Digital Commons Network^™

Interview With Reverend Dr. Stan Davis, Dawn Butler

Chicago 1968

Length: 116 minutes

Interview with Reverend Stan Davis by Dawn Butler

Rev. Davis begins by sharing details about himself, his family, and his early years in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, and his religious community, the Church of the Brethren. He talks about growing up during World War II and how he first became aware of prejudice, witnessing the internment of the Japanese-American community. He recalls his studies at Juniata College and his decision to attend Bethany Theological. He describes moving to North Lawndale, a diverse immigrant community that underwent drastic demographic changes as a result of unscrupulous lending practices designed to move …

Interview With Father Dominic Grassi, Paul Brennan

Chicago 1968

Length: 105 minutes

Interview with Father Dominic Grassi by Paul Brennan

Fr. Dominic Grassi begins his interview by detailing his childhood, growing up the youngest of five to Italian immigrant parents on the North side of Chicago, He credits his high school work with the children at Cabrini Greens for introducing him to the community service aspect of religious life and recalls the significant role the priests played in his early years. He describes daily life at the college seminary and the formation of his religious vocation amidst “almost a tsunami” of worlds events: the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights …

Interview Of Michael R. Dillon, Ph.D., J.D., Michael R. Dillon, Ph.D., J.D., John A. Prendergast

All Oral Histories

Dr. Michael Richard Dillon (1942-2020) was a Professor and Chair of the Political Science Department at La Salle University in Philadelphia. He grew up in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb just outside of Chicago, where he spent many years before opting to attend the University of Notre Dame for his undergraduate and, later, his graduate and doctoral degrees. Dr. Dillon first came to La Salle in 1968, where he spent 17 years as a member of the Political Science Department under the Chair at the time, Robert Courtney. After obtaining a J.D. from Temple University, Dr. Dillon left La Salle in …

Unions, Cartels, And The Political Economy Of American Cities: The Chicago Flat Janitors' Union In The Progressive Era And 1920s, John Jentz

Library Faculty Research and Publications

In 1997, Ira Katznelson contributed to the ongoing discussion among social scientists and historians about how to analyze class formation and the development of the American state. He was particularly interested in tying this research to the history of liberalism in an effort to both historicize the generalizations of Louis Hartz and address the question of American exceptionalism. Evaluating the body of research, Katznelson argued that authors had too frequently abstracted the state from its context and then used it to explain the very phenomena that helped define the state's character in the first place. In part to imbed the …