History Commons^™

From Donatello To Michelangelo: A Franciscan Angel, Kayla M. Bruce

Institute for the Humanities Theses

During the Italian Renaissance, images of angels and of the Virgin Mary were incredibly commonplace and were often used to denote the Virgin in her role as prophetess. The Virgin was often shown surrounded by angels in the background or flanking her on either side. However, in the fifteenth century, a motif appeared where an angel head was depicted on either the Virgin’s diadem or on her chest as a decorative brooch. This specific motif only appeared in images of the Virgin and the Christ Child. It was also only employed by Florentine artists and began with the Florentine sculptor, …

Harbored: Like Museums, Videogames Aren't Neutral, Stephanie Hawthorne

Institute for the Humanities Theses

The following is comprised of: (1) an analysis of scholarship and contemporary works regarding videogames and museums that demonstrate the theory and method behind this project, (2) research regarding an historic maritime event that will serve as the subject matter for the proposed videogame, and (3) a conclusion that summarizes the game design. The historical research at the heart of this project surrounds the SS Quanza, a steamship that in September of 1940 carried Jewish refugees from Portugal to the US and Mexico only to be faced with the possibility of a return trip to Nazi Europe. Elevating the voices …

Interweaving Visual Language Of The Spiritual And The Secular: Goya, Spanish Spiritualism, And The Sublime, Stirling Cushman Goulart

Institute for the Humanities Theses

This thesis explores how Francisco Goya adapted traditional methods of representing religious subjects to create a modern visual language that addressed contemporary themes while maintaining continuity with the past and Spanish identity. The methods used to investigate this topic center on primary and secondary literary sources along with visual comparisons and analysis of selected works. Through this method, it is established that Goya formed a modern innovation of traditional religious style in order to confront and discuss secular and current social issues.

Nature And Norfolk: The History Of The Norfolk Botanical Garden, Cheryl S. White

Institute for the Humanities Theses

If what they say is true, that first impressions are always the most important, then the city of Norfolk, Virginia could impress anyone. The Norfolk Botanical Garden began as approximately 30 acres surrounding Mirror Lake, adjacent to the proposed Norfolk Municipal Airport in 1938. Today the Garden consists of 158 acres that include a variety of garden styles, manmade canals, and extensive educational facilities. It serves as the first and last view visitors have of Norfolk. The Norfolk Botanical Garden is an example of interdisciplinary co-operation. Biology, urban planning, landscape architecture, and various political involvements are all expressed within the …

The New Deal In Art: The Fine Arts Project And The Evolution Of Abstract Expressionism, Sarah Coon Stoops

Institute for the Humanities Theses

The formation of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as part of Roosevelt's New Deal, in conjunction with the Depression and World War II, can be credited with changing the face of international art of the twentieth century. The majority of the artists who were later to be known as Abstract Expressionists participated in the Fine Arts Project (FAP) branch of the WPA in New York throughout the 1930s. This government support of the artists gave them a chance to commit to painting as a career, and their painting styles evolved drastically during this time. Through this support, the connections that …

Johann August Weppen's Der Hessische Officer In Amerika And David Christoph Seybold's Reizenstein: The American Revolution And The German Bürgertum's Reassessment Of America, Virginia Sasser Delacey

Institute for the Humanities Theses

While American, British, and French reactions to the American Revolution are well-known, those of the German people are not, despite the presence of almost 30,000 German soldiers in America fighting for the British army and hundreds of German volunteers fighting for the American patriots. The participation of German soldiers on both sides of the conflict inspired numerous works of German poetry, prose, and drama, all largely forgotten in the wake of the French Revolution and the rise of German Classicism and Romanticism. This thesis examines two works that have received brief mention in the past two centuries: Der hessische Officier …

The Synod Of Dordrecht 1618-1619. The Influence Of Calvinism On The Development Of Freedom In The Netherlands In The Period 1560-1630, Joseph A. Van Burik

Institute for the Humanities Theses

The Synod of Dordrecht was an important event in the history of the Dutch Republic. A serious, combined religious and political conflict between orthodox and liberal Calvinists had brought the Republic to the brink of civil war. The forceful intervention of the stadholder Prince Maurice in 1617 had cleared the political situation and it was the task of the Synod to solve the religious aspect of the conflict. The Synod was a victory for orthodox Calvinism; the Reformed Church, the state and local governments were purged from liberal elements, and new laws, limiting further the freedom for non-Reformed religions were …

Daughters Of Charity: Catholic Women And Their Communities In Antebellum America, Linda Merritt Mccubbins

Institute for the Humanities Theses

This study calls into question common assumptions about the limited public role of Catholic women during the antebellum period of American history. To understand the roles Protestant women played during this era, it is important to understand Catholic women's roles. Through primary and secondary source documents, the similarities and differences relating to church structure and theology will be documented. The study will also examine reasons why Protestant women converted to Catholicism during a profoundly anti-Catholic era.

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, women, both Catholic and Protestant, played an increasingly public role through organized benevolence and other activities. …

Wei Jingsheng And The Democracy Movement In Post-Mao China, Merle David Kellerhals Jr.

Institute for the Humanities Theses

The hypothesis tested in this thesis was whether there has been an evident evolution in the democratic thought of those engaged in China's Democracy Movement in the post-Mao era. The activists of the Democracy Movement of 1978-79, following a long-standing tradition of remonstrance, were among those substantially influenced by the events of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. The activists initiated big character posters on Democracy Walls throughout China--but among the most influential was Beijing's. Wei Jingsheng, though certainly not the only voice, represented the more vocal and extreme democratic position in his wall poster The Fifth Modernization: Democracy, which first …

The Role Of Plant Foods Among Native Americans In Seventeenth-Century Virginia An Historical And Botanical Study, Timothy W. Cameron

Institute for the Humanities Theses

Seventeenth-century Powhatan Indians practiced a subsistence economy utilizing plant resources from both the forest and wetland areas of Virginia to maintain adequate nutrition levels throughout the year. They chose not to depend heavily upon maize agriculture, but instead combined marine and animal resources with wild plants according to the seasonal round. Cultigens such as squash, beans, and maize provided dietary sources for only six months of the year; foraged plant foods made up the difference. Primary plant resources included nuts such as acorns, chestnuts, and hickory and the emergent tubers known as tuckahoe. Secondary plant foods, such as starchy seeds, …

Annie Wood: A Portrait, Jo Ann Mervis Hofheimer

Institute for the Humanities Theses

In 1871, Anna Cogswell Wood and Irene Kirke Leache founded a school for girls in Norfolk, Virginia which had a profound influence on the community. The Leache-Wood Seminary became Norfolk's center for cultural pursuits. After the death of Irene Leache in 1900, Annie Wood established a memorial to perpetuate her friend's interest in literature, music, art, drama, and spiritual studies. Wood began a number of cultural programs which grew to shape the cultural life of the town in remarkable ways, leading directly to the Virginia Symphony, the Norfolk Little Theater, the Irene Leache Memorial, the Norfolk Society of Arts, and …

Confederate Civil War Photographers Propagators And The Hero Myth, Ronald L. Crusan

Institute for the Humanities Theses

Myths are metaphors. They are stories, sometimes handed down through hundreds of years, which help put man or a culture in accord with nature, to reconcile mankind to the harsh realities of life. Society's heroes, acting through the archetypal hero monomyth, serve as the personification of a culture's mythology. Through the hero, a society may reconcile with nature and those external forces which influence our lives.

This paper examines the historical development of the hero myth, the archetypal hero role that Robert E. Lee filled for the Southern people during the American civil War and the role that photography played …

Spire And Tower: The History, Architecture And Art Of Two Norfolk, Virginia Churches, Judith L. Smith

Institute for the Humanities Theses

While St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church and Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church are dissimilar in origin, religious practices, and architectural style, when taken together, their periods of construction in their respective revival styles span and define an important era in Norfolk, Virginia's urban history.

Original research in the sparse records of several Catholic parishes identifies the previously known name of the architect of St. Mary's church. The study also offers additional information on that church's stained glass window.

The author presents the heretofore scattered history of Epworth Church in chronological order. The study develops new information concerning …

Literary Visions Of Edward Ii And Isabella Of France, Dana L. Sample

Institute for the Humanities Theses

The historical Edward II and Isabella of France do not always resemble the literary Edward and Isabella. Chronicles written after their deaths produced romances about their lives that to this day have colored historical scholarship. Other literature in the form of plays and novels have also been responsible for nurturing legends about Edward and Isabella. This thesis examines first the contemporary chronicles and government records in order to establish some facts about the ill-fated king and queen; then it analyzes the romances and the media that produced them, in an effort to test their reliability. Although some of the legends …

"Wretched, Bloody, And Usurping Boar"? An Evaluation Of The Historicity Of Shakespeare's Richard Iii, Kathryn Kiff

Institute for the Humanities Theses

Shakespeare's portrait of Richard III as a diabolical monster was based on the hostile accounts fashioned about him during the Tudor regime. Sir Thomas More's Richard III established the definitive image of Richard as the deformed tyrant who usurped the throne and murdered his nephews. This was the portrait that Shakespeare inherited from the sixteenth-century writers who incorporated More's account into their chronicles. This thesis examines Shakespeare's portrayal of Richard and the chronicle sources upon which he drew in order to show how Shakespeare's portrait of Richard developed. Although Richard was not the evil character presented in Shakespeare's play, it …

The Chimney Fireplace In Colonial Virginia, Catherine Howe Grosfils

Institute for the Humanities Theses

The study of an architectural feature, the chimney fireplace, suggests changing social patterns in late colonial Virginia society. An examination of fireplace equipment in 175 room-by-room inventories, together with evidence from surviving buildings and documentary sources, reveals changes in chimney fireplaces which in turn signal deep-seated changes within this colonial society. To place the Virginia chimney within its broader context, a brief history of the chimney fireplace precedes the study of changing construction materials, fuel and fireplace equipment, and heated and unheated rooms. The social significance of the chimney fireplace, a status symbol in colonial Virginia, is discussed with relation …

The Troubadour Poets: Their Influence On Their Times, Georgia M. Jarrell

Institute for the Humanities Theses

Troubadour poetry was a phenomenon which occurred in the South of France during the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries. The style was one of political and social invectives and panegyrics, as well as a sophisticated love poetry. The tradition flourished and then died with direct relations to the political and religious events of the era. Through this poetry, the modern reader can not only understand the feelings of the individual poets but also gain insights on the lifestyles of the period and the events which had a bearing on the history of the period. The troubadours were truly mirrors of …

Portrait Of The Scientific Journals In Germany: 1930-1936, Paul Eugene Gesling Jr.

Institute for the Humanities Theses

The focus of this .study is to note and measure any discernible changes within the character of scientific publications in Germany after the elevation of the National Socialists to power. To detect any such changes, a classification scheme was established to categorize formal papers appearing in six journals between 1930-1936. The results are subject to variance as the journals examined did not fare identically. Certain journals declined in output while others prospered. Suggestion~ of ideological tampering remain largely absent. Indeed, the wide latitude of interests expressed by these papers suggest a preference on the part of German scientists and editors …

A Humanistic Consideration Of The Farm Security Administration Photographs Made In Virginia, Brooks Johnson

Institute for the Humanities Theses

During the years 1935 to 1943 photographers employed by the Farm Security Administration documented America struggling through the Great Depression and its subsequent entry into World war II. Originally conceived as a way to provide information about problems in the rural areas of the country and to help sell the New Deal. The director, Roy Stryker, transformed the project into more than just a bureaucratic exercise in propaganda. Instead, Stryker consciously attempted to create a photographic portrait of the American culture.

The majority of the 159 photographs on which this thesis is based have not been seen outside of the …

The Oneida Community: Its Apologists And Its Critics, Nancy C. Morris

Institute for the Humanities Theses

This thesis examines the historical literature regarding the Oneida Community (1848-81) from the society's conceptual beginnings in the 1830s to the present time. After an overview of the antebellum communitarian movement in the United States, a detailed description of the Oneida Community, one of America's most prominent nineteenth-century utopian experiments, is presented.

Chapters III, IV, and V survey the body of literature pertinent to the Oneida Community and its founder and spiritual leader, John Humphrey Noyes, over the last 145 years. The writings of the Oneida apologists, a majority of whom were Oneida Community family members and their descendants, are …

The Adams Image In American History, Mary Helen Mccoy

Institute for the Humanities Theses

John Adams was an American Revolutionary leader, political theorist, diplomat, constitutionalist, vice-president, and president. His historical image, however, has not been consistent with his importance in American history. Controversial throughout his lifetime, the Adams image, since his death has been at times obscure, often negative, and seldom positive. Adams had a fear of posterity's perception of his life. Until recent years this fear was confirmed by his historical treatment.

This thesis considers the divergence in the historical treatment of John Adams by analyzing historians who represented five periods in American historiography. It is, therefore, a study of what history made …

The Renascence Of Classical Thought And Form In The Carolingian Period, Sara James Laster

Institute for the Humanities Theses

The political stability established under the rule of Charlemagne (768-814) was conducive to the flourishing of the simultaneous resurgence of art and learning. Inspired by the achievements of the Roman Empire, Charlemagne wished to give his subjects a feeling of spiritual unity, a sense of continuity with the past, and an enhanced intellectual life. The classical intellectual tradition is traced from ancient times to the Carolingian present to demonstrate that classicism was a continuum. The thesis examines the classical tradition in the intellectual life of the Carolingian period, its conscious rejuvenation in the figurative arts, and its manifestation in the …

The William H. Sheppard African Art Collection At Hampton Institute, Richard A. Singletary

Institute for the Humanities Theses

An examination of the William H. Sheppard African Art Collection at Hampton Institute located in Hampton, Virginia, reveals one of the finest examples of African art in existence today. This exhibit hails from the Kasai region located in Zaire (the Congo) of Africa. Since African art 1s expressive power derives from the functional value of the object, attention is focused on the socio-cultural use of the art from the Kuba tribe in the Kasai region. This discussion and investigation of objects in the collection precedes the appendices which includes complete chronological, alphabetical, and typological catalogues.