ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This project began when George Sanchez and I were asked to organize a program series on the U.S. West for the UCLA Center for Seventeenth-and Eighteenth-Century Studies and the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. The result was the 1993–94 program series, "American Dreams, Western Images: Mapping the Contours of Western Experiences," which featured more than fifty scholars, writers, and poets. I am grateful to George for his creativity and grace under pressure, and thank Peter Reill, Director of the Center for Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Studies, for giving us this opportunity. I am also indebted to the terrific Center staff and Clark Library staff—including Debbie Handren, Marina Romani, and Lori Stein—for their invaluable support of both the program and the resulting book.

For the richness of the program series, I thank the participants: Blake Allmendinger, Karen Anderson, Ned Blackhawk, Gordon Chang, Miroslava Chavez, Mike Davis, Arleen de Vera, William Deverell, Douglas Flamming, Chris Friday, Anne Goldman, David Gutiérrez, Ramón Gutiérrez, Yvette Huginnie, Norris C. Hundley, Louise Jeffredo-Warden, Susan Johnson, Robin D. G. Kelley, Elaine Kim, William Kittredge, Kerwin Klein, Shirley Lim, Patricia Nelson Limerick, George Lipsitz, Yolanda Lopez, Linda Maram, Jesús Martínez-Saldaña, Margo McBane, Melissa Meyer, Deborah Dash Moore, Katherine Morrissey, Mary Murphy, Peter Nabokov, Susan Rhoades Neel, John Nieto-Phillips, Brian O'Neil, Peggy Pascoe, Alicia Rodriguez, Mary Logan Rothschild, Roger Rouse, Vicki Ruíz, Ramón Saldívar, George Sanchez, Alexander Saxton, Virginia Scharff, Jill Watts, Richard White, Jo Ann Woodsum, Mitsuye Yamada, Al Young, Judy Yung, and Bernice Zamora. Blake Allmendinger, Bill Deverell, Doug Flamming, Anne Goldman, and Susan Neel also lent extra support as the Center's Ahmanson-Getty Fellows for the year.

Editing the conference volume initiated a second process for which thanks are due. One of the contributors aptly likened editing an essay collection to herding hummingbirds. I thank Blake Allmendinger for being a dauntless, efficient, and inspired hummingbird wrangler. I am immensely grateful to Marina Romani whose work has been crucial to the completion of this project. Thanks to all the contributing authors for their patience and good will.

For her guidance and vision I thank Monica McCormick, our editor at the University of California Press. I also thank Vicki Ruíz and an anonymous reader for their insightful, constructive comments on the manuscript. Kevin Mulroy and the staff of the Research Center at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage kindly helped Blake and me as we hunted for cover art. We thank Bruce Hershenson for allowing us to use the poster for "Tempest Cody Rides Wild" that graces the cover.

This endeavor has been fueled not only by exciting scholarship but also by great food. Thanks to Gerri Gilliland, whose restaurant Gilliland's wowed us all with fabulous feasts throughout the program series. The delicious meals at Nizam made Blake's and my working meetings there particularly enjoyable.

VALERIE MATSUMOTO

I would like to thank the Center for Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Studies for awarding me an Ahmanson-Getty fellowship in 1993–94; the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, for providing access to materials and a place to do my research; Valerie Matsumoto, for inviting me to join her in producing this book; and the scholars I met during my time at the Clark, whose work has inspired me. Along with Valerie, I would like to thank Monica McCormick for her enthusiastic support of this project.

BLAKE ALLMENDINGER