T. H. Watkins
One of the foremost chroniclers of the American West, T. H. Watkins was an editor of Wilderness magazine and Wallace Stegner Distinguished Professor of Western American Studies at Montana State University. He is perhaps best known for Righteous Pilgrim, a 1990 biography of Harold L. Ickes, the crusading secretary of the interior for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, which was a National Book Award finalist. He also wrote The Hungry Years and The Great Depression: America in the 1930s.
Articles by this Contributor
April 1977
In southern California the orange found a home.
December 1978
Too many of our wonderful historic ships have been lost, but funds recently appropriated by Congress will help to see a major part of our history belayed—tied down, secure.
February/March 1978
Thousands of Native American pictographs and petroglyphs are at risk from vandalism amd theft.
June/July 1978
The Museum of Broadcasting brings back the experience of radio, memories of laughter, drama, fantasy and hope.
August/September 1978
Sticky-fingered specialists have stolen thousands of documents from every size and sort of historical archive.
October/November 1978
The hands of Pueblo potter Maria Martinez have reached back across more than seven hundred years of history to create pottery that is now proudly displayed in museums and private collections all over the world.
December 1979
The history of carousels goes ’round and ’round…
April/May 1979
Maligned and misunderstood throughout much of their history, the Penitentes of the American Southwest have nevertheless given their people a sense of community and spiritual security. But for how much longer?

American Heritage is proud to host the
National Portal to
Historic Collections
Recently added:
- American Revolution Center
- National Museum of Civil War Medicine
- National Museum of the U.S. Navy
- Manassas National Battlefield
- Maryland State House
In association with the
American Association for State and Local History
Why do we need a national nonprofit membership society for American history?
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“Save America’s Treasures” has been totally eliminated—the largest Federal program supporting preservation of such treasures as the original Star Spangled Banner and George Washington’s tent.
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65% of Americans don’t know what happened at the Constitutional Convention, according to a recent survey by Newsweek.
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The “Teaching American History” grants—the largest Federal program supporting history education—have been completely eliminated.
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Visits to the Top 20 Civil War battlefields have dropped in half from 1970 to 2009 according to official National Park Service statistics.
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40% of Americans can’t identify whom we fought in World War II, according to a recent survey by Newsweek.
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A quarter of Americans believe Congress shares power over U.S. foreign policy with the United Nations, according to a recent Annenberg survey.
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“There is little that is more important for an American citizen to know than the history and traditions of his country,” John F. Kennedy wrote in American Heritage.
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The “We the People Program,” which touched some 30 million students and 90,000 teachers over 25 years, has been completely eliminated.
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Two-thirds of Americans could not correctly name Yorktown as the last major military action of the American Revolution, according to a recent national Gallup survey.
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The National Heritage Areas and Scenic Byways program, the only major Federal program encouraging visits to historic places, has been completely eliminated in Congressional committee.




