American Studies Commons^™

The Editor And Les Travailleurs: How Albert Tenney Championed The Rights Of The French-Canadian Mill Workers During The 1886 Diphtheria Epidemic In Brunswick, Maine, Laura Mosqueda Almasi Ma

All Student Scholarship

This thesis explores the devastating diphtheria epidemic that rocked the small Midcoast community and how Albert Tenney, through his weekly editorials, championed for the French immigrants and called attention to not only the shocking living conditions of the Cabot Mill‟s housing, but also convinced the Maine Board of Health that there was in fact an epidemic decimating the population. It is a story of passion, courage and partnership in acting upon what is right regardless of race, religion or nationality.

Declension Narratives, Literary Representations Of Mental Disability, And New England Identity Construction: A Disabilities Studies Analysis Of Northern New England Texts, Marie M. Larson Ma

All Student Scholarship

This thesis employs the framework of Disabilities Theory, particularly the Social-Constructivist Model, to examine the literary figure of mental disability as a robust and reflexive trope in the construction of New England's regional identity at the turn of the twentieth century through the late-twentieth century.

Ghost Stories: Race, Immigration And Radicalism In Barre, Vermont, Elizabeth D. Swasey Ma

All Student Scholarship

This thesis investigates Men Against Granite, an oral history project undertaken by the Writer's Program in Barre, Vermont in the late 1930's and 40s. Thirty years earlier , Barre was an important site in the transnational Italian Left, but the Men Against Granite interviews present a curiously depoliticized place. The following pages explore national and local rhetoric that formed a composite "radical Italian," a racialized identity that set Italian immigrants apart and legitimized state repression . In response, second-generation immigrants , including project writer Mari Tomasi, used the interviews to reshape themselves and their pasts as "American," in part by …

The Reluctant Hipster: A Subculture Striving For Self Identity In A Changing World, David Jester Ma

All Student Scholarship

What is the Hipster subculture? This is a question that has plagued me for some time. I sit in a bar and hear patrons discuss hipster's with disdain, while at other bars I notice a comfortable hipster atmosphere , but still, the question lingers in my mind, what is HIpster? I recognize those categorized as hipster identify fashion trends which are attributed to hipster's, and even discern bars, restaurants, and businesses which cater to the Hipster demographic, but still, what does all this mean? What is hipster subculture, and how does it interact with the community?

"The Struggle For The Supremacy Of The Coast": Baseball And Identity In Boothbay Harbor, Maine, Christopher G.F. Hoffman Ma

All Student Scholarship

During the summer months of the first decade of the twentieth century, the Boothbay Harbor region was invigorated with baseball fever. By 1900, Americans had come to understand baseball as its national game, and Boothbay Harbor discovered and nourished the game in the final decades of the nineteenth century. But as the twentieth century began, baseball became more than a game: it was a business, a spectacle, and an opportunity for inhabitants of the region to define themselves based upon the team they supported.

Liminal Encounters And The Missionary Position: New England's Sexual Colonization Of The Hawaiian Islands, 1778-1840, Anatole Brown Ma

All Student Scholarship

This study on New England’s early contact with the Hawaiian Islands examines the sexual liminality of the initial encounter. Late eighteenth century navigators from Boston recorded what could be described as “intimate encounters” with Native Hawaiian women and men.

“A Sufficient Number": The Historic African American Community Of Peterborough In Warren, Maine, Kate E. Mcmahon Ma

All Student Scholarship

Warren, Maine is located in the midcoast region of southeastern Maine. The small town has a long history that is intrinsically linked to the maritime activities of the region, which began in the mid-seventeenth century. Sometime around 1782, Sarah Peters was brought to Warren as a slave on a ship owned by Captain James McIntyre. After slavery was outlawed in Massachusetts in 1783/1784, Sarah successfully sued for her freedom and married a man named Amos Peters. Together, they raised a large, mixed-racial family, and settled near South Pond, a good distance away from the main village. By the 1820s, they …

Silk And Society: Silk Manufacturers And Users 1870-1930. Based On A Study Of The Haskell Silk Company, Westbrook, Maine, Jacqueline Field Ma

All Student Scholarship

This thesis makes several contributions to the history of American silks. It shows that some of the most exemplary and well known U.S. silks were manufactured by Haskell despite its location at the far periphery of the major Mid Atlantic silk manufacturing region. It traces the changes in the domestic silk product over time and argues that changing consumer tastes and lifestyle exerted a major influence on what was made and sold.

Fin De Siecle Diana: The New Woman Discovers The Maine Woods, Nan Cumming Ma

All Student Scholarship

Women's roles were in flux during the late nineteenth centuury and early twentieth century. Faced with neurasthenia and other health problems, many upper and middle class women accepted the suggestions of doctors and social reformers that they take more exercise, usually in the form of calisthenics and bicycling.The quest for genuine experience in the increasingly artificial and overpopulated cities brought many male sports to Maine's untamed woods and, by 1890, women joined them in increasing numbers.

This study explores the attraction that the Maine wilderness held for upper and middle class Victorian women.

A Late Nineteenth - Century Rural Community: Three Homesteads In Sebago, Maine, Edward S. Allen Ma

All Student Scholarship

This thesis examines three homesteads in the small inland farming community of Sebago, Maine. The homesteads are analyzed in terms of architecture and landscape, along with documentary sources such as census returns. Set against the backdrop of the history of the town, and northern rural New England in general, the story of these three houses offers insights into the soacial history of Sebago during this period.

Simply Shaker: The Rise And Development Of Popular Images Of The Shakers, Scott F. De Wolfe Ma

All Student Scholarship

Generations of Americans have been fascinated by a small religious group known as the Shakers. This thesis traces the evolution of the Shaker image through time. Much of the paper centers on the current view of the Shakers as a simple agrarian and non technological movement whose members live a stress free life.