Digital Commons Network^™

The Myth Of Homespun, Valeria Delaportilla

Undergraduate Scholarly Works

In this work, delaPortilla analyzes the Homespun Movement, a boycott largely led by women during the American Revolution that encouraged the use of homespun fabrics to avoid purchasing fabrics from Europe. DelaPortilla argues that the homespun movement was not as widespread as existing historiography allows us to believe and explains that the movement was largely limited to people of means who could afford to commit to a fully homespun lifestyle. DelaPortilla further argues that the forceful application of the homespun movement in New England largely contributed to the mass criticism and in some occasions abuse of women.

John V. Kendall Memoir, John V. Kendall

John Kendall Papers

Memoir Abstract

The John V. Kendall Memoir is a recollection of the Civil War era written in approximately 1902 that describes the experiences of a private in the Tenth Regiment Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. Throughout the memoir, Kendall discusses integral aspects of the life of a union soldier, such as drills, marches, and battlefield affairs. In addition, he intersperses his explanation of daily life with descriptions of key events surrounding the removal of the Sioux from Minnesota, and surrounding territories, with his own constant migration with the army. His specific attention to westward movements along the Mississippi River, as well marches …

John V. Kendall Memoir Transcript, John V. Kendall

John Kendall Papers

Memoir Abstract

The John V. Kendall Memoir is a recollection of the Civil War era written in approximately 1902 that describes the experiences of a private in the Tenth Regiment Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. Throughout the memoir, Kendall discusses integral aspects of the life of a union soldier, such as drills, marches, and battlefield affairs. In addition, he intersperses his explanation of daily life with descriptions of key events surrounding the removal of the Sioux from Minnesota, and surrounding territories, with his own constant migration with the army. His specific attention to westward movements along the Mississippi River, as well marches …

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.

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 …

Studies In Rio Grande Valley History - Volume 19, Thomas Daniel Knight, Antonio N. Zavaleta, Anthony K. Knopp, Andrik Gonzalez, Milo Kearney

Studies in Rio Grande Valley Regional History Series

Early Days of the U.S. Mexican War in South Texas / James W. Mills -- La Configuración de la Frontera Mexicana Desde El Mar / Arturo Zárate Ruiz -- Ethnic Trends in The Growth of Brownsville / Anthony Knopp -- How McAllen Became the Economic Center of the Rio Grande Valley: Further Considerations / Edward F. Wallace -- Cobbling in the Rio Grande Valley / Noe E. Perez -- Cultural Crossroads: Expressions of Identity, Resistance, & Belonging on the Texas-Mexico Border / Andrik Gonzalez -- Two Women, Two Journeys, One Border: Stories From the Migrant Generation / Manuel F. Medrano …

Ursinus Magazine, Spring 2026, Gundolf Graml, Steve Thomas, Jennifer L. Post-Whisted, Brad Drexler, Alyssa Kratz

Ursinus Magazine, 1995–Present

Gundolf Graml, Ph.D., named 20th President • $1.99 million grant boosts STEM pipeline • $1.49 million grant fuels APEX innovation center • Esports comes to Ursinus • Experiential Learning Week • Ursinus / Rochester partner on 4+1 business pathway • Ursinus launches global learning program • Students win America250PA innovation challenge • Athletics: A generous gift and a milestone • Bear2Bear Impact Award for leadership and service • Lenape Symposium returns to Ursinus • Wall Street on Main Street • Tuition Promise for Montgomery County students • Wrestler wins two Puerto Rico national titles • Paying it forward: A Montgomery …

The Grizzly, March 5, 2026, Renee Washart, Nathaniel Nerone, Adam Denn, Claudia Tracy, Hadley Whitman, Erik Groff

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Tuition Promise to Incoming Montco Students • Mike Sielski: Covering the Hardest Sports Market in the U.S. • Too Much Light ... Makes the Baby Go Blind?! • The World Makers: Dungeons and Dragons on Campus • Ursinus' First Student Lighting Designer • Gundolf Graml is a Person, Too • As the Snow Melts, Softball is Ready to Take the Field • Bears Swim Teams Crush Conference Champs

In The Miery Swamp: Metacomet And Memory, Allison Rose, Marianne Holdzkom

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

Abstract for “In the Miery Swamp: Metacomet and Memory”, written by Allison Rose and sponsored by Dr. Marianne Holdzkom

Memorials have become omnipresent ties to our communal past. Plaques and dedications materialize in our town squares. Statues loom over our city parks. Monuments tower over our cemeteries. A large issue facing public historians today is the disconnect between the original intent of public memorials and the collective representation of diverse histories. “In the Miery Swamp: Metacomet and Memory” addresses how interactions with the public alter and transform four public memorials. Through a chronological and historical analysis of four monuments to …

Appendix Tables - "James Madison’S World: Society And Culture In Central Virginia, 1714 To 1900", John T. Schlotterbeck

History Faculty publications

Table 1. Population, Orange County, Va., 1735 to 1790

Table 2. Labor Forces, Orange County, Va., 1737 to 1782

Table 3. Servant and Slave Fugitives, Orange County, Va., 1736 to 1770

Table 4. Enslaved Defendants, Orange County, Va., 1736 to 1770

Table 5. Grand Jury Presentments, Orange County, Va., 1735 to 1759

Table 6. Population, by Race, Orange and Greene Counties, Va., 1790 to 1940

Table 7. Slaveholdings, Orange and Greene Counties, Va., 1820 and 1860

Table 8. Farm Production and Livestock, Orange and Greene Counties, Va., 1840 to 1910

Table 9. Production, Livestock, and Values, by Farm Size, Orange …

A Free Black Farming Community In White Clay Creek Hundred, James Jones

History Faculty Publications

Although Delaware remained a slave state until the end of the Civil War, free Blacks were able to acquire land before that.  A small group settled along Delaware’s northern border with Chester County, even though Pennsylvania offered greater legal protection against enslavement.  This article describes what is known about the four families that settled along Hopkins Road in White Clay Creek Hundred, and the factors that affected their decision to remain in Delaware.

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.

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 …

Fighting The Black Snake: The Dapl And The Case For Indigenous Environmental Stewardship, Kenny Moll

Student Theses 2015-Present

This thesis analyzes the current scope of environmental injustice on Native lands in the U.S. Specifically it examines The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and its impacts on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North Dakota. Western colonialism and capitalism have dominated North American ecosystems since their forcible introduction hundreds of years ago, causing the commodification of natural resources and leading to injustices such as that of the “Black Snake.” However, the story of The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s resistance will be analyzed through the framework of Indigenous philosophy and environmental justice. Chapter 1 analyzes the implementation of the DAPL and …

Black Swans And Safety Nets: Food Aid, Dispersal, And Eugenics In Corbin Hollow, Glenn Davis Stone, Richard K. Robinson

Southern Anthropologist

No abstract provided.

Lucy Wortham James And The Gospel Of Wealth: A Case Study Of Female Philanthropy In Rural Missouri During The Progressive Era, Jacob F. Rinehart

The Confluence

Various historical scholars have examined the role of Andrew Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth on philanthropic attitudes and endeavors of affluent Americans during the Progressive Era. Modern developments, driven by post-structural feminist theory, have shown that rural-born Missouri women, exemplified by Phoebe Apperson Hearst, acted as complementary equals to Carnegie through their humanitarian efforts by uniquely interpreting and implementing his social doctrines. However, the existing scholarship has focused substantially on coastal developments, neglecting the role of this benevolence in rural Missouri communities. By examining the philanthropic endeavors of Lucy Wortham James, both during her life and post-mortem through her endowment of …

A Poor Man's Cup: Chicory Experimentation In Nebraska,1890-1900, Rebecca Hupp

Dissertations and Theses

“A Poor Man’s Cup” explores how Nebraskans actively confronted the problems of the late nineteenth-century through experimenting with new commodities. Prolonged severe drought, economic depression, and poor grain prices created a troublesome situation that grew in complexity as U.S. markets expanded globally and agriculture underwent professionalization. Some lay farmers, like Gabriel and Philomena Bazelman of Holt County, did not wait for new methods to find their way through the experiment station system and instead conducted trials themselves. Through piecing together the story of Nebraska chicory production with periodicals from the 1890s, experiment station bulletins, and Congressional reports, this thesis demonstrates …

Shared Words, Divided Worlds: Moral Language And The Struggle For Meaning At The Claremont Colleges During The Vietnam War, 1965-1969, Haley Freeth

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines the Vietnam War-era campus conflicts at the Claremont Colleges as a profound struggle over the meaning and ownership of moral and political language. Rather than interpreting antiwar and prowar activism as expressions of fundamentally opposed value systems, this study argues that students and administrators alike engaged in an ongoing contest to define ideals such as democracy, responsibility, and conscience. Through a micro-historical lens, the project analyzes how these contested vocabularies were invoked, reinterpreted, and performed in protests, counter-protests, and administrative policies. Drawing from a wide array of archival sources—including student newspapers, protest ephemera, administrative records, and visual …

Missionaries And Magic: Freed People, Conjure And Reformation During Southern Reconstruction, Sanaa Belton

Undergraduate Research Awards

I argue in the pages to follow that during the Reconstruction period, reformation efforts by white northern activists attempted to shift the perception of Conjure from a dangerous yet useful spiritual tradition that served both the enslaved and their enslavers, to a spiritual tradition representative of a savage and backwards African people. Mainstream religious movements of the 1800s, the same movements that contributed to the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s and early 1930s, were centered on the moral reformation of the United States. Missionary societies that branched off from these larger religious movements sent workers into southern states to …

“For Rescuing His Horse”: An Anthrozoological Approach To Dissent In Seventeenth-Century New England, Richard Mcgee

Open Access Master's Theses

The seventeenth-century colonization of New England entailed varying social, political, economic, cultural, and religious processes that were driven by and impacted several peoples. However, the presence of animals is undermentioned. This thesis forms an animal history of seventeenth-century New England, explains how different peoples understood human-animal relations, and evaluates how human-animal connectivity impacted how people conceptualized and conducted settler-colonialism. This thesis especially interrogates why some Puritan colonists limited different understandings of human-animal relations in the 1600s, namely from Indigenous Peoples, Quakers, and dissenting colonists deemed criminals. This thesis proposes that some Puritans restricted different concepts of human-animal relations because those …

Creating A Modern American Piano: Antecedent, Launch, And Reinvention Of Mason & Hamlin's Piano Line Through 1905, Arian Sheets

Dissertations and Theses

The American piano industry was in a significant period of technical innovation, increased production, and standardization during the second half of the nineteenth century. This resulted in the American form of the instrument dominating the design and sound ideals still expected of the modern piano. Mason & Hamlin, a major reed organ company, entered the piano market in the early 1880s, relatively late compared to the largest, and most market-dominant companies, such as Steinway and Chickering. This thesis examines the origin and early implementation of the designs and innovations that have become standard for the modern American piano, and how …

[Intorduction To] Shakers At The Center : Manifesting Spirits & Spectacles In Nineteenth-Century America, Douglas L. Winiarski

Bookshelf

Edited by Douglas WIniarski.

"Exploring the theological, social, and cultural dimensions of one of America’s most ambitious prophetic movements

The Shakers’ Era of Manifestations ranks among the most astounding events in American religious history. During the 1840s, members of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing embarked on an audacious project of receiving visions, revelations, and other manifestations from the spirit world and convincing both themselves and the world’s people of their reality. Gifted Shakers known as “instruments” surrendered their bodies to possessing spirits and celestial beings who, in turn, provided the Believers with an unimaginable number of …

Presidential Slaves: The Story Of Black People In The Lives Of Antebellum U.S. Presidents, Nika Davis

History Dissertations

The historical narrative about American slavery included many topics such as the African slave trade, the Middle Passage, slave culture, rebellions, religion, and abolition.  This study revealed more information to be examined in the record of American slavery relating to the presidents of the United States and their enslaved laborers.  This oversight proved prevalent during the years leading to the American Civil War from 1820-1860.  Therefore, this dissertation focused upon the enslaved and free Black people who intersected with the presidents and their friends, political acquaintances, and family.  By studying their lives, this dissertation revealed that the slaves associated with …

Models Of Emulation: Representations Of Foreign, Indigenous, And Accented Speech In Early American Literature, Elaina A. Frulla

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

“Models of Emulation: Representations of Foreign, Indigenous, and Accented Speech in Early American Literature” explores how American writers used depictions of “nonstandard” English and accented English language speech, traditionally described as “literary dialect,” as a way to negotiate identity, power, and political belonging in the formative years of nation building after the American Revolution. Beginning with Noah Webster’s mission to establish a standardized pronunciation of the English language that would simplify and purify spoken American-English and definitively differentiate it from what he saw as the corrupted, cosmopolitan British-English model, each of the three chapters examines literary representations of nonstandard emulated …

German Science, American Manufacturing: Ethnic Capital, Transnational Technology, And Corporate Development At Bausch & Lomb, 1853–1953, George L. Grobe Iv

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

This dissertation examines the first century of the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company, founded in Rochester, NY in 1853 by German immigrants John Jacob Bausch and Henry Lomb. It argues the firm’s success was driven by leveraging of management’s German ethnic identity as “ethnic capital” to access resources like financial liquidity, immigrant labor, and technical expertise. These resources allowed for the transformation of the firm from a small optical retail shop into a major manufacturer of advanced optical instruments. However, as later generations of the family Americanized, the ability of the firm to leverage ethnic capital eroded until breaking completely …

“None In Velvet Gowns”: Camp Followers And White Womanhood In Eighteenth-Century Anglo-American Warfare, Angelica Labren Torres

History Theses

For over two hundred years, women who followed American and European armies during the long eighteenth century were popularly stereotyped and denigrated as prostitutes, burdens, and generally individuals of ill repute by both contemporaries and subsequent generations of historians. While recent scholarship has largely debunked this long-standing characterization as simplistic and inaccurate, the question remains: why exactly were these women so mischaracterized in their own time, particularly by commissioned officers and other members of Anglo-American middling and elite classes, when ample evidence existed of their material usefulness and comparative marital fidelity? This thesis seeks to address the ideological and cultural …

A Content Analysis Of Black Women's Race And Gender Depiction In American History Textbooks, Le'marqunita De'sharay Lowe

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Using a race and gender analytical lens, this research study examined how Black women were depicted in four secondary Advanced Placement Pearson’s history textbooks. Content analysis was the methodology to collect data from Pearson’s Advanced Placement history textbooks. Captions and images were analyzed to observe the patterns and themes that displayed the intersection between Black women's race and gender depiction. The interdisciplinary fields of history and education allowed an in-depth analysis of race and gender to be conducted throughout this research study. Two research questions were answered throughout this study. What do captions and images teach about the race and …

Carlotta And Yager Valley: The First Hundred Years, Paula Gundlach Mchenry, Janet Corbett Mattson

Trade & Scholarly Monographs

This book is laid out as a timeline covering the first 100 years that Yager Creek and Carlotta were being settled. Included are not only the happenings in the area but events that were occurring outside the area that would have affected or been of interest to Humboldt County residents. Great care has been taken to preserve the history of the area, to learn who the families were, their reason for coming to the area, and where they came from. This book was compiled through the effort of the entire community.

Walking In The Footsteps Of My Ancestors: A Deep Map Of Cherokee Forced Removal, Deborah Lyn Kirk

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In this study of the place of Cherokee forced removal, I use a Third Space approach to blend Indigenous Methodologies, Deep Mapping, Geospatial mapping and analysis, and 3D Geography. Using a hybrid platform that provides a mélange of media types, storytelling forms, and interactive tools, I reimagine and retell the story of the Cherokee “Trail of Tears.”

In accordance with Cherokee philosophies of duyuktv, harmony, and “a good mind” I first sought out Cherokee sponsorship from community respected and culturally knowledgeable Cherokee citizens; partnered with the National Trail of Tears Association (NTOTA); submitted my research proposal to the Cherokee …

Under The Influence: New York’S Crisis Of Addiction, Exploitation, And Drug Policy Within Depression-Era Films, Simone White

Rushton Journal of Undergraduate Humanities Research

During the 1930s, New York City stood at the center of media innovation and cultural influence. It was also the center of the continuing opioid epidemic and a pivotal site for the reception and promotion of addiction films. This article argues that Depression-era films, The Struggle (1931), Narcotic (1933), and Assassin of Youth (1938), reflected economic, political, and moral anxieties surrounding drug abuse. Using National Board of Review records, studio pressbooks, and contemporary periodicals, this study examines how cinematic portrayals of addiction influenced ideologies, criminalized users, and deepened social stigma.