United States History Commons^™

Warriors Of Dauphin County: The 127th Pennsylvania Volunteers, Kevin P. Lavery

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

When Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin charged the men of his state to enlist in July 1862, he was desperate for soldiers to fill the federal quota set for Pennsylvania. Heeding the call, William Jennings – citizen of Harrisburg and then the Adjutant of Camp Curtin – approached the governor to proffer his services to state and nation. Curtin acceded; if Jennings could form a regiment, the ambitious young officer would be granted its colonelcy. [excerpt]

Stambaugh, S. R. (Sc 2821), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2821. Letter, 11 November 1860, of S. R. Stambaugh to Henry Matthews in Pennsylvania. Writing from Johnson County, Kentucky on his way to New Orleans, Stambaugh describes his travel down the Ohio River to Kentucky, his lack of success in the oil business, and his readiness to “risk my life for money” in New Orleans. He asks for news from home, “and of the girls especially.”

Allison, James Nicholls, 1848-1918 (Sc 2822), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2822. Letter of Brigadier General James N. Allison, Military Service Institution of the United States, Governors Island, New York, to Professor Albert Bushnell Hart, Harvard University. He offers examples from his own career and those of others to dispute the contention in Hart’s book, The War in Europe, that barracks life is a threat to soldiers’ morality. Includes data on Allison and the Kentucky infantry regiment in which he served during the Civil War.

An Ernie Banks Season, Steven Gimbel

Philosophy Faculty Publications

The dawn of the baseball season is an existential moment. For big market teams with owners willing to pay for marquee players, and general managers who build playoff-bound teams, it is a time of great anticipation.

It's also a time of hope, albeit dim, for those die-hard fans of teams who are off the playoff pace by double digits year in and year out. Their cautious optimism is one that illuminates the human condition. [excerpt]

American Indian Activism And The Rise Of Red Power, Rachael Guadagni

Graduate History Conference, UMass Boston

Recent historical scholarship has determined that the socio-political environment of post-World War II America provided the necessary catalyst for Native American activism which when combined with the socio-political atmosphere of the civil rights era lead to the development of the Red Power Movement. In the thirty or so years immediately following World War II America witnessed profound social and political change. Initial fear of communism lead to strict, pro-capitalist Indian legislation resulting in the termination of hundreds of tribes and the relocation of countless Indian people. From this same environment rose strong leaders, including many veterans, influenced by Cold War …

Telling The Whole Store: Native Americans And The Development Of Urban Spaces, Paul T. Fuller

Graduate History Conference, UMass Boston

This paper places the subject of urban Indians in North America within the historical reality of their existence and emphasizes the need to rework current assumptions about Native peoples. Not only were Native peoples intimately involved in the act of building up villages, forts, and trading posts – which would eventual evolve into the cities that dot the continent today – but they have also very much been a part of the urban scene in major cities since the middle of the twentieth century. The cities around Puget Sound would not have been able to exist without the direct aid …

Sasquatch And The Law: The Implications Of Bigfoot Preservation Laws In Washington State, Joan Ilacqua

Graduate History Conference, UMass Boston

The American Pacific Northwest is characterized by its lush wilderness, mountain ranges, salmon, Starbucks coffee, and most recently, by “Portlandia”-esque hipsters. The Pacific Northwest is also the home of the elusive, and potentially bogus, Sasquatch. The first Sasquatch, or Bigfoot, story was published by pioneer missionary Elkanah Walker in 1840 and a long tradition of publishing Bigfoot stories has proliferated since. Bigfoot searches and stories culminated in the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film of a supposed female Sasquatch, although the myth has found resurgence in modern Bigfoot hunting television shows. Whether or not the elusive Sasquatch exists, ultimately the stories serve as …

Martin, Elizabeth (Gorin), 1791-1858 (Sc 2820), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2820. Letter, 8 December 1844, of Elizabeth Martin, Elkton, Kentucky, to her nephew Benjamin P. Hinch, New Salem, Illinois. She provides some family news and refers to the recent presidential election as a “great calamity” over which the defeated Whigs are “down in the mouth.” Part of the letter is written by Elizabeth’s daughter Avaline. She reports on her health, suggests names for Hinch’s baby son, and forecasts the continuation of hard times with the election of “old Polk.”

Prisoner Experiences: Memoirs Of Libby Prison, Megan A. Sutter

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Numerous books have been written on the contested topic of Civil War prisons and prisoners of war. Scholars struggle with who to blame for the outrageous and horrible conditions of the prisons. Some speculate that the Southerners were crueler to their captives while others say the opposite. As well, scholars question whether the conditions of the Southern prisons were better or worse than the prisons in the North. [excerpt]

Shakers - South Union, Kentucky (Sc 1395), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1395. Catalog of garden seeds grown by the Shaker society at South Union, Kentucky, 1867; Shaker letterhead with cake recipe; and instructions for growing summer turnips.

Clark, Luther, B. 1789 (Sc 2818), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2818. Letter, 30 October 1815, of Luther Clark, written from New York to his brother Dr. David W. Clark in Parsonsfield, Maine. In response to David’s thoughts of leaving New England, Clark doubts his own ability to succeed in New York and discusses his intention to move to Kentucky. He encourages David to consider the same move, and asks for a loan to help with relocation expenses.

Bailey, William Shreve, 1806-1886 (Sc 2819), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2819. Letter, 8 June 1859, of William Shreve Bailey, Newport, Kentucky, to Delos Dunton, a Carpentersville, Illinois merchant. Bailey, the editor of The Free South, an abolitionist newspaper, thanks Dunton for his subscription, laments his inability to pay debts, and asks Dunton to enlist supporters in his area.

The Grizzly, March 27, 2014, Dave Muoio, Nicholas Dimuzio, Larissa Coyne, Caroline Sandberg, Amanda Frekot, Evan Hill, Jonathan Vander Lugt, Karch Connors, Keon Jerry, Olivia Z. Schultz, Caitlin Tillson, Dana Feigenbaum, John Carty, Austin Fox

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Bonner Leaders Attend Jamaica Service Trip This Past Spring Break • Google VP Talks This Weekend About Careers in Conjunction with a Liberal Arts Education • Art and Art History Departments Take Students to New York City • Gares Reveals Priorities for his Final Week as President of USGA • Spring Concert Coming in May • Enactus Reaching Out • Watson Winner to Study Black Masculinity Through Art, Culture • Opinion: Feminism Suffers from Misconceptions; Feminism's Shortcomings Alienate Potential Allies • Gymnast Refuses to let Disease Slow Her Down • Early March Madness Games Filled with Surprises • Ursinus Spring …

Wartime Reminiscences: The Story Of William R. Tanner’S Civil War Service, Brianna E. Kirk

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Veteran war stories are some of the most fascinating windows into the past that students of history can experience. With World War II veteran numbers quickly diminishing and the risk of these accounts of history being lost, the importance of collecting and passing on veteran stories to future generations is vital. Such was the case with those who fought in the Civil War. As the twentieth century approached, droves of veterans began disappearing from the pages of history. The need for those veteran stories from America’s bloodiest war to be recorded and published became not only important to the veterans …

Orndorff, Nora, 1860?-1875 - Relating To (Sc 2816), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only fro Manuscripts Small Collection 2816. Letter to Albert G. Rhea, editor of the Russellville, Kentucky Democrat, 20 July 1875, requesting publication of a resolution of sympathy on the death of Nora Orndorff. Composed by a committee of the Sunday School at Pleasant Grove Methodist Church, Logan County, Kentucky, the resolution recounts the illness and death of 15-year-old Nora from typhoid fever, and praises her and her family.

Lanier Collection (Mss 488), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full text of post-World War II pen pal letters and selected images from ciphering book of Collins Lanier from Manuscripts Collection 488. Collection consists chiefly of letters written to Deanna June (Linville) Lanier by friends and her family, particularly her mother Lena (Harris) Linville. Includes some interesting pen pal letters with a German child, 1948 to 1950. Includes genealogical material about the Lanier and Linville families. Also includes early Warren County, Kentucky material from brothers, Byrd Lanier and Collins Lanier, including a little correspondence, bills and notes, receipts, and property records.

Special Collections Roadshow At Gettysburg College: 37th New York Infantry Kepi, Valerie N. Merlina

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Val Merlina uses a Civil War kepi as a gateway to discuss immigrant culture in America during the 1860s.

Information Thieves: Using Industrial Espionage To Examine The Development Of The Information Economy, David Schaffner

Honors College Theses

This paper will argue that Joseph Warren Revere's espionage trip to Europe represents a turning point in the way information used and in the way it moved about the world. This turning point also marks the beginning of the development of the information economy that encircles the modern world. This is in contrast to a traditional interpretation of the information economy (some sources refer to it as the information age), which is held to have developed much later than 1800. Hedieh Nashieri, for example, puts the first moves towards an information economy in the post-World War Two era, with the …

Vanbuskirk, Michael Henry, 1840-1905 (Sc 1383), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Small Collection 1383. Diary, 1862-1864, kept by Michael H. VanBuskirk, while serving with Co. F, 27th Regiment of the Indiana Volunteers. He was taken prisoner in Virginia on 25 May 1862, and released on 13 September 1862. He gives a good description of military life. Also includes an 1862 letter written in rhyme to his parents (Click on "Additional Files" below for scan).

The Grizzly, March 20, 2014, Dave Muoio, Amanda Frekot, John Parry, Janel Forsythe, Caroline Sandberg, Evan Hill, Michael Heimbaugh, Olivia Z. Schultz, Caitlin Tillson, Chloe Kekovic, Shawn Hartigan, Jonathan Vander Lugt, Austin Fox

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

ABC Pilot Series Filmed in Olin Auditorium This Weekend • Survey Requests Faculty Input About Classroom Facilities Improvements • Student Government Votes on Constitution • UC Add-Drop Policy is Similar to Other Liberal Arts Colleges in PA • Hillel Brings Jewish Culture to Campus • Fitness Alternatives Outside of the Gym • Weed-out Courses Debated in Sciences • Opinion: Hey, White Guys, Your Say is the Say; Media Criticism Harms American Troops • Softball Looks to Fill Big Shoes • Sleepers Set to Battle During 2014 March Madness • Spring Sports in Full Swing at UC