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Graduate, 1st Place: World War I War Front And Home Front: The Correspondence That Brought Them Together, Michelle Thole

2023 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity - Documents

The First World War was the first time American soldiers had participated in a war at a distance from home that did not easily facilitate home furloughs. Although the United States and Europe are physically separated by more than 3,500 miles, the relative distance between American World War I soldiers on the war front and their families on the home front was minor; the correspondence between them mitigated the physical and cognitive distance.

Historians of the First World War have explored soldiers’ contact with their families while in training camps and the US military’s intentional cultivation of a balance between …

U.S. History As Part Of A Core Curriculum, Megan Birk

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Grand Valley Magazine, Vol. 22, No 3, Spring 2023, Grand Valley State University

Grand Valley Magazine

Grand Valley Magazine is a quarterly publication about Grand Valley State University produced by University Communications since 2001.

Raising The Iron Curtain: Healing Collective Oppression Through Literature, Alisa Chirkova-Holland

Student Works

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, by former gulag prisoner Alexander Solzhenitsyn, is a short novel that entails an ordinary day for a prisoner, Shukhov, in a Siberian gulag. Although the work is a typical skaz, a traditional Russian narrative form, the novel was well-received by Russians at the time of publishing in 1962. This paper will explore the reason for such acclamation, understanding how Solzhenitsyn’s innovations to the skaz allowed readers to connect with their past. The paper also mentions theories such as Traumatic Realism to comprehend how such a bleak novel positively impacted post-Stalinist readers. …

Who Tells Your Story? Microhistory And Historical Biography, Stellarose B. Emery

Student Publications

The historical method of microhistory is a small discipline that is often disputed on whether autobiography and biography are forms of microhistory; using the life of Father Richard T. McSorley as a reference, this paper seeks to address how both forms of narrative are microhistories and how they influence legacy.

Nazi Education In Vienna: The Solidification Of Antisemitism And German Nationalism In The Classroom, Abigail J. Seiple

Student Publications

In contemporary Austrian schools there is an alarming number of students who know little of Austria's involvement in WWII. They see Austria as a victim of Hitler and as a conquered nation. This post-war victimization myth has survived in schools that works to undermine feelings of Austrian responsibility in the days following the Anschluss. However, this victimization myth is threatened by looking at education on the eve of the Anschluss to Nazi policy and Nazi sentiments that had already existed for decades in Austria.

Reckoning With “Corporeal And Mental Disabilities”: The Bureaucracy Of Immigrant Disease Management In Early-To-Mid Nineteenth Century America, Vivek K. Rallabandi

Student Publications

This paper explores how the American bureaucratic apparatus during the early-to-mid nineteenth century dealt with immigrants who carried risks of physical and mental illness. Though previous studies have discretely dealt with physical and mental illnesses that immigrants during this period carried, this paper takes an integrated approach, arguing that these two elements should be viewed in conjunction with one another.

Compassion And National Interest: Race, Culture, And Politics Behind The Reception Of Refugees Of The Ukraine War, Ning Xi

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

This paper aims to analyze the response to and representations of Ukrainian refugees in European countries such as Poland and the reasoning behind it. Generally, Ukrainian refugees have received a very warm and generous welcome, from both the political leaders and ordinary citizens. However, it stands in stark contrast to the way the same countries reacted to refugees fleeing places like Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. The primary reasons for the differing attitudes are the perception of Ukraine as a fellow civilized Christian and European nation with strong cultural and historical ties to countries such as Poland, women and children making …

"Life Unworthy Of Life" Aktion T4: The First Nazi Genocide, Alexander M. Remington

Student Publications

Though usually viewed as a prelude to the Holocaust, the T4 euthanasia program was a distinct genocide carried out by the Third Reich’s doctors. Allowing themselves to be corrupted by eugenics and Nazi policy, the perpetrators of the Nazi euthanasia killings transformed themselves from healers to murderers. Despite public resistance led by Bishop Clemens von Galen which resulted in the cancellation of the T4 program, Nazi doctors took it upon themselves to continue euthanizing patients until the end of the war, emphasizing the legitimacy that euthanasia had acquired. The history of the T4 program, its perpetrators, and resisters is critical …

“In The Spirit Of A Millennial Inheritance:” The Nazi Ambition To Regenerate German Civilization Through The Visual Arts, Marco J. Lloyd

Student Publications

This paper intends to explain the complex and seemingly contradictory implementation of Nazi cultural policy regarding the visual arts by understanding Nazi cultural ideology. By examining the writing and speeches of Adolf Hitler and his ideological predecessors, it is apparent that the Nazis did not object to many modern art styles for purely aesthetic reasons. Instead, they associated the perceived degeneration of art with the degeneration of German society due to the influence of Jews and political opponents. Therefore, the Nazi hope to regenerate German civilization informed the policy of removing “degenerate art” from public display and purifying the art …

Muscogiana Vol. 34(1), Spring 2023, Mike Bunn, Rachel Dobson

Muscogiana

Muscogee County, Columbus, Georgia, Genealogy

The Women’S Committee Of The Council Of National Defense In Maryland, 1917-1918, Savannah Scott

Honors Projects

During World War I, the United States created the Women’s Committee of the Council of National Defense to organize and coordinate women’s war work. The Women’s Committee had a federalist structure of national, state, and local committees to organize the different levels of women’s societies in the country. This paper uses the Maryland Section of the Women’s Committee as a case study to argue how how the centralized organization of the Women’s Committee and its flexibility with the local committees led to more productive efforts at mobilizing women. It will expand on the formation and organization of the Maryland Women’s …

Ursinus Magazine, Spring 2023, Robyn E. Hannigan, Ed Moorhouse, Ben Seal, Steve Neumann, Christopher J. Tralie, Talia Argondezzi

Ursinus Magazine, 1995–Present

Best of our Bears • Ursinus scholars abroad • Investing in Ursinus • Celebrating student research • Berman timepiece hits century mark • Getting to know: Jesse Wun • Office space: Elle Potruch • A gateway to community: Your college in the 'ville • Diving deep with data: The conservation numbers game • Setting the scene • Commencement 2023 • Class notes • Marriages • Births • In memoriam • Burning question: Do chatbots like ChatGPT encourage students to cheat?

The Christmas Never Forgotten: December 1914, Michael Facenda

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

No abstract provided.

I-195 In Providence, Rhode Island: Urban Development Or Dislocation?, Alec Fraggos

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

In 1939, as the effects of the 1938 New England Hurricane that devastated much of Rhode Island, it became painfully evident to Providence city officials that it needed a better system of highways and bridges. More than this, because several Rhode Islanders had died while evacuating, the state made a concerted effort to build more and better highways. As the U.S. joined the war effort, the possibility of another failed evacuation caused a panic among city officials that continued to drive the placement of urban highways in Providence. With changes in the city’s landscape and major shifts in demographics, Providence …

Obelisks And The Power Of Monument, John Brockelman

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

Obelisks were massive granite spires erected to honor the Egyptian sun god Ra and to glorify the individual kings who ordered their construction. Obelisks served to syncretize both king and god to reflect the divinely-ordained position kingship held within Egyptian society. By the New Kingdom period, kings used obelisks to adorn their tombs and temples, replacing the much larger and more expensive pyramid tombs of the Old Kingdom. Eventually, Egypt’s power faded, and most obelisks fell into disrepair, all but lost to time. That was until the arrival of Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. With the defeat of his …

The Americans Progress Forgot? An Interdisciplinary Study Of The Role Of Media In Opiate Politics, Rachael M. Erickson

Senior Theses

The most recent opioid crisis in the United States was largely described, by politicians, the media, and subsequently members of the voting public, as being an issue primarily affecting rural White communities. This phenomenon is shaped by the fact that the rate at which White Americans use opiates is outpaced by the frequency with which White American use of opiates is described as an issue of human interest in opinion or editorial articles in news media. In this thesis I aim to understand how the racialized public and political perception of opiate use is shaped by local media.

The following …

A Country Torn Asunder: Deliberations Over The Fate Of Post-Wwii Germany, Ziv R. Y. Carmi

Student Publications

This diplomatic history examines the development of Germany’s post-WWII borders. Beginning in 1941, this thesis traces the myriad of proposals and debates about German territory, focusing particularly on the matter of division and dismemberment. This work focuses on two main topics: Allied proposals and counterproposals for a divided Germany and zones of occupation, and the relationship and interactions between the Big Three leaders and powers, focusing on how East-West tensions affected the diplomatic talks.

Resources, Amy J. Hirshman, Madison Mccormick, Riley Bowers, Bonnie M. Brown

Hidden No More: The Enduring Impact of Native American and Enslaved People on the Evansdale Neighborhood and WVU Campus

No abstract provided.

“We Are Created Inferior To Men”: Leveraging Horsemanship To Reinforce Gender Expectations, 1830-1861, Gabrielle Marie Mccoy

Theses and Dissertations

Horses have played a central role in human society since 3500 BCE when humans began domesticating and riding horses in large numbers. Horses continued to be important to human society during the nineteenth century as people used horses to drive industrialization, manage plantations, and transport goods, among other uses. Although historians and anthropologists have long extolled the horse’s laboring value, this paper views the horse and horsemanship (i.e., horseback riding, horse training) in a social context. Through the examination of newspapers, fictional literature, and manuals, this paper argues that Americans used horses and horsemanship to reinforce antebellum gender expectations. Reinforcing …

Morphology Of Man, Arielle Friedman

be Still

Behind every creation is an artist.

Behind every student is a teacher.

This piece aims to highlight the cyclical, additive nature of generational knowledge, as well as the inherent plasticity involved in generating meaning across collectives.

We Can Do It, Or Can We?: Women’S Domestic And Workplace Roles In Advertising During Wwii And Postwar America, Jillian Brissette

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

This thesis examines the dramatic change from the empowering image of women workers that appeared in World War II advertisements and the domestic picture of women’s lives as depicted in the Cold War era. In examining this transformation, I seek to understand why there was such a drastic shift and how it affected real women. I examined hundreds of advertisements from the 1940s and 1950s that featured women in domestic or workplace roles. Contrary to the popular image of Rosie the Riveter, World War II era advertisements did not truly empower women. Instead, the emphasized women’s war work as a …

2023-04-00 Newsletter, Morehead State University. Staff Congress.

Staff Congress Records

Staff Congress newsletter from April of 2023.

Pillage As The Political Economy Of The Kurdish Anfal Genocide, Kaziwa Salih

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Scholars are critical of how economists overlook “the questions of genocide,” and of how legislatures have not paid adequate attention to the subject of looting, except in the case of the Armenian genocide. This article, informed by interdisciplinary perspectives, uses government documents, data, and semi-structured interviews to discuss the overlooked triangle of looting, economics, and the Anfal genocide of the Kurds in Iraq. The study refuses to limit itself only to the eight stages of the Anfal genocide that started in 1988, and instead offers data on its preliminary phases which occurred earlier in the 1980s. It then discusses the …

Disillusionment And The American Civil War: Confederate Women And Changing Self-Perceptions, Emma Hively

Senior Honors Theses

Confederate females in the antebellum South viewed themselves in light of the ideology of Southern womanhood, a series of gender norms that outlined their proper place in the home and society. The Civil War upended the social structure supporting Southern womanhood and challenged female commitment to the Confederacy, as increasing hardships and suffering led to widespread disillusionment among Confederate females. Conventional interpretations of female disillusionment maintain that it represented continuity in antebellum self-perceptions, amounting to bitterness over the forced abandonment of their way of life and an ardent desire to return to normalcy. However, the focus on the overall continuity …

Contemporary Environmental Art: The Multidimensional Relationship Between Black Communities And The American Landscape, Sophia Perkins

Honors Capstones

Contemporary environmental art can be inspired by personal experience and reflections between the artist and their surroundings. Black women have a unique interaction with and relation to their environment. I would like to unpack the relationships between Black women and the environment by exploring a few different artists’ work, and by dissecting the effects race and gender have on one’s view of the natural world. I have studied the work of four artists: Torkwase Dyson, Allison Jane Hamilton, LaToya Ruby Frazier, and Calida Garcia Rawles. Environmentally, I have a specific interest in bodies of water / Black waterways because of …

Gentrifying While Black: Exploring The Concept Of An African Homeland Through Gentrification In Accra, Ghana, Amaya Davis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

Poland And The Ukraine War: A Geopolitical Analysis, Thomas Pitney

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Poland’s geopolitical role has enhanced since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. As such, Poland’s ambitions have increasingly important implications for regional, European, and global security. The paper attempts to address this phenomenon by posing the following research question: how does Poland pursue its interests in the Ukraine War? Employing qualitative methods on data collected from three formal interviews, one virtual interview, one informal interview, four statements from Poland’s leaders, and a variety of secondary sources, the study aims to answer this question modeling Gyula Csurgai’s (2019) geopolitical analysis framework. The research question is addressed in two ways. …

In Her Possession And Keeping Revolutionary War Widows And The Politics Of Family Archives, 1820–1850, Riley Kathryn Sutherland

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how Revolutionary War widows deployed family archives as partisan tools to claim pensions. By reconsidering the relationship between women, family archives, and state building, it challenges established understandings of revolutionary women, nineteenth-century political economy, and memory.

Revolutionary War pension laws ignited fierce partisan debates. Since pensions would require Congress to impose tariffs and assemble a fiscal bureaucracy, they were generally supported by Whigs and contested by Democrats. Knowing that, women tailored their applications to their partisan audiences. Widows often appealed to Whigs by requesting welfare, citing their poverty. But when addressing Democrats, they framed the pensions they …

Cashing The Check Of Democracy The American Revolution And Citizenship In The Black Freedom Struggle 1960-1970, Zachary Earle Clary

Theses and Dissertations

Separated into three interconnected parts, this thesis first proposes a reconfiguration of the vocabulary that historians use when classifying the memory and legacy of the American Revolution in the twentieth century. From there, I offer a comparative analysis of the Black Freedom Struggle’s relationship to the Declaration of Independence and other components of the American Revolution to demonstrate that the Revolution, while useful as a rhetorical tool or a conceptual model, functioned primarily as a counterpoint to the twentieth-century quest for Black citizenship. In other words, the American Revolution was a formidable example of radical protest in the American past, …