History Commons^™

What's In A Name? The Politics Of Commemoration From The Un-Naming Of The Alexander Graham Bell Dorm At Rit To The Samuel Schmucker Controversy At Wcu, Brent Ruswick

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

Professor Brent Ruswick, History - What's in a Name? The Politics of Commemoration from the un-naming of the Alexander Graham Bell dorm at RIT to the Samuel Schmucker controversy at WCU

Addressing Discrimination At West Chester University: A Battle At All Levels, Aaron Stoyack

Ramifications

Through a series of 29 oral histories, a dataset consisting of the experiences of 29 minority or ally students and faculty was created. Analyzing their experiences revealed manners in which inequalities within WCU, particularly retaining to retention and graduation rates, could be minimized. Those experiencing discrimination have statistically lower academic performance and are more likely to drop out. To systematically address these disparities, action at the administrative, faculty, and student level is described, each of which had a positive impact on student success. The variety of methods described can inform future initiatives seeking to make WCU a more inclusive place.

Intersections Of Violence Against Immigrant Women On The United States-Mexico Border, Holland Morgan

Ramifications

There have been growing tensions along the United States-Mexico border over the last twenty years and the very unique position of Mexican immigrant women is largely ignored. With the increased militarization of the border to protect American land from people considered ‘illegal’, this has left immigrant women vulnerable to gendered violence from border officials; as well as state systems that silence their voices or persecute them for their undocumented status. This paper uses the disciplines of history, sociology, and women’s and gender studies to make connections between the state portrayal of immigrant women, violence in border cities, and community efforts …

A Line In The Sand: The Acceptance Of Changes To Folk Traditions Observed In The Activities Of Folksong Collector, Creative Participant, Performer, And Festival Organizer Bascom Lamar Lunsford (1882-1973), Zachary R. Ray

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Bascom Lamar Lunsford (1882-1973) was a folksong collector, performer, recording artist, festival organizer. Lunsford was at once a mountaineer (a member of the Appalachian culture he collected from) and a college educated outsider. This duality complicates analysis of his views and activities, which exist along a continuum from efforts at near-exactness (preserving folksong repertory and performance practices as exactly as possible) to creative participation (actively making changes to folksong style or repertoire). Lunsford’s views often contradicted other folksong collectors, American and European, during the early 20th century. This includes his apparent assertion that folksong is a living tradition – it …

The Flow Of History Along Crum Creek, Walt Cressler

University Libraries Faculty Publications

Crum Creek flows for 24 miles from the southern flank of the South Valley Hills in Malvern Borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, through Willistown Township and into Delaware County, where it joins the Delaware River between Eddystone Borough and Ridley Township. The watershed includes 15 municipalities within its 38 square mile area. This illustrated story highlights many of the natural and cultural features of the Crum Creek watershed, from its sources to where the creek finally meets the waters of the Delaware River.

The Flow Of History Along Ridley Creek, Walt Cressler

University Libraries Faculty Publications

Ridley Creek flows southeast for 24 miles from the South Valley Hills of southern Chester County through Delaware County, Pennsylvania, where it enters the Delaware River between the City of Chester and the Borough of Eddystone. Ridley Creek and its tributaries flow within a narrow 38 square mile watershed that includes parts of eleven townships, five boroughs, and one city. This illustrated story highlights many of the natural and cultural features of the Ridley Creek watershed, from its sources to where the creek finally meets the waters of the Delaware River.

The Flow Of History Along Chester Creek, Walt Cressler

University Libraries Faculty Publications

The Chester Creek watershed comprises 67.2 square miles of southeastern Pennsylvania and includes parts of fourteen townships, five boroughs, and one city. The main branch flows from its source in Westtown Township and runs a length of 24.5 miles through rural, suburban, and urban parts of Chester and Delaware Counties before reaching the Delaware River.This illustrated story highlights many of the natural and cultural features of the Chester Creek watershed, from its sources to where the creek finally meets the waters of the Delaware River.

“Which Of The People Here Would Suspect That So Much Is Going On In The Mind Of A Teenage Girl?”: Adolescent Resilience In The Holocaust Diaries Of Anne Frank And Renia Spiegel, Jenna Marie Walmer

West Chester University Master’s Theses

In this qualitative archival diary study, Holocaust-era diaries were explored for evidence of the resilience of adolescent girls. Adolescent-themed passages were selected from the posthumously published diaries of Anne Frank and Renia Speigel, who kept private diaries while under the constant threat of war and genocide. To explore how the everyday affairs of adolescent development may contribute to resilience in the face of trauma, I used thematic analysis to determine the prevalence and emotional valence of four themes of adolescence: evolving social-relationships, emotional fluctuation, cognitive-identity changes, and physical changes. The emotional valence of the adolescent-themed diary passages was more likely …

Once Upon A Time In West Chester, James Jones

History Faculty Publications

While most of my local history research has focused on industrial development and urban revitalization, this work examines a darker period in the late 1960s when West Chester underwent the kind of decline that plagued small towns all over the country. The intersection of middle class flight, youth rebellion, drug culture, racial strife and official corruption led to a murder and a series of sensational trials that revealed the limits of justice under Pennsylvania state law.

- Jim Jones

Geological Origins Of The Ridley Creek Valley Landscape And Its Influence On Human Land Use, Walt Cressler

University Libraries Faculty Publications

Ridley Creek is a 24-mile long tributary of the Delaware River located in southeastern Pennsylvania. Its geological history has determined the topography of its watershed. The rolling Piedmont hills along most of its length, and the flat Coastal Plain at its confluence with the river have profoundly influenced the history of human land use within this landscape.

The Flow Of History Along Ridley Creek

Walt Cressler

Ridley Creek flows southeast for 24 miles from the South Valley Hills of southern Chester County through Delaware County, Pennsylvania, where it enters the Delaware River between the City of Chester and the Borough of Eddystone. Ridley Creek and its tributaries flow within a narrow 38 square mile watershed that includes parts of eleven townships, five boroughs, and one city. This illustrated story highlights many of the natural and cultural features of the Ridley Creek watershed, from its sources to where the creek finally meets the waters of the Delaware River.

The Flow Of History Along Crum Creek

Walt Cressler

Crum Creek flows for 24 miles from the southern flank of the South Valley Hills in Malvern Borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, through Willistown Township and into Delaware County, where it joins the Delaware River between Eddystone Borough and Ridley Township. The watershed includes 15 municipalities within its 38 square mile area. This illustrated story highlights many of the natural and cultural features of the Crum Creek watershed, from its sources to where the creek finally meets the waters of the Delaware River.

The Flow Of History Along Chester Creek

Walt Cressler

The Chester Creek watershed comprises 67.2 square miles of southeastern Pennsylvania and includes parts of fourteen townships, five boroughs, and one city. The main branch flows from its source in Westtown Township and runs a length of 24.5 miles through rural, suburban, and urban parts of Chester and Delaware Counties before reaching the Delaware River.This illustrated story highlights many of the natural and cultural features of the Chester Creek watershed, from its sources to where the creek finally meets the waters of the Delaware River.

Relics From White Supremacy: Why Historians Need To Reevaluate Their Use Of The Word “Riot” To Describe Racial Violence In The South During The Reconstruction And Post-Reconstruction Eras, Brett Kunkel

Ramifications

Using the Memphis race riot of 1866 as a case study, this essay argues that historians need to reevaluate their use of the word “riot” to describe the racial violence of the Reconstruction and Post-Reconstruction eras. Although most historians agree about the nature of the violence in Memphis and events like it, they nevertheless continue to refer to them as “riots” rather than “massacres.” This essay hones in on three qualities the word “riot” connotes: spontaneity, mutual aggression and justification, while noting their inconsistencies with the massacre in Memphis and suggesting that similar discrepancies may characterize similar events during the …

Walking The Line: Renaissance And Reformation Societal Views On Lesbians And Lesbianism, Katherine Haas

Ramifications

Despite being popular eras, research concerning the European Renaissance and Reformation often push minorities to the side, instead focusing on the men in power. This paper discusses the social freedoms and restrictions on women loving women from the fourteenth to eighteenth centuries in England and mainland Europe, and the changes, or lack thereof, that occurred as the Renaissance transitioned into the Reformation, including examples of religious and legal codes, art and literature, and the lives of women from the time. The author used primary source books and documents along with secondary research articles, books and journals to support her case.

Jewish Volunteers, The International Brigades And The Spanish Civil War By Gerben Zaagsma (Book Review), Lisa Kirschenbaum

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Meaning Of Resilience: Soviet Children In World War Ii, Lisa Kirschenbaum

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Religion Around Emily Dickinson, By W. Clark Gilpin (Book Review), Karin Gedge

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Man Question: How Bolshevik Masculinity Shaped International Communism, Lisa A. Kirschenbaum

History Faculty Publications

It was a communist romance. In 1923, Croatian American communist Steve Nelson (born Stjepan Mesarsoš) met Margaret Yeager, the daughter of ‘radical’ German immigrants, at the Communist Party office in Pittsburgh. As Nelson recalled in his 1981 memoir, ‘everything happened’ very quickly, and the two married the same year. Both understood that Yeager, the ‘better educated’ and ‘more sophisticated’ of the two, would not accept a ‘passive role’ in the relationship. Indeed her mother gave the nineteen-year-old bridegroom a copy of August Bebel’s Woman and Socialism as a wedding gift. Nonetheless, they soon took on stereotypical roles. He became an …

T. Chalkley Palmer (1860-1934), [Or, The Flow Of History Along Broomalls Run], Walt Cressler

University Libraries Faculty Publications

Portion of a presentation given at the Delaware County Institute of Science, “T. Chalkley Palmer’s Scroggie Valley and Glen Providence Park,” presented with Stephanie Gaboriault

The Flow Of History Along Plum Run, Walter Cressler

Gordon Natural Area History & Strategic Plan Documents

Plum Run is a small tributary of Brandywine Creek that originates on the campus of West Chester University and flows for approximately three miles to the southwest to join the Brandywine just downstream from the Brandywine Picnic Park in Lenape. Its east branch flows through West Chester University's Robert B. Gordon Area of Environmental Studies.

Industry In The Chester, Ridley, And Crum Watersheds – Matter And Energy, Walter Cressler

Walt Cressler

No abstract provided.

Geology Of The Chester, Ridley, And Crum Watersheds – Violent Past, Tranquil Present, Walter Cressler

Walt Cressler

No abstract provided.

An Historical Overview Of The Chester, Ridley, And Crum Creeks, Walter Cressler

Walt Cressler

No abstract provided.

Ecosystems Of The Chester, Ridley, And Crum Watersheds – Life Sustaining Life, Walter Cressler

Walt Cressler

No abstract provided.

Early People Of The Chester, Ridley, And Crum Watersheds – Meeting Of Worlds, Walter Cressler

Walt Cressler

No abstract provided.

Building In The Chester, Ridley, And Crum Watersheds – Outside And Inside, Walter Cressler

Walt Cressler

No abstract provided.

Banishment In The Later Roman Empire, 284-476 Ce, By Daniel Washburn (Book Review), Eric Fournier

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Idle Woman In Therapy And Fiction: S. Weir Mitchell’S Literary Career And The Gilded Age Fear Of Malingering, Brent Ruswick

History Faculty Publications

As one of America’s most prominent physicians in the Gilded Age and a successful novelist, S. Weir Mitchell sought to secure the professional reputation and authority of scientific, clinical medicine. Historians have given great attention to the ways that his treatment of women suffering from exhaustion or nervousness reinforced and created highly restrictive, gendered norms; more recently, historians have explored how Mitchell’s literary career augmented and echoed his approach to medicine. This article extends the historical analysis of Mitchell’s literary career by examining one of his lesser novels, Circumstance. Through the novel’s protagonist, an archetypically virtuous physician, and the antagonist, …

02 Water Bills During Tough Times, James Jones

History of West Chester, Pennsylvania

No abstract provided.