Gloria Ricci Lothrop (December 30, 1934 – February 2, 2015) was a California historian who taught at

Cal Poly Pomona California State Polytechnic University Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) is a public polytechnic research university in Pomona, California, United States. It is the largest of the three polytechnic universities in the California State University syst ...

Cal State Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge, Los Angeles, Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as o ...

, Marymount College, and Loyola University. She specialized in American Women’s history, American Indian history, and the history of European minorities in the United States. A long-time resident of

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

, she became the first woman to join the history department at Cal Poly, and the first W.P. Whitsett Professor of California History at Cal State Northridge.

Early life and education

Born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

to Leo and Maria Lothrop, she attended

Immaculate Heart College Immaculate Heart College (1905–1981) was a private, Catholic college located in Los Angeles, California. The college offered various courses including art and religious education studies. History The Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary f ...

, where she received a B.A. with honors in English in 1956, and an M.A. in education in 1963. Following her graduation, she attended a Fulbright to the University of Mysore, India. Continuing to further her education, she entered into her field’s doctoral program, receiving her Ph.D. in U.S. Western American History in 1970 from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

Career

Within a year, she was hired by California Poly Pomona as the first full-time female history professor. Lothrop worked as an editorial assistant for the ''Southern'' ''California Quarterly'' under her mentor Doyce Nunis between the years 1966–1970''.'' After working as an editorial assistant, Lothrop continued to work for the quarterly for another twenty-eight years by serving on the Board of Editors. Between 1981–1983, she also served as a member of the Executive Committee for the Los Angeles Bicentennial. Lothrop was a co-writer of "one of the first books to survey the contributions of women to the westward movement." She began researching the history of women in the

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

in the 1970s, using cultural artifacts. Her efforts turned up previously unknown historical sources about women, sometimes written or indexed under the names of men. Also an author, Lothrop’s first book, ''Recollections of the Flathead Mission'' was published in 1977. Lothrop also co-authored the books ''California Women'' with Joan Jensen in 1987 and ''Pomona: A Centennial History'' and ''Guide to the History of California'' the following two years, respectively, with Doyce Nunis. As an Italian-American woman living in the United States, Lothrop took particular interest in the history of Italian immigration. Her publications on this subject were numerous, including “Unwelcomed in Freedom’s Land,” “The Italians of Los Angeles,” “Italians Have a Legitimate History,” and “The Untold Story: The Effect of the Second World War on California Italians.” Such articles were printed in places like the ''Los Angeles Times, The L’Italo Americano, and the New York Times.'' She was active in historic preservation efforts for the Italian Hall on

Olvera Street Olvera Street, commonly known by its Spanish language, Spanish name Calle Olvera, is a historic pedestrian street in El Pueblo de Los Ángeles Historical Monument, El Pueblo de Los Ángeles, the historic center of Los Angeles. The street is loc ...

, which she also wrote articles about, and took the initiative to preserve a shrine built by Mother

Frances Xavier Cabrini Frances Xavier Cabrini (; born Maria Francesca Cabrini; 15 July 1850 – 22 December 1917), also known as Mother Cabrini, was a prominent Italian-American religious sister in the Roman Catholic Church. She was the first American to be reco ...

. Throughout her life, Lothrop also served in various positions on many historical organizations, including the California Historical Society, El Pueblo Historic Park Associates, Historical Society of Southern California, the Italian Hall Museum Association, and as the president of the Los Angeles Historical Society.

Later life and death

Lothrop officially retired in 2004 and died at the age of 80 in 2015 in

Arcadia, California Arcadia is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located about northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. It contains a series of adjacent parks consisting of t ...

Awards and honors

Throughout her life, Lothrop received many awards for her work, such as the “Outstanding Teaching Award,” from the

Daughters of the American Revolution The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...

in 1982 and the

Daughters of Colonial Wars The National Society Daughters of Colonial Wars (often abbreviated as NSDCW) is a List of hereditary and lineage organizations in the United States, lineage society for women who descend from American colonists that lived between 1607 and 1775 and ...

a year later. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, awarded her with “Outstanding Professor,” in 1981. The Historical Society of Southern California honored Lothrop with both the “Jack Smith Community Enrichment Award,” as one of the first female recipients, and the “Carl S. Wheat Memorial Award” in 1990. The next year, Lothrop and her historical work received the “Haynes-Huntington Research Fellowship.”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lothrop, Gloria Ricci 1934 births 2015 deaths People from Pasadena, California History of California Women's historians American writers of Italian descent University of Southern California alumni California State Polytechnic University, Pomona faculty California State University, Northridge faculty 20th-century American historians 21st-century American historians American women historians Immaculate Heart College alumni 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Historians from California