American Studies Commons^™

Review Of All Indians Do Not Live In Teepees (Or Casinos) By Catherine C. Robbins, Bruce E. Johansen

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Catherine C. Robbins's highly personal tour of contemporary Indian Country begins with a moving description of 2,000 sets of human remains being returned from Harvard University "to the people of the Pecos Pueblo and their kin at Jemez" in 1999. The book then degenerates into a long rant of pet peeves that annoy its author.

Robbins's portrait of Indian casinos is not flattering (their glitziness spoils reservation vistas, she says). She doesn't think Indians dignify themselves by lecturing whites about sovereignty. In Robbins's view, Indians practicing their hunting and fishing rights under treaties bring an unwelcome din to the streams …

Review Of Women Writers Of The American West, 1833-1927 By Nina Baym, Jim Hoy

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The Great Plains, particularly in pioneer times, has been described as a place that was good for men and dogs but hell on women and horses, a notion that could be extended to the American West as a whole. In other words, the West was a man's country, initially explored by men, settled by men, written about by men. Nina Baym, however, well documents the inaccuracy of this last point in Women Writers of the American West.

Following an introductory chapter, nine chapters divide the West into nine geographic regions, each of these offering brief descriptions of the hundreds of …

Review Of West Of 98: Living And Writing The New American West Edited By Lynn Stegner And Russell Rowland, Matthew J. C. Cella

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

West of 98 is an ambitious and comprehensive collection of personal essays and poems by over sixty contributors who work to define the parameters of the American West: the vast and complex region west of the 98th meridian. As Lynn Stegner explains in the collection's introduction, the goal of the book is to offer a "Greek chorus that might define, remark upon, and otherwise characterize the West as each of [the writers] grew to know it, and equally important, the West that is still becoming." The chorus of voices featured in the collection reflects a broad range of cultural and …

Review Of State Of Minds: Texas Culture And Its Discontents By Don Graham, Ken Baake

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Don Graham sets out in State of Minds to address two threats he sees to the literary landscape of Texas: one, the perception that Texas culture, if it exists at all, is inconsequential and "lowbrow"; and, two, that college students even within Texas are becoming illiterate in regards to their state's rich heritage of creative fiction and nonfiction writing and film. The book succeeds on both counts, reminding readers familiar with the canon of how much fun it is to enter the world of Texas's written and film literature and how much one can learn from it about the timeless …

Great Plains Quarterly Volume 32 / Number 2 / Spring 2012

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Contents

Book Reviews

Notes and News

Farm Women, Solidarity, And The Suffrage Messenger Nebraska Suffrage Activism On The Plains, 1915-1917, Carmen Heider

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In the weeks and months following the November 3, 1914, vote on the Nebraska suffrage amendment, activists picked up the pieces after male voters for the third time defeated the proposition in their state. Thomas Coulter explains that in the days leading up to the vote, ''A feeling of impending victory suffused the hearts of pro-suffrage workers," but in the days after, "a sense of shock was widespread."¹ The vote had been close: 90,738 for the Nebraska amendment and 100,842 against it.² In fact, Attorney General Willis Reed later stated that had there been a recount, the amendment …

Review Of The Big Empty: The Great Plains In The Twentieth Century By R. Douglas Hurt, Thomas G. Andrews

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The Big Empty: The Great Plains in the Twentieth Century endeavors to synthesize a history that is as almost as vast and challenging as the region itself. Not surprisingly, R. Douglas Hurt succeeds most fully when addressing his specialty, agricultural history. Less masterful but still effective are the book's sections concerning energy development, Plains Indians, Latinos, and political economy. The Big Empty has little to say, by contrast, about shifting perceptions of the Plains, the decline of railroads, and the rise of federal highways, while Hurt's insistence on the fundamental stasis of the Plains environment seems to contradict the many …

Not Your Family Farm Apiculture In South,Central Montana, Miles Lewis

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The rolling prairies and sheltering mountain ranges of the Upper Musselshell Valley in Montana are nearly perfect for cattle and sheep grazing. Some areas, more topographically similar to the Great Plains than to the mountainous West, are (at least in wet years) highly conducive to growing alfalfa or wheat. Overall, the pastoral setting calls to mind images of weathered cowboys, grizzled sheepherders, and stoic farmers. However, closer inquiry into the region's agriculture reveals that cattle and wheat are by no means the only product being harvested from the land. Found buzzing around flowering foliage or swarming the rearing hindquarters of …

The Effects Of Tribal Governments On Reservation Poverty Rates, Heather Raisch

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Poverty rates on Indian reservations are far higher than the national average. Since Tribal Governments have at least some control over these reservations, to what extent are they to blame for these higher than average poverty rates? I look at each reservation and their type of government, constitution, policies and demographics to analyze the causes of their poverty as it relates to tribal government. There are many other pieces of research that are similar to this, but none looking specifically at the overall effects the government has on its community. My hypothesis is that communities with higher poverty rates tend …

Reading Between The Lines Of Slavery: Examining New England Runaway Ads For Evidence Of An Afro-Yankee Culture, Lauren Landi

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

This paper focuses on New England slavery and the way Africans and African-Americans were able to infuse aspects of the dominant English culture and their combined African heritage into their own Afro-Yankee culture. They created their own American identity, in which they adopted and at times mocked the very culture that placed them in this system of bondage. By looking at runaway advertisements from the colonial era we can see evidence of an Afro-Yankee culture that is clearly visible in the clothes slaves wore, the hairstyles they kept, their mannerisms, talents, and overall presence.

Larths Club - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Mss 395), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 395. Minutes, yearbooks, correspondence, financial records, photographs, and other records of the LARTHS Club, a literary club founded in Bowling Green, Kentucky in 1925.

Obenchain, Lida (Calvert), 1856-1935 (Sc 261), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 261. Handwritten, pencil manuscript of “The Reformation of Sam Amos” by Lida Calvert Obenchain (Eliza Calvert Hall). This was one of nine stores published by Little Brown & Co. in The Land of Long Ago, 1909.

Helm, Carrie (Fa 66), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 66. “Woodburn: A Memory Just Beneath the Surface”, an interpretive paper and interviews executed by Carrie Helm for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University in 1989.

Galloway, Ewing, 1881-1953 (Sc 2502), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2502. Correspondence of Ewing Galloway, a native of Henderson, Kentucky and the owner of a photography agency in New York City, with Mary Marks, a geography professor at Western Kentucky University, related to a gift of photographs made to the Kentucky Library & Museum at WKU. Also includes clippings, chiefly related to Galloway’s return to Henderson, Kentucky and the gift to WKU.

May, Gloria Miller (Binzel), 1929-2016 (Sc 2512), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2512. Two letters from Gloria May (Mrs. Philip S. May, Jr.), Jacksonville, Florida, to Cora Jane Spiller, Bowling Green, Kentucky, with personal news. She also relates anecdotes about the shopping habits of Pauline Tabor, a Bowling Green madam, and the luxuries she afforded her employees.

Ladies Literary Club - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Mss 393), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 393. Minutes, correspondence, programs, historical sketches, and miscellaneous material of the Ladies Literary Club of Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Johnson, James L. (Sc 365), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 365. Typescript of a speech delivered on Nathan B. Stubblefield, “Father of the Radio,” by James L. Johnson at the annual convention of the Kentucky Broadcasters Association in Louisville.

Baker, J. M. (Mrs.) (Sc 363), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 363. Biographical sketch of Cale Young Rice, writer originally from Webster County, Kentucky, written by Mrs. Baker for the Gen Samuel Hopkins Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. Included are photographs of historical marker and Rice’s birthplace.

Vance, Marion, 1922-1979 (Sc 361), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 361. A short story titled “Little Noah” written by Marion Vance, a lawyer of Glasgow, Kentucky.

Trimble, Anne Ridings, 1909-1971 (Mss 391), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 391. Correspondence and published stories of Logan County, Kentucky, romance story writer Anne Ridings Trimble. The correspondence is between Trimble and Kentucky Library librarians Mary Leiper Moore and Elizabeth Coombs. Click on "Additional Files" below for a list of Trimble stories mentioned in the collection.

Shakers (Sc 356), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 356. Letters, 1834-1851 (6), of the Shakers, chiefly of South Union, Kentucky, concerning the seed industry, religious affairs, economic conditions, wagon blueprint, etc., and receipts, 1868, 1870 (2).

Lg Ms 021 Maine Civil Rights March & Rally Committee Archives Finding Aid, Maeve Wachowicz

Search the Manuscript Collection (Finding Aids)

Description:

The Maine Civil Rights March & Rally Committee was formed in response to the February 1998 repeal of the civil rights law which had been enacted in May 1997. They organized a march, rally and fundraising entertainment event on Oct. 18, 1998. They followed these events with a vigil in memory of Mathew Shepard, with services held in several parts of the state on Oct. 18, 1998. The Committee also sponsored an "Interfaith Vigil Against Hate Violence" in Bangor on Oct. 7, 1999. The Archives contains some records of the Committee, blank cards representative of an effort to have …

Silva, Ann (Fa 53), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 53. “A History of the Logan County Tobacco Festival” Paper written about an annual festival celebrating tobacco culture held in Russellville, Kentucky. Paper was written for a history class at Western Kentucky University.

Fairleigh Family Papers (Sc 349), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 349. Class book, 1839-1844, of the Methodist Church, Brandenburg, Kentucky, containing membership list, 1843-44, and some notations of contributions. Also, it contains law and minutes of the Belles Lettres Society, 1849-1850, and of the Union Debating Society, October 1852. The book was kept by Thomas Fairleigh and other Fairleigh family members.

Volkerding Family Papers (Mss 385), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 385. Letters written chiefly by Herman Frederick Wilhelm Volkerding, of Louisville, Kentucky, to his wife Mary Elizabeth (Hauber) Volkerding while traveling as a salesman for the John T. Barbee distillers. Volkerding pines for home and describes the scenery, hotels, amusements and rail travel in the western United States.

Philips, Emanie Louise (Nahm) Sachs Arling, 1893-1981 (Sc 251), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 251. Correspondence of Mrs. Sachs, writer, and native of Bowling Green, Kentucky, chiefly with Mary T. Moore, librarian, Kentucky Library, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, related to a book on the history of Kentucky that Sachs was researching.

Campbell, Marie, 1907-2003 (Sc 252), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 252. Correspondence of Marie Campbell, author and teacher, with Elizabeth Coombs, librarian, Kentucky Library, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky, concerning Miss Campbell’s writing and publishing efforts.

Richards, Alta Beatrice (Lightfoot), 1900-1989 (Mss 381), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 381. Materials chiefly related to Allen County-native Alta Beatrice Richards’s interest in weaving, developed while working at Berea College. Includes correspondence with other weavers, weaving patterns, and weaving techniques. Also, information concerning noted Kentucky weaving authority Lou Tate of the Little Loomhouse, Louisville, Kentucky.

Italian Oven - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Mss 388), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 388. Correspondence, site evaluation report, investor's notebook, invitation, menu, news clippings and sundry other items related to the opening and operation of the Italian Oven restaurant in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Evans, Mollie F. (Sc 244), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 244. Letters written by Evan, 5 January 1870 and 17 May 1870, from Russellville and Adairville, Logan County, Kentucky, to Mr. J. P. Morton, Louisville, related to the possible publication of her manuscript.