American Studies Commons^™

Sketches At Home And Abroad: A Critical Edition Of Selections From The Writings Of Nathaniel Parker Willis, Jon Miller, Nathaniel Parker Willis

University of Akron Press Publications

Critics and general readers highly regarded the poetry and prose of Nathaniel Parker Willis (18061867) during the "American Renaissance" of creative literature in the decades before the Civil War. As an editor and frequent contributor to one of the young nation's most successful and elegant literary magazines, The New-York Mirror, Willis achieved an international reputation for his witty and worldly tales and letters.

This new edition collects outstanding examples of Willis's short fiction written at the peak of his abilities. These tales of adventure embellish and improve Willis's own experience as a bachelor adventurer during the 1830s, relating, for example, …

Re-Composition: Considering The Intersections Of Composition And Creative Writing Theories And Pedagogies, Danita Berg

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Maintaining composition studies and creative writing as discrete disciplines may not be in the best interests of either field. But so long as the majority of scholars and practitioners of either field remain largely uninformed about one another, it is unlikely that any progress toward conjoining the two fields will occur. Various important and constructive efforts have been made for more than thirty years to establish a scholarly, interdisciplinary community that dedicates itself to examining points of intersection between composition and creative writing. Initially, such efforts appear to attract the attention from the broader communities of each discipline. Before long, …

Optimizing The Imaging Of Multiple Frequency Gpr Datasets Using Composite Radargrams: An Example From Santa Rosa Island, Florida, Stuart W. Bancroft

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Acquiring GPR data at multiple frequencies is useful because higher-frequency profiles have better spatial resolution, although they suffer from reduced depth penetration. Lower-frequencies can generally resolve to greater depths, but at the cost of spatial resolution. For concise presentation of GPR data, it would be useful to combine the best features of each profile into a composite radargram. This study explores effective ways to present GPR data acquired at multiple frequencies. An example is shown from a survey of hurricane overwash deposits from Santa Rosa Island, Florida.

The methodology used to create a composite radargram is dependent on which of …

A Case Study Of School-Based Leaders’ Perspectives Of High School Dropouts, John J. Brown Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

School districts are failing to educate all of America's children. Dropout statistics reveal that almost 7,000 students leave our nation's schools everyday. At this rate 1.2 million students will not graduate on time with their prospective classes. The majority of American male students of African descent are dropping out instead of completing high school. When compared to that of their white peers, the dropout rate of American male students of African descent is significantly higher and the graduation rate much lower.

This research examines high school dropouts from the perspectives of school-based leaders in a high school located in a …

Do You Have A Permit For That? Exposing The Pseudo-Public Space And Exploring Alternative Means Of Urban Occupation, Adam Barbosa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In his 1964 work "One Dimensional Man" Herbert Marcuse describes what he believes to be the de-evolution of industrialized society into the single minded pursuit of commerce. Decades later his hypothesis seems even closer to the truth, as much of our social interaction is now based in spaces that are designed to promote consumption. These spaces are in fact privately owned lots masquerading as public space so as to satiate the populace's desire for "public" interaction without sacrificing their effectiveness as places of commerce. The migration of social interaction into these pseudo-public spaces has also further marginalized the city's remaining …

The Sunshine State's Golden Fruit: Florida And The Orange, 1930-1960, Scott D. Hussey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Neither indigenous nor exclusive to Florida, the orange has nevertheless become an international symbol for the state. This connection between product and place appears in cultural materials regarding Florida. In fact and fiction the orange has operated as metaphor and synecdoche for an Edenic Florida. This thesis analyzes how the orange came to represent a "natural" Florida through the conflation of the commercial product with the state's history by way of political and marketing puffery. A litany of citrus advertisements, tourist ephemera, and historical associations regarding the state acknowledged and expanded the connections between the orange, improved health, and Florida. …

Polarization Of Galvanic Point Anodes For Corrosion Prevention In Reinforced Concrete, Margareth Dugarte

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The polarization performance of two types of commercial galvanic point anodes for protection of reinforced steel around patch repairs was investigated. Experiments included measurement of the polarization history of the anode under constant current impressed by galvanostatic circuits and in reinforced concrete slabs. The tests revealed, for both types of anodes, a potential-current function (PF) indicating relatively little anodic polarization from an open circuit potential at low current levels, followed by an abrupt increase in potential as the current approached an apparent terminal value. Aging of the anodes was manifested by a continually decreasing current output in the concrete tests, …

"The Harmony Way:" Integrating Indigenous Values Within Native North American Theology And Mission, Randy Woodley

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

Given that Western models of mission have failed among Native Americans and that colonial practices have devastated native communities, this research sought a better way of pursuing Christian mission among Native Americans by asking two questions: (1) Do Native Americans have a generally shared set of values that could guide the construction of new models for mission in North American Native communities, and, if so, to what degree are these values shared among Native American communities? and, (2). What resources (particularly values) are available within the Native American communities themselves for developing appropriate models of mission and could such resources …

Lg Ms 014 Jessen Lgbt/Women’S Newsletter & Media Collection Finding Aid, Renee Desroberts, Karin A. France

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Description:

Barbara Jessen formed the Maine Tradeswomen's Network, a loose organization of women in the trades and supporting personnel, in 1990, to promote networking, mentoring, and employment. The Collection consists of six newsletter titles, plus newspaper clippings, fact sheets, and articles - all covering LGBT and women’s issues in Maine and nationally.

Date Range:

1970s-2000

Size of Collection:

0.5 ft.

Lg Ms 016 Transsupport Archives Finding Aid, Karin A. France

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Description:

Transsupport is a non-profit, educational, non-sexual peer support group for Cross-dressers, Transsexuals, their families, friends and significant others. The Archives contains organizational papers and newsletters from between 1994 and 1998, plus one issue of vol. 1 of the newsletter, dated 1989.

Date Range:

1989, 1994-1998

Size of Collection:

0.5 ft.

Gen Ms 25 T.A. Huston & Co. Salesman's Catalog Finding Aid, Karin A. France

Search the General Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Description:

In the early 1920s, T. A. Huston & Co. of Auburn built a 7-story bakery building in Portland, which became the Glickman Library of USM in the early 1990s. This is a 3-ring binder containing a color facsimile of a salesman's catalog, ca. 1912, of T. A. Huston & Co.

Date Range:

ca. 1912

Size of Collection:

0.25 ft.

Lg Ms 015 May Sarton Scrapbook Finding Aid, Kristin Morris, Karin A. France

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Description:

William Barry is a well-known, published local historian. He had a slight connection with May Sarton through his friend Dorothy Healy, co-founder of the Maine Women Writers Collection. The Scrapbook contains documents relating to his correspondence with Sarton regarding her essay for a memorial book for Healy; documents and newspaper clippings relating to celebrations of Sarton’s life and work; documents regarding Barry’s effort to get Sarton’s essay in Healy’s memorial included in a Sarton bibliography.

Date Range:

1983-2008

Size of Collection:

0.25 ft.

Jud Ms 02 Portland Jewish Community Center Uso Guest Book Finding Aid, Karin A. France

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Description:

The Jewish Community Center on Cumberland Avenue in Portland, Maine was the site of United Service Organization (USO) social events, held regularly from at least October 1943 to September 1946. Most of the servicemen (and some women who were nurses) who attended events at the Community Center were in the Navy, stationed on shops docked or anchored in Casco Bay. These social events were sometimes held out on the islands. Although hosted by the Jewish Community Center, anyone was welcome, regardless of religion. Eleanor Edison Taft saved this ledger listing the names of attendees at the USO events when …

Gen Ms 24 T.A. Huston & Co. Chocolate Box Finding Aid, Karin A. France

Search the General Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Description:

In the early 1920s, T. A. Huston & Co. of Auburn built a 7-story bakery building in Portland, which became the Glickman Library of USM in the early 1990s. This is the original packaging of "Clover Leaf Chocolate Peppermints," produced by T. A. Huston & Co.

Size of Collection:

0.25 ft.

Jud Ms 01 Annetta Kornetsky Girl Scout Collection Finding Aid, Karin A. France

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Description:

Annetta Kornetsky was the Scout leader of Girl Scout Troops 109 and 177, sponsored by the Portland Jewish Community Center, between 1956 and 1958. The Collection contains records of Troops 109 and 177, including meeting agendas, finances, handbook pages, and minutes from November 1956 to March 1958.

Date Range:

1956-1958

Size of Collection:

0.08 ft.

What Lies Beneath? Contemporary Notions Of Multiculturalism And Their Impact On Irish And American Immigrant Communities, Amanda Nelson

American Studies Honors Projects

This thesis explores the contested contemporary political and social uses of the term "multiculturalism" in American and Irish rhetoric and public policy, and interrogates how its multiple uses have influenced immigration law and created tensions among immigrant enclaves and communities in both countries. The concept of multiculturalism is an overused explanation for massive waves of immigration and the various multi-ethnic and multi-national communities that inhabit local and global communities. Many individuals assume multiculturalism's popularity in contemporary discourse is a positive indication of less racist and more culturally inclusive societies. The term is often treated as a political and/or social agenda …

Aa Ms 05 Cummings Guest House Register Finding Aid, Karin A. France

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Description:

The Cummings family of Old Orchard Beach, Maine, ran a guest house from 1923 until 1993. Register in which guests signed themselves in or were signed in by staff at the Cummings Guest House, 110 Portland Ave., Old Orchard Beach, Maine. Includes signatures of family members who attended reunions after the Guest House ceased operation.

Date Range:

1923-1998

Size of Collection:

1 ft.

Review Of We Are All Treaty People: Prairie Essays By Roger Epp. Edmonton, J. William Brennan

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In the aftermath of the 1996 release of the massive report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, and Canada's subsequent official statement of regret for the "Indian policies" that successive governments have pursued down to our own day, "We Are All Treaty People: History, Reconciliation and the 'Settler Problem'" is arguably this book's most provocative essay. Roger Epp begins by asserting that the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Euro-Canadian settlers who came afterward "constitutes a ... powerful common history, inherited, not chosen, whose birthright we can either disavow, because its burdens are too great, or else make our …

Review Of Under The Big Sky: A Biography Of A. B. Guthrie Jr. By Jackson J. Benson, Capper Nichols

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

On the Web site of a major bookseller, a "customer reviewer" claims that A. B. Guthrie Jr.'s 1947 novel The Big Sky "is really about freedom." Jackson Benson acknowledges the romanticism of Guthrie's writing, but he argues more convincingly that the novel is actually about how "man always destroys the thing he loves." Benson applies this idea to all of Guthrie's work, describing the writer as a Western environmentalist, saddened and angered by his region's history of damage and depredation.

Benson places Guthrie (1901-1991) in the pantheon of writers who have "tried to refute Western myth, to tell it as …

Review Of Agnes Lake Hickok: Queen Of The Circus, Wife Of A Legend By Linda A. Fisher And Carrie Bowers, Kim Warren

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Agnes Lake Hickok rode horses, walked on slack wires, and trained various animals. If that was not enough, she was also a smart, diligent entrepreneur who became the first woman to own and operate a circus in the United States. The circus business brought her a busy schedule, some profitable opportunities, and wide acclaim as an entertainer who traveled with legendary performers P. T. Barnum and Buffalo Bill Cody. Although Agnes Lake Hickok did not necessarily invent circus shows, she certainly helped to popularize this form of entertainment in the nineteenth century and prepared the next generation of performers, including …

Review Of Braiding Histories: Learning From Aboriginal Peoples' Experiences And Perspectives By Susan Dion, Lynne Davis

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In its final report in 1996, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples observed that Canadians have little knowledge of Aboriginal people, the issues of importance to them, and the history that underlies Aboriginal-non-Aboriginal relationships today. How can this be changed? In Braiding Histories, Susan Dion takes up the complexities of transforming the consciousness of non-Aboriginal people through education.

The book is organized around three focal points. First, the author and her brother Michael Dion {re)write and {re}tell the life stories of several Aboriginal people, including Beothuk survivor Shanawdithit, the Plains Cree leader Mistahimaskwa, and the writers' mother, Audrey Dion, …

Review Of The Indian Craze: Primitivism, Modernism, And Transculturation In American Art, 1890-1915 By Elizabeth Hutchinson, Linda M. Waggoner

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Elizabeth Hutchinson's The Indian Craze examines the trend that was not merely "fad or fancy" but "a significant artistic phenomenon with lasting effects on both American art history and U.S. Indian policy." Although the origin of Native American art as art is commonly associated with the Santa Fe movement of the 1920s and 1930s, Hutchinson declares that "this cross-cultural conversation," fueled by progressive primitivism, began at least two decades earlier.

Enhanced by historical images and informed by Janet C. Berlo's anthology, The Early Years of Native American Art History (1992), The Indian Craze revives a politically charged and artistically productive …

Great Plains Quarterly Volume 30/ Number 3 / Summer 2010 -- Editorial Matter

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Contents

Book Reviews

Book Notes

Notes and News

Bringing The War Home The Patriotic Imagination In Saskatoon, 1939-1942, Brendan Kelly

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In The American West Transformed: The Impact of the Second World War, noted historian Gerald D. Nash argued that the war, more than any other event in the West's history, completely altered that region.1 There is as yet no equivalent of Nash's fine study for the Great Plains north of the forty-ninth parallel, or what Canadians call the "prairies."² This gap notwithstanding, historians of western Canada have begun to explore at least one key aspect of Nash's research: the war's impact on cities. Since 1995 there have been three histories of urban centers in wartime: Red Deer (Alberta), Lethbridge …

Review Of Charles Fritz: 100 Paintings Illustrating The Journals Of Lewis And Clark: The Complete Collection By Charles Fritz, Rock Hushka

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The traditional Lewis and Clark buff will find much enjoyment in Charles Fritz: 100 Paintings Illustrating the Journals of Lewis and Clark: The Complete Collection. Fritz's delineation gives accurate impressions of the majesty of diverse topographies, ranging from the low-slung prairies of Nebraska to the rugged mountain chains at the Great Divide. His depictions of the North Dakota winter convey the special quality of light produced only by the frigid stillness of the High Plains. Fritz has an extraordinary ability to paint water, from the slow grace of the Missouri River to the thundering falls on the Columbia to …

Narrative Mappings Of The Land As Space And Place In Willa Cather's O Pioneers!, Karen E. Ramirez

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

At the conclusion of Willa Cather's 1913 novel O Pioneers!, Alexandra Bergson muses about landownership, and more broadly about the human-land relationship, by reflecting on the transience of the county plat map, one of the most popular forms of mapping rural America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These maps were not only housed at the county clerk's office; by the 1880s and 1890s, while Cather was living in Nebraska, commercialized survey maps periodically were collected and published in large, colorful county atlases, also called plat books, becoming among the most widely circulated maps of rural areas …

Review Of Music Of The First Nations: Tradition And Innovation In Native North America Edited By Tara Browner, Anna Hoefnagels

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

This collection of nine essays examines diverse traditions and issues in contemporary Native American music from a variety of perspectives. The anthology also covers a wide geographic span, ranging from the Inuits of northern Canada to the Choctaws of Mississippi, and the Passamaquoddies of New Brunswick in eastern Canada to the Coast Salish of western Washington. Many of these chapters highlight the movement of Aboriginal people and their music, as well as the transformations and retentions that characterized these movements and interactions with other Aboriginal groups and European settlers. An article addressing intertribal powwow music and another on country music …

Review Of Jayhawkers: The Civil War Brigade Of James Henry Lane By Bryce Benedict, Craig Miner

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

While this book contains a good deal of useful information, both its research and approach are flawed. The presentation is often tedious, freighted as it is with undigested detail.

The major question must be why so much detail of the military action of the so-called Lane Brigade (the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Kansas Volunteer Regiments) is significant when the personality and background of Lane himself is mostly left out. Benedict opens with a disclaimer that his book is not a biography of Lane, and includes "only the most cursory background information." The reader is referred for Lane's biography to a …

Collateral Damage: Veterans And Domestic Violence In Mari Sandoz's The Tom-Walker, Kathy Bahr

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The Tom-Walker (1947) associates domestic violence on a national scale with the domestic violence of veterans returning home after the Civil War and two world wars. This novel anticipates both the rise of McCarthyism and the long shadow cast by the atom bomb over the years constituting the Cold War. ... The Tom-Walker is remarkable in its depiction of the ugly, almost unmentionable effects of war on the domestic lives of individual veterans. Sandoz, like a number of her contemporaries, was particularly concerned about the horrors of war, but unlike many writers, she focuses on the home front and on …

Review Of Anthology Of New Perspectives Edited By John R. Wunder And Kurt E. Kinbacher, Clara Sue Kidwell

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

This book grew out of the ninth biennial Maple Leaf and Eagle Conference on North American Studies hosted by the Renvall Institute at the University of Helsinki in 2002. It thus includes significant coverage of Canadian as well as American Indian history and several comparative studies of Canadian and American tribes. It is also wide ranging in terms of disciplines, including historical, anthropological, and literary studies.

Of the volume's seventeen articles, nine are authored by scholars either trained in or currently teaching at Finnish and Canadian institutions, thereby contributing an international flavor to the collection. The complexities of Metis identity …