William Deverell (born 1962) is a historian of the American West and a professor of history at the University of Southern California, where he directs the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, and is Chair of the department of History at Dornsife College and Arts and Sciences.
He decided to pursue a career as a historian, taking an MA at Princeton, and then staying on to complete a PhD in History.
In 2008 and 2009 he was asked by the California court to testify as an expert witness in San Jose v. Union Pacific Railroad Corporation.
In developing the famous library as a centre for historical studies, Deverell’s research has taken him into the golden period of post-Civil War history, from the Reconstruction Era through the Ranch and Cattle Wars of the later 19th century that culminated in the closing of the frontier, being awarded the Fletcher Jones Foundation Fellowship 2007-8.
[1] In September 1995, Deverell married Jennifer Armstrong Watts, curator of historical photography, in Summit, New Jersey.