What I most remember about Sandra Dawson is that she always had a smile on her face and an upbeat attitude. Over the years, I encountered her at several conferences—the Berkshire Conference, of course, but also the Western Association of Women Historians (WAWH) Conference and the American Historical Association (AHA) Conference—and she was a consistently […]
A radient smile
Sandra Dawson with a group of graduate students and mentor Eileen Boris at the Western Association of Women Historians in 2002. Courtesy of April Haynes This is a group photo of women’s historians from UCSB at the WAWH meeting in 2002; Sandra is second from left with arguably the most radiant smile amongst us. This […]
A friend and a partner in the trenches
Sandra and I came on board at the Berks in 2016 together. Ellie Shermer had stepped down as Treasurer and Susan Yohn, the president, needed us both to jump in feet first. That first year Sandra and I talked nearly every day as we taught ourselves QuickBooks, got the taxes done, and helped Susan plan […]
An absolute gem of a person
I was so bereft to hear the news about Sandra. Although I can’t claim to have known her well on a personal level, I interacted with her on numerous occasions related to WAWH, the CCWH, and the Berks. As everyone knows, she was an absolute delight to work with — so competent, so upbeat, so […]
Ever helpful
Sandra was particularly helpful to me in the run-up to the 2023 Berks meeting. I had neglected to book a hotel room in time, and when I realized that, the dorms were already booked. She went out of her way to find me housing on campus, a process that involved many emails and an out-of-system […]
