History Commons^™

A Culture Of Its Own: The Story Of The Sally Mcdonnell Barksdale Honors College, Mary Boyte

Honors Theses

Since its inception in 1996, the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College has created a culture of striving for academic excellence which is constantly shifting. At its core is the desire to educate students who learn for the sake of learning. Through small, seminar-style classes, students discuss broad questions that take them beyond the walls of the SMBHC. This thesis paints a complete narrative of Ole Miss’ honors education, starting with the Scholar’s Program in 1952 and ending in the spring semester of 2023. In addition to offering a factual history, this thesis also explores what sets an honors course apart …

German Odysseys Of The First World War, David Terence Hillman

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the journeys of four separate German military units away from the European theater and forced to operate without aid or allies in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans, as well as in Africa. Each group had a clear goal to accomplish, to strengthen the German war effort from abroad, either by disrupting, evading, or diverting Allied personnel and war materiel. To accomplish this, each group required cunning, discipline, deception, and strong leadership. These odysseys, although more aptly compared to Xenophon’s Anabasis, demonstrate the global nature of the First World War, the deterioration of international good will …

Ulster, Georgia, And The Civil War: Stories Of Variation, William Loveless

Honors Theses

Ulster, Georgia, and The Civil War: Stories of Variation explores the lives of 13 men from Northern Ireland who immigrated to the American South and fought for the Confederacy. The author pursues the stories of each man’s life in order to have a more thorough understanding of what life looked like for Irish/Ulster immigrants in the South during the 19^th century. By looking at the lives of the men in Ulster, their first experiences in the United States, their experiences in the Civil War, and their lives following the war, the author identifies more variation than consistent trends.

Maize From Sacred To Profane, Gizela Thomas

Honors Theses

This thesis is a broad study of how corn has influenced the political, social and economic structure of the Americas from the early inception of the first Native American civilizations to the present day. Divided amongst four chapters that aim to explain how corn’s development has changed the power dynamic across North and South America, this thesis depicts how corn has sustained state power and how its development as a commodity has transitioned to empowering corporate interests. The first chapter uses a variety of primary sources such as religious texts and artifacts to illustrate corn’s sacred role as the creator …

Aphasia & Stutter Therapy: An Ailment Not To Be Treated, Janae Nieto

Honors Theses

This work demonstrates the history of two common speech and communication disorders: aphasia and stuttering. Once considered incurable diseases, these conditions have since generated rich rehabilitation practices and accompanying schools of thought. The first part of the thesis takes up adult aphasia, excluding cases involving speech and communication disorders due to other mental illnesses. The second half of this project conveys the history of stuttering. The majority of the modern cases analyzed in this thesis focus on developmental stuttering in children; although, different forms of stuttering are embedded in the progression of the therapy history. Each chapter includes a section …

A Written History Of The Western Michigan University Department Of Dance, Amy Russell

Honors Theses

This historical, introspective telling of the Western Michigan University’s Department of Dance examines its development in relation to dance in higher education and dance across the United States. An analysis of the development of dance at Western Michigan University in comparison to other universities and the dance field was conducted by studying professional influences in the field and evolving social, educational, and industry trends. Research from texts written by respected dance scholars was collected, and trade journals were consulted for information regarding current trends in the dance field. Archival research at the Western Michigan University Zhang Legacy Collections Center: Archives …

Waters Of Labor, Waters Of Leisure: An Environmental History Of Lake Memphremagog, Katherine Tucker

Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to examine the transition from traditional resource extractive industry to seasonal tourism industry around Lake Memphremagog, a mid-sized freshwater lake that is situated across the USA/ Canada border in northern Vermont and southern Quebec. Reading sources primarily from the decades 1860-1890, this research examines changing conceptualizations of nature that link to specific land use trends. Northern Vermont was left with a decimated landscape following the decline of the logging and agricultural industries by the mid-nineteenth century. Meanwhile, nature centered tourism began to emerge in the same area. The new tourism economy catered to the wealthy urban elite, …

Russian Justice On Trial: A Slavophile's Perspective On Judicial Reform In Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov, Michael Beck

Honors Theses

As the Crimean War drew to a close in 1856, two things were clear: the combined forces of the British, French and Ottoman empires had routed the Russian military and that this defeat marked the end of imperial Russian strength and the beginning of grand changes in the political arena. Financially weakened and trailing the West both socially and industrially, Russia demanded change. This change was shaped by the sweeping arm of the Great Reforms spanning from 1861-1864. It marked Russia’s most extensive regime changes since the Petrine Reforms as it aimed to solve the backwards nature of Imperial Russia. …

Bridging The Gap: A Study Of Compositional Similarities Across Time, The 'Realization' Techniques Of Johann Sebastian Bach And Louis Armstrong, Erin Cheshire

Honors Theses

This study is an examination of certain compositional techniques during the Baroque and jazz eras and how there are unexpected similarities throughout. The premise of this argument draws attention to the notion that, although the world has changed, this particular compositional technique has remained relatively unaltered. Given the aesthetic differences between these two compositional styles, the unlikely conclusion is that some aspects of music truly never go away, they simply change procedures.

By examining the emergence of the figured-bass style in the Baroque period and certain notational features in jazz, the evidence will trace the origins of these compositional techniques …

Sisters Of The Spirit: Black Women In The Civil Rights Movement, Terra Warren

Honors Theses

No abstract available.

The Forgotten Pandemic: A Short History Of The 1918-1919 Influenza Outbreak & The Effect On Kalamazoo And Western State Normal School, Katie Jones

Honors Theses

The influenza outbreak of 1918-1919 began its widespread destruction in September of 1918. Before the outbreak was over, more than twenty-five percent of the United States population became ill. However, the United States was not alone in this silent war. The influenza outbreak (named the “Spanish Flu” or “La Grippe” at this time) killed approximately fifty million people worldwide and is still considered to be the “world’s worst pandemic” since the onset of written history. The state of Michigan, including Kalamazoo and the campus of Western State Normal School were not immune to this highly contagious virus. From October 1918 …

The Process Of Preparing A Historical Exhibit Involving Textiles: Conservation And Mounting Techniques, Emily Kelley

Honors Theses

"The Process of Preparing an Historical Exhibit Involving Textiles: Conservation and Mounting Techniques" This project revolves around textile conservation, with an undertone of collections management. The processes detailed are to serve as a guide for creating mounts for historic textiles and to give preliminary information on how conservation works and how to identify textiles that are appropriate for conservation and display. Addressed in this project are the methods behind choosing which textiles to exhibit, mounting different types of textiles, and the three basic types of textile conservation. Choosing objects for an exhibit requires thought and consideration, for the desired story …

Soviet Education: Communism In The Classroom, Alison W. Berryman

Honors Theses

My thesis examines the Soviet Union’s educational system during Stalin’s rule. It proves that the goal of the Soviet educational system in the 1920s and 1930s was to instill strong Communist loyalty from a very early age and to expedite the process of industrialization by educating future workers in “socially useful” labor.

Raising The Hatchet Or Raising The Glass: Prohibition In Clark County, Arkansas, Katie Mccormack

Honors Theses

Prohibition did not begin with the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1920, nor did it end after the repeal of the Prohibition Movement in 1933 . In fact, by the time national prohibition was sent to the states for ratification, twenty-seven states had already adopted statewide prohibition laws. When national prohibition was repealed, previously enacted state prohibition laws remained intact. Therefore, despite the repeal of prohibition at the national level, thirty-eight percent of the nation's population lived in areas with state or local prohibition after 1933.

After national repeal, however, state prohibition laws were gradually abandoned as more regions …

Historical Archaeology Possibilities For Arkansas, Julia Gray

Honors Theses

Despite early examples of historical archaeology in North America, the field did not gain formal status until the mid-1960s. Since that time there has been continual debate as to what historical archaeology actually is, what it does or what it should do. To understand this debate, it is first necessary to examine some early orientations of the discipline.