Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Institution
- Publication Year
Articles 1 - 17 of 17
Full-Text Articles in History
Extracting Meaning: Museums, Power, And Shaping The Story Of Coal, Danielle Marie Petrak
Extracting Meaning: Museums, Power, And Shaping The Story Of Coal, Danielle Marie Petrak
Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports
Organized into four case studies, this dissertation investigates how longstanding power relationships in the Central Appalachian coalfields have shaped the preservation and presentation of mining history at museums and historic sites. It contributes to scholarship in the fields of public history and Appalachian history by exploring how apolitical, noncritical, and biased narratives at mining history sites have obstructed the public’s acknowledgement of larger forces and systems that govern Appalachian society and often bring harm and misinformation to coalfield residents. To present more exhaustive, nuanced, and innovative interpretations of bituminous coal mining’s past and present, museums and historic sites must redirect …
The Politics Of Preservation: Stewarding Artifacts In Archives, Kollynn Hendry
The Politics Of Preservation: Stewarding Artifacts In Archives, Kollynn Hendry
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Kay Bailey Hutchison served Texas and the United States in many capacities during her political career. She vastly impacted Texas, as well as Nacogdoches, Texas in particular, through her time serving as a member of the Texas House of Representatives and as a United States Senator. In 2012, she donated her massive collection of gifts and memorabilia to the East Texas Research Center, a regional archive at Stephen F. Austin State University. The university honored her donation by creating a room to display the collection and interpret her influence on East Texas. Due to a rushed timeline, administrative interference, and …
Preservation And Public History In Mound Bayou, Mississippi, Walker Bray
Preservation And Public History In Mound Bayou, Mississippi, Walker Bray
Honors Theses
This paper is an exploration of the history of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, an all Black community in the Mississippi Delta formed by freedmen in the wake of Reconstruction. This paper also discusses the ways in which Mound Bayou citizens are working to preserve their history and make it known to a wider audience. In particular, this work discusses the recently opened Mound Bayou Museum of African American Culture and History and related efforts to restore and preserve historic structures in Mound Bayou. In addition, this work also seeks to explore ways in which the University of Mississippi can effectively supplement …
Institutionalizing Identity: Examining The Louvre In Revolutionary And Napoleonic France, Emma Balda, Amy Woodson-Boulton
Institutionalizing Identity: Examining The Louvre In Revolutionary And Napoleonic France, Emma Balda, Amy Woodson-Boulton
Honors Thesis
With the collapse of the French monarchy in 1789, France sought to solidify their sense of national identity in the wake of revolution. Since the late eighteenth century, museums have long been used to foster nationalism and belonging through the institutionalization of historical narratives-- the opening of the Louvre in 1793, and its transition from a royal palace to a palace of the people, served as a physical metaphor of the complete political transformation that occurred during the French Revolution. Existing literature examines the revolutionary nationalization of the Louvre as it relates to the concept of the modern museum and …
Ledgers Of The W.T. Carter And Brother Lumber Company: An Archival Processing Project, Christopher Cameron Cotton
Ledgers Of The W.T. Carter And Brother Lumber Company: An Archival Processing Project, Christopher Cameron Cotton
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The W.T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company began in 1898 and operated until 1968 when it was sold to the U.S. Plywood Corporation. The Polk County, Texas company harvested longleaf pine during a crucial period of development for the Texas economy. The lumber industry was the state’s first large scale commercial enterprise not dependent on farming and provided a model for future extractive industries in the state. The W.T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company town of Camden, Texas exemplifies rural implementations of the company town system in the Texas lumber industry. This public history thesis provides a brief history of …
Gravegoods: A Primer For Preservation, Mary E. Tucker
Gravegoods: A Primer For Preservation, Mary E. Tucker
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Deep East Texas is home to many historic cemeteries. The preservation of these cemeteries includes the care of gravemarkers and the management of cemetery grounds. Unfortunately, these practices often neglect gravegoods. The Caddo people have some of the earliest gravegood usage in Deep East Texas, dating back to the eighth century. European and white and black American settlers brought other funerary traditions and influences into the area beginning in the sixteenth century. Gravegoods in historic Deep East Texas cemeteries reflect these influences and traditions. This thesis led to the creation of a preservation brief that will educate the public and …
The Haunted History Of New Orleans: An Exploration Of The Intersectionality Between Dark Tourism, Black History, And Public History, Laura Foley
Theses and Dissertations
This research examines three popular ghost stories/legends of New Orleans that deal with issues of race. Madame Lalaurie, Julie, and Marie Laveau are popular subjects that are often sensationalized and removed from their proper historical context while treating legend as fact. This study not only analyzes the historical accuracy or historical context of these tales, but also addresses how these stories shape public perception and memory on topics such as race and local history. In addition, this study focuses on the intersectionality of dark tourism and public history and the ethical questions that often arise when the two meet.
"Treading On The Footprints Of History": American Catholic Pilgrimage As Public History, Charlotte Vester
"Treading On The Footprints Of History": American Catholic Pilgrimage As Public History, Charlotte Vester
Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports
In this thesis, I demonstrate how Catholic pilgrimage is a public history phenomenon. I define public history as public engagement, understanding, and use of the past. While I assert that pilgrimage is a public history phenomenon both in the past and in the present, my thesis will focus on American Catholic pilgrimage at the turn of the twentieth century. Each individual chapter will demonstrate that through pilgrimage, the faithful are engaged in public history in its various forms. Catholics actively took part in past-making and identity-construction in their roles as pilgrims. Through pilgrimage, Catholics were involved in the preservation and …
Prohibition In Rockingham County: Exploring A Digital Archive, Craig Schaefer
Prohibition In Rockingham County: Exploring A Digital Archive, Craig Schaefer
Masters Theses, 2010-2019
Prohibition in Rockingham County: Exploring a Digital Archive, is a digital prehistory thesis project that preserved and made select Prohibition-era records publicly available from the Rockingham County Courthouse. The records are now part of Exploring Rockingham’s Past (ERP), an ongoing collaboration between James Madison University’s (JMU) History Department, JMU Libraries, and the Rockingham County Circuit Court. These digital documents have been released into the public domain as keyword searchable and fully described PDFs at https://omeka.lib.jmu.edu/erp/. A digital exhibit is used to showcase the records: https://sites.lib.jmu.edu/prohibition/. The website introduces the reader to Prohibition but mainly strives to put the records …
Built Ford Tough: Masculinity, Gerald Ford's Presidential Museum, And The Macho Presidential Style, Dustin Jones
Built Ford Tough: Masculinity, Gerald Ford's Presidential Museum, And The Macho Presidential Style, Dustin Jones
Major Papers
In Cold War America, spanning roughly from 1945-1991, masculinity was in crisis. The rise of Communism and the Soviet Union had led to a fear of spies, infiltrators, and defectors known most commonly as the Red Scare. Americans were encouraged to be hyper vigilant in sussing out deviant behaviour. Alongside this scare came the Lavender Scare. It was suggested that homosexuals were deviant peoples and were therefore more susceptible to being turned Communist than their heterosexual counterparts. This led to a crisis of masculinity where even the smallest suggestion of femininity could lead to accusations of potential compromise, an effect …
The Hamilton Effect: How One Musical Made The Founding Fathers Cool, And What It Means For Historic Sites And The Academic World, Charlotte Skala
The Hamilton Effect: How One Musical Made The Founding Fathers Cool, And What It Means For Historic Sites And The Academic World, Charlotte Skala
Honors Theses and Capstones
This paper chronologically examines academic opinions about Hamilton: an American Musical and analyzes visitor attendance at historical sites to determine if Hamilton affected the numbers.
"Let The Castillo Be His Monument!": Imperialism, Nationalism, And Indian Commemoration At The Castillo De San Marcos National Monument In St. Augustine, Florida, Claire M. Barnewolt
"Let The Castillo Be His Monument!": Imperialism, Nationalism, And Indian Commemoration At The Castillo De San Marcos National Monument In St. Augustine, Florida, Claire M. Barnewolt
Theses and Dissertations
The Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest stone fortification on the North American mainland, a unique site that integrates Florida’s Spanish colonial past with American Indian narratives. A complete history of this fortification from its origins to its management under the National Park Service has not yet been written. During the Spanish colonial era, the Indian mission system complemented the defensive work of the fort until imperial skirmishes led to the demise of the Florida Indian. During the nineteenth century, Indian prisoners put a new American Empire on display while the fort transformed into a tourist destination. The Castillo …
Mental Health Memories: A Web-Based Archive For Mental Health Stories, Amanda E. Castro
Mental Health Memories: A Web-Based Archive For Mental Health Stories, Amanda E. Castro
Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations
The Mental Health Memories project is an online archive created in order to display and preserve the personal histories of those with mental health experiences. The project aims to fill a void in available material culture related to the history of mental health and its preservation. Participants’ contributions include: oral histories, personal items, documents, and audio. Bringing together multimedia sources, the MHMemories website allows for the preservation of these items and stories through the digitization of contributions. This method allows for participants’ items to stay in their possession while also becoming part of the archive. In order to recruit participants, …
Restoring The Dock Street Theatre: Cultural Production In New-Deal Era Charleston, South Carolina, Stephanie E. Gray
Restoring The Dock Street Theatre: Cultural Production In New-Deal Era Charleston, South Carolina, Stephanie E. Gray
Theses and Dissertations
The Dock Street Theatre project, completed between the years 1935 and 1937 in Charleston, South Carolina, was a New Deal experiment in “historical restoration” funded by President Franklin Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA). Opening night of the restored theatre signified the transformation of the Old Planters’ Hotel, a dilapidated nineteenth-century resort built on the site of the original 1736 playhouse, into an architectural gem that resurrected the eighteenth-century theatre that was considered the cultural heart of colonial Charleston. The orchestrated recreation of the Dock Street Theatre resulted from the imperative of Charleston’s white elite to foment through architecture a tangible …
Preserving, Interpreting, And Displaying Mental Health History: Establishing The Patton State Hospital Museum And Archive, Shannon Rene Long
Preserving, Interpreting, And Displaying Mental Health History: Establishing The Patton State Hospital Museum And Archive, Shannon Rene Long
Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations
There are few museums in the western half of the United States that provide an opportunity to educate the public about the history of mental health care. Recently, a mental health museum and archive of artifacts, photographs, and documents was established on the grounds of Patton State Hospital in Highland, California. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the establishment of this museum and archive and to provide an account of the 125 year history of Patton State Hospital. Understanding the history of Patton provides an opportunity to understand the history of mental health care in the United …
"This Is A Little Beauty": Preserving The Legacy Of The Columbia Cottage, Kayla Boyer Halberg
"This Is A Little Beauty": Preserving The Legacy Of The Columbia Cottage, Kayla Boyer Halberg
Theses and Dissertations
In 1965 the built environment of the city of Columbia, South Carolina, was in a state of flux. An active urban renewal campaign existed in the city for nearly a decade prompting a reactionary historic preservation movement. Upon a collaborative recommendation from the Historic and Cultural Buildings Commission and the Historic Columbia Foundation, City Council hired architectural historian Dr. Harold N. Cooledge to conduct an architectural and feasibility survey. In his report, Cooledge identified the Columbia Cottage, a vernacular form widespread throughout the historic neighborhoods of South Carolina’s capital city. His use of the term “Columbia Cottage” to label the …
“So Succeeded By A Kind Providence”: Communities Of Color In Eighteenth Century Boston, Eric M. Hanson Plass
“So Succeeded By A Kind Providence”: Communities Of Color In Eighteenth Century Boston, Eric M. Hanson Plass
Graduate Masters Theses
The Freedom Trail has become an iconic symbol and major tourist attraction in the City of Boston. Yet since its Cold War-era inception, the Freedom Trail has remained problematically focused on a consensus history of leading white men who brought forth the American Revolution. Other heritage trails - most notably the Black Heritage Trail - have been established to correct the deficiencies of the Freedom Trail. These organizations have attempted to provide a revisionist counter-point by telling stories of internal struggle and by exploring groups traditionally overlooked by historians. However, with so many trails possessing so many particularized foci, many …