History Commons^™

The Development Of Synthetic Rubber And Its Significance In World War Ii, Nyla Provost

History in the Making

Rubber has been one of humanity’s most vital resources for hundreds of years. World War II was a pivotal event in the history of rubber that permanently altered the industry forever. Prior to World War II, the majority of the rubber in the United States came from foreign rubber plantations. The United States’ reliance on foreign rubber led to a crisis in the early twentieth century. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese forces in Southeast Asia captured ninety percent of the United States’ natural rubber supply. This was a monumental event as rubber was …

Cobol Cripples The Mind!: Academia And The Alienation Of Data Processing, Neel Shah

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

This paper writes a social history of the programming language COBOL that focuses on its reception in academia. Through this focus, the paper seeks to understand the contentious relationship between data processing and the academy. In historicizing COBOL, the paper also illuminates the changing nature of the academy-industry-military triangle that was a mainstay of early computing.

Total Prevention: A History Of Schistosomiasis In Japan, Alexander Bay

History Faculty Articles and Research

In Japan, schistosomiasis was endemic in Yamanashi Prefecture and a few other hotspot areas where the Miya’iri snail lived. The parasite’s lifecycle relied on the intermediary Miya’iri snail as well as the human host. Parasite eggs passed into the agrarian environment through untreated night soil used as fertiliser or through the culture of open defecation in rural Japan. Manmade rice fields and irrigation ditches, night soil covered paddies and highly refined growing seasons put people in flooded rice paddies to intensively work the land in the spring and summer. The disease was equally dependent on human intervention in the natural …

The Bulletin: Sidney Kimmel Medical College At Thomas Jefferson University, Volume 71, Issue 2, Summer 2022

The Bulletin (formerly the Jefferson Medical College Alumni Bulletin)

This issue includes:

• Dean's Column
• Time Capsule - Dr. Marion Siegman
• A Message from Elizabeth A. Dale
• ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)
• At the Intersection of Health and Design
• Discovery - A Path Toward Digital Equity
• Mark L. Tykocinski Takes the Helm as President of Thomas Jefferson University
• Student Profile - Kayla Holston
• Faculty Profile - Stephen D. Silberstein, MD
• Alumni Profile - Mahesh Krishnan, MD ’94
• Class Notes
• Reimagine
• Bookshelf
• In Memoriam
• By the Numbers - Match Day 2022

Review Of Modern Mobility Aloft: Elevated Highways, Architecture, And Urban Change In Pre-Interstate America, By Amy D. Finstein, Geoff Zylstra

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Ryan Hitt Collection, University Archives And Special Collections, Prescott Memorial Library, Louisiana Tech University

University Archives Finding Aids

The Ryan Hitt Collection (800 C.E. - 1600 C.E.; 2 linear feet) is a collection of pottery shards, points, and plumbs found by the donor hunting for artifacts in fields and woods.

Copper Afterlives: Memory, Image, And Waste In The Postindustrial Landscape Of Butte, Montana, Sierra Gideon

Masters Theses

This thesis studies the rhetorics and semiotics of open-pit copper mining in Butte, Montana, United States from the mid-twentieth century through the present day within an environmental historical and visual culture studies framework. In examining various spatial reconfigurations—including mass mineral extraction, industrial discard, historic preservation, and landscape remediation—this thesis decenters extractivist paradigms that have normalized physical, bureaucratic, and representational acts of violence against communities and more-than-human ecosystems. While copper has materially symbolized progress and technological innovation in the United States, the extraction of the mineral from rural peripheries has been achieved at a great cost—as White settlers forcibly removed Indigenous …

The Demise Of The Beef Industry, Natalie Powers

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is a neurological disorder commonly found in cows. The hypothesis for the causation of BSE surrounds a protein known as the prion protein. For the most part, prion proteins are not harmful to cattle. Yet, when it mutates, the protein begins attacking the central nervous system. The protein causes the infected cattle to lose coordination and become violent. This is where it gets its nickname, mad cow disease. The research in this project explores the economic impact of mad cow disease. The reactions from consumers surrounding BSE started the downfall of the economy. It also almost …

Ic 001 Guide To Houston Academy Of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library Records, 1915-2016, Houston Academy Of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library

Institutional Finding Aids

Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library records consist of about 135 boxes and contains photographs, scrapbooks, VHS tapes, reports, printed material, financial documents, correspondence, architectural drawings, and surveys that document the history of HAM-TMC Library. See more at IC 001.

Narrative Side-Stepping: Disability Beyond The Narratology Of Normalcy, Christian Lewis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation theorizes a new mode of reading, narrative side-stepping, that reveals how disabled characters provide a unique opportunity for non-normative narratives. In insisting on the narratological innovations that disability affords, I revise both Lennard Davis’s notion that the novel form valorizes normalcy and David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder’s theory of narrative prosthesis, which claims that disability is a crutch, and that disabled characters are merely metaphors and/or plot devices. I move beyond these theories to focus instead on the more complicated ways that authors represented disability and used disabled characters to critique societal and narrative norms. I think about …

The Lost And Forgotten Plants: French Botanical Networks In Provincial And Colonial France (1760–1825), Sophie R. Tunney

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

During the eighteenth century, the Jardin du Roi in Paris was the leading monarchical institution for the collection and categorization of plants. A global network emerged that circulated thousands of plants and seeds. Historians of botany have focused on the Jardin du Roi in Paris and the centralization of the network in the hands of different actors, including André Thouin. The dissertation shifts away from a Paris-centered model to one that includes gardens across the metropole and the colonial world. It focuses on the histories of the botanical gardens in l’Ile de France (Mauritius), Cayenne (French Guiana), Brest, Bordeaux, Paris, …

Seeking Margaret Baker: Identifying The Author Of Three Manuscript Receipt Books, Kimberley G. Connor

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830

This paper uses recipe contributors named in three early modern manuscript receipt books (Sloane MS 2485, Sloane MS 2486 and Folger V.a 619) to identify the author as Margaret Baker, daughter of Richard Baker the Chronicler (c.1568-1645) and Margaret Mainwaring (died c.1652). A familial connection is also made to Wellcome MS 212. The Margaret Baker example is used to argue for the necessity of identifying a broader range of receipt, or recipe, book writers in order to understand the spatial and temporal distribution of recipe book production, and their social context. In the case of Margaret Baker, additional information about …

Richard Pearl Interview For The Boonshoft School Of Medicine 50th Anniversary Oral History Project, Richard Pearl, Kristen Dilger

Boonshoft 50th Anniversary Oral History Project

Kristen Dilger interviews Richard Pearl, a graduate of the Boonshoft School of Medicine. He worked as a pediatric surgeon until his retirement. Part of the class of 1980, Pearl discusses his collegiate career, including why he chose Wright State University's new medical college and talks about what it was like attending the college. He talks about the challenges and processes of attending a new medical college, and how attending the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine assisted him in his early career.

To The Shores Of Tripoli: A Barbary Retrospective, Kathleen J. Brett

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

The First and Second Barbary Wars were incredibly influential in shaping the diplomatic and military tactics of the early United States. These wars were fought against the Barbary states of Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers, located on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa. The First Barbary War lasted between the years of 1801 to 1805. The First Barbary War began due to the United States’ desire to no longer pay tribute sums to the Barbary states, along with an increase in the number American merchantmen captured and enslaved by the Barbary states. Tripoli served as the primary aggressor in the …

“For The Best Interest Of The Patient And Of Society;” Sterilization In Virginia’S Mental Institutions In The 20th Century, Grace M. Gordon

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

The science of eugenics, or classifying and grouping people into the categories of genetically “inferior” and “superior” for the purpose of better breeding, thrived during the first decades of the 20th century in Virginia. The first recorded instance of eugenic sterilization in a Virginia Mental Institution occurred in 1915 by Dr. Albert Priddy. In 1924, the combined efforts of Dr. Joseph DeJarnette and Dr. Albert Priddy resulted in the passage of a state-sanctioned eugenic sterilization law that was later deemed constitutional in 1927 by Buck v. Bell. The 1924 law gave Western State Hospital, Central State Hospital, Eastern State Hospital, …

Geoff Calvert, M.D. Interview For The Boonshoft School Of Medicine 50th Anniversary Oral History Project, Geoff Calvert, Kristen Dilger

Boonshoft 50th Anniversary Oral History Project

Kristen Dilger interviews Jeff Clavert, a graduate of the Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Associate Director for Clinical Quality for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the time of the interview. Part of the class of 1983, Calvert discusses his collegiate career, including why he chose Wright State University's new medical college and talks about what it was like attending the college. He talks about the challenges and processes of attending a new medical college, and how attending the Wright State University Boonshoft College of Medicine assisted him in his early career.

Oxen: Status, Uses And Practices In The U.S.A., Encouraging A Historic Tradition To Thrive, Andrew B. Conroy

Faculty Publications

Oxen in the United States of America have played an important role throughout its history. Unlike other countries,oxen were never completely given up for horses, mules, or tractors. Instead, the culture of keeping oxen has been maintained by a small group of teamsters in the North- eastern states collectively called New England. Their continued presence has been largely due to agricultural fairs and exhibitions where they have been used in competition for the last 200 years. Ox teamsters were sur- veyed in 2021via social media using Qualtrics. The 423 ox teamsters responding owned 1791 oxen in 39 states, with the …

Preservation And Public History In Mound Bayou, Mississippi, Walker Bray

Honors Theses

This paper is an exploration of the history of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, an all Black community in the Mississippi Delta formed by freedmen in the wake of Reconstruction. This paper also discusses the ways in which Mound Bayou citizens are working to preserve their history and make it known to a wider audience. In particular, this work discusses the recently opened Mound Bayou Museum of African American Culture and History and related efforts to restore and preserve historic structures in Mound Bayou. In addition, this work also seeks to explore ways in which the University of Mississippi can effectively supplement …

Using Color To Identify Neotropical Parrots In Early Modern European Art: Recognizing Limitations And Avoiding Pitfalls Through Integration Of Scientific And Artistic Knowledge, Deniz Martinez

The Confluence

Colorful Neotropical parrots were amongst the first and most frequent exotic animals to be imported by Europeans from the “New World” of the Americas, becoming key figures in what would become known as the Columbian exchange. There has been an ongoing effort to locate and identify images of Neotropical parrots in the visual record of early modern Europe, with the classification of many remaining unsettled in the scholarship. Proper identification of these images can be valuable data for reconstructing historical biogeography and transatlantic trade; especially compelling is the potential of certain “mystery parrots” in the visual record to support the …

From The Stars To The Headlines: The Propaganda Of Yuri Gagarin, Peyton Edelbrock

The Purdue Historian

There were no haphazard decisions made by the Soviet Union when it came to choosing the first man to be sent to space. Months of training, careful planning, and well-hidden secrets eventually led to the decision of Yuri Gagarin. This led to the mass production of propaganda to spread, from Yuri Gagarin touring around the world to music being written about him, all centered around his trip to space and Soviet excellency. This propaganda still stands today in Russia, and its God-like idolization of cosmonauts is forever present.

From Madness To Medicine: How Nazi Medical Experimentation Morphed Into Today’S Medical Field, Alexandria Daughn Kerby

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

It is no secret that many of our current scientific and medical advancements stem from a long history of research, trials, and experimentation, but not enough is known about the origins of our routine practices. The Holocaust enabled Nazi doctors to explore countless victims in search of the ultimate answer to the Jewish question. The answer: to alleviate the burden that those deemed “unworthy of life” placed on the greater society. The mass extermination practices which highlight the atrocities of the Holocaust are the end result of constant scientific developments disguised as medicine. Tiergarten 4 (T4) serves as the beginning …

Hand-Colored Zoological Illustrations For “All Classes” Of British Society: The Publishing History Of The Naturalist’S Library, 1833-1843, Sarah Finn

Theses and Dissertations

Natural history grew in popularity in Britain among the middle class during the nineteenth century in large part due to the proliferation of cheap books and periodicals that featured illustrations of plants and animals. Prior to this period, books that featured hand-colored plates were considered a luxury that only the very wealthy could afford. Some nineteenth century naturalists like John James Audubon, continued to exclusively produce expensive folio books marketed to the upper class, but many others saw an opportunity to make more money by appealing to a popular audience by creating smaller works sold at a fraction of the …

Supporting Characters: Prosthesis And Aesthetic Technologies Of Disability In The Victorian Novel, Rebecca L. Mccann

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the production of physical disability and the function of prosthesis in nineteenth-century British fiction. My intervention in disability studies readings of Victorian literature attends to the prosthetic object and prosthetic body not only as the dual products of medicine and art, but also as catalytic elements of fiction and culture. I read reciprocal developments in medical technology and disabled characterization in the Victorian novel to demonstrate how the artistic translation of the prosthetic object effected a set of criteria for defining people through both bodies and things and, in so doing, revealed the ways in which the …

The Rise Of Oxycontin: How Purdue Pharma And The Sackler Family Is Responsible For The Epidemic Behind The Pandemic, Colin White

History | Senior Theses

This research paper serves as a case study, providing an updated history of the American opioid crisis through the lens of OxyContin and Purdue Pharma. In 1996 the long-acting opioid OxyContin was approved by the Food and Drug Administration and became the most prescribed Schedule II narcotic by 2001. Prescription guidelines from the World Health Organization show that opioid prescription before 1996 was limited primarily to those who were terminally ill or suffering severe pain. This paper will show how Purdue Pharma successfully manipulated the medical outlook on pain and opioids in an attempt to streamline OxyContin for mild pain. …

Flora's Fourth Child: Race, Gender, And Botany In The British Colonial Caribbean, Brittany L. Mondragon

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In 1824, an enslaved woman named Catalina (alias Susannah Mathison) induced an abortion by drinking an herbal mixture on the Castle Wemyss Estate in Jamaica. Consequently, the estate’s attorney denounced her as an African witchcraft practitioner. Many enslaved women faced similar convictions for their botanical knowledge as British colonists misinterpreted Obeah for witchcraft or superstition. This thesis sheds light on these women’s experiences and examines how the British Empire imposed imperial rule over enslaved women by reflecting on the intersectionality of race, gender, and botany. Focusing on the Greater Caribbean area and centering primarily around Jamaica, this research explores the …

The Glass Coffin: Gothic Adaptations And The Formation Of Sexual Subjectivity., Colton T. Wilson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is now an almost foregone conclusion that classic depictions of vampirism resonate with contemporary queer audiences. A sympathetic response to the monster’s persecution is often the key factor in these arguments, yet little attention is paid to the textual details that prompt such a process of identification. This study posits that the iconography used to establish a connection between monstrosity and non-normative sexuality has its origins in Victorian Gothic fiction, whose descriptions of vampirism were assimilated into the discourse of the fin-de-siècle medical field known as sexology. Theories that defined homosexuality as an illness with physical and psychological symptoms …

In Penn’S Woods: Intersections Between The Moravians, Indigenous Americans, And Nature, 1741-1760, Jane J. Chang

Masters Theses

The Moravian presence among Native American communities during the early colonial period (1741-1760) provides a valuable glimpse into the intermingling of European and indigenous cultures along with an environmental epistemology. Cross-cultural and knowledge exchanges were not uni-directional by any means. Moravians negotiated with indigenous Americans and their natural landscapes to construct syncretic space not only in their missionary efforts, but also the establishment of settlements. Integral in this shared space was the role of Moravian women, who played a crucial role in fostering intimate bonds with their indigenous Sisters. In this study, I examine Moravian hymns, architectural plans, and diaries …

Unknowable Truths: The Incompleteness Theorems And The Rise Of Modernism, Caroline Tvardy

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

This thesis evaluates the function of the current history of mathematics methodologies and explores ways in which historiographical methodologies could be successfully implemented in the field. Traditional approaches to the history of mathematics often lack either an accurate portrayal of the social and cultural influences of the time, or they lack an effective usage of mathematics discussed. This paper applies a holistic methodology in a case study of Kurt Gödel’s influential work in logic during the Interwar period and the parallel rise of intellectual modernism. In doing so, the proofs for Gödel’s Completeness and Incompleteness theorems will be discussed as …

Don't Breathe: An Analysis Of The Factors Of The Victorian River Thames' Restoration, Lucie N. Jain

Young Historians Conference

In the summer of 1858, the River Thames of London was polluted beyond recognition, producing an intolerable smell that reached all corners of the city and inspired a surge of rhetoric commenting on the state of the once adored river. Prior to the nineteenth century, the Thames was the jewel of London and the main source of the city’s prosperity. However, industrialism took a toll on the river’s beauty and health, and the once pristine waterway was quickly spoiled in the space of mere decades. Tracing back to nineteenth century London, this paper aims to explore the causes of the …

Bad Blood: Hemophilia And It’S Detriment To The Russian Imperial Family, Tessia A. Hoffman

Young Historians Conference

Monarchies have often defined the flow of history. Their decisions and ideas affect whole countries, which can lead to a crisis if the ruler is unable to lead effectively. A lack of leadership can bring about war, famine, political instability, and political unrest, all of which occurred in Russia during the 19th and 20th centuries. The poor decision-making of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra brought about civic unrest that eventually led to their downfall. In addition to the unstable country, the Imperial family was also struggling with the state of their only heir, who had inherited the genetic disorder …