Digital Commons Network^™

Introduction To The Dorrite Women Letter Collection, Erik J. Chaput, Ph.D

Dorr Scholarship

In this introductory essay to the Dorrite Women Letter Collection, historian Erik Chaput outlines the significant role women played in the Dorr Rebellion. The openly partisan activism of Dorrite women highlights an understudied aspect of antebellum America. Much of the scholarship on women in the antebellum period focuses on abolitionism and connections to other Whig Party reform efforts. The vast majority of women associated with Thomas Dorr, however, were open supporters of the Democratic Party and were not connected with Rhode Island abolitionist societies. In the essay, Chaput highlights the activism of a key group of Dorrite women, including Ann …

The Perfect Tree: The American Chestnut Tree In American Culture, Economics, And Science In The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Sarah Heavren

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

The tale of the American chestnut tree offers incredible insight on Americans’ changing relationship with their environment and the complications added by economic motivations and scientific advancements. The American chestnut tree was known for its favorable timber and delectable nuts, which allowed the tree to assume a level of economic and cultural significance in twentieth century America. The timber was versatile and durable, and picking chestnuts and roasting them during the holidays were common seasonal traditions. However, the arrival of an invasive species of fungus at the beginning of the twentieth century decimated the population of American chestnut trees along …

Soaring With Eagles: The Life And Legacy Of Janina Lewandowska, The Only Female Pow Killed In The Katyń Forest Massacre, Joshua Chlebowski

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

In March of 1940, Joseph Stalin ordered the execution of approximately five thousand Polish prisoners of war, setting off a chain of events leading to the Katyń Massacre. Buried in seven mass graves, these soldiers’ bodies remained undisturbed until German forces unearthed them several years later. Even more shocking to the Polish nation than this discovery was the revelation that one of the victims was a female military officer: Second Lieutenant in the Polish Air Force, Janina Lewandowska. Indeed, the presence of her body was at the center of a fifty-year cover-up.

Exploring the life of Janina Lewandowska offers more …

Beneath The Surface: Hadrian’S Underground Contributions To Roman Greece, Michaiah Elizabeth Kojoian

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

Reigning during the ‘Golden Age’ of Rome, Emperor Hadrian is remembered mostly for his excessive travel and magnificent building projects such as the Roman Pantheon, his villa at Tivoli, and the famous Hadrian’s Wall. Despite his attention to the city of Rome, however, Hadrian was also very involved in providing for the needs of the Roman provinces. This research explores Hadrian’s legacy as a ‘good’ and philhellenic emperor while also noting his imperial proactivity. This is accomplished by a thorough examination of his aqueducts in Roman Greece, especially his aqueduct in Athens through archaeological and literary sources. This research specifically …

The Legion Of The Archangel Michael: The Past And Present Appeal Of Decentralized Fascism, Andrew Bennet Gillen

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

The Legion of the Archangel Michael (LAM) was a notorious fascist group in Romania from the years 1927-1941. It was a highly religious fascist movement, led by Corneliu Codreanu, and attracted many young men to its banner in the middle of the 20^th century. However, its appeal appears to not be limited to the past. In 2017, at the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, one of the lead organizers of the rally was seen wearing a shirt depicting Codreanu. In 2019, London’s Sanctuary Press published a new translation of Codreanu’s memoir, and in Romania, the Alliance for …

“A Compact With The Whales”: New Bedford, The American Civil War, And A Changing Industry, Mark Ryan Mello

History & Classics Dissertations and Masters Theses

On the late afternoon of June 28, 1865, Captain Thomas G. Young, master of the whaleship Favorite, defiantly stood atop the roof of his cabin, brandishing revolvers and bomb guns. His courage, perhaps inspired by liquor, was stout in the face of the nearing Confederate ship. He determined his ship would not be like the other thirty-one New Bedford whaleships that fell to Confederate pirates since 1862. Fearful for their captain’s life, his crew pleaded with him to stand down. Any fight he made would be fruitless and would probably end up killing him. But Young was a desperate …

Residential Segregation By Caste In The Indian States Of Gujarat And Karnataka, Alicia Terrero

Global Studies Student Scholarship

Major: Global Studies and Political Science

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Trina Vithayathil, Global Studies

This project looks at the Indian states of Gujarat and Karnataka and tries to identify why Gujarat has a higher degree of residential segregation than Karnataka. One factor that could explain this is the difference in level of solidarity at the subnational level for both states. Based on social expenditure data and inequality data, we find that Karnataka has higher levels of support for policies that further the collective good of the subnational (i.e. Kannada within Karnataka) community. This higher level of subnationalism and unity across social …

The Polish Question At Yalta, 1945: Public Opinion On The Polish Agreements, Christopher Maxim

History & Classics Student Scholarship

Major: History and Political Science

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jennifer Illuzzi, History and Classics

"For my thesis, I attempted to understand the Polish agreement reached at the Yalta conference and its reception by the public in the United States and Britain. I argued that Poland was the central issue at the Yalta conference and that the Big Three alliance deteriorated as a result of the agreements reached on Poland. I believe that understanding the public reception of the Polish agreements is important in understanding the history of the Yalta conference. Therefore, I sought to incorporate how the topic was covered in …

“Este Pueblo Deicida”: The Roots Of Antisemitic Nationalism During Argentina’S Década Infame, 1930-1943, Shannon Moore

History & Classics Student Scholarship

Major: History and Spanish

Faculty Mentor: Fr. David Orique O.P., History and Classics

Based on the rhetorical strategies of important Argentine nationalist figures, this project proposes some possible sources imbedded within the Argentine historio-cultural imagination that provided a fertile environment in which these ideologies could take root and flourish. The historical and cultural strains that arguably influenced the pervasiveness of anti-Semitism among some Catholic Argentines include the following: the inherited colonial tradition of Hispanidad, which admires the philosophy, theology, and politics of the Reconquista, the Inquisition, and the Counterreformation; 19th century caudillismo and the reimagination of the dictator Juan Manuel …

Labor In The Formation Of The California Wine Industry, Nicholas Crenshaw

History & Classics Student Scholarship

Major: History

Faculty Mentor: Dr. René Alexander Orquiza, History and Classics

My thesis brings attention to the creation of the California wine industry from a bottom-up perspective, highlighting the images and voices of the various farm workers who enabled the region’s widespread popularity and success in the late twentieth century. From the late 1800s to World War II, the California wine industry was established, challenged, and reinvented amidst racist rhetoric by labor organizations, the Chinese Exclusion Act, Prohibition, and the Great Depression. As laborers in multiple capacities, Native Americans, Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Indian Americans, and women were essential to …

Unheard Voices Against The Invisible Empire: Black And Catholic Responses To The Second Ku Klux Klan, William Hartl

History & Classics Student Scholarship

Major: History and Philosophy

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Darra Mulderry, History

Historians on the Ku Klux Klan have only recently begun to re-examine the place of the Klan in American history, coming to the unsettling conclusion that the Klan and its message were more widely accepted than many previous historians acknowledged. However, this new revisionist history of the Klan lacks any thorough consideration of the experiences of Klan victims. In my thesis, I examine how Black and Catholic newspapers from 1916-1922 describe the activities and ideologies of the KKK so that I can then compare their accounts of the Klan with …

Medieval Ailments: Healing Others, Misogyny, And Anti-Semitism, Mackenzie Fox

History & Classics Student Scholarship

The following paper examines Sir Walter Scott’s historical novel, Ivanhoe, which was published in 1814, in terms of the social attitudes persisting during the Middle Ages when the novel takes place. Specifically, the paper analyzes Rebecca, a multi-faceted and subtly heroic character, by placing her into historical context and using the relevant social attitudes to inform her accusation as a witch. Throughout Ivanhoe, Rebecca’s perception as a witch is compounded by her identities as a medical healer, a woman, and a Jew, which accurately reflects the attitudes towards these identities that existed during the European witch hunt in …