History Commons^™

Lindenwood Night At The Blues Set For April 7, Taylor Sanders

Lindenlink (2012- )

No abstract provided.

From Associate Dean To Dean: Mcmaken Looks To Build The Future For The College Of Arts And Humanities, Mackenzie Cameron

Lindenlink (2012- )

No abstract provided.

The Grizzly, April 2, 2026, Renee Washart

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

This is an April Fool's parody edition of the Ursinus College Grizzly newspaper entitled "The Goofly."

Res Historica, Volume 5, Alpha Rho Epsilon Phi Alpha Theta, Lindsay Rae Smith Privette Phd

Res Historica

The 2026 journal of historical research by Anderson University students, Res Historica.

The editorial team for this edition of Res Historica was Dr. Lindsay Rae Smith Privette, Julia Ackerman, Callyn Wright, Logan Davis, and John Hinton. Cover art by Mary Beth Lee.

The Legend Of Emanuel Loewner “Cap” Klingstein: “The Al Capone Of The Shenandoah Valley?”, Josh Payne

Honors Projects

Emanuel Loewner “Cap” Klingstein (1894-1971) was a notable Jewish entrepreneur in the area, owning multiple businesses and real estate between the 1920s and 1970s.  However, possible shady business practices and criminal activities, such as tax evasion and alcohol possession during prohibition, as well as local stories and legends, have raised questions about how he should be remembered. At times, he was even referred to as “the Al Capone of the Shenandoah Valley.” By utilizing primary source archival letters, genealogical records, court documents, and personal testimonies, as well as secondary sources on Jewish business in the area, organized crime, and the …

Book Bans In U.S. Prisons: A Legacy Of The Prisoners' Rights Movement, Allison Jansen

Honors Projects

The 1950s-1970s saw an unprecedented spike in organized resistance by American prisoners. This long era of rebellion, along with thousands of judicial appeals, made up the “prisoners’ rights movement”-- a political, legal, and social struggle that challenged the conditions of American incarceration and its penological paradigm. The timeline of the movement is abstract and difficult to measure. Nonetheless, what is certain is that it lost its momentum by the 1980s due to overhauling policy changes that quelled prisoner activism without achieving meaningful progress. This research examines the evolution of prison censorship policies within that paradigm shift and how they sought …

We're All Ramblers, Here: American National Identity As Articulated Through The Sounds And Stories Of Bluegrass Music, Greyson M. Sherman

Senior Theses

This creative thesis argues that bluegrass music, through its multicultural origins and its central "Rambler" archetype, articulates a distinctly American negotiation between freedom and rootedness — one that extends far beyond the genre's narrow popular image. Drawing on musicological scholarship and cultural history, the paper first recovers bluegrass's suppressed origins in the convergence of West African, Anglo- Celtic, and broader European traditions, complicating narratives that position the genre as exclusively white and Appalachian. It then introduces the Rambler — the restless, longing figure who haunts bluegrass lyrically and structurally — as both a product of that history and a metaphorical …

Spanglish: Un Viaje Al Pasado Observado Por El Presente, Nyleen Benavides, Raquel Christopherson, Rose Jouini, Kennedy Kuchta

Posters - 2026

Since its founding in 1852, St. Mary’s University has evolved from a small institution into a diverse and inclusive community that has worked to overcome discriminatory barriers. Originally founded to serve Mexican students in underserved communities, the university has reflected San Antonio’s Cultural diversity since its earliest years. Its founder, Reverend John Marie Odin, envisioned supporting a “melting pot” of cultures within the city (Flores, 2019). While the university has grown significantly in enrollment, Hispanic culture and traditions have remained a central part of its identity. Today, with over two thousand students enrolled, St. Mary’s University continues to not only …

Chasing The Enslaved, Not Justice: Rangers Of Oppression, Mackenzie Arendall

Posters - 2026

01. Introduction: Rangers Policed & Profited in Slavery The Underground Railroad did not lead only north. It also led south into Mexico, where slavery had been abolished since 1829. Enslaved Texans risked the perilous journey, hundreds of miles, across unforgiving terrain. Even more dangerous than the harsh elements were the slavecatchers. Enslavers offered generous bounties, advertised in newspapers, for the recapture of their human “property.” Among the slavecatchers profiting from and policing slavery were many members of the infamous Texas Rangers. The Texas Rangers have been commemorated for heroism on the western frontier and honored for upholding the law and …

Visible And Invisible Empires: The Revival Of The Ku Klux Klan 100 Years Ago, Christian Molina

Posters - 2026

Hatred and violence breed division, and that division breeds more hatred and violence. 1920s American politics was characterized by name-calling, finger-pointing, scapegoating, whataboutisms, and violence. The nation entered a self-perpetuating cycle. Groups keen for growth, power, and profit captured the angry, stressed, and less-informed with lies and misleading numbers. In particular, the Ku Klux Klan captured nearly 4 million Americans, roughly 1 in 12 men at the time. But the Klan, large as it was on a local level, was led and masked by a handful of national leaders. The Klan was not just bands of rogue vigilantes cruising the …

A Culture Divided: How Irish Americans Responded To Ireland’S Wartime Neutrality, Robert J. Barron

Honors College Theses

In the Second World War, the nation of Ireland declared its neutrality and maintained this status through the course of the long conflict. Meanwhile, Germany, Great Britain, and eventually the United States all competed to gain Ireland’s support in the war. However, one overlooked group continued to keep tabs on the affairs within their homeland: Irish Americans. How does one respond to a nation you have a connection with staying neutral in such a deadly conflict? The answer, for Irish Americans, was that it depended on the year. Before the United States entered the war, Irish Americans firmly defended the …

Libertatis Cunabula: Slavery In San Antonio, Makayla Hernandez

Posters - 2026

This research on the taxes collected by our city and county exposes the pervasiveness of slavery in San Antonio. This truth is shockingly new for San Antonio. No marker nor plaque nor historical commemoration exists to honor the memory and contributions of enslaved San Antonians, nor to force a reckoning with the legacy of prominent enslavers among San Antonio’s leading families and Alamo heroes. This research project recovers every person listed as enslaved in the Bexar County Tax Assessment Records from 1837 to 1862 and names their enslavers. It immediately counters the assumption and assertion that slavery was insignificant in …

Calculated Self-Presentation: Japan At Twentieth Century American World’S Fairs, Mary Rose Comerford

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

World’s fairs are places of innovation, culture, and technology. They are places where visitors go to be wowed by the innovations of other countries, but do they have a deeper meaning? In this thesis I will argue that world’s fairs serve a purpose beyond the sharing of culture and innovation. They allow national commissions to control the narrative of their country through a careful curation of displays that meet the objectives of their government. Countries’ objectives at world’s fairs change all the time, depending on their position in the world and what serves their best interest. The fairs themselves each …

“Do Not Take Sex Into The Practice”: Lelia Robinson And Her Struggle To Become The First Female Attorney Of Massachusetts, Georgia Grace Peters

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

Lelia Robinson was the first woman lawyer in Massachusetts. Although her achievements paved the way for future female litigators, her efforts to partake in the legal profession were complicated. This was because she herself had a complex relationship with her own identity as a woman who wanted to practice law. In her early career and experiences at law school, Robinson publicly disregarded the discrimination she faced and framed her success as a result of her individual merit and capability, viewing herself as an equal to other male attorneys rather than part of a gendered struggle. Her brief to the Court …

Remembering In The North: How The Civil Rights Movement Is Told Through Monuments, Courtney Wight

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

This thesis, titled “Remembering in the North: How the Civil Rights Movement is Told Through Monuments,” examines how the Civil Rights Movement is remembered in the North through public monuments. The Civil Rights Movement in the North has not received the same level of recognition compared to the South in public memory, yet the stories and activists in the North deserve the same acknowledgement. The cities of Newark, NJ, and Albany, NY, act as case studies to illustrate how the racism and discrimination, which prompted the Civil Rights Movement, were present in the North during the movement. Both cities, like …

“Let The Goddess Guide”: Athena, Columbia, And The Greco-Roman Roots Of American Imperial Rhetoric, Bridget Goguen

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

The goddess of wisdom and war models intellect without complacency, valor without rashness. Claiming this duality—a civilized militancy—from their patron goddess Athena, an ancient Athenian citizenry could rationalize imperial conquest as democratic goodwill. Millennia later, the United States, seeking subtle proclamation of classical succession, crafted their national personification Columbia from the mold of Athena. From the Civil War until the First World War, Americans called on Columbia to symbolically sanction and spectacularize their own imperial ascent. This paper explores the American adaptation of Greco-Roman rhetoric through the mediums of cartoons, sculptures, and paintings in order to reveal the ancient roots …

Chalmers Library Research Award Winner 2026, Cooper Bertschi

Chalmers Library Research Award

No abstract provided.

Back Matter

Tenor of Our Times

Back Matter

Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Jr Duke, David T. Richardson

Tenor of Our Times

Faculty Spotlight

"Under The Fig-Tree": Anti-Federalist Conceptions Of American National Identity, Clara Kernodle

Tenor of Our Times

The constitutional convention of 1787 gave America some of her most energetic and exciting few months in American history. The Federalists proposed the Constitution as a replacement for existing government, opposed by Anti-Federalists on principled grounds. Thus ensued a mountain of political writing and propaganda that historians still study today. The Anti-Federalists lost the debate, and then were lost to history. Few Americans have even heard of the Anti-Federalists and even fewer scholars study their writings. But reading and evaluating Anti-Federalist writing is an important part of studying the Founding era and Constitutional debates. The Anti-Federalists, as much as their …

Front Matter

Tenor of Our Times

Front Matter

Full Issue

Tenor of Our Times

Full Issue

Spotlight - Mecca Mejor, William Deloach

Tenor of Our Times

Staff Spotlight

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other: Differences Between The New Deal And Great Society, Brayden T. Gallagher

Tenor of Our Times

This paper examines the differences between the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson, challenging the prevailing interpretation that the latter administration was the logical continuation of the former. Through comparative historical analysis of policy and rhetoric, the research finds that, despite clear similarities such as expanded government involvement and social welfare programs, the two initiatives diverged significantly. The New Deal prioritized economic recovery through short-term job creation while often tolerating or reinforcing racial inequality. In contrast, the Great Society directly confronted systemic racism and struck at the roots of poverty through education, …

Model Woman: Realizing Frances Folsom Cleveland As A Fashion Archetype Of Gilded-Age America, Olivia R. Sweet

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

This paper is an exploration of former First Lady Frances Folsom Cleveland’s position as an influential figure in women’s fashion during her years in the White House, seeking to fill a gap in historical scholarship regarding her legacy. It proposes the term “fashion archetype” to describe the phenomenon of celebrity that Frances experienced in which her public persona was detached from her individual identity and manipulated by the media to influence American women. Analysis of her early-White House wardrobe and the media attention her style and appearance received reveals the power that clothing held in nineteenth-century American society, as well …

Delenda Est Norfolk: The Tidewater Revolts!, Kiera Dillman, Alise Dunham, Kristen Gary, Olivia M. Haris, Nelliel A. Herrera, Logan Holzgrefe, R. J. Lynch, Adam M. Manis, David Mogan, Luke Pickard, Shayla M. Shaw, Landon Swain, Kenny Wilcox, Bailey M. Wimberly, Tracy L. Barnett

Student Projects

Introduction to the Exhibit:

Today—exactly 250 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence—many Americans trace the origins of the nation’s revolutionary sentiment to Boston, Massachusetts or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We remember the violence of March 1770, when red-coated British soldiers fired into a crowded Boston street, massacring innocent colonists and igniting outrage. We recall the patriotic defiance of the Sons of Liberty, who boarded three East India Company ships and dumped chests of imported British tea into the Boston Harbor in December 1773. We can still hear, too, the reverberations of the “shot heard ’round the world,” when British …

Editor's Note, William Deloach

Tenor of Our Times

Editor's Note

Speculative Spies: The Pinkerton National Detective Agency, Business, And Labor Conflict In The Gilded Age, Luke M. Gibbs

Tenor of Our Times

The Pinkerton Agency molded into an “arm of capital” used by the wealthy against labor during the Gilded Age. However, such a transition seems confusing given the life of the company’s founder. Allan Pinkerton, once a champion of workers’ rights in his home country of Scotland, seemingly used his agency to side with the wealthy elite. In explaining these shifts, historian Sean Paul O’Hara agrees with a “profits and negative image” narrative. The poor financial position of the agency, coupled with a battered reputation resulting from failures in the American West, would be remedied through the lucrative business that was …

Phi Alpha Theta Arkansas Regional Conference 2026, Jacob Rooney

Tenor of Our Times

Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference 2026

History Day At Harding 2026, Julie E Harris

Tenor of Our Times

History Day in Arkansas summary.