History Commons^™

Just "Helling Around": Prohibition In Cache Valley, Utah, Kara Lyn Parker

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Busy dance halls, exploding bottles, back room exchanges, and car chases: the Prohibition Era was doused with excitement. In rural Cache County, Utah, in the thick of prohibition years, a thirsty customer cautiously entered the rural residence of a known illegal brewer. The seller firmly shook his client’s hand and calmly took his order. When the customer ordered some simple beer, the brewer sent his son to fetch some bottles. The son, after heading upstairs, poked his head back down, and asked his father, “Dad…do you want me to get the beer out of the crock that the cat got …

Can The "Peasant" Speak? Forging Dialogues In A Nineteenth-Century Legend Collection, William Pooley

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The folklore collections amassed by Jean-François Bladé in nineteenth-century southwestern France are problematic for modern readers. Bladé's legacy includes a confusing combination of poorly received historical works and unimportant short stories as well as the large collections of proverbs, songs, and narratives that he collected in his native Gascony. No writer has ever attempted to study any of Bladé's informants in detail, not even his most famous narrator, the illiterate and "defiant" Guillaume Cazaux.

Rather than dismissing Bladé as a poor ethnographer whose transcripts do not reflect what his informant Cazaux said, I propose taking Bladé's own confusion about authenticity …

A Mountain Of Paper The Extraordinary Diary Of Leonard James Arrington, Carl Arrington, Susan Arrington Madsen

Arrington Annual Lecture

The establishment of a lecture series honoring a library’s special collections and a donor to that collection is unique. Utah State University’s Merrill-Cazier Library houses the personal and historical collection of Leonard J. Arrington, a renowned scholar of the American West. As part of Arrington’s gift to the university, he requested that the university’s historical collection become the focus for an annual lecture on an aspect of Mormon history. Utah State agreed to the request and in 1995 inaugurated the annual Leonard J. Arrington Mormon History Lecture.

Utah State University’s Special Collections and Archives is ideally suited as the host …

Unraveling Conflicting Interpretations: A Reexamination Of The 1916 Report On Social Studies, C. Gregg Jorgensen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study examines the 1916 Report on Social Studies in order to determine how it has been interpreted and regarded over time. The underlying question involved is "Which interpretation, or interpretations, most embodies the intent, goals, and purpose of the 1916 Committee"? Key members of the 1916 committee have been identified for extended research and analysis. One additional individual frequently quoted throughout the Report, John Dewey, has been included in this research on the 1916 committee. The design, format, and content of the 1916 Report on Social Studies was closely examined. This study dissected the three individual reports by time, …

The Career Intern Program: An Alternative High School In 1970'S Philadelphia, Brandon Rains

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In 1971, Leon Sullivan, founder and chairman of the Board for the Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America, created the Career Intern Program. The purpose of the Program was to identify and help dropouts and potential dropouts from high school graduate and select and start a career. In order to accomplish these ambitious goals, Program leaders introduced a variety of educational innovations designed to help interns succeed where traditional educational methods had not. During the Career Intern Program's operational life, CIP leaders turned to the federal government for funding, and the National Institute of Education became CIP's primary funder from 1972 …

From "Stalinkas" To "Khrushchevkas": The Transition To Minimalism In Urban Residential Interiors In The Soviet Union From 1953 To 1964, Ksenia Choate

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

During the shift from the rule of Joseph Stalin to that of Nikita Khrushchev, people in the Soviet Union witnessed dramatic political, economic, and social changes, evident even in such private aspects of life as residential home interiors.

The major architectural style of Stalin's era, known as Stalin's Empire Style, was characterized by grandeur and rich embellishments. The buildings' interiors were similarly grandiose and ornate. By endorsing this kind of design, Stalin attempted to position himself as an heir of classical traditions, to encourage respect for his regime, and to signal his power. When Nikita Khrushchev became the country's leader …

Smoldering Embers: Czech-German Cultural Competition, 1848-1948, C. Brandon Hone

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

After World War II, state-sponsored deportations amounting to ethnic cleansing occurred and showed that the roots of the Czech-German cultural competition are important. In Bohemia, Czechs and Germans share a long history of contact, both mutually beneficial and antagonistic. Bohemia became one of the most important constituent realms of the Holy Roman Empire, bringing Czechs into close contact with Germans.

During the reign of Václav IV, a theologian at the University of Prague named Jan Hus began to cause controversy. Hus began to preach the doctrines outlined by the Englishman John Wycliffe. At the Council of Constance church officials sought …

Sex In The Kitchen: The Re-Interpretation Of Gendered Space Within The Post-World War Ii Suburban Home In The West, Philip M. Lockette

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In the decades following 1945, Americans moved increasingly out of cities into suburbs. The migration illustrated the emergence of a new, broader middle class as a result of growing postwar affluence. In the previous half-century, families living in a suburb could claim middle-class status. The emerging class built its identity on the forms and values adopted from this earlier, more affluent Victorian middle class. These adopted values were played out in a home designed around Progressive era ideals of the family. Through this Progressive filter, the new concept of the home was scaled down, without servants, and ceased existing wholly …

"To Drink From Places": Uncovering A Rich Way Of Life Near The Grand Canyon's North Rim, Melinda Snow Rich

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The chapters of this thesis focus on the history and stories of the people who built and traveled down the highways--Highway 89A, Highway 89, and Highway 67--that branch out from the junction in front of Jacob Lake Inn, the Bowman/Rich family's 87-year-old lodge. The family's role in building roads, supporting and encouraging the growing tourist industry in Kanab and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and the converging effects of these choices have created the unique family culture and contributed to the history of the Grand Canyon region over time. Ultimately this thesis is about relationships, about the connections, …

History Steps Off The Page: The Past In The Future, A Case Study Of How The Mormon Battalion Is Making History Interactive, Allyson Jones

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis addresses the presentation of the Mormon Battalion's history in three interactive forms. The Battalion served in the U.S.-Mexican War between 1846 and 1847. In 2008 a group known as Battalion Trek chose to rehike the original trail as closely as possible. The three chapters of this thesis address the reenactors who planned and completed the rehike, the blog they kept as they did so, and a program which allows those interested to learn more about the trail. Analyzing what such presentations have to offer is important as history moves into the hands of the public and as the …

That Dame's Got Grit: Selling The Women's Land Army, Pamela Jo Pierce

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis analyzes the marketing of the Women's Land Army (WLA) using archival sources. I explore how farmerettes, the name given to WLA members, used their patriotic work on the farm as a means of redefining femininity and interrogating the definition of "true womanhood." "That Dame's Got Grit" discusses how the WLA was sold in World War I and World War II. The first chapter describes the press book used to market Little Comrade, a 1919 film about a fashionable farmerette. The theme of uniforms, an idea that weaves throughout the thesis, emerges strongly in this chapter. "A Seductive …

Peculiar Portrayals: Mormons On The Page, Stage, And Screen, Mark T. Decker, Michael Austin

All USU Press Publications

In a time when Mormons appear to have larger roles in everything from political conflict to television shows and when Mormon-related topics seem to show up more frequently in the news, eight scholars take a close look at Mormonism in popular media: film, television, theater, and books.

Some authors examine specific works, including the Tony-winning play Angels in America, the hit TV series Big Love, and the bestselling books Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith and The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint. Others consider the phenomena of Mormon cinema and Mormon fiction; the use of the …

Exploring Desert Stone, Steven K. Madsen

All USU Press Publications

The confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers, now in Canyonlands National Park, near popular tourist destination Moab, still cannot be reached or viewed easily. Much of the surrounding region remained remote and rarely visited for decades after settlement of other parts of the West. The first U.S. government expedition to explore the canyon country and the Four Corners area was led by John Macomb of the army's topographical engineers. The soldiers and scientists followed in part the Old Spanish Trail, whose location they documented and verified. Seeking to find the confluence of the Colorado and the Green and looking …

Japanese Demon Lore, Noriko T. Reider

All USU Press Publications

Oni, ubiquitous supernatural figures in Japanese literature, lore, art, and religion, usually appear as demons or ogres. Characteristically threatening, monstrous creatures with ugly features and fearful habits, including cannibalism, they also can be harbingers of prosperity, beautiful and sexual, and especially in modern contexts, even cute and lovable. There has been much ambiguity in their character and identity over their long history. Usually male, their female manifestations convey distinctivly gendered social and cultural meanings.

Oni appear frequently in various arts and media, from Noh theater and picture scrolls to modern fiction and political propaganda, They remain common figures in popular …

"Only You Can Prevent A Forest": Agent Orange, Ecocide, And Environmental Justice, Charles Waugh

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Ordinary Words: Towards A New Understanding Of The 19th Century Mormon Male Diary, Sara Jordan

Arrington Student Writing Award Winners

“It is hard to believe that any group of comparable size, with the possible exception of the Puritans and the Quakers, has been as relentless as the Mormons in writing diaries and autobiographies.” So wrote Davis Bitton, in the Introduction of the 1977 publication Guide to Mormon Diaries and Autobiographies, an index of nearly 3,000 published and unpublished works. Bitton, a close friend and colleague of Mormon History Scholar Leonard Arrington worked with Arrington for decades to create “a research program of [God’s] people’s history.” At the heart of that program was and continues to be the diary. Bitton and …

Innovation And Entrepreneurial Spirit: Leonard J. Arrington And The Impact Of New Mormon History, John H. Brumbaugh

Arrington Student Writing Award Winners

Writing Mormon history has never been as easy as putting ink on paper. The historian Linda Sillitoe explained, “History is crucial in Mormonism.” David Bohn elaborated on the former observation, “Every attempt to undermine the historical authenticity of the foundational events of the Mormon past constitutes an assault on Latter-day Saint self-understanding.” Thus the reconstruction of Mormon history occurs in a spiritually-charged arena. At the center of the conflict within the Mormon historiography stands a farm boy from Idaho, Leonard J. Arrington. This man carried the study of Mormonism into new areas of scholarly acceptance. His entrepreneurial spirit led to …

Knowing The Man In History, Genevieve Draper

Arrington Student Writing Award Winners

The sixteenth annual Leonard J. Arrington Mormon History Lecture was dedicated to knowing the man in the history. In researching and recording history, Arrington contributed to our honestly understanding the past. In keeping his own diary, Arrington contributed to the understanding of what is now history to us. Many of the anecdotes revealed in the lecture, such as the story of his original prize hens and rooster, what he paid for them and his eventual return, record a time little likely to occur again. The common practices of the day become surprising customs to future generations.

Leonard Arrington’s diaries are …