History Commons^™

The Use Of Historical Heritage As A Factor In Sustainable Tourism Development: The Case Study Of Akbarieh Garden, A Unesco World Heritage Site In Birjand, Mahdieh Jahangir Bolourchian, Mahdi Hajikhani, Eghbal Chehri Dr.

TTRA Canada 2023 Conference

The research explores the role of historical heritage in bolstering sustainable tourism, with a keen focus on Akbarieh Garden, a renowned UNESCO world heritage site situated in Birjand, Iran. Historical heritage sites often present a unique intersection between the preservation of cultural legacy and the promotion of local economies through tourism. Sustainable tourism emphasizes the balance between environmental, economic, and socio-cultural aspects, ensuring that these attractions remain preserved for future generations while still benefiting present-day communities.

Too Taboo For You? - Questions, Lessons, And Strategies For Engaging Students With Challenging Materials, Blake Spitz

University Libraries Presentations Series

This talk will briefly present experiences of, and strategies for, teaching with challenging topics and materials in archives. In recognizing that our collections include (or have archival silences around) challenging, controversial, and even disturbing topics, when and why do we decide to share and prioritize these records, and how do we present and contextualize them for students? I will present a few case studies from my work presenting difficult records and topics to undergraduates, and some of my professional training and growth in these areas. I would love to start a dialogue, and hear from others in reaction to my, …

Women's Stories, W. E. B. Du Bois Papers Data, Blake Spitz

University Libraries Presentations Series

The UMass Amherst department of Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) collects original materials that document the histories and experiences of social change in America and the organizational, intellectual, and individual ties that unite disparate struggles for social justice, human dignity, and equality. SCUA’s decision to adopt social change as a collecting focus emerged from our holding of the W.E.B. Du Bois Papers, and one of Du Bois’s most profound insights: that the most fundamental issues in social justice are so deeply interconnected that no movement — and no solution to social ills — can succeed in isolation. I …

Combining Active Learning Exercises, Blake Spitz

University Libraries Presentations Series

This lightning talk offers an example of combining active learning exercises to achieve multiple learning outcomes (some simple, such as resource identification, and some more complex, such as understanding archival silences and power dynamics in research access). The class was in Special Collections, but the active learning exercises – one a version of “speed-dating,” and the other a version of exhibit or bibliography curation – could easily be used in a more general library information literacy class. These activities are not new, but I had never combined them in this way before, and I have found, as a result, that …

Curating Heritage In The Digital Age: An Exploration Of How America’S National Heritage Areas Are Using Technology To Share Their Stories, Desiree Demski-Hamelin

School of Public Policy Capstones

Research Question

This capstone project answers the following two primary research questions: 1) how are America’s National Heritage Areas (NHAs) using technology to share their stories, and 2) what types of information are NHAs using technology to share? Additional secondary research questions are outlined in the Methodology section.

Data Source

Primary data was collected from the websites and social media accounts of each of the forty-eight active NHAs in the United States as of April 2018.

Methodology

Systematic observational content analysis of the websites and social media accounts was conducted by the author. Two rating schemes were developed to assess …

Memory And History In South Eleuthera: A Report To The People Of South Eleuthera, Elena Sesma

Archaeological Project Reports

Over the past 5 years, archaeologists from the University of Massachusetts Amherst have made several short-term trips to South Eleuthera to research the history of this portion of the island. Our main interests have been in understanding how the landscape has changed over the past 150 years, and especially in the past few decades as tourism has fallen off in the south. Through a combination of ethnographic research and pedestrian survey of the South Eleuthera landscape, we have gained a clearer understanding of the history of this region, and of contemporary life today. This report offers a summary of findings …

History & Sustainability, David Glassberg

Sustainability Education Resources

Americans debate whether their ever-rising consumption of natural resources and standard of living can continue indefinitely into the future. This is not a new question; since the mid-1800s, movements for the conservation of nature have challenged the primacy of unbridled development and met fierce opposition from those charging that these movements threaten the American dream of individual economic opportunity. Through exploring the history of these ideas, students will gain a better understanding of the meaning of sustainability in contemporary America, especially in response to the forces of global capitalism and the challenges of a changing climate. This course grows out …

Syllabus: Conservation Of Nature And Culture, David Glassberg

Sustainability Education Resources

This course explores the history of various efforts to conserve nature and culture. Students will learn about the history of environmental conservation, but also to think broadly about what the idea of conservation means in archaeology, historic preservation, and the arts, especially in a time of globalization and climate change. Its fundamental premise is that nature and culture are interconnected; nature cannot truly be conserved without also conserving the culture that has shaped it, and culture cannot truly be conserved without also conserving the natural world on which it rests.

Eastern Atlantic Coast, Elizabeth S. Chilton, Meredith D. Hardy

Anthropology Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Nationalism And The Public Sphere: Tracing The Development Of Nineteenth-Century Latin American Identities, Lisa Ponce

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Through the combined usage of primary source documents and secondary source research, this thesis seeks to discern how the individual national identities of Argentina and Mexico came to fruition. This thesis will demonstrate that the early national period of each region was directly influenced by the colonial context out of which Argentina and Mexico arose. Additionally, this thesis is focused on the ways that a national identity is developed within the public sphere, and how the public sphere might be defined beyond printed newspaper accounts.

The Terrorist Doppelganger: Somoza And The Sandinistas, Thomas A. Hohenstein

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This thesis makes two arguments. First, that the analytical lens of terrorism is useful to understanding the modern state because it pits the state against its antithesis. Additionally, the discursive contest between the state and terrorists is best understood within a gendered framework. Second, the Sandinista Revolution did not revolutionize the discourse the Nicaraguan state used to legitimate itself, thus limiting the movement’s revolutionary nature.

The Regional Influences On Religious Thought And Practice: A Case Study In Mormonism’S Dietary Reforms, Samuel Alonzo Dodge

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

While commenting upon the challenges of studying the history of religious figures and movements, Richard Bushman once said, “Everything we know in this life is seen through someone’s eyes. All a historian has to work with is the way this person saw it...The purpose of history is not to find out what really happened but to collect the ways human observers have described what they think happened. We [as historians] look at the world through other’s eyes.”[1]

This thesis seeks not to argue the veracity of any particular religious doctrine, but rather strives to understand the historical development of …

Colonial Role Models: The Influence Of British And Afrikaner Relations On German South-West African Treatment Of African Peoples, Natalie J. Geeza

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Recent scholarship on the renewed Sonderweg theory does not approach the debate with a comparative analysis. This thesis therefore presents a new argument looking at the influence of British and Afrikaner tensions in South Africa, culminating in the South African War of 1899-1902, and how their treatment of the various African peoples in their own colony influenced German South-West African colonial native policy and the larger social hierarchy within the settler colony. In analyzing the language of scholarly journals, magazine articles, and other publications of the period, one can see the direct influence of the Afrikaners, including South African Boers, …

From Main To High: Consumers, Class, And The Spatial Reorientation Of An Industrial City, Jonathan Haeber

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Consumer culture’s spatial dynamics have rarely been examined. This study will use a methodology of “triangulation” – a term borrowed from Geographer Richard J. Dennis – to explore the characteristics of consumer culture among the working classes in a single industrial, planned city (Holyoke, Massachusetts). Each facet of the tripartite method – literary, cliometric, and geographical sources – will be used to conclude that consumer capitalism fundamentally changed the spatial character of Holyoke’s working class communities. A time period roughly from 1880 to 1940 has been selected because novels about Holyoke in this period help augment an understanding of the …

The Third Reich In East German Film: Defa, Memory, And The Foundational Narrative Of The German Democratic Republic, Jaimie Kicklighter

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This study will explore how East German films released from the 1940s to the 1980s played a central role in both reinforcing and chipping away at the national foundational narrative of the German Democratic Republic. This narrative looked back at the memory of the Third Reich and classified communists as heroes, Nazis as villains, and the majority of Germans as dangerously apolitical while also emphasizing the contemporary Cold War division between the east and the west. This thesis argues that DEFA films utilized the memory of the Third Reich to support, question, and expand this dynamic foundational narrative which remained …

Henry Thoreau's Debt To Society: A Micro Literary History, Laura J. Dwiggins

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This thesis examines Henry David Thoreau’s relationships with New England-based authors, publishers, and natural scientists, and their influences on his composition and professional development. The study highlights Thoreau’s collaboration with figures such as John Thoreau, Jr., William Ellery Channing II, Horace Greeley, and a number of correspondents and natural scientists. The study contends that Thoreau was a sociable and professionally competent author who relied not only on other major Transcendentalists, but on members from an array of intellectual communities at all stages of his career.

The Good, The Bad, And The Benevolent Interventionist: U.S. Press And Intellectual Distortions Of The Latin American Left, Kevin Young

History Department Faculty Publication Series

U.S. journalists and commentators have helped popularize the image of two distinct Latin American lefts: a “bad” left that is politically authoritarian and economically erratic and a “good” left that is democratic and committed to free-market economics. This binary image oversimplifies the Latin American left in three ways: by overstating the contrast between the two alleged camps, by ignoring complex realities within each camp, and by exaggerating the failings of the so-called bad-left governments. The distinction makes sense, however, as a strategy for countering the rise of independent left-leaning governments in Latin America. Binary characterizations of subordinate peoples reflect a …

Citizens And Criminals: Mass Incarceration, "Prison Neighbors," And Fear-Based Organizing In 1980s Rural Pennsylvania, Erika Arthur

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Throughout the 1980s, the Citizens’ Advisory Committee (CAC), a grassroots group of “prison neighbors,” organized for tighter security at the State Correctional Institution at Dallas (SCID), a medium security prison in northeast Pennsylvania. Motivated primarily by their fear of prisoner escapes, the CAC used the local media to raise awareness about security concerns and cooperated with the SCID administration to acquire state funding for projects at the prison that they believed would improve security. Their work coincided with the widespread proliferation of “tough on crime” rhetoric and policies, and the inauguration of the most intensive buildup of prisons ever witnessed …

The Praxis Of Horst Hoheisel: The Countermonument In An Expanded Field, Juan Felipe Hernandez

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This paper examines the work of German artist Horst Hoheisel in Latin-America. I open the conversation by including Hoheisel’s provocative participation in the 2005 memory debates in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Here, I introduce the nature of Hoheisel’s reasoning and the dialectical self-reflectiveness that is at work in his artifacts. In each project, I look for the way in which Hoheisel lays down the “memorialistic substance” of a specific site together with the self-critical rationality that characterizes his creation. The second part of this essay attempts to construct the theoretical parameters for the expansion of the definition of the countermonument. This …

Proposed Greenway Of Hatfield, Massachusetts - La497c - Senior Studio, Matthew G. Bent, Henry A. Hess, Andre E. Belperron

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

This is one of five reports submitted for the LA497C Spring 2011 Senior Studio project.

This proposed greenway plan will be assessing the features of Hatfield such as, History, natural features, and open space within the town. After a thorough assessment of the towns features the report will cover the extensive proposed greenway plan, focusing mostly on the town center of Hatfield. The town center is the hub of the town where the major community buildings are such as the elementary and high schools, town hall, the town library, and most of the public recreation fields. Once the overall greenway …

Proposed Greenway Of Hatfield, Massachusetts - La497c - Senior Studio, Michael A. Brescia, Rachel L. Grigorian, Zachary M. Kingston, Carl M. Mccrae, James A. Rebello

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

This is one of five reports submitted for the LA497C Spring 2011 Senior Studio project.

The purpose of this report is to show the results of a partnership between the Town of Hatfield Massachusetts, and the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts.

The Town of Hatfield initially approached the University for assistance in understanding the options available for Greenway development in Hatfield, while maintaining the charm and character the town is proud of.

In his ground-breaking book, Greenways for America, Author Charles Little (1990) provides a simple definition of a Greenway:

“A …

Eugenothenics: The Literary Connection Between Domesticity And Eugenics, Caleb J. True

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This is an analysis of the connection between the domestic science and eugenics. While it is made clear by historians such as Megan Elias and Kathy Cooke that there is ample connection between eugenics and euthenics, there has not been as comprehensive an analysis of the direct connections between domestic science and eugenics. Close examination of literature from the domestic science movement reveals the shared goals of domestic science and eugenics. The domestic science movement was also a necessary precursor to the euthenics movement, not simply a “re-envisioning” of home economics by Ellen Richards. When Richards died, her euthenic ideals …

Situated Architecture In The Digital Age: Adaptation Of A Textile Mill In Holyoke, Massachusetts, Dorcas A. Brooks

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The City of Holyoke, Massachusetts is one of many aging, industrial cities striving to revitalize its economy based on the promise of increased digital connectivity and clean energy resources. But how do you renovate 19th century mills to meet the demands of the information age? This architectural study explores the potential impact of sensing technologies and information networks on the definition and function of buildings in the 21st century. It explores the changes that have taken place in industrial architecture since 1850 and argues for an architecture that supports local relationships and environmental awareness. The author explores the industrial history …

Scar'd Times: Maine's Prisoners' Rights Movement, 1971-1976, Daniel S. Chard

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

In late 1972, prisoners and ex-convicts in Maine formed Statewide Correctional Alliance for Reform (SCAR), a radical prisoners' rights organization that provoked a thoroughgoing public discussion on the function of prisons in Maine and in American society that lasted for about two years. Working for prison reform through legislation, litigation, and community organizing, SCAR influenced a Maine public unusually receptive to new approaches to criminal justice due to the impact of nationwide prison rebellions and the widely publicized massacre of forty-three prisoners and guards in New York’s Attica State Prison on September 13, 1971. As SCAR members, frustrated by the …

An End To The “Vichy/Algeria Syndrome”?: Negotiating Traumatic Pasts In The French Republic, Justin W. Silvestri

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Within the past few years, France has exhibited a changing relationship in regards to its memory of its collaborationist and colonial past. The controversies of the loi du 23 février 2005 and the 2007 Guy Môquet Commemoration displayed a new openness to discuss and evaluate traumatic pasts. Public debate during the two controversies focused on the difficult process of how to incorporate these traumatic events into the national narrative. Furthermore, this process of negotiation has opened up a vibrant discussion over what parties in France possess the authority and the right to construct the nation’s history. Medical metaphors of neurosis …

A History Of Opera In Boston, John R. Tedesco

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This thesis examines the cultural context of opera in Boston between the years 1620 to 2010. Specifically, I look at how the Boston Opera Company was founded, its existence, and its ultimate demise. The rise of opera in colonial Boston is also explored and especially how the immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries influenced the city. Around this time of changing demographics Eben D. Jordan, Jr., of Jordan Marsh Co. decided to build an opera house for the city of Boston.

The effects that Puritanism had on music and the culture of Boston during its early years …

Bolivia's Coca Headache: The Agroyungas Program, Inflation, Campesinos, Coca And Capitalism In Bolivia, John D. Roberts

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Bolivia in the 1980s was wracked by monetary inflation approaching levels of the German Weimar Republic. Immediately following this time of great financial crisis in Bolivia, the U.N. founded a project through the U.N.D.P. to encourage peasant farmers in Bolivia to switch from growing coca (the plant used manufacture cocaine) to growing other cash crops for market. This crop substitution and development program, called the Agroyungas Project, lasted from 1985 to 1991 and is the focus of this study. While many U.N. pundits and journalists considered the program’s initial small successes promising, it has been considered since its conclusion to …

"Flying Is Changing Women!": Women Popularizers Of Commercial Aviation And The Renegotiation Of Traditional Gender And Technological Boundaries In The 1920s-30s, Emily K. Gibson

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This thesis explores how the complex interplay between gender and technology significantly shaped the popularization of commercial aviation in the United States during the 1920s and 30s. As technological innovations improved both the safety and efficiency of airplanes during the early part of the twentieth century, commercial aviation industries increasingly worked to position flight as a viable means of mass transportation. In order to win the trust and money of potential passengers, however, industry proponents recognized the need to separate flight from its initial association with danger and masculine strength by convincing the general public of aviation’s safety and reliability. …

Review Of Innovation In History: The New Woman Resources Book, Madeleine Charney

University Libraries Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Process Not Product: The Icomos Ename Charter (2008) And The Practice Of Heritage Stewardship, Neil A. Silberman

Selected Publications of EFS Faculty, Students, and Alumni

No abstract provided.