The George A.V. Dunning Lecture Series, which began in 1999, is the main lectureship of the Historical Society of Southern California.
George A.V. Dunning was born in Reno, Nevada, while his parents were on holiday. After his birth, they returned to their Los Angeles home, later moving to the San Gabriel Valley, where their son received his primary and secondary education. Following his graduation from the University of La Verne, with a major in History and a double minor in Spanish and Sociology, he studied at Mexico City, at the University of the Americas and at the Instituto Mexicano-Norte Americano de Relaciones Culturales.
His love of history led him to the Historical Society of Southern California, where he served on the Board of Directors from 1985 to 2000. In 1986, he was elected vice-president and was active in heading the development program. In 1987, George Dunning was elected the society’s president, serving a two-year term.
Previous Speakers:
2019
Natalia Molina, University of Southern California
“The Birth of the Anchor Baby: The Decoupling of Race and Citizenship for Mexican Americans in California. Keynote at the 2019 HSSC Conference, California State University, Northridge
2018
Becky Nicolaides
“Rethinking the Dream: Old and New Frameworks for Understanding Suburban Life in Southern California after 1950.” Keynote at the 2018 HSSC Conference, Cal Poly Pomona
2017
Sherrie Tucker
“Jim Crow Away from Home: Dance Floor Democracy at Three California USO’s during World War II,”
Keynote at the 2017 HSSC Conference, University of LaVerne
2016
Vicki Ruiz
“Why Latino History Matters to U.S. History”
University of California, Irvine
2015
Nat Read
“Don Benito Wilson: From Mountain Man to Mayor Los Angeles, 1841-1878”
Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum
2014 (given April 2015)
Robert Senkewicz
“Nobody, Young or Old, Allowed Themselves to Be Seen by Us:” Religious and Cultural Interaction in the Establishment of Spanish Alta California”
Keynote at the 2015 HSSC Conference, Occidental College
2013
Martin Schiesl
“Ending Racial Apartheid: The NACCP and the Fight to Integrate Housing in California, 1950-1970”
Mamie A. Clayton Library and Museum
2012
Lon Kurashige
“To Exclude, or Not to Exclude the Japanese? Lessons about Anti-Immigrant Racism from Early Twentieth Century Los Angeles”
Lummis House
2011
Paul Bryan Gray
“Francisco Ramirez, 1837-1908: The Emergence and Exile of an Early Advocate of Racial Equality”
KCET Auditorium
2010
Bill Boyarsky
“Inventing L.A.: The Chandlers and Their Times”
Community Room of the Los Angeles Times
2009
Josh Sides
“The Unheralded Black Revolutionaries of Postwar Los Angeles”
Beckman Institute Auditorium, Caltech
2008
Douglas Flamming
“Black Leaders and White Votes in Los Angeles: Fred Roberts, Gus Hawkins, and Tom Bradley”
Beckman Institute Auditorium, Caltech
2007
Bill Deverell
“And the End of the War Came: Southern California and the Aftermath of the Civil War”
Occidental College
2006
George Sanchez
“Remembering Boyle Heights: Race and the Politics of Memory in Los Angeles”
National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, Japanese American National Museum
2005
Kevin Starr
“Buffy, the Chief, and the Cardinal: Reflections on Los Angeles in the 1950s”
Skirball Cultural Center
2004
Jennifer Watts
“Camera Work: Photography and the Rise of Los Angeles”
Autry Museum of the American West
2003
Raphael Sonensheim
“The City at Stake: Secession, Reform, and the Battle for Los Angeles”
Biltmore Hotel
2002
Gloria Lothrop
“A World of Books: The Public Library and the Book World in Los Angeles”
Biltmore Hotel (talk canceled)
2001
Thomas S. Hines
“The Other Hollywood: Modernist Design in the Los Angeles Film Community”
Biltmore Hotel
2000
Michael E. Engh
“Meeting the Needs of Our Time: Builders of the Humane City in Los Angeles, 1900-1950”
Biltmore Hotel
1999
Doyce Nunis, Jr.
“Los Angeles in the Eye of the Twentieth Century”
Getty Center
