History Commons^™

The Freiberg East Germany Temple: The Improbable Prophecy Fulfilled, Bruce W. Hall, Dr. Douglas F. Tobler

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In November 1968, Elder Thomas S. Monson, a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leader, promised LDS members in then Communist German Democratic Republic (GDR) that “every blessing any member of the Church enjoys in any other country will be yours.” 1 This included the blessings of a temple, an important part of LDS worship. Many Latter-day Saints in the GDR regarded this as a prophecy, which at the time, seemed unlikely. The irreligious Communist government of the GDR had a long record of hostility toward organized religion. Few Latter-day Saints were allowed to travel outside of the GDR …

Black Heritage Stamp Series: Althea Gibson, United States Postal Service. Stamp Division

Rodney Lawrence Hurst, Sr. Stamp Collection

Informational pages for Althea Gibson Commemorative stamp – Black Heritage Series, includes images of the stamps, information about the physical stamps and biographical information for Althea Gibson. First issued August 23, 2013, 36th in a series.

American Commemorative Panels: The 1963 March On Washington, United States Postal Service. Stamp Division

Rodney Lawrence Hurst, Sr. Stamp Collection

Informational pages for The 1963 March on Washington Commemorative Stamp – American Commemorative Panels, includes images of the stamps, information about the physical stamp and information on The 1963 March on Washington. First issued August 23, 2013.

Spiller, Cora Jane (Morningstar), 1928-2020 - Collector (Sc 2762), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Small Collection 2762. Letter, 30 April 1898, to Colonel Robert Morningstar, Bowling Green, Kentucky, from Walter S. Forrester, Assistant Adjutant General of Kentucky, regarding the possibilities of Kentucky troops seeing combat in the Spanish-American War; letter to Mrs. T. J. Peay and notes of Jane Morningstar regarding Barbre cemetery, Warren County, Kentucky; notes of Elise Dulaney on members of the Covington and Dulaney families of Warren County, Kentucky; printed pamphlet titled “Supplement Mulkey Genealogy.” You may access the Forrester letter about Spanish-American War service by clicking on "Additional Files" below.

Stranger In A Foreign Land: An Analysis Of Jose De Acosta’S Scientific Realizations In Sixteenth-Century Peru, Thayne R. Ford, Lee Butler

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Jose de Acosta’s Historia Natural y Moral de Las Indias 1 is both a reflection of and a response to the scientific turmoil that the New World had caused in Renaissance Europe. While Italy and France were overtaken by the Scientific Revolution, Spain was left stewing in its religious orthodoxy, wondering how to incorporate the innovations and breakthroughs of sixteenth-century science. Yet in Acosta’s writings there is no hesitation; rather a scientific fervor is revealed, illustrating that perhaps within certain religious circles empirical sentiments were becoming prevalent. Spain was not the sixteenth-century scientific quagmire that some have purported it to …

A Tactical Error: Lucius D. Clay’S Mishandling Of American Soviet Relations In Germany In 1945, Andrew S. Gustafson, Dr. H. Carl Marlow

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Discussion on how to govern Germany began as early as November 15, 1943, when officials from the Soviet Union, England, and the United States met together in England for a short conference. 1 While there, participants divided post-war Germany into zones, and split up zonal governing responsibilities amongst themselves. They created a Berlin based central body called the Control Council to coordinate intra-German Allied governing policy.2 While this political structure seemed practical on paper, it created problems in practice.

Paul Wolfe Interview, Professor Emeritus Department Of Physics And Department Of Geological Science, Wright State University, Lewis Shupe, Paul J. Wolfe

Wright State University Retirees Association Oral History Project

Lewis Shupe interviewed Dr. Paul Wolfe, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Physics and the Department of Geological Science at Wright State University, on August 22, 2013. In the interview Dr. Wolfe discusses his career, how he came to Wright State, and his memories of the University.

Health And Healing In Compariative Perspective: U.S. And Mexico, Mary Scheerhorn, Jonathan D. Hagood

Faculty Presentations

A global experience comparing the development of the healing professions, the economics of the modern health sector, and practices of health and healing in the U. S. and México. An intense three week cultural experience in Querétaro, México in health clinics and hospitals under the supervision of faculty from the Universidad Autónoma de Queretaro and the Hope College Nursing Department. Cultural enrichment for nursing, pre-physical therapy, pre-med and other pre-health major students.

The Scholar As Startup: How Academic Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation, Jonathan D. Hagood

Faculty Presentations

Using Eric Ries's Lean Startup Method, you, too, can be an academic entrepreneur, someone who innovates by managing ideas; validating them through frequent experimentation; building products (e.g., lessons, assignments, programs, texts, and creative performances); measuring their effectiveness; learning to persevere or pivot; and gauging progress, setting up milestones, and prioritizing tasks.

Shirley Lovett Lewis

African American Funeral Programs

No abstract provided.

Inheritance Of The Past: Patriarchy, Race And Gender In Faulkner's And Chopin's South, Therese D. Osborne

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

The death of the Confederacy sealed in white southern memory a lost world of beauty that denied the cruelty of its “peculiar institution.” Southern writers have seemed haunted by this conflict between the cherished past of their ancestors and the reality of the devastated region, with its legacy in slavery. Through the commentary of women diarists who mourn their crumbling society, and selected works of William Faulkner and Kate Chopin, this paper examines the myth and reality of the southern past. It reveals the enduring impact of the all-powerful white patriarchy that gave order to the antebellum South, destroyed it, …

Impact Of The Japanese Teahouse On Residential Architecture, David P. Rondina, Lee A. Butler

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The results of this research grant have been interesting and difficult to obtain. To find all of the information that was necessary I not only looked in published books and articles but I also went to Japan to examine first hand some of the tea houses and residences from the sixteenth century. At the same time I observed how current houses are built. I found that there were two main areas in which the tea huts, or chasitsu, affected the building practices of residences. These areas of influence are found in the decorative and philosophical ideas of the people.

The Silent Victems Of The Crusades, Daniel H. Stewart, Dr. William Hamblin

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My Attempt, with this research project, was to analyze the relationship of a small minority Christian group called the Copts, with the larger more powerful ruling body of Muslims called the Mamluks, during the Middle-Ages. Much of what I discovered was found as I was researching these topics in two separate classes, History 302 and English 315, that I took this year. The Mamluks had come to power in the Thirteenth Century after they defeated of the European Christians in the Crusades. This set up a fertile soil for religious persecution by the Mamluks, since Christianity had been their vehement …

Revolution And Memory: An Oral History Of The Revolution In Zanzibar And Its Relationship With The Study Of Memory In Small Villages, Mark Troger, Dr. Gary Daynes

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Originally I intended to travel to Cameroon, West Africa to conduct an oral history of a village and decipher the results and study how westernization and modernization had taken its affect over the years. My initial intent came from a simple desire to first, study the history of a certain village, along with all the traditions that accompany oral recital and memory, and second, to discover how our western culture had impacted theirs. Soon after my initial proposal, however, Cameroon began facing potentially serious political conflicts and also had been rated as the most corrupt country in the world, according …

Remembering The Ancestors: A Recreation Of The Late Medieval Jewish Diaspora Mentality, John D. Young, Dr. Paul B. Pixton

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Having previously completed a study of religious memory as a motivating factor for Christians to persecute Jews in the High and Late Middle Ages, I felt a strong desire to tell the other side of the story–to analyze the Jewish historical mind-set during these persecution episodes. I have discovered much about the late medieval Jewish mind-set during the course of this research, and my findings appear in much lengthier form in my Honors Thesis “Crucifix and Torah: The Role of Religious Memory in Medieval Christian Persecution of Jews.” I will attempt to briefly reiterate the principal conclusions of my research …

James Madison: Conscience, Religion And The 1st Amendment, Willis J. Smith, Dr. Robert Westover

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In conjunction with my current research pertaining to my Honors Thesis, I was awarded an ORCA scholarship which provided the funds necessary to travel to Washington D.C. and do extensive research in the Library of Congress. The following is a brief overview of that topic which is currently being addressed by my Honors Thesis project.

Mythogony (The Creation Of Myth): A Comparative Religion Study Of Sai Culture, St. Shane Sanders, Dr. Lanier Britsch

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The scope of my research was the analysis of a syncretic paradigm extending from east to west. India houses the three major ashram(a)s of a new religious movement and sub-culture, united by a mythological belief in their guru, Swami Sathya Sai Baba. The village born guru boasts a following of one million, which is made up of indigenous Indians as well as foreigners coming from as nearby as Nepal and Burma to as far as San Francisco, London, Trinidad and Portugal to name but a few of the nationalities of the people I interviewed. The culture incorporates the religious thought …

Violence At A Purim Ball, Francesca Bregoli

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The texts presented here address an incident of violence at a Purim ball 1753, in Livorno.

Exorcism And Violence: Contexts Internal And External, Yohanan Petrovsky-Stern

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

This presentation discusses projections of violence and social values in a mystical text from eastern Europe.

The Murder Of A Travel Companion. Violence, Gender And Living Conditions Of Servants In 18th Century Prussia, Noa Sophie Kohler

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Jews are often portrayed as non-violent and therefore as powerless victims. Highlighting and examining cases of Jews as violent perpetrators not only refutes this stigmatization of Jews, it also reveals much about day to day life, about personal and social conflicts both within Jewish society and in encounters with the Christian society.

Discussed here sections of a legal document from the Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin Dahlem cover a court case against the Jewish servant, Samuel Saul, who was suspected of having murdered the Jewish maid Zierle in Prussia in 1791.

Natcher, William Huston, 1909-1994 (Sc 2761), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2761. Condolence letter from U.S. Representative William Huston Natcher to Mrs. Effi Phelps, Bowling Green, Kentucky concerning the loss of her mother.

The Legacy Of Holocaust Rescuer Raoul Wallenberg, Ryan Aiken, Paul Kerry

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My research into the legacy of Holocaust rescuer Raoul Wallenberg is far from complete, and now, over nine months after beginning my investigation to accurately document Wallenberg’s heroic efforts to save Hungarian Jews during the last days of WWII, the overall emphasis of my original thesis has been redefined to – – hopefully – – merit the focused and lasting attention that Raoul Wallenberg so richly deserves and has been so long denied. Hundreds of books have been published documenting the exploits of Raoul Wallenberg, and within each work the individual authors adamantly petitioned the Government of the Former Soviet …

The Auxiliary Units: Britain's Last Line Of Defense During World War Ii, Cassy Rice

History Theses

The Auxiliary Unit was a secret highly trained group of men especially designed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill to be last line of defense for Britain if Hitler were to invade. Hitler was growing in power and strength at what seemed to be a daily rate, and he had just taken hold of France. Churchill and the rest of the United Kingdom not only felt threatened by an invasion, but they were also exceedingly concerned that the only thing separating Britain from Nazi Europe was the English Channel. If he were to successfully invade Britain, Hitler would have to overcome …

Plunge Into Shonash Ravine: Thinking 4th Dimensionally In Interpretation, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

This piece was written for NAI's annual workshop this coming fall, but not everyone will have the chance to be in Reno to hear my presentation come November. So, why not give you a sneak peak of what I'm planning on discussing in Nevada? [excerpt]

A Week Of Saddened Hope: Arkansas's Response To The Assassination Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 4 April To 11 April, 1968, Allison Nicole Hiblong

Theses and Dissertations

The 4 April, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. The natural violence and chaos has been researched briefly thanks to Dr. King scholars and Clay Risen. The effects on Arkansas are virtually unknown. One prominent moment that is remembered was the memorial service on the Arkansas State Capitol steps with Governor Winthrop Rockefeller. Compared to parts of the nation, Arkansas was relatively calm in the aftermath of the assassination. Even though there were numerous shootings and fires set around the state there were no deaths in Arkansas, but over two dozen arrests were made. The …

A Jewish Perspective On The Execution Of 'Jew Süss': 4 February 1738, Yair Mintzker

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

“The Story of the Passing of Joseph Süss, of Blessed Memory,” which appears here in full in English for the first time, is an extraordinary document. It concerns the arrest of Joseph Süsskind Oppenheimer in March 1737, his 11-month incarceration, his encounter with two Jews in prison and his execution the following day.

Oppenheimer, who already during his imprisonment began to be known derisively as “Jew Süss,” was born in Heidelberg to a middle-class Jewish family, probably in 1698. Starting in the third decade of the 18th century, Oppenheimer served as a court Jew to several German princes. In 1732 …

Big Blows On A Small Stage: Records Of Violence In Jewish Communal Registers, Altona 1765-1776, Elisheva Carlebach

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The incidents of interpersonal violence discussed here were recorded in semi-private registers kept by communal scribes across a period of approximately a decade during the second half of the eighteenth century in the Ashkenazic community of Altona. The Ashkenazic “triple” community, AHW, whose center was Altona, then under the Danish crown, is richly represented by surviving internal and archival records for the early modern period.

The questions explored address the meaning of this level of physical violence and the means by which it was addressed. Was violence tolerated as a way of keeping disputes within the community? How did it …

Jewish Violence In Polish Laws And Courts, Jerzy Mazur

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

This presentation looks at violence in law and in courts in late medieval Poland.

La Mala Sangre: Daily Violence Within The Western Sephardic Diaspora, Daniel Strum

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Recurrent private acts of violence within dense and homogenous communities, or diasporas, illustrate a tension between powerful gossip transmission and imperfect translation of such power into efficient social control.

This presentation explores the manifestation of private violence in the daily life of the Western Sephardic Diaspora in the early seventeenth century, examining inquisitorial sources from Portugal and notarial records from the Netherlands. These sources indicate that as much as group members expected mutual responsibility, trustworthiness and compliance with social norms from their fellow group members. Yet when they felt disappointed, they expressed their resentment aggressively. Aggression took shape of offenses …

Rome, 1571: A Body And A Murder Investigation In The Ghetto, Serena Di Nepi

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The 1571 story of Sabato del Corsetto tells about violence in the Roman ghetto in the second half of Sixteenth Century. It concerns many issues related to violence: family violence; verbal violence; physical violence; violence among women; violence arisen both for economic and personal reasons and even attempt made by the Jewish community to manage violence and violent people.