Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Mount Vernon And Monticello : The Changing Representation At Two Presidents' Estates, Katherine J. Simmons

Honors Theses

Before 1980, complex and controversial topics were ignored and avoided at Mount Vernon and Monticello. Instead their curators favored the enshrinement of the presidents and their mansions, without any mention of the hundreds of people who built and managed these estates. In the 1980s, this began to change. This thesis discusses why and how the expansion of the interpretation of slavery happened over the course of the 1980s and 1990s. Additionally, it seeks to understand how Mount Vernon and Monticello experienced this expansion, and the internal and external reactions to the process. Specifically, it examines this trend as it relates …

In The Midst Of Life We Are In Death : Suicide Coverage In The South During The Civil War Era, India Miller

Honors Theses

The Civil War cast a shadow of despair over the divided nation as it left an estimated 620,000 men—roughly 2% of the population—dead on American soil, killed by American hands. Death and the Civil War are two subjects that are synonymous with one another; it is impossible to write on the war without commenting on its immense number of casualties. That said, relatively little is known about suicides behind the front lines.

Morale Maintenance In World War Ii Us Army Ground Combat Units : European Theater Of Operations, 1944-45, Kevin Kane

Honors Theses

This paper examines how both the Army as an organization and its small unit leaders attempted to maintain the soldiers’ morale in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. Morale was critical to the Allied victory in the war, yet the morale of frontline GIs was often neglected. This occurred with such frequency that many combat soldiers suffered from a new category of wound known as “combat exhaustion.” Through an examination of what influenced combat soldiers’ morale, a clearer understanding of what the Army did well and how it failed to support combat GIs emerges, as does an …

The Politicization Of Biblical Analysis By Protestant Army Chaplains During The American Revolution, Andrea Stevens

Honors Theses

This thesis analyzes the presence of political ideology within sermons delivered by chaplains in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. In particular, this thesis studies sixteen sermons delivered by Episcopal, Anglican, Congregationalist and Presbyterian chaplains between the years 1776 and 1802. The analysis of these sermons reveals an influence of the political climate during the Revolution on the ways in which the chaplains taught from the Bible. This essay begins with the formation of the chaplaincy as a response to four main needs of the soldiers: the need for a justifier, encourager, disciplinarian and religious teacher. The chaplains referenced …

Regulating Death And Building Empire : American Doctors And The Construction Of The Panama Canal, 1904-1914, Sarah Rhoads

Honors Theses

In May 1904, American engineers, doctors, nurses, and laborers arrived in Panama to begin work on one of the most expensive, challenging, and rewarding technological achievements of the twentieth century- the Panama Canal. At the time, the majority of Americans saw Panama as a wild tropical jungle, with dangerous diseases and a hostile climate. One of the most prevalent diseases in tropical regions, yellow fever, also known as yellow jack, was known to pose an enormous challenge to the success of the canal construction- the first mountain blocking Panama from successful U.S. intervention (see image above). In the popular U.S. …

Networks Of Resistance : Black Virginians Remember Civil War Loyalties, Amanda Kleintop

Honors Theses

On June 22, 1877, William Charity explained his neighborhood’s Civil War loyalties to special commissioner Isaac Baldwin of the Southern Claims Commission (SCC): “The colored people were mostly all for the union.” Charity, a free black Virginian, recognized that “mostly” did not mean all. He went on to suggest: “some of them were blind.” As a self-identified Unionist, Charity had difficulty envisioning a black man who was not loyal to the Union cause and emancipation during the Civil War. Current debates, however, have seized on those black Virginians Charity called “blind,” taking the “mostly” Unionist majority for granted. Like Charity, …

The Politics Of Sectional Servitude : The Construction Of American Abolitionist Discourse In Black And White, 1837-1847, Christopher M. Florio

Honors Theses

I argue that American political discourse surrounding abolition and slavery, sectional politics and violent insurrection, coalesced in the 1840s. The merger of such ostensibly disconnected streams of thought began with the perception of a new political need, as abolitionists came to believe that southern plantation elites had constructed a hegemonic proslavery order. Their interpretation of northern consent to southern domination impelled a proliferation of abolitionist possibilities, possibilities that were intended to sever the connection between national politics and the peculiar institution. Initially disseminated by freed blacks but subsequently appropriated by northern whites, these possibilities crossed the color line and challenged …

On The Record : The Visibility Of Race, Class, Gender, And Age In Richmond, Virginia's Newspaper Coverage Of 1960'S Sitdown Movement, Jill Eisenberg

Honors Theses

This research project is an analysis of the representation of race, class, gender, and age in local newspapers during the early 1960 civil rights' sitdown movement in Richmond, Virginia. Political figures and heads of media were predominantly older, elite, white- and male-oriented and -dominated. Through studying both white Richmond and African American Richmond newspapers, this thesis explores how these interlocking and interdependent systems of oppression and privilege affected the portrayal of groups and individuals in the media. Gender, race, class, and age cannot be studied in isolation from one another when analyzing the Civil Rights Movement and newspapers as primary …

The Burning And Reconstruction Of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania 1864-1870, Gordon Boyer Lawrence

Master's Theses

Although many studies of Chambersburg's devastation during the American Civil War have been researched, all have focused on the military actions taken by both sides during the conflict. This thesis instead attempts to explore some of the effects of military actions upon the permanent civilian population.

The Introduction develops a sense of the events which transpired in the town on the fateful day of July 30, 1864, provides an overview of potential research subjects, and details sources available to complete successfully the research parameters outlined. The early development of the community is explored in Chapter 1. This data is necessary …

The Art Of War : Deconstructing The Monolith Of The World War Ii Poster, Sean Williams

Honors Theses

For most Americans, the introduction to World War II posters, or even the entire field of posters during wartime in general, comes in the form of an elderly, yet bold looking man wearing red, white and blue. He wears a striped hat, and stands with his finger pointed outwards. The message he gives is clear --"I want YOU!" This image has been faithfully reproduced in social studies and history textbooks for years. (Indeed, both generations of my family saw such an image in their school books).

Uncle Sam, though, dapper as he may be, is merely one example of hundreds …

The Virginia War Department During The American Revolution, Thomas Gregory Tune

Master's Theses

This thesis will provide a comprehensive analysis of the Virginia War Office during the American Revolution. A study of the War Office must start with its origin and, therefore, with the legislation that created it. This thesis will explore the reasons for the creation of the War Office and its legislative evolution into one of the most powerful agencies in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It will also discuss the War Office's legislative demise near the end of the war as the Virginia General Assembly began to shrink the government in cost-saving measures.

The second part of this thesis will examine …

The Robert W. Ryerss Museum And Library : A Case Study In Upper Class Philanthropy In Late Victorian Philadelphia, Laura L. Keefe

Honors Theses

"The Robert W. Ryerss Museum and Library: A Case Study in Upper Class Philanthropy in Late Victorian Philadelphia" looks at the philanthropy of the Robert W. Ryerss family in Gilded Age Philadelphia. It places the Ryerss family within the spectrum of philanthropic spirit and activity that swept upper class Philadelphia in the late nineteenth century and analyzes the unique act of creating a public library and museum out of a private home within the context of the larger trend of scientific giving and museum foundation that characterized this era. Historical scholarship is extremely limited about this particular class of donor …

The Effect Of Slavery On Southern Farmland Values In The Antebellum And Postbellum Era, Brandon Devlin

Honors Theses

In the past 30 years, the legacy of African-American slavery has experienced a transformation in historical perspective. Morality aside, several historians have suggested that the accepted views regarding slavery need revision, particularly in an economic sense. Utilizing cliometrics, census records, diaries, and first-hand accounts of slavery in the South, economic historians such as Robert Fogel and Stanley Engennan have made a compelling case for the viability and profitability of slavery by exposing the nuances of the system that historical generalities often ignore. Of course, words like "viable" and ''profitable" do not necessarily mean "virtuous"or even "preferable", but it does imply …

The Gray Ghost's Sanctuary: Civilians In Mosby's Confederacy During The Civil War, James J. Cain

Honors Theses

This work examines why civilians in Mosby's Confederacy supported the 43^d Battalion of Virginia Cavalry. The tactics used by Mosby placed civilians at considerable risk with Union authorities, for his men did not live in a separate camp but stayed either in hideaways in the mountains or, more commonly, with families they knew in the area. The nature of the guerrilla warfare practiced by Mosby's men, which involved late night gatherings, lightning strikes on the enemy's weakest points, and then dispersal into the countryside until the next raid, frustrated the Federal commanders who fought against them. These commanders, however, …

The Elkhart County Guards : Company G, 19th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Eugene D. Watkins

Master's Theses

In July 1861, 101 farm boys and shopkeepers left northern Indiana to do their part to save the Union. These men, who formed Company G, 19th Indiana Infantry, served with distinction in the famed Iron Brigade. They received their baptism of fire at Brawner's Farm in August 1862. They served for four years, suffering on such battlefields as Antietam, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness. Twenty-five soldiers never returned home as they died during their service. The rest scattered across the country, living out their lives struggling with disabling illnesses and wounds. This study provides a micro-history focusing on a small group …

Confederate Matrons : Women Who Served In Virginia Civil War Hospitals, A. Elise Allison

Honors Theses

In September 1862, the Confederate Congress authorized hospitals to employ white women as chief matrons, assistant matrons, and ward matrons. This paper examines the lives and experiences of matrons who worked in Confederate hospitals in Virginia. It concludes that only ''exceptional" women with the stamina to endure physical and mental hardships were able to defy conventional ideas about their proper role and contribute to the care of Confederate sick and wounded as matrons.

Leadership And The War Between The States, Matt Cobb

Honors Theses

The concept of a Servant Leader is fascinating because it seems to be an oxymoron. How can one be a servant if they are to lead? This seems even stranger when placed in the context of military leaders. Robert Greenleaf argued that "The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead."' Individuals such as Jesus Christ, Mohandas Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. immediately seem to fit the definition for servant leaders. Each individual involved with the military serve their respective …

Eisenhower And Liberation : The Case Study Of Poland, 1953-1956, Mary Catherine Stagg

Master's Theses

This thesis, based largely upon research conducted at the Eisenhower Library in Kansas, takes a new look at the official policy of "liberation." Focusing on NSC 174, this study contends that there was substance behind the campaign rhetoric of Eisenhower and Dulles. Poland was used as a case study because through an understanding of NSC 174, the Poznan riots of June 1956 can be interpreted in a new light. The uprising can now be viewed as successful as it disrupted the Soviet-satellite relationship, prevented the consolidation of Soviet power in Eastern Eu~ope, and in some measure returned Poland to its …

The African-American Community Of Richmond, Virginia : 1950-1956, Michael Eric Taylor

Master's Theses

This thesis offers a topical narrative of the history of the African American camrunity of Richmond, Virginia, during the early 1950s.A number of areas are explored including demographics, econcmic issues, housing, the black business camrunity, the church, social life, education, politics and the battle against segregation.Despite the hardships inposed by segregation, blacks in Richmond forrned a vigorous camrunity and during the period 1950 to 1956 won sane victories and suffered setbacks in their quest for a better life.

Newspaper accounts fran both black and white newspapers in Richmond were the major source for this paper.Government reports, city directories, church documents, …

Whither Went The Upstairs Gentry? : The Colonial Council Of Virginia From 1763 To 1776, Charles Stephen Weidman

Master's Theses

Of the three branches of Colonial Virginia government, only two, the House of Burgesses and the Royal Governor, have been well chronicled during the period immediately preceding the American Revolution. The ignored third branch, the Colonial Council, has been largely dismissed by the few historians treating the subject as inconsequential-both as a political institution, and in the influence of its individual members. Witness both the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography and the William and Mary Quarterly, each with over a century dedicated to the nooks and crannies of all history Virginian, have collectively produced but a single article …

The Role Of The Tobacco Trade In Turkish-American Relations, 1923-29., Robert Carey Goodman

Master's Theses

This study of the tobacco trade between Turkey and the United States provides new perspectives on two major themes in Turkish-American relations between 1923 and 1929: the effect of Turkish nationalism on American interests in Ataturk's Turkey, and the effort to restore Turkish- American diplomatic ties broken during World War I. The marked rise in American cigarette consumption after World War I made the tobacco trade a crucial link between Turkey and America because it required the importation of aromatic tobacco. During the Turkish Republic' s first decades, the value of American tobacco imports from Turkey exceeded the value of …

A Frontier Biography: William Campbell Of King's Mountain, David George Malgee

Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to tell William Campbell's biography, simultaneously examining not only his better known military achievements, but also his contributions as a frontier justice, member of the House of Delegates, and an American patriot. Nearly all documentary evidence concerns Campbell's life after 1770. Thus, the primary object of this paper is his last decade, his period of public prominence. Since Campbell's fame was wrought to a large degree by the events of the American Revolution, a major objective of this thesis is to determine Campbell's impact on that struggle for independence.

Castle Thunder : The Confederate Provost Marshal's Prison, 1862-1865, Alan Lawrence Golden

Master's Theses

The Civil War is, in many respects, one of the most tragic, yet fascinating periods of this nation's history. During the last one hundred years scholars have stud ied numerous aspects of this conflict in great detail. The subject of this thesis, however, has received meager attention. The focus of this study is the Provost Marshal's prison in Richmond, Virginia, called Eastern District Military Prison or, as it is more commonly known, Castle Thunder. Castle Thunder was the only prison of its kind in the South as most of its inmates were political prisoners, deserters, and criminals, rather than captured …

The Root Mission, William R. Conger

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine the Root Mission to Russia from it conception to its final report and to evaluate the effectiveness of each member individually as well as that of the Mission as a whole. Further, major actions and responses of the Wilson Administration and other American officials have been considered where these actions have a direct bearing on the effectiveness of the Root Mission. This study also provides a narrative account of the constructive work of the commission and attempts to highlight those experiences which might well have had a significant impact on the Mission's …

The "City On A Hill" : Tom Johnson And Cleveland 1901-1909, Keith Dean Dickson

Master's Theses

Tom Loftin Johnson, mayor of Cleveland, Ohio from 1901 to 1909, was once hailed by a contemporary as "The outstanding municipal executive so far produced in United States history." Indeed, this judgment probably holds true even to the present day. Johnson's drive, combined with his uncompromising dedication to justice, dominated Cleveland politics and invigorated a city which had lost all sense of civic pride and responsibility. Johnson also brought a new vitality to American reform in the cities. His battles for three cent fares on the municipal street railway system, municipal ownership of public utilities, home rule, equal taxation and …

The Relationship Of The Protestant Episcopal Church In Virginia With The Negro Slaves 1830 To 1860: Success Or Failure?, Elisabeth Evans Wray

Master's Theses

Some conclusions may be drawn as to the success—or failure--of the Church's relationship with the slaves in nineteenth-century Virginia by constructing a narrative of the general attitudes held by the Episcopal Church (the bishops and other clergy and the laity) and the actions resulting from them. The years from 1830 to 1860 are the most fruitful period of the century in revealing through sermons, letters, newspapers, and books the Church's ideas concerning the institution of religious instruction for the slaves and their place in the life of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Virginia. Because many of the attitudes …

A Political History Of The Poll Tax In Virginia, 1900-1950, Conley L. Edwards

Master's Theses

The poll tax occupies a unique place in Virginia's suffrage history. Basically a twentieth century device ostensibly originated to provide revenue for the state by requiring payment of a fee before the exercise of the franchise, there was probably no other practice quite as foreign to the expanding suffrage traditions of Virginia's history as the poll tax. The only precursor to this tax was a capitation tax levied intermittently, the first such tax appearing in 1623 in the form of a levy of ten pounds of tobacco to meet the debt arising from defenses against local Indians. Free Negroes and …

The Participation Of The Richmond Negro In Politics, 1890-1900, Joe B. Wilkins

Master's Theses

This short treatise on one aspect of Negro history is the result of the author's pro'ound interest in United States history. The author's personal interest in the history of the Negro in the New South contributed to the selection of this topic.

The Richmond Negro by the end of the decade,1890-1900, was Virtually powerless politically and was ostracized from white society. All Negro Councilmen and Aldermen had been defeated in the May 1896 municipal elections and had been unsuccessful in regaining their seats. Thus in ten years the Negro had lost almost all political rights and witnessed the paternalistic attitude …

Richmond's Reaction To The Depression Of 1837, Barbara Cahoon

Honors Theses

Depressions affect people and institutions in a variety of ways, from leveling the wealth until a recovery is impossible to showing the weaknesses inherent in the system, thus enabling workable solutions to be a result. The economic emergency of 1837 was such a phenomenon. Much has been written about its effects on a national and state level, but localities have been slighted. All do not necessarily react the same, and consequently the aim of this paper is to show Richmond’s particular response to her poor market conditions, and the political developments of the havoc that occurred from 1837-1842.

The bulk …

Tobacco And Soil Relationships In Tidewater Virginia To 1670, Harold E. Conover

Honors Theses

The seventeenth century was the golden age of Virginia's Tidewater tobacco industry. The virgin soils had not yet been exploited by a careless agriculture. Before 1670, adventurous men had not planted west of the Fall Line, where superior tobacco land waited quietly. The shadow of chronic debt to his English factor had not yet fallen on the Virginia planter. Fortunes were still to be drawn from the rich earth; there was promise in the golden leaf for ambitious pioneers. The tobacco kingdom was young, and it was Spring in Tidewater.