Jesse F. Battan papers

Jesse Frank Battan, historian and American Studies scholar, died unexpectedly on 12 April 2024 at the age of 75.

Jesse was born in Burbank Hospital on August 4,1948 to parents Mary and Jesse Battan. He grew up in Woodhill Hills, California, graduating from Taft High School in 1966. Jesse was an ardent surfer and spent much of his free time as a youth in the Pacific Ocean with his friends. He started a small side business making surfboards, “Surfboards by Battan,” and opened a shop on Ventura Boulevard, between Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Shoup Avenue. Following high school, he briefly attended the University of Hawaii and then transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a B.A. in History in 1970. He began graduate studies at New York University, where he finished an M.A. in History in 1972 and went on to complete a Ph.D. in History at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1988.

For over forty years, Jesse was a central figure in the Department of American Studies at California State University, Fullerton. He joined the department in 1980, serving as a professor, leading as department chair, and taking on an interim position as Associate Dean for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Jesse was a passionate and gifted educator who taught a range of introductory and advanced courses on American Studies, including courses on Hollywood and America, traditions of cultural radicalism, and the history of sexuality and emotions. His dynamic lectures inspired generations of CSUF students, and his classes on “Love in America” were legendary, as was his kindness, humor, and dedication to teaching. Jesse also taught in an exchange program at the University of Tübingen in Germany. In addition to his teaching, numerous publications, conference presentations, grants, and fellowships document Jesse’s influence on US social and cultural history, particularly on the study of social revolution and sexuality. Jesse was a reader at the Huntington Library, and for many years a regular presence in their reading rooms. At his death he was finishing a book manuscript, Intimate Revolutions: Radical Encounters with Modern Love and Desire in 20th-Century America.

Source: CSUF Department of American Studies, https://amst.fullerton.edu/faculty/memoriam.html.