Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Two More Proclamations For A Special New Years Eve, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

'In accordance, as I believe, with the will of our Heavenly Father, and by direction of your great and good friend, whose name you are all familiar with, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, on the 1st day of January, 1863, you will be declared "for ever free."' [excerpt]

Resolute On The Eve Of Emancipation, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

In the eyes of William Lloyd Garrison, Abraham Lincoln stood waffling on the issue of slavery in the early days of December 1862. To be quite fair, in Garrison's eyes nearly anyone aside from William Lloyd Garrison stood waffling on the issue of slavery most of the time. [excerpt]

Kings And Princes: Christmas In Gettysburg, 1862, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

In a house along the first block of the north side of Chambersburg Street, a small metallic ticking noise signaled change. The calendar read December 24th, 1862. The rhythmic tapping was a voice, reaching out in code along thin strips of metal dangling from poles running to the east out of town. Soon, "Hanover, York, Harrisburg, and Baltimore," were sending their glad tidings to Gettysburg's citizens. Then soon, Gettysburg found herself on that Christmas Eve connected, "with all the world and the rest of mankind," the Adams Sentinel reported. In the home of John Scott along Chambersburg Street, the telegraph …

Homes Across The Border: Russian Summer Houses In The Karelian Isthmus And The Finnish State, 1917–1927, Kitty Lam

Faculty Publications & Research

At the end of the 19th century, numerous St. Petersburg residents established their summer homes in the Karelian Isthmus, a picturesque region in the Grand Duchy of Finland, an autonomous province of the Russian Empire. The ease of travel between the Russian imperial capital and the Finnish seaside towns contributed to this practice. After 1917, a new border regime delineated the nascent Finnish state from the equally new Russian/ Soviet state. This change displaced the majority of Russian proprietors, as well as those imperial subjects who rented vacation properties from local Finns. This article addresses how state-building practices distinguishing between …

Adventus: The Great Coming Of 1862, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

A couple of weeks ago, I spent a weekend in Harpers Ferry helping to interpret that amazing place for the National Historical Park's annual Christmas 1864 event. One of the greatest joys of my desk job in interpretive training is getting back out into a parkscape to test out new ideas and practices. This time it gave me the chance to experiment out in the field, wearing the olde-timey clothes of the 1860s and discussing how hammers, anvils and black labor won the war through the U.S. Quartermasters Depot at Harpers Ferry. The event is amazingly fun and infinitely powerful …

We Are Also What We Eat With: A Review Of Consider The Fork: A History Of How We Cook And Eat By Bee Wilson, Claire Stewart

Publications and Research

Consider the Fork: A History of How we Cook and Eat, by Bee Wilson discusses how kitchen tools and utensils are not mere inanimate objects. Rather, kitchen tools have shaped the way we cook, and fashioned the manner in which we eat and shaped our civilization in unexpected ways. A book review by Claire Stewart.

In Response To Kevin: Truncated And Sliced, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

There is not one program given on any Civil War battle landscape that cannot, somewhere in it's natural flow and using resource-specific elements and tangibles, discuss the cause and context of the war in a meaningful and thematically-integrated way. Period. Full Stop.

Furthermore and because of this, there is no reason or excuse not to cover the cause and context of the war in a meaningful, thematically-integrated and site-specific way in every personal services program in some manner or fashion. Period. Full Stop. [excerpt]

Aa Ms 06 Home Is Where I Make It - Oral History Collection Finding Aid, Marieke Van Der Steenhoven

Search the Manuscript Collection (Finding Aids)

Description:

This oral history project was directed by Dr. Maureen Elgersman Lee, of USM, and Rachel Talbot Ross. The interviews were conducted by local high school students. The Collection includes transcripts, photographs and audiotapes from the two phases of the project, which documented African American life in the Greater Portland and Lewiston-Auburn areas.

Date Range:

2001-2003

Size of Collection:

1 ft.

Spielberg's Dead Wrong About The Dead; Or, The Places In The Movie Where I Cried, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

I stood in front of the rostrum in the National Cemetery with my parents. They hadn't seen the movie yet. My best-friend was next to them. He hadn't seen it yet. Another compatriot joined us who had seen it, but we were definitely outnumbered in our little knot of folks within the massive crowd. As Spielberg continued speaking, I leaned in to the group. "You really need to see the movie," I said, knowing that no matter whose ears it hit the odds were it'd hit a meaningful target. [excerpt]

Living Fortress Of The Heart: Resonance Of Emancipation, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

Jacob dragged me somewhere again. I really should learn to say, "no," because no matter where I get dragged by Jake, it always ends up wrecking my brain for months and making me obsess about some amazingly minute interpretive experience. But I'm a glutton for interpretive punishment. [excerpt]

"With High Hope For The Future": Holy Temples Of Democracy, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

I did it again. I went to Pennsylvania Historical Association's annual conference (this year in Harrisburg). I always seem to be the black sheep at these gathering, focused on raw emotional meanings and the usable past far more than the broader historiographical implications of either the proverbial or actual price of tea in China. This year I went to present a paper on the knock-down, dragout brawl that Daniel Sickles and William H. Tipton have throughout 1893 over the preservation of the Gettysburg Battlefield to a room full of professional historians. [excerpt]

Preserving Our Cemeteries_ Action Steps To Making It Happen.Jpg, Sue Lynn Mcdaniel

SCL Faculty and Staff Publications

This article resulted from attending Preservation Kentucky's "Our History Rests Here: Preservation and Restoration of Historic Cemeteries" workshop. As a member of the Warren County Cemetery Board, the author gives 15 practical steps for cemetery enthusiasts, property owners and family members. It informs its readers how to get in touch with the author and encourages local citizens to get involved.

A Matter Of Scale: Assessing The Great Recession Against The Great Depression, Steven L. Danver

Walden Faculty and Staff Publications

The Great Depression of the 1930s and the Great Recession of the late 2000s are compared using economic, social, and political measures to determine if the later economic downturn was as much of a bellwether event as its predecessor.

Don Quijote: Una Esmerada Crítica De La Sociedad Aún Valiosa En Nuestros Días (Don Quixote: A Detailed Critique Of Spanish Society), Jeremy W. Bachelor

Faculty Scholarship – Spanish

El tema del presente trabajo trata sobre Don Quijote, una crítica de Cervantes sobre la sociedad española de su época. El objetivo principal de la investigación es analizar lo que precisamente criticaba Cervantes y cómo esa crítica de la realidad española se hizo patente en la novela. Los objetivos incluyen el análisis de la estratificación socioeconómica de la sociedad, la descripción de la transición del feudalismo a las fases iniciales del capitalismo, una explicación del sistema principal de valores de la sociedad en el contexto de la transición y un análisis del papel de la Iglesia y de las …

"I Grow So Weary Of The Sound Of Screams": The Real Ghosts Of Gettysburg, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

Down on Baltimore Street, in the front yard of the sprawling complex that calls itself the "Farnsworth House," a tombstone used to sit. It was greyish-white, tall and arched at the top. In front of the marker, the dirt sat freshly turned, a single rose marking the grave. On the stone's face was the motif of a cherub. And under the wings were inscribed, "In Memory of Benajah Edwards who Departed this Life July 2 1863." [excerpt]

The Whole War In One Photo, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

Broken chains and muskets: the very essence of the slaveholder's rebellion. The war was caused by a blind, stalwart defense of slavery. The war hinged upon the future of slavery in America. The war shattered slavery in the United States forever. [excerpt]

Why The "Harvest Of Death" Doesn't Matter (And Why It Does), John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

I went on a tour a few Sundays ago. It was very tough to explain exactly what I had done (in sensible terms) with my coworkers when I came into the office the next Monday morning. Not just very tough, but embarrassingly tough.

THEM: "What did you do this weekend, John?"

ME: "Well, Sunday I went on a tour of places on the Gettysburg battlefield where one specific photo wasn't taken-"

THEM: *blank stare* [excerpt]

Fear In Illinois: A Father's Grief, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

Like a prose poem, the passage leaped off of the page of the Lutheran and Missionary as I scanned the newspaper's columns. Sitting in the reading room of the Abdel Ross Wentz Library at the Lutheran Theological Seminary, my heart raced. It's not often that you find new words penned by someone you've been studying for years. [excerpt]

Salyers, Mary Alice, 1910-1998 - Letters To (Mss 430), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 430. Courtship letters sent to Mary Alice Salyers, Somerset, Kentucky from various suitors, chiefly Charles Duke Payne, a Christian minister and her future husband, Richard Allen Hays.

Divided Maryland: Antietam 150th Interpretive Talk, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

A few weeks ago, I spent an amazing weekend interpreting the Dunker Church. Not many of you were able to visit that amazing place on that amazing weekend.

For those of you out there who didn't get to see my talks that weekend, or for those of you who would like to live them again, check out this MP3 recording of the presentation, with added music and sound. [excerpt]

Ruff, Joseph Carl (Fa 166), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 166. Project titled “African American education in south central Kentucky, 1920-1960.” Interviews with twenty-nine African Americans regarding their experiences as students and teachers in fourteen Kentucky counties.

The Coverings Of An Empire: An Examination Of Ottoman Headgear From 1500 To 1829, Connor H. Richardson

Student Publications

This paper investigates the socio-economic and religious implications of hats worn in the Ottoman Empire from the mid-sixteenth century to 1829, when they were all replaced with the legendary fez. It acts as an initial compendium, drawing heavily from primary sources to explain who wore which style of headgear and why.

Joshua And Dulcinea: A Conflict Between Country And Family, Timothy H. Koenig

Student Publications

This research paper analyzes the struggle that Confederate soldier Joshua Callaway had in balancing his loyalty to his state and to his family in the context of what was expected of Southern men both before and during the Civil War.

The Octofoil, October/November/December 2012, Ninth Infantry Division Association

The Octofoil

The Octofoil is the offical publication of the Ninth Infantry Division Association, Inc., an organization formed by the officers and men of the 9th Infantry Division in order to perpetuate the memory of fallen comrades, preserve the esprit de corps of the Division, promote peace and serve as an information bureau about the 9th Infantry Division. The Association is made up of 9th Infantry veterans from WWII and Vietnam, spouses, widows and lineal descendants.

Tynes, Lillian Iona, 1925-2010 (Mss 431), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 431. Sundry items from Lillian Iona Tynes’s childhood and adolescence in Russellville, Kentucky, including greeting and holiday cards, correspondence, diaries, report cards, programs from school functions, news clippings, church programs, and more.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett And The Carceral State, Patricia A. Schechter

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

My remarks today are entitled "Ida B. Wells-Barnett and the Carceral State." I want to focus on the carceral state—that is, the government functions of 'confining, surveillance and punishment'—in order to engage with some recent scholarship on race, policing, and imprisonment in the United States. These are topics that Wells-Barnett had a great deal to say about hundred years ago, especially as related to lynching. I’d like to suggest that her work in prison reform, probation work, and advocacy for inmates back in the progressive era connects to the contemporary crisis around race and mass incarceration in important ways.

Veritas: The Power Of The Real, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

There's something about touching the actual thing, something about contacting the real that makes a distant world come immediately to life. There's an excitement about that moment when you see and touch something a piece of another world. A Thomas the Tank Engine character reminded me of this fact recently. Watch the young boy's face as he picks Stanley back up in a cornfield after his favorite toy travels to space and back. [excerpt]

Undated Letter From Unknown Sender To John Plimpton Green

John Plimpton Green Letters

No abstract provided.

Gardner, Tandy Thomas, 1865-1963 (Sc 511), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan of selected pages from album (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 511. Autograph album covering the period that Gardner was a student at Southern Normal School and Business College, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Also, copy of 1962 newspaper interview with the 97 year old Gardner.

Decantillon, Mary E. (Sc 514), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 514. Autograph album of Mary E. DeCantillon of Louisville, Kentucky, which contains essays as well as autographs.