The Annual Pierson Lecture is a Department of History tradition that spans back to 1993, when it was founded to honor Stan and Joan Pierson. The Piersons were both exemplary citizens of the community, dedicated to history and education as proven by their distinguished records of intellectual accomplishment and community involvement. This lecture series brings distinguished scholars to the University of Oregon, so that they may share their work in alignment with the Piersons’ interests in cultural, intellectual, and political life.
2025 Event
The Department of History is pleased to welcome Professor Laurie Marhoefer (University of Washington), presenting the 2025 Annual Pierson Lecture on April 8,2025. The title of Laurie's talk is "Trans Berlin: The World's First Trans Politics, Berlin's Queer Golden Age, and the Rise of Fascism, 1918 - 1933".
Professor Laurie Marhoefer (University of Washington)
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
3:30-5:00pm
Location: Gerlinger Alumni Lounge
Trans Berlin: The World's First Trans Politics, Berlin's Queer Golden Age, and the Rise of Fascism, 1918-1933
In 1918, Germany had a democratic revolution. In the fourteen years that followed, Berlin became the most open city in the world for transgender men and women. They organized the world's first political groups. They ran magazines for and by trans people. They helped to establish the beginnings of legal and medical transition, working with city police and with Magnus Hirschfeld's institute for Sexual Science. The, the Nazis came to power and destroyed trans Berlin. Yet, much of what trans people fought for in the 1920s has become a reality today. This talk explores the fascinating lives of transgender women and men in the 1920s and the world they created.
Past Events
2023-2024 — "The Ghost Dance Religion in American History." Louis Warren, W. Turrentine Jackson Professor of U.S. Western History, University of California, Davis.
2022-2023 — "The Work of Wisdom in a Catastrophic World." Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen, Merle Curti and Vilas-Borghesi Distinguished Achievement Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
2021-2022 — “When the Archives Don’t Easily Speak: The Life and Times of Julia Chinn.” Amrita Chakrabarti Myers, professor of history at Indiana University.
2020-2021 — “History and Modern Conscience: Evidence from the British Empire.” Priya Satia, author and professor of history, Stanford University.
2019-2020 — Rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2018-2019 — “Race and Gender in the Digital Humanities: Ethics, Algorithms, and Archives.” Sharon Block, professor of history, University of California, Irvine.
2017-2018 — “Fascism and Antifascism, 1920-2020: Slogan, Impulse, Theory, Strategy.” Geoff Eley, Karl Pohrt Distinguished University Professor of Contemporary History, University of Michigan.
2016-2017 — “Back to the Future: Scandal, Pederasty, and the Medieval Church.” Dyan Elliott, professor of history, Northwestern University.
2015-2016 — “Love and Money in the Informal Empire: The British in Argentina, 1830–1930.” Deborah Cohen, Peter B. Ritzma Professor of Humanities and Professor of History, Northwestern University.
2014-2015 — “Witch-Hunting and the Sadness of Everyday Life in Seventeenth-Century New England.” David Hall, Bartlett Research Professor of New England Church History, Harvard Divinity School.
2013-2014 — “The Work of the Dead.” Thomas Laqueur, Helen Fawcett Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley.
2011-2012 — “Marxism and the 1930’s Origins of the Social Construction of Science.” Mary Jo Nye, Horning Professor of the Humanities and Professor of History, Oregon State University.
2010-2011 — “The Stakes of Citizenship: Gender and the Crisis of Governance in Germany, 1916–20.” Kathleen Canning, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of History, University of Michigan.
2009-2010 — “Visions of Revolution: European Intellectuals and the French Revolution of 1848.” Jonathan F. Beecher, professor of history, University of California, Santa Cruz.
2008-2009 — “The Precious Raft of History: The Past, the West, and the Woman in Question in China.” Joan Judge, associate professor, School of Women’s Studies, York University, Toronto.
2007-2008 — “The Virtues of Mendacity: On Lying in Politics.” Martin Jay, Sidney Hellman Ehrman Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley.
2006-2007 — “Reforestation, Landscape Conversation, and Anxieties of Empire in French Colonial Algeria.” Caroline Ford, professor of history, University of California, Los Angeles.
2005-2006 — Jean Franco, Columbia University
2004-2005 — Teofilo Ruiz, University of California, Los Angeles
2003-2004 — Paul Pierson, Harvard University
2002-2003 — Sheila Fitzpatrick, University of Chicago
2001-2002 — Thomas Brady, University of California, Berkeley
2001-2001 — Roger Chartier, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris
1997-1998 — John Toews, University of Washington
1996-1997 — Robert Nye, Oregon State University
1994-1995 — Joan Scott, Institute for Advanced Study
1993-1994 — Thomas Haskell, Rice University