Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Latter-Day Saint Home As A Site Of Religious Transition, 1890–1930, Cathy Gilmore

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis examines religion as practiced in the Latter-day Saint home during a period of religious transition between 1890 and 1930. Using the family of June A. Bushman and Hyrum Smith as subjects, we examine how families managed the religious reforms of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during this period. As individuals who came of age at the turn of the twentieth century, June and Hyrum’s lives intersected with their church’s transition from an isolated religion to a modern, American church.
Administrative modernization, priesthood reforms, reimagined family relationships, and other ecclesiastical changes came into tension with the …

Treason Town: Cities As Traitors During The U.S.-Mexican War, Kelsey Foster

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

During the U.S.-Mexican War (1846-48) the U.S. army invaded Mexico from several fronts. The Mexican Army was unable to prevent U.S. troops marching into and occupying Mexico City, resulting in the transfer of a vast swath of territory from Mexico to the United States. Historians offer several explanations for Mexico's inability to repel this invasion, and one of them is the disunity of the Mexican nation. Evidence of this disunity can be seen in the response of some local leaders when they were confronted with the invading army: instead of fighting, they elected to surrender, allowing U.S. troops to occupy …

The Bray Schools And Black Education In The Early American Republic, Mitchell Allen Fellows

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Ideas about the role of education in American society were contentious during the early years of the Nation. Despite this discord, the vast majority of African Americans lacked access to educational opportunities regardless of whether they were free or enslaved. When schools for African Americans did exist, they were often established by local community leaders or by benevolent societies. Benevolent societies in the early United States existed to prevent what they perceived as a moral decline in the nation. This thesis analyzed the records of schools established by two benevolent societies, the Associates of the Late Dr. Bray and the …

The Rio Virgin: A Turbulent River, Mormon Pioneers, And The Creation Of A Landscape 1854-1921, Spencer Wayne Mcconkie

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis explores the changes to the landscape of the Virgin River Basin by Mormon pioneers and the environment between 1854 and 1921. This thesis shows the ways in which the Mormons replaced the local vegetation of the basin with new crops and expanded the area available for farming through the use of irrigation canals and different farming techniques. Along with showing the ways in which the Mormons changed the landscape the thesis explores the ways in which environmental changes played into this process. The process of creating the new landscape of the Virgin River Basin involved both natural and …

The Working Man's Rendezvous, Tameron Gentry Raines Williams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The mountain men—fur traders of the Rocky Mountain trade between 1822-1840—are prominent in the history of the American West. Their adventures and exploits have been told and retold as their legend grew as did the myth surrounding their lives. This thesis seeks to dismantle that myth through focused study on the conditions of fur trapping work, the interactions between mountain men and Indigenous tribes of the region, and the role of lesser-known Black fur trappers.

Gardens, Religion And Clerical By-Employments: The Dual Careers Of Hugh Hall, Priest-Gardener Of The West Midlands, Susan M. Cogan

History Faculty Publications

Hugh Hall was a highly sought-after gardener in late sixteenth century England. He worked in the Midlands, specifically in Worcestershire, Warwickshire, and Northamptonshire, and mostly for Catholic families. Hall was a Catholic priest who resigned his parish living after the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, but continued to perform clerical duties such as saying Mass and hearing confession alongside his second vocation as a gardener. Indeed, his esteem as a gardener and, later, surveyor of works was strong enough that he attracted Protestant clients like Lord Burghley and Sir Christopher Hatton despite his adherence to Catholicism. Hall's two vocations shaped his identity: …

The Life Of Socrates: Plato, Xenophon, And The Untapped Potential Of The Socratic Problem, Abigail R. Fritz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The primary objectives of this thesis are to argue for an approach to the Socratic problem that (1) examines Xenophon’s Socratic writings along with those of Plato, and (2) analyzes the Socratic problem with a view to the ancient conception of philosophy as a way of life. To achieve these objectives, the introductory chapter provides an overview of scholarly approaches to the Socratic problem, which have tended to favor Plato as the only reliable source on the historical Socrates. This chapter argues that such approaches are flawed, and that both authors are important sources on the historical Socrates.

The second …

History Strikes Back! The Portrayal Of Greek And Roman History In Hollywood Films And How It Furthers The Discussion Of History, Ethan P. Frost

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In an article published in 2009, Robert Rosenstone expressed disappointment in two films he played a role in developing the Reds (1981) and the The Good Fight (1984). He expressed regret the films did not reach his expectations as a historian. As a result, he wondered whether there was a point in historians being involved in the making of historical films.

This thesis focused on six historical films set in ancient Greece and Rome. The six films are Alexander the Great (1956), The 300 Spartans (1962), and 300 (2006) for Greek history; and The Last Days of Pompeii (1935), The …

Industriousness And Its Discontents: Wages, Workloads, And The Mechanisation Of Papermaking, 1750-1820, Leonard N. Rosenband

History Faculty Publications

This article considers how the capitalist practices and organisation of hand papermaking framed the coming of mechanised paper production during the Age of Revolutions. The lived experience of making paper by hand had been as tightly wrapped as the synchronised toil of its workers and the trade's wage system. Neither the 'industrial Enlightenment' nor an 'industrious revolution' had transformed paper production. Instead, the papermaking machine drew on and unravelled a durable web of skilled toil, custom, compensation, worktime, and shopfloor relationships. In doing so, the inventor of this device, Nicolas-Louis Robert, imagined that it would offer the manufacturers unfettered sway …

The Usambara Knowledge Project: Place As Archive In A Tanzanian Mountain Range, Chris A. Conte

History Faculty Publications

The essay chronicles the early phases of a digital history project on landscape change in the mountains of eastern Tanzania. In collecting sources for a land and culture narrative, the project aims ultimately to create an archive that is locally produced in Tanzania and maintained by Utah State University Library's Special Collections and Archives division. The project draws on more than thirty early twentieth-century landscape photographs from the Usambara Mountains in northeastern Tanzania by Walther Dobbertin, a professional photographer living in German East Africa. In the fall of 2015, team members scouted the sites for repeat photographs. The following summer, …

The Los Seis De Boulder Sculpture Project: A Case Study Of Socially Engaged Archivist/Artist Collaboration At The University Of Colorado Boulder, Megan K. Friedel, Jasmine Baetz

Journal of Western Archives

As academic institutions and archivists around the nation grapple with the question of how to address existing monuments to racist histories at their institutions, how can archivists support the creation of new monuments on college and university campuses that reflect suppressed or oppressed histories of people of color? This case study explores the Los Seis de Boulder Sculpture Project, a socially engaged art project at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder), in which archivists in the CU Boulder Libraries' Archives supported and collaborated with a student artist and community members to create a public monument commemorating the deaths of …

History 3220 Reader: Medieval Europe, C.500-1500, Robert J. Mueller

Course Materials

No abstract provided.

History 3225 Reader: Medieval Britain, 500-1500, Robert J. Mueller

Course Materials

No abstract provided.

History 1100 Reader: Foundations Of Western Civilization, Ancient To Medieval, Robert J. Mueller

Course Materials

No abstract provided.

History 4251 Reader: The Tudors: 1485-1603, Robert J. Mueller

Course Materials

No abstract provided.

History 3250 Reader: Renaissance Europe, 1300-1500, Robert J. Mueller

Course Materials

No abstract provided.