United States History Commons^™

Interview With Orca Award Winner Margaret Jacobs, Unl History; Indigenous Child Removal, Mark Griep, Margaret D. Jacobs

UNL ORCA Interview Series

Dr. Margaret Jacobs was awarded the ORCA in 2021. She was born in San Pedro, California, but grew up in Colorado. Something in her youth must have sparked an interest in history because she earned a bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate in that subject with a focus on the interactions between Indigenous peoples and settlers. Her bachelor’s was from Stanford University in California, while her master’s and doctorate were from the University of California, Davis. After teaching history at New Mexico State University, she joined the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2004 as professor of history and director of the Women’s and …

The Mississippi Monument Project, Syeda Haider Shah

CAFE Symposium 2026

The Mississippi State Monument at Gettysburg National Military Park, inaugurated in 1973, demonstrates how Civil War memory was transformed throughout the post–Civil Rights era. Although commemorating Mississippi soldiers who engaged in the 1863 battle, the monument was erected amid ongoing controversies over race, history, and historical interpretation. Its imagery and inscription are significantly influenced by Lost Cause ideology, emphasizing valor, sacrifice, and a "righteous cause" while omitting the central role of slavery in Confederate secession. This project investigates the ways in which Mississippi utilized public memory to assert Southern identity, resist changing national narratives, and project a selective version of …

An Expedition To Public Lands: Exploring The Black Hills Region, John Mcdermott

CAFE Symposium 2026

This project explores 4 public land sites in southwestern South Dakota: Badlands National Park, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Black Hills National Forest, and Lacreek National Wildlife Refuge. I researched each site's most popular recreation activities and contributions to American history, as well as economic data that shows the difference in management strategies between the National Park Service and the US Forest Service.

Longest Marriage In The World: Is Chocolate The Secret To Love?, Simon Brown

CAFE Symposium 2026

Although chocolate has always represented love in some facets, its expression has manifested into something poetic since its founding over 50 centuries ago. This poeticizing of chocolate's relationship with love was formed through the transportation of chocolate from Mesoamerica to Europe, and Europe to America. Whether it’s through Valentines Day, forgiveness gifts, or just a sweet treat added to a nice card, chocolate has become a token of appreciation usable for almost every occasion. Examining the timeline of affection created through both cacao and chocolate, this paper will explore chocolates’ transition from a food of lust to a gift of …

The Virginia Monument: Dedication, Duty, And Dispute In Gettysburg, Thomas Geuther

CAFE Symposium 2026

This project provides an overview of the Virginia Monument located on West Confederate Avenue in Gettysburg. This includes the history of the monument, the creation process, challenges, and controversies found in both the past and present. The establishment of the Virginia Monument provides context for an American nation that found itself recovering from civil war while simultaneously preparing for a new test of determination and highlights the dispute surrounding Confederate monuments in the country.

Broken Covenants: Jewish Memory And Racial Restrictive Covenants In Greater Washington, Eric S. Yellin

History Faculty Publications

Among Jewish Washingtonians, restrictive covenants that discriminated against Black and Jewish home seekers in equal measure are a recurring theme in memories about mid-twentieth-century DC, and they remain a part of that Jewish community’s collective identity. This linking of Black and Jewish experiences with discrimination is uniquely meaningful to many American Jews, and it is difficult to extricate one story from the other. This article argues that such extrication, separating Black and Jewish encounters with racial restrictive covenants, helps to reveal the specific forms and experiences of antisemitism Jewish Washingtonians encountered, as well as how and why a shared narrative …

Asylum On The Prairie, Christain Smith

History Hawks: A North Dakota History Zine

Asylum on the Prairie is a short history zine that examines the rise, abuse, and eventual reform of the Jamestown State Hospital, revealing the contradictions at the heart of early American asylums--institutions founded on care but shaped by neglect and stigma. Tracing the hospital from its 1885 opening through the 1937 scandal and later deinstitutionalization, it highlights how systemic failures persisted until public outrage forced change. Ultimately, the zine reflects on Jamestown as a cautionary example of how vulnerable populations can be failed without accountability and humane oversight.

North Dakota's Children's Homes & Foster Care During The Great Depression, Signe Svendsen

History Hawks: A North Dakota History Zine

This zine explores the experiences of children placed in North Dakota's children's homes and foster care systems during the Great Depression. As poverty, unemployment, and family instability increased, many children were separated from their families, revealing how economic crisis reshaped child welfare in the state, and how this affected families.

Where The Children Were: Why Rural North Dakota Families Defied Compulsory School Laws (1900-1920), Kendra Hoff

History Hawks: A North Dakota History Zine

Through archival letters between rural parents and state officials, this zine tells the story of how compulsory schooling laws collided with everyday life on the North Dakota prairie. It reveals that children's absences from school were often acts of necessity and negotiation rather than neglect or defiance.

Illness, Isolation, And The Fight For Dignity In 1930s North Dakota, Ali Thykeson

History Hawks: A North Dakota History Zine

Behind the Walls of San Haven explores life at North Dakota's tuberculosis sanatorium in the 1930s. Through patient letters, archival photographs, and historical research, the zine reveals how medical practices, public attitudes, and state policies shaped the experiences of those confined to the institution. It highlights the human stories behind San Haven and the reforms that emerged from its challenges.

From Zwingli’S Switzerland To The American South:, Celeste Carroll Onchuck

Swiss American Historical Society Review

“Here – here shall be my grave!” declared Rudi Gallmann, standing near Huldrych (or Ulrich) Zwingli and his comrades on the damp ground in the gently sloping Albis hills of the Zurich countryside on October 11, 1531. When the weather was clear and the sun shone over the towering Kappel monastery, one might be overcome with a sense of peacefulness, but that day, the clouds hung low, bringing light rain to accompany the winds that blew over the hillsides. Although morale was not at its zenith among the Protestant troops at Kappel am Albis that day, Gallmann and the others …

From Islands To Mountains:, Stephanie Velasco Poserio

Swiss American Historical Society Review

This reflection, by Ms. A. Martinez, a Filipino-American living and working in diversity education at a castle museum near Bern, Switzerland, highlights how cultural connections are maintained even when one is geographically distant from one’s country of origin. In addition to Ms. Martinez’s Filipino-American perspective, I met and interviewed others who shared their stories as Filipino or Filipino-Swiss migrants. The migration of Filipinos from the islands of the Philippines to the mountains of Switzerland illustrates a dynamic journey that began with labor migration in the early 1970s and reflects a vibrant diaspora today. This article presents a cultural and historical …

Hollywood’S Toughest Stunt Clan Comes From Gossau, Canton St. Gallen:, Roland Schäfli

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Hans Epper from eastern Switzerland conquered Hollywood as a stuntman in the 1930s. His descendants continue to perform death-defying stunts for Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg to this day. A family history like something out of a movie.

When Hans Epper arrived in New York on Whit Monday (the day after Pentecost) in 1926, he gave his name as “John” to the immigration authorities.

He discarded “Hans” just as he wanted to discard his origins: his past in the eastern Swiss municipality of Gossau. An official at the town hall of the industrial village in St. Gallen had scribbled “Off …

Book Review, Marianne Derron

Swiss American Historical Society Review

As historian Jürg Flückiger writes in the title, this story is only “almost forgotten.” It is well known that during World War II, many foreign citizens who had ended up in Switzerland for a variety of reasons were interned there. While some were there voluntarily, fleeing the Nazis, others had ended up in Switzerland in the course of actual combat operations, but would have preferred to avoid this exile. This was the fate of a number of American fighter pilots whose planes had been damaged over Germany and had to make emergency landings in Switzerland.

Sahs Advisory Board, 2025–2028

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

President’S Annual Report, Thomas Quinn Marabello

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The past year has been a very busy and fruitful one for the Swiss American Historical Society (SAHS), with many developments and achievements. We formed new partnerships, engaged in outreach, published a book, began our centennial plans, and gained 35 new members (many of whom are not Swiss)!

2025 began with us awarding a grant to Celeste Onchuck, an SAHS member and doctoral student who is writing her dissertation about Huldrych Zwingli and her ancestors, the Gallmann family who immigrated to South Carolina (her article exploring some of this is in this issue). The grant allowed Celeste to travel to …

Publications Report, The Editorial Board

Swiss American Historical Society Review

2025 was a busy year for the Editorial Board. In addition to publishing three issues of the SAHS Review, we also completed editing and publishing Helvetic Heights: A Human History of the Swiss Alps by our own Richard Hacken. The book has been well received by members and others as a comprehensive history of people living and working in the Swiss Alps since prehistory.

The February 2025 issue of the SAHS Review featured five interesting and very different articles. Thomas Quinn Marabello researched and wrote about the connection between Zermatt, Switzerland and Vail, Colorado. The founders of Vail, a ski …

Swiss Chapter Financial Report, Kurt Morf

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Annual Financial Report Of The Swiss American Historical Society, Ernie Thurston

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Submitted to the Annual Membership Meeting, Oct. 4, 2025, in New York City

Website & Social Media Report For 2025, Richard Hacken

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Society’s website (https://swiss-american-historical-society.org) has undergone a series of positive changes this year. This is one case where an “upgrade” has not become a “downgrade” in disguise! The Menu (which is where you can access links to other pages on the website) is now more minimalistic, sleek, and user friendly. You will also find a newly inserted search button that helps you find keywords from the entire site.