Earl Spencer Pomeroy (1915–2005) was an American historian whose work focused on the Western United States.

Pomeroy was born in Capitola, California. He received his B.A. from San Jose State College in 1936, and subsequently attended the University of California, Berkeley for graduate work, where he received his Ph.D. in 1940 under the direction of Frederic L. Paxson.^[1]

From 1942 to 1945, Pomeroy taught at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. In 1945, he moved to Ohio State University, where he remained until 1949. In that year, he accepted a position at the University of Oregon, where he remained until 1976. He served as the Beekman Professor of History at Oregon.^[2] He served on the Department of the Army Historical Advisory Committee. In his time at Oregon, he oversaw 20 doctoral dissertations. One of his notable doctoral students was Peter Simpson.^[3]

In 1976 he accepted an appointment at the University of California, San Diego, where he remained until his retirement in 1986.

Awards and Prizes

• 1942 Beveridge Prize from the American Historian Association (awarded to fund publication of The Territories and the United States)
• 1956 Guggenheim Fellowship for U.S. History
• 1971 President, Pacific Coast Branch, American Historical Association
• 1993 President, Western Historical Association