History Commons^™

The Plain Mennonite Face Of The World War One Conscientious Objector, Donald Eberle

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

World War One was a difficult time for American Mennonites. conscription revealed profound differences between progressive Mennonites such as those from the General Conference and plain Mennonites such as those from the Mennonite Church. The General Conference endorsed non-combatant service and advised its draftees to "accept only service designed to support and to save life." The Mennonite Church, however, categorically rejected non-combatant service and declared that "under no circumstances can they consent to service, either combatant or noncombatant, under the military arm of the government." Military officers and government officials tended to view all Mennonites in a strictly adversarial fashion …

The Nineteenth Century Apostolic Christian Church: The Dynamics Of The Emergence, Establishment, And Fragmentation Of A Neo-Anabaptist Sect, Joseph Pfeiffer

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

This article traces the emergence, proliferation, and identity formation of a 19th century Neo-Anabaptist sect known variously as Neutäufer (New Anabaptists), Nazarenes, and Apostolic Christian Church. The Neutäufer emerged during an era that was a turning point in world religious history, marked by a renewed sense of missionary vigor and the proliferation of major voluntary (as opposed to state-driven) religious movements. These movements radically transformed Western, and even global, Christianity. The article gives detailed attention to the role of Samuel Heinrich Fröhlich in synthesizing evangelical renewalist impulses with traditional Anabaptist convictions. It also follows the tensions that emerged, where agreed …

Coming Home: The Bruderhof Returns To Germany, Berit Jany

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

The Bruderhof Community, founded by Eberhard Arnold in Germany shortly after World War I, envisions communal life according to the principles of early Anabaptism, Christian Socialism, and the German Youth Movement. Persecuted by the National Socialists in the 1930s, the group migrated to America. Despite harassment and expulsion from Germany, it has attempted to reunite with its geographic birthplace. Reasons for continued efforts to reconnect to the German homeland can be found in the movement’s historical development as a free church with a global awareness and outreach. Analyzing the Bruderhof’s experience with persecution, its distinct theology, and perseverance as a …

Paradigmatic Paradigm Problems: Theory Issues In Amish Studies, Steven Reschly

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Scholars of Amish history and culture, and scholars of Anabaptist and Anabaptist-descent groups more generally, have not engaged consistently or productively with mainstream theoretical developments in social and cultural studies. The phrase used most often in Amish Studies, “negotiating with modernity,” has limited usefulness because of its abstractions and time restrictions. A viable alternative rises from the research and writings of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, who formulated Habitus and Field as terms to theorize about the interaction of internal and external in human experience, perhaps the oldest and thorniest issue in the social sciences. Reformulated for more general use as …

Not Of This World': The Emergence Of The Old Colony Mennonites, Hans Werner

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

By the early twenty-first century, Old Colony Mennonites constituted a diaspora across the Americas. They maintained distinctive conservative dress and selectively rejected aspects of modern technology. While the label “Old Colony” became current in Manitoba in the 1870s, their conserving orientation reaches back to church divisions in the Netherlands in the sixteenth century. After a sojourn in West Prussia, they migrated to Russia in the eighteenth century and then to the prairies of Manitoba in the 1870s. The rapid industrialization of Russia and Canada sharpened their Anabaptist sense of being separate from the world and stimulated a reaction to particular …

The Amish Settlement In Honduras, 1968-1978: A (Half) Failed Attempt To Develop An Amish Understanding Of Mission, Cory Anderson, Jennifer Anderson

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

For their several-hundred years of successfully maintaining Amish settlements in North America, for what reason would a group of families—largely from Nappanee, IN, and Aylmer, ON—want to start a settlement in Honduras? This account traces the genesis of this Latin American settlement to the mid-century restlessness among Old Order Amish for religious and moral reform. The account especially follows families from Daviess County, IN, who, after failed settlement attempts in Michigan and Ohio, helped found Aylmer, ON, a successful revisionist Amish settlement. From there, Peter Stoll, one of the Aylmer founders, desired to move to Honduras for two reasons: (1) …

Unser Leit Symposium, Crist Miller, Anna Raber, Christopher Petrovich, Leroy Beachy

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Editor’s Introduction

Absolutely nothing about Amish history can be compared to the mammoth two volume set Leroy Beachy has compiled. Beautifully cased, these two sets feel like a treasure in your hands. But the contents are the real value. A lifelong project, this book is readable and beautifully illustrated. I have been surprised to hear from the historically un-inclined among the Amish and Amish-Mennonites how this volume drew them in and kept their attention.

What Leroy Beachy has done is set Amish history in a narrative style that is culturally informed in nuanced ways too numerous to list. For one, …

Makers And Markers Of Distinction: Technology And Amish Differentiation In The 1935-1936 Study Of Consumer Expenditures, Steven Reschly

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Plain groups differentiate themselves from the world, and from one another, by technology. It is worth recalling, however, that before the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Amish farmers and artisans used the same technologies as their neighbors, and were often more advanced than those around them in agricultural techniques and tools. This article examines the early development of technological differences as markers of subcultural boundaries based the massive Study of Consumer Purchases (S.C.P.) conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Bureau of Home Economics in the U.S. Department of Agriculture in …

Realignment And Division In The Amish Community Of Allen County, Indiana: A Historical Narrative, Christopher Petrovich

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

The Amish have long faced disagreement over matters of internal policy and adoption of external ideas like evangelical emphases. In Allen County, Indiana, several branches of Anabaptists have developed from the original Swiss Amish settlers because of such differences. This article first reviews the history of new movements among the Amish. It then provides a historical narrative of the events that led to a New Order Amish schism in 2005, emphasizing how fundamental differences between the New Order’s evangelical theology and the Old Order Amish worldview played out on several symbolic fronts, including young adult behavior, home Bible studies, lines …

The Amish Goodie Gang Of The 1950s: A Story Of Changing Identity And Spiritual Renewal, Chris A. Stoltzfus

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Revivals of the 1950s and 60s spawned a movement of spiritual and practical change within the Amish community of Lancaster County, PA. Out of those changes came an unusual Amish gang called the Goodies. They were thus named because of refusing to engage with their old friends in the Amish tradition of Rumspringa. This article describes the beginnings of the Goodie gang and the consequential divisions that sprung out of this movement, including four new Amish-Mennonite congregations in Lancaster County. In conclusion, the paper reflects on some mission activity spawned by those within the Goodie gang in the years following.

Souls, Cars, And Division: The Amish Mission Movement Of The 1950s And Its Effects On The Amish Community Of Partridge, Kansas, Peter D. Miller

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Though often perceived as static, Amish identity is subject to change. The mid-twentieth century was a period of notable change. The recent experience of World War II, American religious revival movements, and economic pressures all placed pressure upon Amish communities to adapt. This paper highlights the experience of the Amish community of Partridge, Kansas, where these pressures and widespread interest in mission work eventually led to a church division in the 1950s. This paper explores the contributing factors to that split and examines the reactions on both sides to the division.

On The Reactionary Treatment Of American Radicals By J. Edgar Hoover's Fbi, Sonia Potter

Student Projects from the Archives

African Americans, who had been systematically oppressed from the very beginning of their time in the United States, were calling more and more loudly for freedom and equality in the mid-twentieth century. Compounded with the fear and hatred of communism was also a fear of black Americans ascending to the same societal plane as white Americans, especially among individuals and groups of people who held racist views and had reservations about equality between blacks and whites.

One of the groups of people who seemed to have reservations about such a concept was the United States’ own Federal Bureau of Investigation …

Tuberculosis Patient Number 296 In The Daniel Harris Papers, Margaret Stehura, Cristopher Shell, Zachary Piette

Student Projects from the Archives

This essay examines Susan Sontag's _Illness as Metaphor_ alongside Daniel Harris's studies of those admitted for tuberculosis care at the Saranac Lake Sanitarium. While both Sontag’s perceptions and Patient 296’s tubercular reality may not be 100% aligned with one another (i.e., lived experience of someone with tuberculosis versus historical perceptions of the disease itself), by combining both aspects we are able to develop a fairly crystalline image of what it was like to actually have tuberculosis at this point in time. In doing so, it becomes clear that while some perceptions of tuberculosis may have been fairly misguided, it was …

“Failure Of Will”?: Tb Patient Narratives And Susan Sontag’S Illness As Metaphor, Bryon Dickon, Ashley Gonzalez

Student Projects from the Archives

Susan Sontag outlines in Illness as Metaphor the romantic narratives of what she called a “tubercular personality.” Sontag writes the following in doing so, describing one key aspect of romantic tuberculosis: “TB was understood, like insanity, to a kind of one-sidedness; a failure of will or an overintensity…the tubercular was considered to be someone quintessentially vulnerable, and full of self-destructive whims” (63-64). “A failure of will” and “quintessential vulnerability” form a set of characteristics through which a narrative of the “tubercular personality” is constructed. The tubercular narrative Sontag describes is based on a wide variety of stereotypes. This creates a …

“Ships, Vol. 2” Beyond Transport, Combat And Tourism: A Study Into Ships On Postcards, Janos Jalics

Student Projects from the Archives

Over several millennia, ships have been displayed in all sorts of media ranging from commercials to diaries and newspapers. When the postcard was invented in 1869, various ships began appearing on them. Postcards with ships became far more than a way to message. They became advertisements, showcases of paintings, and repositories of information. Postcards gave ships a new purpose and unique audiences in the name of advertisement, art, and knowledge, as this essay will show by examining “Ships, Vol. 2”of the David P. Campbell Postcard Collection at The University of Akron.

Replicating Nontraditional Postcards From The Archive, Cristopher Shell

Student Projects from the Archives

The purpose of this project is to digitize and replicate nontraditional postcards from the David P. Campbell Postcard Collection from Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology.I set out to find the easiest way to replicate a few postcards that are nontraditional in one way or another. The method I came to involves using a Cricut Printer and the Cricut Design Space to scan and upload the complex shapes. The result was that I could very easily replicate any of the three chosen postcards with little to no trouble. I concluded that, even though Cricut Printers …

Postcards And Psychograms: The Science Of Handwriting Analysis, Aubrey Baldwin

Student Projects from the Archives

One psychogram, or means of testing personality, is handwriting analysis or graphology. Handwriting analysis can be used to look at personality traits or it can be used to determine emotions that a person is feeling when they are writing things like a postcard or a letter. This essay will look at the history of handwriting analysis and then will analyze four postcards from the 1920’s using Paul D. Hugon's handwriting analysis test.

Thanks to the Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cumming Center for the History of Psychology, Hugon's Psychograms test has been saved and it will be used to do the …

“Here Is Where Al Capone And A Few Others Are Spending Their Vacations?” : Tracing How Alcatraz Was Portrayed In Postcards, 1924-1971, Franchesica Kidd

Student Projects from the Archives

Between the 1920s and the 1970s and as Alcatraz was decommissioned as a federal prison and bloomed into a booming tourist industry, the Rock saw a change in the way that the postcard industry portrayed it via photos on the back of postcards. As time went on, Alcatraz was depicted more as a tourist hotspot than a warning place to stay out of. Photo postcards of Alcatraz shifted from black and white photos and printed photos toward lively colored photos that had the message “Wish You Were Here!” printed on them, suggesting a cultural shift in attitude toward this notorious …

A Map Based On The "Hold-To-Light" Binder, Amanda Leach

Student Projects from the Archives

The Hold-to-Light cards in the David P. Campbell Postcard Collection have a wide dispersion over the United States and Europe, and even one from Argentina. The Copper Window cards, however, are predominately travel postcards, which show a popular tourist attraction. These cards are indeed clustered in the New England Area. This tells us that these coastal states were popular travel destinations in the early 1900s. To explore this interactive map, please follow the link below:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1Wkjl4QLAxLYX7ukvp84fgIcV4TsNTB0G&ll=35.41926243680842%2C-97.16311076875001&z=4

Capturing Hold-To-Light Postcard Images: A Video, Richard Marko

Student Projects from the Archives

One of the major challenges we faced in working with our binder from the David P Campbell Postcard Collection was getting digital images of the postcards with their Hold-to-Light effects. After a few attempts with the scanner it was decided that photography was the best way to capture these images. In order to best capture the Hold-to-Light a special card holder was constructed. The holder helped make photographing the cards less time consuming and produced the best quality images in showing the effects of the cards. The construction process and instructions for this card holder can be found in this …

Hold-To-Light And Other Specialty Postcards, Zoe Orcutt

Student Projects from the Archives

The "Hold-to-Light" binder in the David P. Campbell Postcard Collection deals primarily with cards that contain some type of visual effect when viewed. The majority of the cards’ visual effects can be viewed when held up a light. For this, they are usually called HTL (hold-to-light) cards, or transparency cards. There were three specific processes used in printing these HTL Cards: Die-cutting, Transparency, and Slide-Transparency.

M. Storey-Bates Cards, Stacy Young, Emma Grosjean

Student Projects from the Archives

The M. Storey-Bates postcard binder in the David P. Campbell Postcard Collection includes 132 postcards that date from 1904-1918 and that feature a multitude of images. These images consist of photographs of Edwardian actors and actresses, cartoon illustrations, illustrations created from Dickens, paintings, and much more. All of the postcards that are included in the binder have been mailed to addresses in the United Kingdom, most certainly from other addresses in the UK. The majority of these postcards were mailed to Minnie Storey-Bates (1887-1959) from Ralph Duckworth (1885-1960). Their personal relationship included correspondence that consisted of mundane daily activities, check-ins, …

A Map Based On The Institutions, Asylums, Etc. Binder, Justin Veda

Student Projects from the Archives

This project creates a map that displays the real life locations of the institutions pictured in our Institutions, Asylums, Etc. binder’s postcards and creates a website that displays the information of the map and some of the information from Veronica Bagley’s project.

The David P. Campbell Postcard Collection, searchable at postcard.uakron.edu, is a key collection of the CCHP’s Institute for Human Science and Culture. The collection provides the raw material for this project.

Overview To The Institutions, Asylums, Etc. Binder Catalogue, Veronica Bagley

Student Projects from the Archives

This project involves compiling different tables, graphs, and indexes that cover the Institutions, Asylums, Etc. binder. I also made a glossary that covers some of the names of the institutions for which definitions may not be obvious. The intention was that these can be added to the binder for future researchers.

The David P. Campbell Postcard Collection, searchable at postcard.uakron.edu, is a key collection of the CCHP’s Institute for Human Science and Culture.

“None But The Brave Deserve The Fair?” An Analysis Of Lovers Postcards From The First World War, Randall Slonaker

Student Projects from the Archives

Over ten percent of postcards in the Lovers Portraits Vol. 1 binder feature couples where the man is wearing a military uniform, with twenty-two of these cards depicting men in World War I era, United States military garb. The images and captions featured on these cards evoke familiar ideas of romance, courtship, and marital fidelity. Therefore, I have chosen to write a short synopsis that groups all of the World War One themed cards in this binder in one of three categories: courtship and pursuit, domesticity and marriage, and marital commitment and fidelity. I have positioned the images and captions …

The Medium And The Message In Early Twentieth Century Postcards Picturing Courtship And Romance, Rosemary Herbert

Student Projects from the Archives

This examination of representative postcards from the Lovers Portrait Vol. 1 volume in the David P. Campbell Postcard Collection will use the postcards dating from the early twentieth century and the messages on them to illuminate facts about postcard production, postal history, family relationships, daily life, fashion strictures, and much more. With each card inspiring a piece of detective work that brings to light a nugget of information about a time gone by, this work also generally represents the kind of curiosities that the collection as a whole brings to light. It is hoped that it will serve as a …

Show Her It's A Man's World: How The Femme Fatale Became A Vehicle For Propaganda, Leann Bishop

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

During World War II women joined the workforce in droves due to propaganda such as Rosie the Riveter. When Soldiers began returning from the war they wanted stability and normalcy. They wanted to return to the America they left where women ran the household and men went to work. Women, however, experienced a new sense of freedom from working and wanted to continue their liberation. It was during this time that femme fatales, the sultry women of film noir became popular. They represented the liberated women of the 1940s. The film industry saw an opportunity to use these women found …

The Overlooked Embargo: The 1967 Oil Embargo, The Arab Cold War, And The Creation Of Oapec, Aaron Shaum

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Abstract: This paper will examine the role of the 1967 oil embargo in the historiography of the 1967 Six Day War, its aftermath, the Arab Cold War, and post-war inter-Arab politics. It argues that, for a multitude of reasons, the 1967 oil embargo is a significant part of that history that has been overlooked in the historiography.

Development Of Violence And Sectarianism In Lebanon, Alicia Mallo

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The pattern and acceptance of sectarianism and the resultant ethnic violence in Lebanon can be traced back to the mid-19th century as the result of European involvement in the Levant. Through the history of Lebanon in the 19th and 20th centuries, the modern sectarianism and ethnic violence can be better understood as results of international intervention and interference.