Digital Commons Network^™

‘Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam’: The Religious And Political Missions Of The American-Catholic Military Chaplaincy During The Mexican-American War, Daniel Thomas Louis Moore

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The historical community has neglected to deeply analyze the American-Catholic military chaplaincy in the Mexican-American War, 1846-1848. With exceptions, most historians, who have discussed this chaplaincy, have run the spectrum of dedicating an entire chapter to a few sentences on it. “‘Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam’” offers a first, in-depth monograph of this chaplaincy. “‘Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam’” argues that the political mission from President James K. Polk to the chaplaincy, which was to help reconcile Americans and Mexicans, did not truly suffer the failure or the mediocrity that certain historians have portrayed it to be. Instead of analyzing the chaplaincy’s …

Victory In Spite Of Themselves: The Continental Congress, The Continental Army, And The Politics Of Failure In The American Revolution, Stuart D. Hatfield

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation examines the civil–military relationship between the Continental Congress and the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, arguing that the American victory occurred despite persistent structural, ideological, and administrative deficiencies within the revolutionary government. The study addresses six central research questions concerning the composition and authority of the Continental Congress, the formation and operational parameters of the Continental Army, the influence of congressional decision‑making on military strategy, the development of conflict between Congress and the officer corps, the effects of Congress’s logistical and financial failures on the Army’s ability to sustain operations, and the role of George Washington …

Transnational Beings: Corner Store Entrepreneurship Of Mena Immigrants Of The Third Wave, Gabriel Al-Shaer

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation examines the role of entrepreneurship as an institution of transition for Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) migrants in the United States from 1965 to the present. Drawing on oral histories, legal analysis, census data, and scholarship on racialization and migration, it argues that small cash-based businesses—particularly corner stores, gas stations, and bodegas—have functioned as critical sites through which third-wave MENA migrants navigate economic precarity, racial marginalization, and community formation. By situating contemporary entrepreneurial practices in relation to earlier forms of pack peddling among first-wave Syrian-Americans, this study demonstrates continuity in migrant strategies of survival while accounting for …

Total Resistance: The Conditions For Non-State Actors In Colonial States, Devin Walker '26

Honor Scholar Theses

If one can pardon the hyperbole, the argument that colonialism was one of the defining eras of human history is one that comes with a notable amount of merit. From the 1600s to the late 1990s and beyond, colonial empires that spanned the globe were engaged in a seemingly endless competition driven by a mixture of desire for resources and an intense battle for prestige on a truly global stage. Countless people were subjugated, exploited, oppressed and exposed to all manner of injustices that have had long lasting effects on their native populations, even into the modern day. However, to …

Una To Put Names On 2 Buildings, Jennifer Edwards

Documents

the naming of the Academic Commons Building and the new Science and Technology Building at UNA

The Science And Technology Building University Of North Alabama, Barbie Hampel-University Advancement

Documents

Brochure and floor plans for the New Science and Technology Building at UNA

Director Of Physical Education, Diorama 1949

Documents

Hubert A. Flowers was Director of Physical Education. Flowers Hall was named after him.

University Of North Alabama Science And Technology Building Grand Opening And Ribbon Cutting, University Of North Alabama

Documents

Invitation to the Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting for the new Science and Technology Building at UNA

Cultivating Empathy Through Exhibit Design To Engage Students In The Ai And Handheld Tech Era - Three Case Studies, Angela R. Whitlock

The Primary Source

This article examines how exhibition environments can foster empathy, participation, and meaningful connection among student visitors within an increasingly digital and technologically mediated cultural landscape. Through a comparative multi-site case study, it analyzes three exhibition environments that engage students through immersive design, participatory technology, and interpretive framing: the African American Military History Museum in Hattiesburg, Mississippi; the Ulysses S. Grant exhibit space within Mitchell Memorial Library at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi; and the in-progress redesign of the Southern Literary Trail exhibit, also located within Mitchell Memorial Library and scheduled for completion within the next year. While each site …

Opium Of The Masses: An Analysis Of Archeobotanical Research In The City Of Tábor, Czechia And How It Potentially Influenced Forms Of Radical Hussism, Sasha Gladding

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Opium of the Masses performs in depth analysis of the Hussite Wars–a time period lasting from 1419 to 1436, Jan Hus, Hussite factionalism, and archeobotany. This analysis proposes that there are numerous possible contributing factors to the development of the radical Hussite teachings and ways of life. The instability of the Catholic hierarchy and the dissenting teachings of Jan Hus also likely were contributors to the development of the unique sociopolitical and spiritual practices of the radical Hussites. It is also possible that the Hussite factions residing in the Czech (then Bohemian) town of Tábor utilized opium as an entheogen …

Florence State Prepares For Jet Age Needs With New, Expanded Facilities, Tommy Hill

Documents

News article from The Birmingham News about the expanded facilities at Florence State College

Florence S.T.C. Building Starts, Birmingham News

Documents

Student health at Florence State Teachers College to be enhanced with new gymnasium for the school

Scientist Floyd Retires At Florence State, Jack Bridges

Documents

Dr. Homer H. Floyd's retirement from Florence State College

Health, Physical Education Program At College Will Be Aided By New Gym And Pool, The Florence Times

Documents

Construction of new Gymnasium and Pool at Florence State Teachers College

Dual Mechanisms Of External Pressure: The Impact Of Sanctions And Aid On State Capacity In Iraq And Jordan, Emily P. White

Global Tides

This essay examines the influence of external economic pressures on state capacity in the Middle East through a comparative analysis of Iraq and Jordan. In the late twentieth century, both states faced fiscal shocks, including rising prices for staple goods, elevated unemployment, and revenue shortfalls that constrained regime distributive capacity. Against this backdrop of mounting domestic volatility, contrasting instruments of international economic statecraft were employed, namely, comprehensive UN sanctions against Iraq and sustained Western-led foreign aid to Jordan. Through exogenous state-building, foreign actors sought to exert punitive leverage in Iraq and pursue an agenda-setting partnership in Jordan. Despite pursuing different …

Res Historica, Volume 5, Alpha Rho Epsilon Phi Alpha Theta, Lindsay Rae Smith Privette Phd

Res Historica

The 2026 journal of historical research by Anderson University students, Res Historica.

The editorial team for this edition of Res Historica was Dr. Lindsay Rae Smith Privette, Julia Ackerman, Callyn Wright, Logan Davis, and John Hinton. Cover art by Mary Beth Lee.

Book Bans In U.S. Prisons: A Legacy Of The Prisoners' Rights Movement, Allison Jansen

Honors Projects

The 1950s-1970s saw an unprecedented spike in organized resistance by American prisoners. This long era of rebellion, along with thousands of judicial appeals, made up the “prisoners’ rights movement”-- a political, legal, and social struggle that challenged the conditions of American incarceration and its penological paradigm. The timeline of the movement is abstract and difficult to measure. Nonetheless, what is certain is that it lost its momentum by the 1980s due to overhauling policy changes that quelled prisoner activism without achieving meaningful progress. This research examines the evolution of prison censorship policies within that paradigm shift and how they sought …

"Black History Is Black Horror": Hauntology And Cultural Trauma In 20th And 21st Century Black Women's Gothic Horror, Destini S. Beckwith

Theses

Octavia Butler’s Afrofuturistic, gothic horror, neo-slave narrative Kindred (1979) vividly illustrates the story of a woman, Dana, involuntarily time-traveling from her home in 1976 Los Angeles, California, to a plantation in 19th-century Maryland. The interactions that she has with her ancestors, such as Alice, a free Black woman, and Rufus, a white man who enslaves Alice, leave Dana mentally and physically scarred. The 20th-century novel is meant to graphically reflect on the horrors of enslavement and the mental and physical effects that Black people endured/still endure because of it (i.e., grief, racial violence, and post-traumatic stress disorder). Furthermore, the novel’s …

A History Of Dance At The University Of South Carolina: Celebrating A 50-Year Legacy, Olivia Sherman

Senior Theses

Since its founding in 1976, the University of South Carolina’s Dance Program has developed from a small performance initiative into one of the nation’s leading collegiate dance programs. Despite its artistic achievements and community engagement, little scholarly work has traced the program’s evolution or its impact at USC and the broader South Carolina arts community. Existing documentation is largely preserved in departmental archival materials, most notably the Betsy Blackmon Dance Program Archival Binders, which compile decades of newspaper articles, programs, press releases, and commentary that chronicle the program’s first fifty years. This project investigates how the program has evolved in …

We're All Ramblers, Here: American National Identity As Articulated Through The Sounds And Stories Of Bluegrass Music, Greyson M. Sherman

Senior Theses

This creative thesis argues that bluegrass music, through its multicultural origins and its central "Rambler" archetype, articulates a distinctly American negotiation between freedom and rootedness — one that extends far beyond the genre's narrow popular image. Drawing on musicological scholarship and cultural history, the paper first recovers bluegrass's suppressed origins in the convergence of West African, Anglo- Celtic, and broader European traditions, complicating narratives that position the genre as exclusively white and Appalachian. It then introduces the Rambler — the restless, longing figure who haunts bluegrass lyrically and structurally — as both a product of that history and a metaphorical …

Bravery And Bayonets: The Nigerian Regiment And The Battle Of Bweho Chini, September 1917, Paul Cronin

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

The First World War in East Africa spanned the entirety of the war, from 1914 to 1918, and by the end of the war nearly all of the personnel on both sides were African. Understanding how the war in East Africa was different geographically and militarily from the western front helps to shed light on the unique experience of the men who fought there. My thesis builds on the thesis of Ibiang O. Ewa, that the Nigerian Regiment was crucial to allied victory in the campaign, in his chapter in Africa and the First World War: Remembrance, Memories, and Representations …

Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 40. A Comprehensive Bibliography Of Books And Booklets About Alfred Russel Wallace, George Beccaloni, Jasper H. Pol, Charles H. Smith Editor

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

This bibliography presents the most comprehensive listing to date of books and booklets on Alfred Russel Wallace’s life and work, in all languages and editions, while excluding AI-generated works and most print-on-demand titles. It is based on a list compiled in 2023, which was expanded through searches of online catalogues and other resources. Analysis of the 160 works reveals a marked increase in publications since the late twentieth century, substantial linguistic diversity, and the growing use of manuscript sources in scholarly studies, particularly following the online availability of Wallace’s correspondence via EPSILON.

Arthur Pendragon, King Of Britain, Jacob G. Bowser

Arthurian Hero Character Design Project

King Arthur’s historical existence is uncertain, but he may have been a real person, a myth, or based on another figure. The best-known account of his background is from Geoffrey of Monmouth, written around 1136 during the Anglo-Norman dynasty. Arthur is said to have lived in the fifth or sixth century.[1] Reportedly, the son of a British king, he took the throne at age fifteen and married Guinevere. Arthur’s famous sword is Excalibur, and his shield, Pridwen, bears the image of the Virgin Mary. As a king, he conquered Norway, Denmark, and Gaul, and focused on defending his realm …

Grand Valley Magazine, Vol. 25, No. 2, Spring 2026, 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.

Challenging Patriarchy: Female Agency Through Religious Roles In Ancient Babylonian Societies, Emily Wilson

2026 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity - Documents & Media

In ancient Babylonian societies, gender roles were shaped by patriarchal structures that prioritized male authority in just about every sector. However, women created spaces for themselves that gave them influence and autonomy, particularly through religious institutions. Temple complexes like the Shamash temple in Sippar and the Esagil temple in Babylon were not only centers of worship but also powerful economic and administrative hubs, and women who served them occupied positions of privilege. The nadītu of Sippar, for example, lived in separate quarters where they were not only expected to remain celibate but were also allowed to own property, lend money, …

Calculated Self-Presentation: Japan At Twentieth Century American World’S Fairs, Mary Rose Comerford

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

World’s fairs are places of innovation, culture, and technology. They are places where visitors go to be wowed by the innovations of other countries, but do they have a deeper meaning? In this thesis I will argue that world’s fairs serve a purpose beyond the sharing of culture and innovation. They allow national commissions to control the narrative of their country through a careful curation of displays that meet the objectives of their government. Countries’ objectives at world’s fairs change all the time, depending on their position in the world and what serves their best interest. The fairs themselves each …

“Do Not Take Sex Into The Practice”: Lelia Robinson And Her Struggle To Become The First Female Attorney Of Massachusetts, Georgia Grace Peters

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

Lelia Robinson was the first woman lawyer in Massachusetts. Although her achievements paved the way for future female litigators, her efforts to partake in the legal profession were complicated. This was because she herself had a complex relationship with her own identity as a woman who wanted to practice law. In her early career and experiences at law school, Robinson publicly disregarded the discrimination she faced and framed her success as a result of her individual merit and capability, viewing herself as an equal to other male attorneys rather than part of a gendered struggle. Her brief to the Court …

Remembering In The North: How The Civil Rights Movement Is Told Through Monuments, Courtney Wight

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

This thesis, titled “Remembering in the North: How the Civil Rights Movement is Told Through Monuments,” examines how the Civil Rights Movement is remembered in the North through public monuments. The Civil Rights Movement in the North has not received the same level of recognition compared to the South in public memory, yet the stories and activists in the North deserve the same acknowledgement. The cities of Newark, NJ, and Albany, NY, act as case studies to illustrate how the racism and discrimination, which prompted the Civil Rights Movement, were present in the North during the movement. Both cities, like …

“Let The Goddess Guide”: Athena, Columbia, And The Greco-Roman Roots Of American Imperial Rhetoric, Bridget Goguen

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

The goddess of wisdom and war models intellect without complacency, valor without rashness. Claiming this duality—a civilized militancy—from their patron goddess Athena, an ancient Athenian citizenry could rationalize imperial conquest as democratic goodwill. Millennia later, the United States, seeking subtle proclamation of classical succession, crafted their national personification Columbia from the mold of Athena. From the Civil War until the First World War, Americans called on Columbia to symbolically sanction and spectacularize their own imperial ascent. This paper explores the American adaptation of Greco-Roman rhetoric through the mediums of cartoons, sculptures, and paintings in order to reveal the ancient roots …

Caroliniana Columns - Spring 2026, University Libraries--University Of South Carolina

University South Caroliniana Society Newsletter - Columns

Fall Events Recap ... p.2

Letter from the President ... p. 4

Report from the Director/Letter from the Dean of Libraries ... p. 5

Echoes of Independence: 250 Years of Revolution and Memorialization ... p. 6

Primary Sources: Authors Rely on SCL Holdings for Their Research ... p. 14

A Dream Deferred: The Art and Activism of Edwin Augustus Harleston by M. Akua McDaniel ... p. 14

The Conise Guide to South Carolina State Government by Vincent Sheheen ... p. 15

South Carolina Scalawags by Hyman Rubin III ... p. 16

Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness …