History Commons^™

Not So Cavalier: Technical Study And Conservation Treatment Of A Potential 17th Century Anglo-Dutch Military Portrait Painting, Josephine Ren

Art Conservation Master's Projects

A potential 17^th century Anglo-Dutch military portrait painting from the Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York arrived at the Garman Art Conservation Department at Buffalo State University for conservation research and treatment in 2022. The painting’s title, date, and artist were unknown and the subject was initially referred to as a “17^th Century Dutch Cavalier.” Little information existed on the provenance and history of the artwork. The painting was in a state of structural instability and aesthetic disfigurement and showed evidence of a past restoration campaign. This master’s project attempted to broadly …

Christ Child Bearing The Instruments Of The Passion Technical Study And Treatment Of A Painting On Copper From The Viceroyalty Of Peru, Daniela González-Pruitt

Art Conservation Master's Projects

Christ Child Bearing the Instruments of the Passion (acc.# 228017) is a 17^th century Peruvian Viceregal painting on copper belonging to the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation. The painting depicts the Christ Child on a flower laid path as he carries the instruments of the passion also known as the Arma Christi Paintings executed on copper convey new and challenging preservation issues based on their materials and techniques.. The work had been heavily restored and exhibited several condition issues, including significant overpaint and broad losses. The painting was photographed using multimodal imaging techniques as well as reflectance …

Saint Brigit And Her Habits: Exploring Queerness In Early Medieval Ireland, Jacqueline K. Stephenson

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Saint Brigit's behavior and reception by society highlight an avenue by which women in the early medieval period could escape societal strictures, exercising agency over their bodies and their romantic choices, and carve out a distinct and unexpected place for themselves in a Christian patriarchal society. In Saint Brigit’s case, this is especially demonstrated by the breadth of her portrayed power as not just a nun but a saint, her extreme resistance to marriage, and her frequent comparisons to men. Indeed, her hagiography, written by Cogitosus in the seventh century, positioned her as one of the three principal and earliest …

Japan’S Assimilation Of Okinawa, Alex Thompson

ASPIRE 2024

. My research shows that the initial motivation for assimilating the Okinawan people was to create a national cohesive culture in Japan. Still, it fell short because of the actions of the average citizen in Japan and the governmental strategies. The idea of racial superiority and discrimination kept the Okinawans from ever being recognized as Japanese citizens. In this paper, I will discuss the Japanese government's assimilation practices and how Japanese people contributed to the assimilation policies. After exploring Okinawan culture and how this unique culture was formed, I will examine how the average Japanese citizen's racial superiority complex, humiliation …

Housing Displacement In Corlears Hook: From Naghtongh To One Manhattan Square, Don Macleod

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The displacement of residents from their homes in New York City began with the European settlement of New Amsterdam and continues to this day. This paper focuses on displacement in Corlears Hook, part of Manhattan’s Lower East Side from the violent extirpation of a Lenape settlement in 1643 New Amsterdam to the gentrification of a traditional working-class neighborhood along the East River propelled by the influx of luxury housing development. Throughout Corlears Hook’s long history, displacement has been caused by violence, well-meaning efforts to improve slum conditions, ham-fisted “urban renewal” projects that favored the wealthy and civic improvements that used …

The Four Seasons: Integrating The Big Four Sports, Joseph S. Brody

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

After World War II, even though many African Americans served their country, policies of segregation were rampant throughout the United States of America. The aim of this Capstone is two-fold. First, to shed light on the men who followed the path of Jackie Robinson and give them their due. The most appropriate way to convey my research of these four athletes was by putting them all in the same fictional setting and discussing their trials and tribulations that made them the men they were in their day. Second, I want to highlight the many things I found in my research …

From “Total Destruction” To “Total Dictatorship”: The Influence Of Ernst Jünger’S Visionary Fascism, Nick Schiff

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper seeks to answer one central question: How can the life and work of Ernst Jünger help illuminate the development of fascist ideas, culture, politics, and power across Europe from 1920-1945? The components of that question are: what were the core elements of Jünger’s aesthetics, morality, and politics? How did he synthesize these elements to create his influential vision of German fascism? What were Jünger’s interactions and exchanges with other European fascists, as well as influential Nazis including Carl Schmitt, Joseph Goebbels, and Adolph Hitler himself? How did Jünger’s new Fascist politics and aesthetics affect them? I argue that …

Threading With Hair // Intertwined Stories, Cloris Ding

Masters Theses

“Threading with Hair // Intertwined Stories” is a poignant exploration that navigates the nuanced landscape of women's growth and identity recognition amidst biased societal influences, tracing the trajectory from the artist’s mother's generation to her own. Through a deeply personal lens, the thesis transcends individual narratives to articulate some shared female experiences. Employing reflective works in the form of jewelry, objects and writings, the study delves into female-centric topics, including the fluidity of identity, the transformative journey through various life stages, and the profound impact of societal expectations and family heritage. At the heart of this exploration is the metaphorical …

The Migration Of South Asians From India To Guyana: The Journey, Struggles In A New Land, Reasons For Changes Over Time And Their Cultivation Of A New Culture., Cynthia C. Harry

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Indians from different regions of India arrived in Guyana through indentureship in 1838. They were under a five-year contract and had to work on the sugar plantations for the duration of their indentureship. While they tried to persist their Indian culture, assimilation in their new environments and interaction with people of different cultures, allowed them to develop a culture unique to Indo Guyanese heritage.

This thesis focuses on the history of Indian diaspora in Guyana. It evokes the struggles they faced on the ships, and during and after indentureship. It also touches on the political and racial issues they had …

Full Issue

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

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Oh My Heart Has Been Pained Within Me: Benjamin Lay And The Quaker Acceptance Of Antislavery Ideology, Zachariah Young

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

in 1758, a sickly hunchback lay ill in his cave-like dwelling. He had devoted his life to the cause of eradicating slavery. He was alone, a widower and an outcast among those called Friends. Now, in the winter of his life, 77-yearold Benjamin Lay heard the news that the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting had embraced antislavery thought to the extent that those who "could not be persuaded to desist from the practice of holding slaves, or were concerned in the importation of them" could face disciplinary action, just as he had for decrying the evils of racial slavery decades before. At …

Judas Was A Chaplain To Congress: Jacob Duche And The Revolutionary Limits Of Civic Faith, Spencer Wells

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The Morning of September 6,1774, found a weary John Adams attending to political duties. Arriving in Philadelphia to take part in the First Continental Congress, Adams found himself greeted with rumors concerning the British "bombardment" of Boston at every turn. While aware that the colonial press remained unreliable during even the best of times, Adams remained concerned. Prospects of familial "distress and terror" haunted his mind, and fellow delegates did little to help. As Congress opened, Patrick Henry warned colonists of approaching danger. "Government [was] dissolved," he began, for aggressive British troops had succeeded in throwing once-loyal colonies into a …

Liberalizing Salvation In Medieval Vision Literature, Drew Sorber

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

in 1960, the Chicago Congress of World Mission declared, "in the years since World War II more than one billion souls have passed into eternity and more than half of those went to the torment of Hell fire without even hearing of Jesus Christ, who He was or why He died on the Cross of Calvary." The issue of a restricted salvation-one granted only to those who fulfil a specific set of requirements-has remained central to Christian eschatology since the pre-Nicene period and before. While this issue is addressed throughout Christian history, a dramatic reaction to it came in the …

Interracial Marriage In Utah During The 1960s And 1970s: With Individual Perspectives, Mark Lowe

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Racial conflict is no stranger to America's past. With the demise of slavery, many whites harbored fears of a new racial order. Through their efforts, they established an inequitable society once more, the intent of which was to promote white superiority and degrade the black community. Segregation and racial discrimination characterized the next cenrury of America's story. Blacks faced prejudice in many contexts, including education, employment, housing, and even social relationships, such as dating and marriage. Anti-miscegenation laws were a significant component of this discriminatory society. In her book What Comes Naturally, Peggy Pasco states that "opposition to interracial marriage …

Never Forget Czechoslovakia: The Prague Spring And The Crushed Opportunity For A New Czechoslovak Identity, Brittany Hardy

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

With Soviet guns locked on the government buildings in Prague, Czechoslovakia was transformed from a nation of autonomous communism to one under full control of the Soviet Union. On 22 August 1968, amidst the chaos of the Warsaw Pact invasion, an unnamed university student left behind a plea via audio recording, asking the world for help saying, "The only way that you can help us is this: not to forget Czechoslovakia. Don't forget Czechoslovakia." His plea calls into question what defined the national identity of Czechoslovakia and what built the foundation for establishing such an identity. Historians such as Carol …

"Slaves, Monsters, Or Souls": Theology And Feminism In The Spanish Enlightenment, Rachael Givens

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Ines Joyes y Blake penned this plea in 1798 in a losing battle of Enlightened theology against Enlightenment hypocrisy: "Let the men say what they will, souls are equal!" This author of one of the most notable and radical essays on feminism of the Spanish eighteenth century, entitled simply Apologia, or "Defense," had joined the growing chorus of voices that were appealing to Enlightenment thinkers to apply to the historically neglected half of the population those principles of natural rights and human equality that had reshaped the era's theology and politics. It was only natural that some would seek to …

"A Few Spare Ribs": Female Immigration To Gold Rush California, Rachel Belk Moyar

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In September on 1848, subscribers of the New York Herald read a fanciful description of a place that had "rivers whose banks and bottoms [were] filled with pure gold," and made the legendary El Dorado seem nothing "but a Sand bank." The work sounded easy, and the potential returns appeared limitless. A bucket of dirt "with a half hour's washing in running water" would produce "a spoonful of black sand, containing from seven to ten dollars' worth of gold." This golden country was California. Beginning in 1848, similar accounts of the gold discoveries in California began to appear in numerous …

"Come And Die": Total Sacrifice In The Theology And Resistance Of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Greer Bates

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The sun had only just begun to rise when he was taken from his cell, naked and shivering, into the biting cold of an early April morning. Perhaps he watched as the hangman adjusted the noose that swung lifelessly from the scaffolds. Perhaps he spoke to the guards as they led him to the platform on which he would die. Likely, he thought of his young fiancee, his mother, his father. And, almost certainly, he prayed. We have no record of these final moments in the life of the young Lutheran pastor and theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, executed on the 9th …

The Hut Tax War Of 1898: Political Spin And Chamberlain's Colonial Office, Chase Arnold

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In 1895, the British Empire underwent a dramatic change. This change was not precipitated by war, expansion, or discovery. Instead, the empire was changed by a renewed longing for the glory of the old empire. Where the empire had been shrinking, it would now be expanded. Where claims had been ceded, they would now be defended. All of this was undergone with the greatest hopes but resulted in the gravest consequences. Yet there was a brief moment in 1898 when this new imperialist vigor was almost cut short and this terrible history nearly averted.

Preface, Lee J. F. Deppermann

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

It was Karl Marx who observed that individuals do indeed make history, but seldom in the circumstances of their own choosing. Indeed, the primary challenge for every aspiring historian is to understand both impersonal forces that frame historical events and the individual actions that define them. Inherent in this quest for understanding is the duty of historians to detach themselves from contemporary influences and understand the past as the past would have understood itself. The historian Richard J. Evans expressed this mandate well: "One of the greatest problems in writing history is to imagine oneself back in the world of …