Classics Commons^™

Early Russian-Chinese Relations, Dean William Bennett

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In February. 1654, Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich Romanov dispatched a friendly, if rather pompous, letter on its way across the vast steppes of Siberia and Mongolia to the emperor of China, Shun-chih. In this letter he lamented that the rulers of the two realms had never before established any official contact between themselves, and he expressed a fond hope that the tsar and the emperor might live thenceforth "in friendship, love, and communication." The prospects should have been alluring, promising trade and wealth for both states, and also frequent exchanges of embassies. But less than three years later, the leader of …

The Partisan Press Of Illinois: Motivation, Rhetoric, And Aggression In Hancock County Newspapers, 1839-1844, Elizabeth Prete Bryner

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Much has been written about the pohtical origins of the Mormon conflicts in Nauvoo, Illinois, between 1839 and 1844, but relatively little scholarship has analyzed the role of the partisan press in that conflict. George Gayler and other historians claim that· Mormon political activity ... must be singled out as the chief source of irritation between [ the Mormons] and the Illinois citizens." However, Gayler limits his investigation of the press mostly to the anti-Mormon newspapers, the Nauvoo Expositor and the Warsaw Signal. Governor Thomas Fords History cf Illinois describes the sordid political battle between the Whigs and the …

Statistical Profile Of Southern States Missionaries, 1867-1898, Heather M. Seferovich

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

issionary activity has been a staple feature of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since its organization over 160 years ago. From its inception, Church members have felt themselves obligated and have been exhorted to proclaim the restored gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. As Joseph Smith recorded, "The voice of Warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples," because· the field is white already to harvest." Between 1830 and 1995, Latter-day Saints have served approximately 668,000 missions, and the Church has invested an enormous amount of resources and energy in the …

Children On The Mormon Trail, Jill Jacobsen Andros

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

While reflecting on her experience crossing the plains in a Mormon handcart company at age nine, Agnes Caldwell, recalled:

"Although only tender years of age, I can yet close my eyes and see everything in panoramic precision before me-the ceaseless walking, walking, ever to remain in my memory. Many times I would become so tired and, childlike, would hang on the cart, only to be gently pushed away. Then I would throw myself by the side of the road and cry. Then realizing they were all passing me by, I would jump to my feet and make an extra run …

The Transformation Of Utah From A Colony Of Wall Street To A Colony Of Washington, Thomas G. Alexander

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Ordinarily. American historians divide the years from 1929 through 1945 into two periods. The time from 1929 to about 1939 they generally label· The Great Depression." In most cases, the chapter on the depression tells the story of American domestic affairs during the 1930s with a slight bow to the severity of worldwide economic conditions. In the next chapter, covering the years 1939 to 1945, historians discuss World War II; to do chis, however, they have to return to the 1920s to deal with the foreign affurs they neglected in the previous chapter. In discussing World War II, historians say …

The Russel B. Swensen Lecture

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

After graduating from Brigham Young University in 1926, Russel B. Swensen (1902-1987) taught seminary in Mesa, Arizona, and later in Kamas and Hurricane, Utah. In 1930, Joseph F Merrill. then LDS Church commissioner of education, invited Swensen, along with two others, co attend the University of Chicago Divinity School. There, he received an MA and Ph.D. in New Testament Studies.

Preface, Christopher Oscarson

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Every year, the reading staff of The Thetean has the formidable task of selecting just four or five interesting, well-written, insightful essays that appropriately illustrate the finest work done by history students at Brigham Young University. This year, perhaps because of the statewide Centennial statehood celebration, we received what seemed to be an unusually large number of papers dealing with Utah history in addition to the regularly large number of Mormon history papers. Our first impulse was to shy away from some of these essays simply co force diversity into the pages of The Thetean, but we ultimately felt char …

Front Matter

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

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The Religious Significance Of Bees And Beehives In Egyptian, Israelite, And Latter-Day Saint Traditions, Anita Cramer

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The bee and beehive have been pervasive symbols in many ancient societies and religions. This iconography continues in the modern world, as Latter-day Saint beehives clearly testify. From Brigham Young University letterhead, to Utah highway signs, to the Salt Lake Temple doors, the state of Deseret continues to flaunt its mascot Yet few realize the profound symbolism, such as royalty and rebirth, associated with the bee. Examining the ancient Egyptian and Israelite usage of bees in a religious context, therefore, is intriguing, and provides insight into why Latter-day Saint pioneers chose to identify with the beehive and its inhabitants. Pharaonic …

Blackfeet And Long Knives: Hostilities Between Blackfeet And Americans, 1806-1840, Jay H. Buckley

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

More than twenty trappers had died within three months. The men had begun to cower in the fort, afraid to leave for fear of a Blackfoot attack. George Drouillard ventured out alone twice and brought back nearly twenty beaver pelts. He contended that he was too much Indian himself to be captured or killed. On the third day, he convinced two others to leave the fort as well-all three failed to return. Thomas James recorded that their search party found the first two bodies "pierced with lances, arrows, and bullets and lying near each other." One hundred and fifty yards …

'And Your Name Will Be Remembered... ": The History Of John Alexander Clark's Turkish Mission, Daniel J. Pingree

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Thousands of miles from the arid deserts of rural Utah in the coastal city of Haifa, Israel, stands a small German cemetery known only to few. Surrounded by a weathered wrought-iron fence and situated near the shipping docks, the cemetery borders the Mediterranean Sea and is overshadowed by ML Carmel. A marble and sandstone monument inside the fence honors the final resting place of a valiant missionary who died while laboring among a people he loved. This gravestone marks the burial plot of John Alexander Clark, a young elder who died while serving in the Turkish Mission for The Church …

Creation Of The Evil Empire: How American Newspapers Molded Perceptions Of The Soviet Union, Mary Dickson

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Feelings of apprehension and mistrust toward the Soviet Union were very familiar to those born during the cold war era. However, many baby-boomers were probably unaware that as recently as 1945, the Soviets were considered comrades-in-arms American allies. This drastic change in perception had several causes by a number of ingredients. Predominant among these were media voices that tended to encourage fear of Soviet aggression, promote certain policy positions, reinforce negative stereotypes, and influence consumers' purchases; a review of relevant events covered by the American newspaper media in different areas of the United States revealed the changing attitudes toward the …

Germany's War For World Conquest And The Extermination Of Jews, Gerhard L. Weinberg

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Fifty years ago the war between Germany and the Allies was coming to its final stage. In the East, the Red Army had broken through the German central front in Poland, had driven deeply into Germany itself, had taken much of the Silesian industrial area, had established a bridgehead over the Oder River, and was eliminating pockets of German resistance isolated by the winter offensive, even while preparations were beginning for the final assault on Berlin. In the South, all Soviet territory once occupied by the Germans had been freed almost a year earlier, and the Red Army occupied Romania, …

The Russel B. Swensen Lecture

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

After graduating from Brigham Young University in 1926, Russel B. Swensen taught seminary in Mesa, Arizona, and later in Kamas and Hurricane, Utah. In 1930,Joseph F. Merrill, then LDS Church commissioner of education, invited Swensen, along with two others, to attend the University of Chicago Divinity School. There, he received an M.A. and Ph.D. in New Testament Studies.

Acknowledgments

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The Thetean received generous donations from the following affiliates of Brigham Young University:

• History Department
• College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences
• Office of Graduate Studies
• Multicultural Education
• General and Honors Education
• Charles Redd Center for Western Studies
• Women's Research Institute
• David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies

Preface, Heather M. Seferovich, Christopher Oscarson

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The Thetean is an annual publication of the Beta Iota Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, an international honorary society of history. Students at Brigham Young University submit scholarly historical papers for publication. The annual Russel B. Swensen lecture is also published.

Front Matter

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

"Uncle Sam Meets John Bull':· American Fur Traders' Attitudes Toward The Hudson's Bay Company, 1821-1832, Andrea Gayle Radke

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The disgruntled British trapper cocked his rifle and shoved it into the chest of Mr. Lucien Fontenelle. Feeling that the American rivals had instigated the desertion of a fellow English trader, the gun-wielding Brit planned on taking out his frustrations on Fontenelle, the American Fur Company leader. Immediately, Fontenelle's men sprang from their horses with rifles ready, "prepared to give them Battle, should they presume to offer any further show of hostility." Cooler heads prevailed, however, and the companies parted without additional conflict.

The Bomb In Political Cartoons Of The 1950s, Cory B. Stokes

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Cartoons are irresistible. No other printed medium conveys its message to a wider range of people. Hebert Block (Herblock) and other popular syndicated cartoonists provided a substantial slice of the cartoons Americans saw each evening as they opened their newspapers. Their themes represent discourse on a national level as opposed to regional or local cartoonists. Examining the intent and content of 1950s editorial cartoons sheds light on society's reaction to the nuclear threat and what part the opinion pages played in shaping the public perception of the nuclear weapons race. Herblock's cartoons emphasized the unknown and uncontrollable nature of atomic …

The Influence Of The Council On Foreign Relations In American Foreign Policy Initiatives, Walter Kenneth Lovell

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

United States Foreign policy has generally followed common themes since the nation's birth. Ideally, in a democratic society, the prevailing views of the mass of people create the policies guiding the government both domestically and abroad. It is in this vein that former Secretary of State Dean Rusk spoke when defining foreign policy as constant. Foreign policy ought not change according to political climate, but rather take its basis from the values the people ostensibly hold sacred.

"Seein' Is Believin "': Spiritualism Among Civil War-Era Mississippian And South Carolinian Slaves, Westley Follett

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

When asked if she believed in ghosts, Minerva Wells of Simpson County, Mississippi replied, "Ise lak my race, I jes' sorter can't help from a believing in haints jes' a little bit." For many former slaves such as Minerva, spiritualism (a belief in ghosts, spirits, and "haints"), superstition, and magic were accepted facts of life. They held a profound influence over the actions of believers and they also formed an integral part of the Southern slave culture.

Faith In Europe: De Gasperi, Adenauer And Their Visions Of Postwar Europe, Michael Griffitts

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

G ermany and Italy faced exceptional challenges after World War II. Their culpability in the outbreak of this devastating war made recovery an especially difficult task. Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) and Alcide De Gasperi (1881-1954) had the unenviable jobs of rebuilding their respective nations after Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini had fallen from power. Both were Chri~tian Democrats who believed that the Christian tradition could provide an important foundation for Europe's rebirth. For both, the ennobling principles of Christianity and the transnational solidarity promoted by the religious tradition offered a refreshing possibility for peace and stability. Their commitment to greater European …

'A Mighty Woman In Zion": The Roles Of Mary Jane Dilworth Hammond As An Lds Missionary Wife In Nineteenth-Century Hawaii, Julia Ann Oldroyd

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Mary Jane Dilworth, the twelfth of thirteen children of Caleb and Eliza Wollerton Dilworth, was born on 29 July 1831 in Uwchlan, Chester, Pennsylvania. By 1846, her mother, brother, and eight sisters had joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, to gather with the other Church members. The inhabitants of Nauvoo were later driven from their homes to Winter Qyarters, Nebraska, and on 17 June 1847 most of the Dilworth family headed farther west with the Jedediah M. Grant Mormon pioneer company and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley almost four months …

Tripping The Iron Feet Of Oppression: The Montgomery Bus Boycott As The Starting Point Of The Civil Rights Movement, Val J. Heyer

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Many historians hold that the landmark Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision was. the starting point of the modem Civil Rights movement, because it showed that blacks could legally protest segregation and win. However, as Edgar French stated, "history refutes any claim that this date marked the beginning of their struggle." Today, disproportionate emphasis on Brown is displayed in history textbooks. Historians Paul Escott and David Goldfield wrote that the Civil Rights movement was a "religious crusade" and that Martin Luther King,Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) were the epitomes of this crusade. They did not mention …

Empires And Multi-Ethnic Identities, Beatrice Forbes Manz

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The last fifteen years have brought an upsurge of the national and ethnic unrest that many had hoped was past. The disintegration of the Soviet Union and its alliance system poses new challenges and questions, and deprives us of the easy frame of reference within which we regarded the confusion of a small and contentious world. U oder these circumstances, it is natural that the study ofidentity should find appeal, and since the late 1970s a number of illuminating studies have appeared. Most of these studies explore the phenomenon of nationalism, seen as the most modern and widespread form of …

Front Matter

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

The Mosaic Programs Of The Basilica Of San Vitale And The Great Palace Of Constantinople: A Unique Reinvention Of Roman Pasts, Justine Spencer

University Honors Theses

The Church of San Vitale and the Great Palace of Constantinople offer remarkable examples of artistic productions in early Byzantine mosaics. Bridging from the same Roman past they reinvented a classical medium with their unique interpretations of earlier traditions. They exemplify the diversity of Byzantine artistic productions that could coexist within the same medium and era. The mosaics of the Great Palace were part of a secular governmental public space and found deep in the heart of the Eastern Roman Empire. The mosaics of the Church of San Vitale were made for the domain of the newly reconsecrated Orthodox church …

Full Issue

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.