Digital Commons Network^™

Predictors Of Delayed Recovery In Ambulatory Advanced Endoscopic Procedures, Zoilo K Suarez, Alexandria Lenyo, Philip M Frasse, Derek J Platt, Thomas Hollander, Talwinder Nagi, Michael Dedonno, Vladimir Kushnir, Juan Reyes Genere

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: There is a scarcity of data evaluating patient-related outcomes of advanced or complex endoscopy (ACE) through the post-anesthesia recovery course. Yet, gastrointestinal distress following ACE can occur commonly, and this may impact recovery length of stay and the approach to post-anesthesia care. This study aimed to describe post-procedural symptoms in patients undergoing ACE and identify factors that influence recovery time and course.

METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed a prospectively collected database of patients who underwent ambulatory ACE. Procedural-related symptoms, recovery time, dismissal rate, and adverse events (AE) were recorded. Factors associated with extended recovery time were analyzed using multiple regression …

Acute Myocardial Infarction In Medicare Beneficiaries During And After The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jonah M Graves, R J Waken, Fengxian Wang, Rishi K Wadhera, Jose F Figueroa, E John Orav, Osvaldo J Laurido-Soto, Karen E Joynt Maddox

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: During early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, presentations for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) declined significantly, and outcomes worsened. However, the full extent and long-term sequelae of changes in AMI epidemiology during the pandemic remain uncertain, as does whether these patterns differed by rurality.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiology of AMI-related hospitalizations, interventions, and outcomes among Medicare beneficiaries throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on differences in urban and rural populations.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective cohort study included all Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries with AMI between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2023, in the analysis. Data were analyzed from …

Performance Of Multiple Multi-Cancer Detection Tests Using A Large Independent Reference Set (Alliance A212102), Marie E Wood, Mark Watson, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Reference sets are needed to evaluate performance of multi-cancer detection (MCD) assays. The National Cancer Institute funded the Alliance reference set study to assess MCDs for use in future trials.

METHODS: Individuals with cancer and controls were recruited; blood specimens were collected prior to cancer treatment. A performance evaluation study was designed utilizing reference set samples. Companies (n = 6) were selected to participate based on review of performance data and ability to utilize the blood collection tube. Companies received samples from cancer types their assay was designed to detect ("targeted"), plus additional "non-targeted" and control samples. Companies reported …

Use Of Inverse Probability Weighting In Cardiovascular Surgical Outcomes Research: Principles, Limitations, And Recommendations, Zhongjian Liu, Wei-Guo Ma, Lei Liu, Prashanth Vallabhajosyula, Haibo Wang

2020-Current year OA Pubs

This statistical primer presents a comprehensive introduction to the use of inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW), a method for rebalancing group confounders at baseline in cardiovascular surgical outcomes research. We leveraged a retrospective study comparing the outcomes of 2 different surgical approaches to aortic arch pathology to illustrate the essential aspects of performing IPTW, including basic theories, application, extreme weights, underestimated variance, heterogeneity of treatment effect, and multicollinearity. The limitations of IPTW were discussed with examples of solutions. Ten practical recommendations are made on avoiding the pitfalls in the use of IPTW. Proper use of IPTW may effectively reduce …

Mda5-Mavs And Interferon-Lambda Signaling In The Intestinal Epithelium Limit Murine Astrovirus Infection, Heyde Makimaa, Harshad Ingle, Leran Wang, Somya Aggarwal, Hongju Deng, Elizabeth A Kennedy, Lynne Foster, Yuhao Li, Megan T Baldridge

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Human astroviruses (HAstVs) are a global cause of pediatric gastroenteritis and can cause disseminated infection in immunocompromised hosts. Murine astrovirus (muAstV) causes acute asymptomatic infections in immunocompetent mice and chronic infection in immunodeficient models and has provided important insights into AstV pathogenesis in vivo. MuAstV can protect immunodeficient mice from other enteric viruses via robust induction of antiviral cytokine interferon-lambda (IFN-λ), with recent findings implicating goblet cells and enterocytes as both cell types infected by muAstV as well as potential sources of IFN-λ in vivo. However, the viral sensing pathways that regulate induction of IFN-λ, as well as the specific …

Ten Tips On How To Prevent And Manage Post-Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disease In Kidney Transplant Recipients, Rose Mary Attieh, Armin Ghobadi, Naoka Murakami

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) remains a challenging and high-impact complication of kidney transplantation, requiring thoughtful prevention, timely recognition, and multidisciplinary management. Key strategies include careful selection of immunosuppressive regimens, particularly avoiding belatacept in Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-seronegative recipients and exercising caution with lymphodepleting induction in EBV-mismatched pairs, along with targeted EBV surveillance in high-risk patients. Once PTLD is suspected or confirmed, accurate staging and a stepwise treatment approach beginning with reduction of immunosuppression and escalating to rituximab, chemotherapy, or advanced cellular therapies are essential, with EBV-CTLs and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy offering promising options in refractory disease. Close monitoring for …

Differential Regulation Of Cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate By Phosphodiesterase 3a Discriminates Thrombin-Induced Protease Activated Receptor 1- And 4-Dependent Platelet Activation, Izabella Andrianova, Abigail Ajanel, Jesse W Rowley, Darian C Murray, Yasuhiro Kosaka, Frederik Denorme, Paul F Bray, Robert A Campbell

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Human platelets express 2 thrombin-activated G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), protease activated receptor (PAR)1 and PAR4. Previous studies have demonstrated PAR1 activation to be fast on-fast off while PAR4 activation was slower but more sustained. However, how PARs regulate second messengers such as cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), a negative regulator of platelet activation, remain unknown.

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated how PAR1 and PAR4 activation by thrombin regulates cAMP levels and platelet activation.

METHODS: PAR1 and PAR4 on washed human platelets were inhibited with vorapaxar or BMS-986120, respectively, in the presence or absence of prostaglandin (PG)I

RESULTS: In the presence of …

Dissent By Design: Graphic Communication And The Continuity Of Resistance As A Civic Practice In The United States, Ryan "Rain" Milligan

Theses

Graphic communication has played a role in shaping civic life in the United States throughout much of its history, influencing how individuals recognize injustice, understand systems of power, and participate in collective action. Typically associated with moments of protest or political upheaval, printed materials such as pamphlets, broadsides, newspapers, and posters have also functioned as everyday tools that structure public engagement. This project examines these materials through the framework of agitation, education, and organization, considering how graphic communication operates across different historical contexts to provoke recognition, make complex ideas accessible, and coordinate collective effort. Drawing from a range of historical …

An Artist’S Playground: Building Bridges Between Children’S Education And Their Knowledge Of Art Through Multi-Modal Learning, Alice J. Cauchi

Theses

Not all museums welcome children as part of their main audience with open arms. Research suggests that experiencing museums as a child supports classroom learning and development, but only when the museums engage young children properly. This paper explores how incorporating multi-modal interactives into art museums can effectively engage children, ages 4 to 8, and build a foundation that supports lifelong learning. Drawing on ideas from early-childhood education, museum visitor-engagement studies, and interactivity sciences, this project results in a framework that guides art museums on how they can overlap play, interactives, and content to incorporate this age group effectively to …

Emote - A Modular Action Figure For Childhood Emotional Growth, Terrence Li

Theses

Emotional regulation and communication are one of the most important skills that we can learn. This skill allows us not only to recognize and effectively communicate our feelings to others but also allows us to recognize them in others. Although learning and recognizing these emotions may be a pursuit in which progress varies from person to person, this skill is especially invaluable to young children. Beginning as early as the age of 3, many children begin to show early awareness of their own emotions, such as reacting to discomfort or comfort, or starting to use words for feelings. This learning …

Under The Surface: A Scalable Experiential Framework For Accessible Design Archives, Lo Fasano

Theses

Preserving design history is usually done by hiding it away. While institutions like the Vignelli Center for Design Studies house over 750,000 artifacts, the vast majority remain in restricted storage, with minimal space dedicated to displaying process materials alongside canonical final works. Digital archives document portions of these collections, but typically present them as static image galleries, leaving the evolutionary logic of a design, and the human labor behind it, invisible to the public. Under the Surface is a scalable, interactive framework designed to bridge archival preservation and public discovery. By transforming preserved artifacts into real-time digital experiences, the project …

Adapting Specpt For Hst Grism Spectroscopy Via Transfer Learning, Clive Kalathoor Binu

Theses

This thesis demonstrates the successful application of transfer learning to bridge ground-based and space-based spectroscopic analysis through adapting SpecPT (Spectroscopy Pre-trained Transformer) for Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 grism data for redshift prediction. Originally trained on high-resolution DESI spectra, SpecPT initially failed when applied directly to low-resolution, noisy HST WFC3 grism observations (Normalized Median Absolute Deviation (NMAD) = 0.2095, catastrophic outlier fraction ($\eta$) = 47.97\%). Through transfer learning on 8,530 high-quality 3D-HST spectra with emission-line SNR > 2.5 and z < 1.7, the model achieved substantial improvement (NMAD = 0.0724, $\eta$ = 26.69\%), representing a 65\% reduction in typical redshift error and 46\% decrease in catastrophic failures. The research addresses two primary objectives: establishing transfer learning effectiveness for cross-domain spectroscopic analysis and investigating whether supplementing grism spectra with broadband photometric data enhances performance. Counterintuitively, integrating comprehensive multi-wavelength photometric data from CANDELS significantly degraded performance (NMAD = 0.1641, $\eta$ = 36.51\%), challenging conventional astronomical assumptions about multi-modal data fusion and revealing critical failure modes in astronomical machine learning. This work establishes a unified framework for automated analysis of both ground-based and space-based spectroscopic surveys, with important implications for JWST, Euclid, and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. The demonstrated capability to adapt models across instrumental domains provides a scalable approach for processing large data volumes from next-generation missions, validating foundational model approaches that can be developed once and efficiently adapted across diverse observational contexts.

In-Context Retrieval For Molecules And Chemical Synthesis Pathways, Abhisek Dey

Theses

Contrastive learning methods require well-defined positive pairs, limiting their applicability to domains where complete, high-fidelity pairings are available. In practice, large-scale scientific corpora --including patents, publications, and web-scale data -- contain vast quantities of contextually relevant but incompletely paired samples that are discarded under standard training paradigms. In this work, we demonstrate that hard negative mining can be leveraged to construct pseudo-positive supervision signals from unpaired or partially paired data, enabling contrastive learning to exploit the full breadth of available corpora without sacrificing representational quality. Using a large-scale chemical drug patent corpus as a testbed, we train a cross-modal contrastive …

The Best Practices For Prefabrication Of Industrial Buildings, Derek Gines

Theses

Prefabrication has demonstrated measurable and repeatable advantages in productivity, cost certainty, and environmental performance, yet its adoption within industrial building typologies remains largely inconsistent. Existing research largely evaluates prefabrication through downstream performance outcomes, while offering limited insight into the upstream design and organizational decisions that enable or undermine its reliability. This thesis reframes prefabrication as a design‑led methodology rather than a construction optimization, arguing that successful hybrid prefabrication is determined primarily by early decision timing, governance structures, and the control of spatial and logistical interfaces. This study adopts a qualitative design‑research approach that combines comparative case study analysis with expert …

De Novo Heterozygous Variants Of The Rsf1 Gene Are Responsible For A Syndromic Neurodevelopmental Disorder, Céline Jost, Daniel Wegner, Marwan Shinawi, Kathleen Sisco, Alexander J Paul, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) are a wide and heterogenous group of conditions due to impaired brain development, orchestrated by the crosstalk between genome and environment. Dynamic chromatin regulation during cortical development is fundamental, and chromatin remodelers are critical determinants of this process. Recently, numerous chromatin remodeling genes have been implicated in NDDs. By altering genes' epigenetic state, mutated chromatin remodelers disrupt the spatiotemporal regulation of gene expression during development, potentially leading to severe consequences. The Remodeling and Spacing Factor 1 (RSF1) gene encodes a ubiquitous nuclear protein involved in chromatin remodeling, crucial for processes such as DNA transcription, replication, and repair. …

Sialidosis Type I: How To Alleviate Disabling Myoclonic Seizures? - A Multicenter Analysis Of Eight Cases And Review Of The Literature, Janina Gburek-Augustat, Shao Ching Tu, Marwan Shinawi, Isabel Alfradique-Dunham, Manouela Valtcheva, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: Sialidosis type I (ST-1) is an autosomal-recessive, very rare, progressive lysosomal storage disorder caused by pathogenic variants in NEU1. It is clinically characterized by progressive ataxia, myoclonic seizures (MS), bilateral tonic-clonic seizures (BTCS), and distinctive ophthalmological findings. Given the lack of curative options, in this study, we investigated symptomatic treatment strategies, with a particular focus on the efficacy of antiseizure medications (ASMs).

METHODS: We describe the clinical course of a patient followed from diagnosis to 18 years of age, and review seven additional cases from our cohort. In parallel, we conducted a narrative review of the literature (PubMed, January …

Neuropsychiatric Symptoms Mimicking Dementia In A Patient Treated With Imatinib, Ashley Jones, Samuele Bonomi, Keith E Stockerl-Goldstein, Randall J Bateman

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors are the cornerstone of chronic myeloid leukemia treatment. Newer agents have more potency and a broader spectrum of action, but also a higher potential for neuropsychiatric side effects. We present a case of a patient on imatinib who developed progressive cognitive, mood, and behavioral alterations. He was investigated for dementia and psychiatric disorders but ultimately improved only after discontinuing imatinib. His decompensation years after therapy start, followed by complete and rapid remission, is atypical. We also review the most recent neurobiological findings on the role of tyrosine kinase alterations in dementia and their importance for mood regulation.

Sensitivity And Concordance Study Of An Open Source Epid-Based Linear Accelerator Test Suite, Lana C Critchfield, Cory S Knill, Ellie Durussel, Justin K Mikell, Michael Barnes, Michael Pillainayagam, William P Donahue, Seng Boh Lim, John J Demarco, Mario Perez, Nilendu Gupta, Hania Al-Hallaq, Richard A Popple, Jim Irrer, Jean M Moran

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Electronic portal imaging devices (EPIDs) enhance linear accelerator (linac) quality assurance (QA) efficiency but are not universally used beyond patient-specific IMRT QA. A multi-institutional Consortium seeks to standardize linac QA utilizing an EPID-based test suite.

PURPOSE: This study evaluates the sensitivity of a test suite to intentional linac and plan errors and the concordance with linac fluctuations over time.

METHODS: Baseline and error-introduced tests were performed on a Varian TrueBeam and Clinac. Evaluated parameters included enhanced dynamic wedge factors (EDW) (6MV), central axis dose (6MV, 6MV FFF, 16MV), focal spot alignment and beam symmetry (6MV, 16MV), dose rate-gantry speed …

The Femoral Head Edema Zone: A Novel Classification Scheme To Better Predict Osteonecrosis Progression, Deniz C Ince, Vivek P Shah, Kenichi Kikuchi, Kyle P O'Connor, Elizabeth L Yanik, John C Clohisy, Cecilia Pascual-Garrido

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: This study proposed a new classification, the Edema Zone classification, that uses magnetic resonance imaging images to grade the extent of edema in osteonecrosis of the femoral head. The purpose of the study was (1) to examine how the Edema Zone classification compared to the Japanese Investigation Committee (JIC) classification's prognostic ability for early conversion to total hip arthroplasty (THA), and (2) to determine how accurately and reliably the Edema Zone classification performed as a classification system.

METHODS: This was a retrospective study of hips that converted to THA from a core decompression within 26 months compared to hips …

Cardiac Radiotherapy-Induced Epigenetic Memory Underlies Electrophysiologic And Metabolic Reprogramming, Samuel D. Jordan, Shuhua Fu, Abigail Fulkerson, Donghua Hu, Sherwin Ng, David M. Zhang, Sneha Manikandan, Jeffrey Szymanski, Nan Hu, Yuqian Xie, Anish Bedi, James Tabor, Lauren Boggs-Bailey, Lori Strong, Stephanie Hicks, Lavanya Aryan, Nishanth Gabriel, Geoffrey D. Hugo, Kuo-Chan Weng, Nathaniel Huebsch, Julie K. Schwarz, Bo Zhang, Stacey L. Rentschler

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Stereotactic arrhythmia radiotherapy (STAR) is emerging as a highly effective treatment for ventricular tachycardia (VT). Growing evidence indicates that STAR favorably reprograms the electrical substrate by speeding conduction and/or prolonging repolarization via modulation of ion channel expression, although the mechanisms by which single-fraction radiation mediates durable changes in gene expression are incompletely understood. Here, we identify dynamic changes in the cardiomyocyte epigenome and transcriptome after irradiation (IR) in vivo and in vitro, including durably increased expression and chromatin accessibility of Scn5a (encodes the α subunit of the sodium channel, NaV1.5), demonstrating a role for epigenetic memory in conduction velocity (CV) …

Using Expert Elicitation And Systems Mapping To Support Social Innovation In The (Blue) Food System: The Case Of The Uk’S Plymouth Fish Finger, Clare Pettinger, Kelly Parsons, Yanaina Irazu Chavez-Ugalde, Louise Hunt, Carol Wagstaff

School of Health Professions

Background: The imperative for food system transformation is well known, yet to date there has been minimal emphasis on the blue food system [foods sourced from marine and freshwater environments]. Generally, a food systems approach should shift away from linear and move towards more systems thinking to embrace complexity. This paper focuses on a local social innovation project (Plymouth Fish Finger (PFF)) which has pioneered localising the blue food system. This study aimed to elicit how the (policy and practice) system around the PFF can be appraised to optimise social innovation practices for (blue) food system transformation. Methods: Expert elicitation …

A Test Case For Raccoon Roundworm Anthelmintic Baiting In Western Virginia, Karen Powers, W. Jayme Viers, Carolyn K. Rossmeisl, L Kristen Page

Virginia Journal of Science

As a test case to determine the efficacy of anthelmintic baiting to reduce raccoon roundworm (Baylisascaris procyonis) prevalence in western Virginia, we deployed baits in a mountainous area of Roanoke Co., Virginia that historically was occupied by Allegheny woodrats (Neotoma magister). We deployed anthelmintic baits at 6-wk intervals from August to December 2024 at a density of 100/km². We opportunistically collected raccoon (Procyon lotor) scat in the drop area from August 2024 to May 2025 and found a marked decline in prevalence of raccoon roundworm in the samples. Deeming this a measured …

Production Of Black And Navy Beans In Virginia, Harbans L. Bhardwaj, Satya S. S. Narina Ph.D.

Virginia Journal of Science

An urgent need exists in Virginia and adjoining states to identify crops to replace declining tobacco acreage. Although not traditionally grown in the region, dry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) have considerable potential as alternative summer crops due to their nutritional benefits and increasing consumer demand. Information on the production potential of these crops in Virginia, however, is not yet available. To remedy this situation, replicated field trials were conducted over three years with six black and four navy bean varieties to characterize grain yields following three row spacings and three planting times. Black beans significantly out-yielded navy beans (2095 …

Enhancing Urban Garden Capacity By Linking Biodiversity And Ecosystem Function, Mary T. Nguyen, Carleen Rauh, Shelby Gresch, Charlotte Correiro, Heidi Elmendorf, Adriane Fugh-Berman, Gina Wimp, Alexandra L. Decandia

Virginia Journal of Science

Urban agriculture broadly describes food and plant cultivation in metropolitan areas. While biodiversity is thought to support ecosystem health and resilience, the relationship between above-ground and below-ground diversity has been understudied in urban green spaces. This study examines plant, animal, bacterial, and fungal diversity across three distinct urban habitats: a turf lawn, a forb garden, and a farming space. Using bacterial 16S rRNA and fungal ITS2 sequencing, soil nutrient analyses, and surveys of vegetation and wildlife, we connect diverse philosophies in urban agriculture to their role in advancing community diversity and ecosystem function. We found that different urban gardens support …

An Austrian Approach To Accounting Regulation: How Policy Intervention Distorts The Market For Assurance Services, Kyan Howe

Student Scholarship

This thesis applies the causal-realist method of the Austrian School of Economics to the market for assurance services in the United States. The central argument is that post-crisis accounting regulation has systematically distorted the incentive structures of independent public accounting firms in ways regulators do not predict and cannot fully control. Financial crises, properly understood through Austrian Business Cycle Theory, originate in monetary distortions rather than market failure. Post-crisis regulatory responses nonetheless target the profession rather than the underlying distortion, introducing rules that alter the institutional constraints within which auditors exercise professional judgment.

The thesis develops a judgment-based equation of …

Purpose Over Perception: Distinguishing Status From Viewpoint In A University’S Limited Public Forum, Haleigh J. Bachman

Missouri Law Review

In nearly every university, cultural centers and student organizations quietly provide tangible, essential support: one student finds a community to celebrate his shared heritage; another student finds guidance after struggling to obtain her necessary accommodations in class; an international student rehearses for a cultural showcase that will be the highlight of his semester. These spaces provide community, safety, and a sense of belonging that classrooms and lecture halls often do not. Nevertheless, public universities often face challenges in allocating physical space and funding resources to student organizations— particularly to those supporting cultural and affinity groups. On one hand, universities can …

Impact Of Gender Trends On Plastic Surgery Fellowship Match: Implications For Surgical Education, Irene Helenowski, Emily Miller, Bridget Foley, Victoria Hodkiewicz, Christopher Kujalowicz, Parinaz Jila Siemers, Bianca Di Chiaro, Eleanor Bucholz

Biostatistics Collaborative Core: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Background:

No prior study has evaluated gender trends within the plastic surgery subspecialty fellowship match. The purpose of this study is to examine gender trends across fellowship trainee demographics to assess and characterize existing disparities between male and female plastic surgeon counterparts.

Methods:

A review of the new board diplomates listed in the annual newsletter to diplomates of the American Board of Plastic Surgery from 2015 to 2019 was used to identify physicians who pursued various plastic surgery subspecialties. Fellowship match data, including sex, practice type, and prior residency training, were obtained from publicly accessible institutional and private practice websites, …

Ready-To-Teach Reads: Standards-Aligned Novel Studies For Seventh Grade Using Contemporary Middle Grade Fiction, Elizabeth Duvall

Senior Theses

This project aims to provide middle school English teachers with an easy way to update their curriculum to be culturally relevant using ready-to-teach unit plans based on diverse novels. Since research shows students benefit from reading texts from diverse cultures, each novel features minority voices. Both units include lesson plans for each day, and resources like slideshows, worksheets, and discussion questions. They were created using the South Carolina College and Career Ready Standards for English Language Arts. While these units are tailored to South Carolina teachers, they can be used by any educator whose standards align with the units’ learning …

Searching For Temporal Variations In The Fine-Structure Constant Using Espresso Spectrograph Data, David Hoffman Iv

Senior Theses

The fine-structure constant α is a dimensionless constant, defined as e²/(4πε₀ℏc) ≈ 1/137. On the order of human timescales, its value is very much unchanging, however, in recent years there has been extensive debate over whether or not the value of α has remained constant over cosmological timescales. With the natural corollary to a changing α being that either one or multiple of its constituent physical constants have also changed in value, observing a variation in the fine-structure constant would have vast ramifications for our understanding of the nature of the early universe and how it has evolved. While past …

Delenda Est Norfolk: The Tidewater Revolts!, Kiera Dillman, Alise Dunham, Kristen Gary, Olivia M. Haris, Nelliel A. Herrera, Logan Holzgrefe, R. J. Lynch, Adam M. Manis, David Mogan, Luke Pickard, Shayla M. Shaw, Landon Swain, Kenny Wilcox, Bailey M. Wimberly, Tracy L. Barnett

Student Projects

Introduction to the Exhibit:

Today—exactly 250 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence—many Americans trace the origins of the nation’s revolutionary sentiment to Boston, Massachusetts or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We remember the violence of March 1770, when red-coated British soldiers fired into a crowded Boston street, massacring innocent colonists and igniting outrage. We recall the patriotic defiance of the Sons of Liberty, who boarded three East India Company ships and dumped chests of imported British tea into the Boston Harbor in December 1773. We can still hear, too, the reverberations of the “shot heard ’round the world,” when British …