Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Not So Cavalier: Technical Study And Conservation Treatment Of A Potential 17th Century Anglo-Dutch Military Portrait Painting, Josephine Ren

Art Conservation Master's Projects

A potential 17^th century Anglo-Dutch military portrait painting from the Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York arrived at the Garman Art Conservation Department at Buffalo State University for conservation research and treatment in 2022. The painting’s title, date, and artist were unknown and the subject was initially referred to as a “17^th Century Dutch Cavalier.” Little information existed on the provenance and history of the artwork. The painting was in a state of structural instability and aesthetic disfigurement and showed evidence of a past restoration campaign. This master’s project attempted to broadly …

Mapping Stratcom: The Architecture Of Offutt, The U.S. Military, And Strategic Command, Anna Miles

Honors Theses

Architecture and the military have always been intertwined. The built environment both on and off U.S. military installations responds to the events, history, and influences of the military. This project explores one example of this by investigating the history of the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, through the lens of architecture.

When exploring USSTRATCOM, this project aims to understand not only its history, but also its impact: on Offutt, on the world, and most importantly, on architecture. Firstly, the project explores the history of the military in the state of Nebraska and …

Bureaus Of Ungentlemanly Warfare: Comparing The Roles Of Women In The Special Operations Executive And The Office Of Strategic Services During World War Ii, Adaline Nolley

Senior Honors Theses

In 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill created the Special Operations Executive. The SOE was one of the first government agencies to recruit female spies. In 1941, United States President Franklin Roosevelt commissioned the Office of Strategic Services, which also employed women. The organizations approached the concept of female agents differently. The OSS maintained female staff in domestic offices, but employed foreign women as agents. The SOE recruited women to go abroad, as they were less suspicious than men in occupied territories. The study of female staff in the OSS and the SOE allow historians to understand roles of women …

Searching Govinfo.Gov/, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

This U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) database provides access to information legal, legislative, and regulatory information produced on multiple subjects by the U.S. Government. Content includes congressional bills, congressional committee hearings and prints (studies), reports on legislation, the text of laws, regulations, and executive orders and multiple U.S. Government information resources covering subjects from accounting to zoology.

Erwin Rommel: Noble Knight Of Germany Or Nazi Knave?, Jake Schultz

Undergraduate Research Symposium

This poster seeks to explore the historical memory of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and his legacy today in commemoration in modern Germany.

Ua94/6/18 Stephen Flora Student / Alumni Papers, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about Stephen Flora during his years as a student at Western Kentucky University.

Ua1c11/128 Lucian Flora Photo Collection, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Photographs and postcards removed from Lucian Flora's World War II scrapbook.

Ua94/5/6 Lucian Flora Student/Alumni Papers, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Scrapbook and memoirs created by alumni Lucian Flora of Smiths Grove, Kentucky of his activities as a soldier in World War II. Flora saw action through North Africa and Italy from 1941 to 1945.

Ship Shaping: How Congress And Industry Influenced U.S. Naval Acquisitions From 1933-1938, Henry H. Carroll

Harvey M. Applebaum ’59 Award

Studying shipbuilding politics across time can yield key insights into present-day shipbuilding acquisition reform issues, such as the effects of naval industry consolidation and potential “ally-shoring” of warship production on domestic political support for future naval funding. Past studies of naval acquisitions during the late interwar period often focus on how President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Navy Department prepared the nation for the beginning of World War II. However, Congress and the shipbuilding industry played an often-overlooked role in creating the political support needed to expand the Navy during the tumultuous late interwar period. Self-interested domestic interest groups were …

Geopolitics In Recent U.S. Professional Military Reading Lists, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Professional military reading lists have existed for a long time in the U.S. military and in other national militaries. They are frequently updated and intended to enhance the professional knowledge of military professionals in areas ranging from cultural awareness, ethics, leadership, international relations, military history and military operations, and areas of expertise considered essential to successfully executing the operations of their military service branch. These lists are prepared by the leadership organizations of these armed services such as the Air Force Chief of Staff, U.S. Army’s Chief of Staff, Chief of Naval Operations, and Marine Corps Commandant. Such readings are …

Umaine Veteran Community Connections Dinner, 2023, University Of Maine Veterans Education And Transition Services, University Of Maine Office Of Diversity And Inclusion

General University of Maine Publications

Promotional flyer and email for the Community Connections Dinner for veterans working as faculty and staff at the University of Maine. The event was hosted by the University of Maine Office of Veterans Education and Transition Services (UMaine VETS), in partnership with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Nike Missile Fail: When Elk City And Clinton Almost Went Nuclear, Landry Brewer

Faculty Articles & Research

The Cold War entered an intense new phase in August of 1949 when the Soviet Union successfully detonated its first atomic bomb, and the United States lost the nuclear hegemony that it had enjoyed since the end of World War II in 1945...

Arms And Armor From Santa Elena: A Photographic Inventory, Heathley A. Johnson

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

The Philippine Economy During The Japanese Occupation, Jasper Lem

Asian Studies: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

The economy of the Philippines was derailed by the Japanese occupation during World War II. As an American colony before World War II, the Philippines had close amicable ties with the United States highlighted by promises of independence on July 4th, 1946. The Philippines also maintained a beneficial economic relationship with the States at this time through extensive foreign trade. However, because of the Japanese invasion, the Philippine economy was robbed of this profitable foreign trade and the promise of independence, severely crippling the island nation and her morale. The first policies implemented by Japan were designed to control the …

Korean War, 1950-1953 (Sc 3696), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3696. Two letters written by servicemen during the Korean War to Bess Warden and her daughter Betty Ann of Bowling Green, Kentucky. Robert H. Dickerson writes his aunt Bess on 11 May 1952 describing a Mother’s Day service and remembering his late mother; he also refers to family news from home. John Fraunfelter writes sadly to Betty Ann on 5 July 1952 of the recent loss of most of his company in defending a hill, and mourns the deaths of fellow soldiers who were soon scheduled to …

Volksdrogen: The Third Reich Powered By Methamphetamine, Madison Isenberg

Senior Projects

Leading up to and during the Second World War, the Nazified German Government wanted to perpetuate the belief that due to their exceptional strength spread through various forms of propaganda the “Aryan Race” was undefeatable. Unfortunately, this testament, and the propaganda that supported it, is still used by some to substantiate their claims that the Nazis devised the “master race”. The source of their strength has remained largely unresearched, so what was the factor that allowed the German home and war front to possess large amounts of energy to aid in their fight against the Allied forces? Initially, from whisperings …

Military Women In World Cinema: A 20th Century History And Filmography, Introduction, Deborah A. Deacon, Stacy Fowler

Faculty Articles

From British soldier Flora Sandes to the fame World War II Night Witches of the Soviet Air Force, women across the globe stepped up to defend their countries during every major and minor conflict of the twentieth century, and filmmakers have long attempted to capture their stories.

This book analyzes real and fictional military women's portrayals in world cinema, including movies from Israel, the United Kingdom, Italy, China, France, the Soviet Union, and others. It includes theatrical releases, direct-to-video productions, and made-for-television films.

Chapters, organized by decade, address topics including the women's sexuality, maternal and marital status, leadership skills, actual …

Perkins, John Casey, 1918-2010 (Mss 753), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 753. Reports of the operations of the U.S. Army, Third Infantry Division in Italy, Sicily, France and Germany during World War II. Includes reports relating to the service of Lieutenant Colonel John C. Perkins of Bowling Green, Kentucky in the Third Signal Company. Also includes memoranda of surrender written by Nazi SS officer Otto Skorzeny, taken into custody by Perkins in Austria in May 1945 (Click on "Additional Files" below for scans).

The 2023 Society For Military History Annual Meeting, Micah Wright

Title III Professional Development Reports

Financed by Title III funds, I attended the Society for Military History (SMH) Annual Meeting in San Diego, California. The conference took place from March 23-25 2023. The Society for Military History was established in 1933 and is the preeminent professional organization for military historians in the United States. The SMH is devoted to stimulating and advancing the study of military history and counts more than 2,700 members from academia and the armed forces.

During the conference, I presented an original research paper entitled “A Soldier Can Owe Allegiance to but One Flag: Political Polarization and Military Service in Puerto …

The Camden Burial Project, Part I: Background And Preliminary Results, James B. Legg

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

“The Same Service As Our Soldiers”: Metropolitan-Colonial Military Discourse In New France, 1754-60, James E. Lemons

Student Publications

The Seven Years’ War represented a new chapter in American military history, introducing European cultures of warfare to the North American continent for the first time in generations. This led to significant intermixture, dialogue, and debate between Indian, colonial, and metropolitan military men, especially within the context of New France. While some historians have located the debate between Canadian and metropolitan French military cultures as an attempt by the metropolitans to impose their own ways forcibly onto the existing landscape, this paper contends that both sides were remarkably willing to alter their manners of fighting and adapt in a syncretic …

Undergraduate, 3rd Place: Little Choice In The Matter For Comfort Women: Tales Of Little Hope And Survival During The Second World War, Dayden Gardner

2023 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity - Documents

During the Second World War, Japan was an imperialistic powerhouse that took over most of Southeast and South Asia during the war. In this time of conflict, Japan committed atrocities that are still being questioned to this day. One of their lesser-known war crimes was the enactment of so-called comfort stations during this war. These stations provided Japanese military men with sex from women, dubbing them “comfort women.” These stations were established widely throughout the Japanese empire after the events of the Nanking Massacre to prevent rapes of women in captured territories and to protect their soldiers from venereal disease.1 …

Graduate, 1st Place: World War I War Front And Home Front: The Correspondence That Brought Them Together, Michelle Thole

2023 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity - Documents

The First World War was the first time American soldiers had participated in a war at a distance from home that did not easily facilitate home furloughs. Although the United States and Europe are physically separated by more than 3,500 miles, the relative distance between American World War I soldiers on the war front and their families on the home front was minor; the correspondence between them mitigated the physical and cognitive distance.

Historians of the First World War have explored soldiers’ contact with their families while in training camps and the US military’s intentional cultivation of a balance between …

Poland And The Ukraine War: A Geopolitical Analysis, Thomas Pitney

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Poland’s geopolitical role has enhanced since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. As such, Poland’s ambitions have increasingly important implications for regional, European, and global security. The paper attempts to address this phenomenon by posing the following research question: how does Poland pursue its interests in the Ukraine War? Employing qualitative methods on data collected from three formal interviews, one virtual interview, one informal interview, four statements from Poland’s leaders, and a variety of secondary sources, the study aims to answer this question modeling Gyula Csurgai’s (2019) geopolitical analysis framework. The research question is addressed in two ways. …

U.S. Government Information Resources For Accountability On U.S. Assistance To Ukraine, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Provides detailed coverage of U.S. Government information resources documenting accountability for U.S. civilian and military assistance to Ukraine. Includes U.S. laws, agencies involved in U.S. arms export policy, Defense Department resources and data, Defense Dept. Inspector General reports, Government Accountability Office reports, congressional committee hearings, a letter from a congressional committee to the Secretaries of Defense and State and U.S. Agency for International Development administrator, congressional debate, and congressional recorded votes.

The Development Of Uniforms And Equipment In Trench Warfare From 1914-1918, Katherine M. Tyson

CAFE Symposium 2023

The First World War was one of incessant destruction, but the birth of a new modernized era with an abundance of technological advancements. These advancements ranged from the introduction of the first ever tank, to the individual details that soldiers changed on their uniforms. The uniform is also a vehicle to express a soldier’s memories and experiences, preserving their story.

War On Humor: Killing Laughter In Times Of Strife, Maria Christina Kardash

CAFE Symposium 2023

This project explores the use of humor as a coping mechanism throughout the first World War. It focuses on three main aspects: (1) the evolution of humor prior to, contemporary to, and after WWI; (2) the contrast between Germany's strict oppression of humor and France's more free approach; (3) and the distinction between civilian and soldier humor.

Utilization Of Propaganda Throughout The Great War: A Revolutionary Experience, Andrew R. Thibaudeau

CAFE Symposium 2023

This project delves into the impact of propaganda on countries and citizens throughout World War I. It shows how the impacts of this bloodless revolution still resonate in society today, and how it has changed the world eternally, especially with the modern usage of the internet.

Breaking Point: The Ironic Evolution Of Psychiatry In World War Ii - Appendix A, Rebecca Schwartz Greene

History

This book informs the public for the first time about the impact of American psychiatry on soldiers during World War II.

Breaking Point is the first in-depth history of American psychiatry in World War II. Drawn from unpublished primary documents, oral histories, and the author’s personal interviews and correspondence over years with key psychiatric and military policymakers, it begins with Franklin Roosevelt’s endorsement of a universal Selective Service psychiatric examination followed by Army and Navy pre- and post-induction examinations. Ultimately, 2.5 million men and women were rejected or discharged from military service on neuropsychiatric grounds. Never before or since has …

Breaking Point: The Ironic Evolution Of Psychiatry In World War Ii - Appendix B, Rebecca Schwartz Greene

History

This book informs the public for the first time about the impact of American psychiatry on soldiers during World War II.

Breaking Point is the first in-depth history of American psychiatry in World War II. Drawn from unpublished primary documents, oral histories, and the author’s personal interviews and correspondence over years with key psychiatric and military policymakers, it begins with Franklin Roosevelt’s endorsement of a universal Selective Service psychiatric examination followed by Army and Navy pre- and post-induction examinations. Ultimately, 2.5 million men and women were rejected or discharged from military service on neuropsychiatric grounds. Never before or since has …