American Studies Commons^™

The Fight For Equality: African American Seabees During World War Ii, Victoria Castillo

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

This thesis outlines the Navy’s movement towards black inclusion from the beginning of World War I to the end of World War II through the lens of African American Seabees as well as the two integrated Seabee Battalions, 34^th and 80^th. While examining African American Seabees during World War II, one can see the injustices they were facing in the Navy. Seabees are one of the forgotten branches during World War II, but while examining the history of African Americans serving in the U.S. Navy and the Seabees, we start to understand how they were able to …

Desegregation Through Entertainment: Rodgers And Hammerstein’S South Pacific As An Instrument Of Military Policy, Leana Sottile

Voces Novae

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific became a staple of mainstream popular culture. However, the musical also served a specific function within the American military where its usage by the United Service Organizations and Department of Defense was widespread. This case study examines how South Pacific arguably served a way to ease the blow of desegregation on the military by other means, in this case, entertainment. This was achieved by combining the show’s progressive views on racial tolerance with the prevalent wartime nostalgia and romanticism in the piece. All of …

The Anatomy Of Patriotism: The Commodification Of American Gender Roles And The Female Body In World War Ii Print Media, Adison Beals

Voces Novae

During World War II, the United States turned to the female gender roles that underpinned American society and commodified them in print media to sell the war effort and female participation in it, resulting in the appearance of hands, lips, and legs in propaganda, makeup advertisements, and pinup images. This phenomenon reflects how physical presentation indicates social anxieties and American constructions of gender, as well as how the female body is imbued with cultural symbolism.

Cartel Practices And Policies In The World War Ii Era, Caleb Yoken

Honors Theses

The goal of this thesis is to examine cartels in the World War II era: how and why they operated, why they existed, and any assistance they may or may not have received from their respective governments. This thesis, in particular, will focus on three countries, the United States, Germany, and Britain. Cartels are typically defined through the lens of monopolized business activity that can deal with anything from petroleum and steel to pharmaceuticals, and take actions to restrict output and raise prices to eliminate their competition. The research finds that cartels that operated in Europe during this era were …

Show Her It's A Man's World: How The Femme Fatale Became A Vehicle For Propaganda, Leann Bishop

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

During World War II women joined the workforce in droves due to propaganda such as Rosie the Riveter. When Soldiers began returning from the war they wanted stability and normalcy. They wanted to return to the America they left where women ran the household and men went to work. Women, however, experienced a new sense of freedom from working and wanted to continue their liberation. It was during this time that femme fatales, the sultry women of film noir became popular. They represented the liberated women of the 1940s. The film industry saw an opportunity to use these women found …

Chambliss, Landon Baird "Hank," 1921-1994 (Sc 3295), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3295. Poems by Baird “Hank” Chambliss, Cave City, Kentucky, collected under the title “Yesterday’s” [sic]. Chiefly based on aspects of the lives of Chambliss, his family and of young people he knew, the poems also feature romantic, genealogical and nostalgic themes. Includes an alphabetical list of titles. This collection is in digital format only in TopSCHOLAR.

The Warner Brothers Prove Their Patriotism, Lara Jacobson

Voces Novae

Warner Bros. Pictures did not become the widely successful company they are today by sitting back and letting “the world go to pot.” The Brothers patriotic beginnings in America earned them a reputation as trailblazers in the motion picture industry. Their Polish and Jewish family heritage initially motivated the four brothers to take a stand when they released Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939) as a direct result of Hitler’s growing reign in Europe. Many of the Brothers’ early movies focused on injustice, prejudice, and violation of basic human rights; the era of World War II would be no different. …

Boosting The Bugle Boy: The Role Of Music In American Patriotism During World War Ii, Brittany L. Roberts

Musical Offerings

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941, they little realized what a formidable foe they had aroused. An enraged America immediately declared war on Japan. As a result, Germany declared war on America. Now facing enemies on both fronts, America mobilized her troops for action and prepared weapons of mass destruction. The unity experienced by the American people during this time had never been and would never be matched. Both soldiers and civilians launched themselves into the war effort. This great national endeavor called for anthems of reflection and encouragement. While they continued to …

Jud Ms 05 Sumner T. Bernstein Papers Finding Aid, Susannah Clark

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Description:

Sumner Thurman Bernstein (1924 - 2002) grew up in Portland, Maine, the son of lawyer parents. He served in the South Pacific in the U.S. Army during World War II (achieving the rank of Captain) and attended Harvard University for his undergraduate education and for law school. He returned to Portland after marrying Rosalyne Spindel in 1949, to join his father and uncle’s law practice, which he helped to grow into Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer and Nelson in 1964. He was very engaged with the community, participating in the following organizations, among others, often serving as president or chair of …

Arnold Whitridge: Scholar And Veteran Of Two Armies And Two Wars, Keith J. Muchowski

Publications and Research

This is an invited blog post written for Roads to the Great War, a site dedicated to the study of the First World War edited by historian Mike Hanlon. The article discusses the life and career of Arnold Whitridge, a soldier, scholar and grandson of British poet Matthew Arnold.

This is the url:

http://roadstothegreatwar-ww1.blogspot.com/2017/01/arnold-whitridge-scholar-and-veteran-of.html

Joiner-Rogers Collection (Mss 590), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and full text scans of selected items (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Collection 590. Personal and professional papers of Christian County, Kentucky teacher and administrator Erleen (Joiner) Rogers, and novels, poems, skits, epigrams and witticisms written by her father, Robert Tinnon Joiner. Includes a collection of Joiner’s writings titled Nonsense and Wisdom From Flat Lick, Rogers’ family history titled Seven Generations in and From Flat Lick, other family data, and photographs.

Giving The Global High Sign: Coca-Cola Advertising Of The “American Way” In Life Magazine, 1941-1947, Scott Greenfield

History Theses

Magazine advertising through these years marketed American products to a consumer base that was becoming more patriotic. This “patriotic consumerism” manifested itself both in its foundational support for the United States’ involvement in World War II and in its constant implementation of the “American Dream” ideology that mixed nostalgia and modernity in preparation of a post-war world. Expanding upon the resulting cultural behavior of classifying the support of American business as a quasi-civic duty, The Coca-Cola Company successfully situated the “American Way of Life” as a global aspiration through its product’s entanglement in the global settings of war, ensuring that …

A Rural Nebraska Boy’S Comic Strip Narrative Of World War Ii, Mike Kugler

Northwestern Review

The comics drawn by James “Jimmy” Kugler (the author’s father) when he was 13 in 1945 and living in Lexington, Nebraska provide a microhistorical perspective on at least four things. First, they offer a glimpse of an adolescent boy’s life in small town America during the mid-twentieth century. The strips took local buildings and situations and turned them into something strange, reflecting some of Jimmy’s loneliness and alienation. Further, they “back talked” the adults in charge of school and town. Second, they manifest the power of a dynamic American popular culture at the time. Jimmy’s war comic strips depict fairly …

Suffering Sisters, Silent Majorities, And Societal Oppression: Comparing The Anti-War Themes And Strategies Of Kurt Vonnegut’S Slaughterhouse-Five And Katherine Anne Porter’S “Pale Horse, Pale Rider”, Melissa N. Miller

Senior Honors Theses

Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and Katherine Anne Porter’s “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” are quite dissimilar in style, but these two works convey overall anti-war themes. The works were written in different eras, portray different wars, and are strongly influenced by the lives of the authors themselves; however, these unique factors work together in both works to convey similar messages regarding war’s oppressive nature and corruption of mankind. Vonnegut and Porter employ various methods to communicate these messages, some unique to the respective works and some shared by the two. The characters of Montana Wildhack and Miranda Gay—two oppressed female characters imprisoned …

The Lover's Cup, Kimberlee Relyea Guin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This documentary film, The Lover's Cup is the story of a former Naval Officer from World War II, Dr. Phillip Trapp, who took Marines into the battle of Iwo Jima and lived to see the flag being raised on Mt. Suribachi. This 55-minute film explores his life experiences before, during and following World War II. His first-hand experiences are used to illustrate the Social and psychological impact of the Great Depression and World War II and his journey to overcome his adversity and create positive changes in the world through his subsequent education and service at the University of Arkansas …

Poo-Tee-Weet? Unintelligent Things To Say About A Massacre: Vonnegut’S Slaughterhouse Five And Us Interventions In The Post-Wwii Era, Kelly A. Mcardle

Honors Scholar Theses

While fighting in Europe during WWII, Kurt Vonnegut was taken prisoner and sent to work at a German prison camp where he witnessed one of the most destructive events of WWII, the firebombing of Dresden, Germany by the Allied forces. Although Vonnegut was liberated in 1945, the novel about the events he witnessed was not published until 1969. What happened in the intervening years to shape the novel that would eventually become Slaughterhouse Five? As Vonnegut grappled with his experiences for two decades, American leaders increased American involvement around the world. The explanations used to justify these interventions have …

A Glance In Their Direction: The New York City Press And Their Coverage Of African Americans During World War Ii, Michael Losasso

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

My thesis examines the New York City press’ interpretation of African Americans and the Civil Rights movement of World War II. I seek to determine in what measure the press reported on African Americans in the military and at home during the war including segregation of the Armed Forces, and the riots of 1943. Through examining the white and black media’s perception of these events I hope to elucidate how the press wrote about the topic of race during the period and if there was any change in their reporting on race due to the war. Although addressed marginally in …

Mayo, George Morrow, 1896-1983 (Mss 521), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 521. Scrapbooks (2) documenting the life and times of journalist George Morrow Mayo and his fashion designer wife Muriel L. Van Norden. Scrapbooks contain a historical narrative, articles written by Mr. Mayo, as well as photographs and other ephemera such as postcards, small maps, etc. Also includes news clippings, photos of Mayo’s Family and an autographed copy of his book Los Angeles (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 193)

Transnational Gestures: Rethinking Trauma In U.S. War Fiction, Ruth A.H. Lahti

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the need to "world" our literary histories of U.S. war fiction, arguing that a transnational approach to this genre remaps on an enlarged scale the ethical implications of 20th and 21st century war writing. This study turns to representations of the human body to differently apprehend the ethical struggles of war fiction, thereby rethinking psychological and nationalist models of war trauma and developing a new method of reading the literature of war. To lay the ground for this analysis, I argue that the dominance of trauma theory in critical work on U.S. war fiction privileges the "authentic" …

Marquess, Kathleen Caroline (Perkins), 1895-1973 (Sc 1018), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1018. Booklet (39 pages) of poems and brief prose, Moments of Gladness, Madness and Sadness, published by Kathleen Caroline Perkins Marquess, Hopkinsville, Kentucky. She records comments about many of her writings and includes letter written to Allan Trout, 1961. In letter she discusses the details of getting the booklet published.

Interview With Pearl Perguson Regarding Her Life (Fa 154), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Oral Histories

Transcription of an interview with Pearl Perguson conducted by Kevin Eans for an oral history project titled "A Generation Remembers, 1900-1949." Perguson discusses her life and times, including information about social life and reactions to national events in the small town of Horse Branch, Ohio County, Kentucky.

Meriwether Family Papers (Mss 44), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 44. Typed copies of personal and legal papers, 1791-1840 (43) of Charles Meriwether, a pioneer doctor of Christian County, Kentucky; family letters of Caroline Gordon Tate, author and educator, 1938-1947 (18); and family letters of newspaper columnist Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer (“Dorothy Dix”), 1930-1949 (13).

Art+Politics, Shannon Egan, Jenna L. Birkenshock, Hillary B. Goodall, Tessa M. Sheridan, Josiah B. Adlon, Megan E. Hilands, Emily A. Francisco, Molly E. Reynolds, Shelby P. Glass, Colleen L. Parrish, Francesca S. Debiaso

Schmucker Art Catalogs

For the exhibition Art + Politics, students worked closely with the holdings of Gettysburg College's Special Collections and College Archives to curate an exhibition in Schmucker Art Gallery that engages with issues of public policy, activism, war, propaganda, and other critical socio-political themes. Each of the students worked diligently to contextualize the objects historically, politically, and art-historically. The art and artifacts presented in this exhibition reveal how various political events and social issues have been interpreted through various visual and printed materials, including posters, pins, illustrations, song sheets, as well as a Chinese shoe for bound feet. The students' …

Davis, Anne Pence, 1901-1982 (Mss 373), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 373. Correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, publications and associated material relating to the literary career of Anne Pence Davis, a poet, reviewer, novelist, and author of juvenile fiction who grew up in Bowling Green, Kentucky and lived in Wichita Falls, Texas after her marriage.

Robertson, J. Lee, B. 1922 (Fa 535), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 535. Interview with J. Lee Robertson conducted by Kenneth Hines and Gil Calhoun in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Robertson reminisces about the U.S. Army during World war II and his long association with Western Kentucky University.

Jud Ms 02 Portland Jewish Community Center Uso Guest Book Finding Aid, Karin A. France

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Description:

The Jewish Community Center on Cumberland Avenue in Portland, Maine was the site of United Service Organization (USO) social events, held regularly from at least October 1943 to September 1946. Most of the servicemen (and some women who were nurses) who attended events at the Community Center were in the Navy, stationed on shops docked or anchored in Casco Bay. These social events were sometimes held out on the islands. Although hosted by the Jewish Community Center, anyone was welcome, regardless of religion. Eleanor Edison Taft saved this ledger listing the names of attendees at the USO events when …

Collateral Damage: Veterans And Domestic Violence In Mari Sandoz's The Tom-Walker, Kathy Bahr

Great Plains Quarterly

The Tom-Walker (1947) associates domestic violence on a national scale with the domestic violence of veterans returning home after the Civil War and two world wars. This novel anticipates both the rise of McCarthyism and the long shadow cast by the atom bomb over the years constituting the Cold War. ... The Tom-Walker is remarkable in its depiction of the ugly, almost unmentionable effects of war on the domestic lives of individual veterans. Sandoz, like a number of her contemporaries, was particularly concerned about the horrors of war, but unlike many writers, she focuses on the home front and on …

Over Here, Over There (Fa 480), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 480. Collection contains recorded interviews and transcriptions conducted by David Baxter and Laura Harper Lee. The interviews contain information about the war effort at home and, for those who served, their experiences with the military and their combat experiences specifically.

Avery, James Russell, B. 1921 (Sc 2128), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2128. "My Story," the autobiography of James Russell Avery, a Hardin County native, prepared as a project of WKU gerontology student Shaylin Gimborys. Includes illustrations and genealogical information on the Avery family.

White, Vernon, 1915-2008 (Mss 255), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 255. Correspondence, research notes, slides, and photographs related to Vernon White's interests: covered bridges, hominy holes, archaeology, and grave covers, chiefly in Kentucky. Also includes drafts of his books and information about the White family of White Mills, Hardin County, Kentucky as well as information about White's participation in World War II. To view a selection of illustrative material from the White Collection go to this website: http://www.wku.edu/library/dlsc/vernonwhite.php