolutionary much more than it is revolutionary; we know the
past is at least as important a part of the here and now as is the future.
Some of us reach this stage understanding early in our chronological lives;
others take longer. But for all of us, it is this understanding that
will make studying history a fascinating undertaking.
Are you ready?
Curriculum Vitae:
Education:
Ph.D.,
University of California at Santa Barbara, 1984
M.A., San Jose State University, 1971
B.A., University of Oregon, 1964
-
Intensive language studies: Inlingua, Santander,
Spain,
-
1990; Proyecto Linguistico Francisco Marroquin, Antigua,
Guatemala, 1989
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Teaching
and Related Experience:
De Anza College, Emeritus Professor, 2004
to present
De Anza College, Professor, 1993 to 2004
California History Center Foundation, Executive
Director, 1985-1993
Gavilan College, Professor, 1971-1985
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Honors
-
Vice President, International
Committee for the History
-
of Technology (2001-present)
-
Who's Who Among America's Teachers, 8th
ed. (2003-2004) and 9th ed. (2004-2005).
-
-
Contemporary Who's Who, 2003.
-
-
Honored by the California Council for the Promotion
of History,
-
which names its annual distinguished service award the
-
“James C. Williams Award” (1999 and on-going).
-
-
American Association for State and Local History
-
Certificate of Commendation for the book Energy and the
Making of Modern California, September 1998
-
California Council for the Promotion of History,
-
Distinguished Service Award, September 1994
-
California Historical Society Award of Merit
for
-
Interpretation, 1989, for “By the Sweat of Thy Brow:
The Story of Labor in Santa Clara County,” an exhibit at the California
History Center
-
California Council for the Promotion of History,
Award of
-
Distinction, October 1985
-
Sourisseau Academy Local History Award for general
-
contributions to a better understanding of local and state
history. Granted by the Sourisseau Academy, San Jose State University,
May 1984
Phi Alpha Theta, Gamma-Iota Chapter, University
of
California, Santa Barbara, 1977.
Rockefeller Fellow, Public Historical Studies
Graduate
-
Program, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1976-1977
-
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer
-
Studies Fellowship, in “Technology, Society and Values in
the Twentieth Century,” University of California, Los Angeles, 1973
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to the top of the page
Professional
Activities:
-
Registered Professional Historian (#518), California
-
Council for the Promotion of History.
-
Co-Founder and Co-Chair of Envirotech, the Technology
-
and Environment Special Interest Group of the Society
-
of the History of Technology and the American
-
Society of Environmental History (2000-2004).
-
-
International Committee for the History of Technology:
-
Executive Committee Member (1998-2001),
-
Society for the History of Technology: Treasurer
-
(1992-2000)
-
American Society for Environmental History:
Sites
-
Committee Chairperson (1999-2000)
-
California Council for the Promotion of History:
State
-
Chairperson (1982-1985, Executive Secretary (1985-1994),
Board Member (1982-1988, 1995-1997)
-
California Historical Society: Member of the
Board
-
of Trustees (1989-1992)
-
California History Center Foundation: Executive
Director
-
(1985-1993); Board Member (1985-1993 and 2000-present)
-
California Studies Association: Steering Committee
-
Member (1990-1992)
-
Heritage Council of Santa Clara County: Founding
-
Member of the Steering Committee (1989-1990)
-
National Council on Public History: Member of
the Board
-
of Directors (1988-1991)
-
Sourriseau Academy for State and Local History,
San
-
Jose State University: Board Member (1989-2001).
-
Preservation Action Council of San Jose: Advisory
-
Board Member (1991-present)
California on Stage: Board Member (1987-1989).
-
Morgan Hill Historical Society: President (1978-1979),
-
Board Member (1979-1983, 1988-1989)
-
Member of the California Heritage Task Force
Review
-
Board, Economic Development Committee, California State Assembly
(1987-1988)
-
Association for the Improvement of Community
College
-
Teaching and Community College Social Science Association:
Vice President and Board Member (1982-1984)
-
Gilroy Historical Society: President and Board
Member
-
(1982 to 1984)
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of the page
Publications
Books
-
Energy
and the Making of Modern California (Akron, Ohio: University of
Akron Press, 1997).
-
The
Rise of Silicon Valley (Cupertino: California History Center, 1993). Click here for an on-line version of this essay.
Articles
“Recent Symposia of the International Committee
for the History of Technology, 2002-2004,” with
Susan
Horning, Technology and Culture, 46 (July 2005): 594-603.
“From Forests and Wetlands to Industry and Recreation:
Changing
Landscapes
of a Maritime Community,” The Carson: Journal
of
Environmental Studies, 2 (2005): 75-90.
“Technology and Engineering in the American Experience:
A Survey
of Literature,”
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/resedu/bb_williams.htm,
National
Park Service and the Organization of American
Historians,
2004
“Waterpower and Nature in California's Sierra
Nevada,”
The
Carson: Journal of Environmental Studies, 1 (2004):
103-116.
-
“Faulty Construction: Earthquakes and the Culture
of
-
Prevention in California,” Geojournal, 52 (July 2001):
59-62.
-
“Strictly Business: Notes on Deregulating Electricity,”
-
Technology and Culture, 42 (July 2001): 626-630.
A shorter, revised version appeared as “Strictly Business: California’s
Energy Crisis,” California Studies: The Newsletter of the California
Studies Association, 10 (Spring/Summer 2001): 1-2, 6.
-
“The Technology Junction: Exploring Technology
and the
-
Environment,” ICON: Journal of the International Committee
for the History of Technology, 6 (2000): 7-20.
-
“History Advocacy in California,” The Public
Historian,
-
22 (Spring 2000): 29-38. Reprinted in
California
History Action, 18 (Fall 2000): 10-13.
-
“Faulty Construction: Earthquakes and the Modern
City,”
-
The Carson: Environmental History Research Journal,
1 (Fall 1999): 143-158.
-
“Hydroelectricity and the FERC 106 Process--A
View
-
from the West,” CRM, 21 (1998): 2-6, 52.
-
“Frederick E. Terman and the Rise of Silicon
Valley”
-
(1990), reprinted in International Journal of Technology
Management, 16:8 (1998): 751-760; reprinted in American Heritage
of Invention and Technology, 6 (Spring/Summer, 1990): 18-24; revised
and reprinted as The Rise of Silicon Valley, Cupertino: California
History Center, 1993.
-
“California’s First High-Head Turbine Installation,”
IA:
-
The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology,
22:1 (1996): 50-64.
-
“Fuel at Last: Oil and Gas for California, 1860s-1940s,”
-
California History, 75 (Summer 1996): 114-127, 180-181.
-
“Earthquake Engineering: Designing Unseen
-
Technology against Invisible Forces,” ICON: Journal of
the International Committee for the History of Technology, 1 (1995):
172-194.
-
“The California Energy Experience,”
The Californian,
-
17 (December 1995): 6-10.
-
“Cycling Came to California,” California
Historian, 39
-
(June 1993): 7-11, 30.
-
“Otherwise a Mere Clod: California Rural
-
Electrification,” IEEE Technology and Society Magazine,
7 (December 1988): 13-19.
-
“Technology and Technical Sciences in History
--
-
ICOHTEC Symposium, Dresden, August 25-29, 1986,” with Karen
J. Freeze, Technology and Culture, 28 (October 1987): 842-849.
-
“Science, Technology and Society in the Community
-
College,” Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society,
6:2/3 (1986): 259-260.
-
“Standards of Professional Conduct in California,”
The
-
Public Historian, 8 (Winter 1986): 57-59.
-
“Cultural Conflict: The Origins of American
Santa
-
Barbara,” The Southern California Quarterly, 60 (Winter
1978): 349-377.
-
“Relics Are History: Teaching Technology’s Past
at a
-
Community College,” Humanities Perspectives on Technology(December
1978): 6-7.
-
“The Trolley: Technology and Values in Retrospect,”
-
San Jose Studies, 3 (November 1977): 74-90.
-
“Contributive Survival: Technology and Values
in
-
Education,” Community College Social Science Quarterly,
5 (Summer-Fall 1975): 118-122.
-
“Horace Greeley in California, 1859,”
Journal
of the
-
West, 8 (October 1969): 592-605.
-
“The Long Tom Rebellion,” The Oregon Historical
-
Quarterly, 67 (March 1966): 54-60.
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Book Chapters
“The American Industrial Revolution,”
in A
Companion to American Technology, ed. Carroll Pursell (New York:
Blackwell Publishers, 2005), pp. 31-51.
-
“Getting Housewives the Electric
-
Message: Gender and Energy Marketing in the Early Twentieth
Century,” in His
& Hers: Gender, Consumption, and Technology, eds. Roger Horowitz
and Arwen Mohen (Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia Press,
1998), pp. 149-170 [+ notes].
-
“Energy and the Making of California,”
-
in Green
Versus Gold: Sources in California's Environmental History, ed.
Carolyn Merchant (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1998), pp. 333-338.
-
“Energy, Conservation, and Modernity: The
-
Failure to Electrify Railroads in the American West,” in
Technology
and Western Landscapes, ed. Stephen Tchudi (Reno: Nevada Humanities
Committee, Halcyon Imprint, 1998), pp. 51-69.
-
“Engineering California Cities,” in
Science-Technology
-
Relationships/Relations
Science-Technique, ed. Alexandre Herlea (San Francisco: San Francisco
Press, 1993), pp. 394-400.
-
“Frederick E. Terman and the Rise of
-
Silicon Valley,” in Technology
in America, 2nd ed., ed. Carroll Pursell (Cambridge: M.I.T. Press,
1990).
-
“Standards of Professional Conduct in California”
-
(1986), reprinted in Ethics
and Public History: An Anthology, ed. Theodore J. Karamanski (Malabar,
FL: Robert E. Krieger Publishing Co., 1990).
-
“Civil Engineering on the Spanish Frontier:
Alta
-
California Water Systems,” in XVI Simposio Internacional
I.C.O.H.T.E.C. Libro de Phonencias, September 5-9, 1988 (Madrid: Ministerio
de Obras Publicas y Urbanismo, 1988).
-
“Regional Development in the Technical Sciences
in
-
California’s Electric Power Industry, 1890-1920,” in Technik
und Technikwissenschaften in der Geschichte, Proceedings of the 12th Symposium
of the International Committee for Cooperation in the History of Technology
(ICOHTEC), Dresden, August 25-29, 1986 (Berlin: VEB Deutshcer Verlag
der Wissenschaften, 1987).
-
“California Energy Supply Systems: Two Cases
In
-
Regional Development,” in Energie in der Geschichte (Energy
in History): The Topicality of the History of Technology, Proceedings of
the 11th Symposium of the International Committee for Cooperation in the
History of Technology (ICOHTEC), September 2-7, 1984, Vol. II (Dusseldorf,
Federal Republic of Germany, 1984).
-
“Television--Reflection of American Society,”
in
-
The Evolution of Mass Culture in America, 1877 to the
Present, ed. Gerald Baydo (St. Louis: Forum Press, 1982).
-
“The Christian Church of Gilroy,” in
Sketches
of
-
Gilroy, ed. James C. Williams (Gilroy, CA: Gilroy
Historical Society, 1980).
-
“Hispanic California” and “Cultural Tensions:
The
-
Origins of Old Town,” in Old Town Santa Barbara: A Narrative
History of State Street from Gutierrez to Ortega, 1850-1975, ed. James
C. Williams. Public History Monograph #1, The Graduate History in
Public Historical Studies. (Department of History, University of
California, Santa Barbara, 1977). Limited publication.
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Other Publications
-
Guest editor with Wolfhard Weber and Hans-Joachim
Braun,
-
ICON: Journal of the International Committee for the
-
History of Technology, 10 (2004).
-
-
“Technology and the Environment in America –
-
Course Syllabus,” Science, Technology & Society:
-
Curriculum Newsletter of the Lehigh University STS
-
Program (Spring/Summer 2003): 2-4.
-
-
“Introduction,” Passing Farms, Enduring Values:
-
California’s Santa Clara Valley by Yvonne Jacobsen,
2d ed. (Cupertino: California History Center, 2001).
-
“An Energy Policy for You,” distributed to roughly
90
-
metropolitan daily newspapers in the United States and North
America by the History News Service on March 28, 2001. Appeared as
“Bush’s Oil Industry Favoritism,” Sacramento Bee, April 2, 2001;
“An Energy Policy for You: Environmentalism and Renewable Energy be Damned,
Fossil Fuel is Still King,” TomPaine.com: A Journal of Opinion,
April 6, 2001; “Has Bush Got a Plan for You,” Sun-Sentinel
(Fort
Lauderdale, FL, Broward Metro Edition), April 16, 2001.
-
“Energy, Deregulation and Prosperity,” distributed
to
-
roughly 90 metropolitan daily newspapers in the United States
and North America by the History News Service on January 3, 2001.
Appeared as “Energy and Prosperity are linked in California History” in
San
Diego Union-Tribune, December 28, 2000; “Deregulation Ends in Failure,”
Eugene
Register-Guard, January 5, 2001; “Deregulation Becomes ‘Big Mistake’
for State’s Residents,” The Bakersfield Californian, January 14,
2001; “Take Warning from Deregulation,” The Idaho Statesman, February
11, 2001. Broadcast on “Talking History,” distributed by Creighton
Web Radio to over 400 National Public Radio stations, February 5, 2001.
Broadcast as a “Perspective” on KQED FM, February 5, 2001.
-
“Electricity” and “Civil Engineering: Sewage
and
-
Sanitation,”
Encyclopedia of the United States in the
Nineteenth Century, ed Paul Finkelman (New York: Charles Scribner’s
Sons Reference Books, 2000).
-
“Active Solar Energy,” “Geothermal Energy,”
“Passive
-
Solar Design,” “Photovoltaics,” in The Facts on File Encyclopedia
of Science, Technology, and Society, 3 vols, ed Rudi Volti (New York:
Facts on File, 1999).
-
Compiler and Editor. Science, Technology,
and Society
-
in Community Colleges. Gilroy, CA: Social Science Division,
Gavilan College, July 1981. Summary reports in Science, Technology
& Society: Curriculum Newsletter of the Lehigh University STS Program
(September
1981): 16-17; and CCSSA Newsletter, No. 3, 1982, pp. 7-8.
-
“Heritage and Preservation: Reflections on the
1989
-
Earthquake,” The Californian, 11 (December 1989):
10-11.
-
“Grace Carpenter Hudson: The Artist,” in
Pomo
Dawn of
-
Song by Lois Prante Stevens and Jewell Malm Newburn
(Cupertino: California History Center Foundation, 1987).
-
“Civilizing the Machine: History of American
-
Technology,” The Machine in the University: Sample Course
Syllabi for the History of Technology and Technology Studies, ed Stephen
H. Cutcliffe and the Technology Studies and Education Committee for the
Society for the History of Technology (Lehigh University: Science, Technology
and Society Program, June 1983): 85-89.
-
“Local Sources for Independent Research,”
Science,
-
Technology & Society: Curriculum Newsletter of the
Lehigh University STS Program (February 1983): 5-6, 21.
-
“So You’ve Got Some Old Ruins--Now What?”
AHA
-
Newsletter, 18 (January 1980): 6-7.
-
“The Division Chairman: An Incumbant’s View,”
-
Community College, 1 (January 1977): 14-15.
-
“Tomorrow,” in The Best of Poetry, ed
Barbara Fischer
-
(New York: J. Mark Press, 1972).
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Book Reviews Published In
Good Old Boat Magazine (on-line)
Technology and Culture
Journal of American History
Environmental History
The Public Historian
California History
Journal of San Diego History
The Californians
Teaching History
Californians for Preservation Action
Newsletter
Heritage Shared - Perspectives
(San Luis Obisopo)
Community College Social Science
Quarterly
Dissertation and Thesis
-
“Energy Resources and Uses in Rural California:
-
An Historical Overview.” Ph.D. dissertation.
University of California, Santa Barbara, 1984.
-
“The Economic Impact of Defense Spending in
the
-
San Francisco Bay Area Since World War Two.” Masters
thesis. San Jose State University, 1971.
Technical
Reports and Exhibitions
Unpublished Technical Reports
-
“Gilroy Hot Springs Resort,” National Register
-
Nomination and California State Landmarks Application. Cupertino:
Public History Services for Fukuyama International, Inc., January 1995.
-
“Resource Inventory and Statement of Significance,”
A
-
History and Significance Evaluation of the Kaweah Hydroelectric
System, Tulare County, California. Santa Cruz, CA: Biosystems Analysis,
Inc., February, 1990.
-
“Evaluation of the Historic Resources of the
Lee Vining
-
Creek (FERC Project Number 1388) and Rush Creek (FERC Project
Number 1389)” Hydroelectric Systems, Mono County, California. Fair
Oaks, CA: Theodoratus Cultural Research, Inc., July 1989. Reviewed
in The Public Historian, 13 (Winter 1991): 115-117.
-
“De Sabla Historical Report,” An Archaeological
and
-
Historical Investigation of Site CA-But-868H at the De Sabla
Powerhouse Butte County, California. Prepared by Alfred Farber. Paradise,
CA: Professional Archaeological Services, April 1988, pp. 99-144.
-
“Centerville-DeSabla Project Historical Report
and
-
Project Significance and Recommendations,” Cultural Resources
Inventory and Management Plan for the Proposed Improvements to the DeSabla-Centerville
Hydroelectric System, Butte County, California, FERC No. 803. Prepared
by Mary L. Maniery, et. al. Sacramento: Public Anthropological Research,
1985, pp. B1-B27.
-
“Historical Significance of Lilly’s Auto Camp,
Gilroy,
-
California.” Gilroy, CA: Public History Services, 1984.
-
“Pre-1940 Hydroelectric Developments Historic
-
Evaluation Survey.” Pacific Gas and Electric Contract
17-83. Gilroy, CA: Public History Services, 1983.
-
“A Critical Analysis of the Practice of History
in the
-
Pacific Southwest Region of the U.S. Forest Service.” Gilroy,
CA: Public History Services, 1983.
-
“The Downtown Morgan Hill Historic Preservation
-
Survey,” with Larry Scettrini. Gilroy, CA: Public History
Services [1980].
-
“Jens Jensen’s General Merchandise Store: A
History.”
-
Gilroy, CA: Public History Services, 1979.
Exhibitions
-
“The Early Edition: The Story of Newspapers
in Santa
-
Clara County.” March-June 1991, California History
Center, Cupertino, California.
-
“Santa Clara County--A Half Century of Change.”
-
October 1990-January 1991, California History Center, Cupertino,
California.
-
“A Century of Cycling in the Santa Clara Valley.”
-
October 1989-February 1990, California History Center, Cupertino,
California.
-
“By the Sweat of Thy Brow: The Story of Labor
in Santa
-
Clara County.” Design and curation by Anna Koster,
additional research by George Gastil. October 1988-March 1989, California
History Center, Cupertino, California. Reviewed in The Public
Historian, 11 (Fall 1989): 148-150.
-
“Shipwrights and Sailors.” Design and
curation by
-
Jean Eckert. April-June 1987, California History Center,
Cupertino, California.
-
“California Woman Suffrage 75th Anniversary.”
-
Research by Judith Adams, text by Jeanne McDonnell, design
by Anna Koster, curation by Madeline Crawford. October 1986-March
1987, California History Center, Cupertino, California. Traveled
to various U.S. venues. Co-sponsored by the Women’s Heritage Museum,
Palo Alto, California. Reviewed in The Public Historian, 9
(Fall 1987): 70-73.
-
“California Consumerism.” April-June 1986,
California
-
History Center, Cupertino, California.
-
“Living the California Dream.” January-March
1986,
-
California History Center, Cupertino, California.
Other Activities
Jazz
and stride piano for over 40 years.
Currently plays with The Email Special.
Sailor (Dog
Days, Islander Bahama 28, and Alizee,
Cabo Rico 36) and
member of Encinal Yacht Club, Alameda, CA.
Bicycling
and foreign travel.
Two years
active and five years active reserve with the U.S. Army.
Highest
grade attained: Captain.
Pi Kappa
Alpha, Gamma Pi Chapter, University of Oregon.
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