History Commons^™

Mother Mary Goemaere: A California Pioneer, M. Dougherty Professer Emerita

History and Political Science| Faculty Presentations

No abstract provided.

Navigating Mercy: Ethical And Emotional Terrains In Carolingian Society And Politics, Wei-Ting Chen

Theses and Dissertations--History

This dissertation investigates mercy in the Carolingian period, especially its political dimensions. A sustained, holistic examination of mercy in the early medieval period remains lacking. This study examines mercy not only as a history of an idea but also as a history of emotion, tracing its transformation from the ancient Greek and Roman worlds through patristic literature and into Carolingian political discourse. This study argues that mercy played a central role in the construction of Christian kingship within Carolingian political discourse. Early Church Fathers reinterpreted mercy from a controversial concept in Roman Stoic philosophy into a positive virtue in Christian …

Anthony John Oakley - Cwgc Certificate, Jenifer A. Harding

Documents: Anthony John Oakley

Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Certificate for RAF cadet Anthony John Oakley who died on January 14, 1944, while training to be a pilot at 5BFTS. He is buried in the CWGC British Plot. at Oak Ridge Cemetery, Arcadia.

History 102- History Of Modern Europe, Stephen F. Haller Phd

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

History 103- United States History (1607-1865), Stephen F. Haller Phd

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

History Is Durable: A Mixed-Methods Study Exploring Stakeholder Perceptions Of The Degree And Career Relevance, Hala Al-Tinawi, Damali Curry, Tonya S. Hall, Sharrie A. Merritte

Doctor of Education Capstones

Declining undergraduate enrollments in history departments reflect a national trend that many institutions have struggled to reverse. This capstone project, conducted in partnership with the Virginia Commonwealth University Department of History (VCUDOH), examines a specific and addressable dimension of that challenge: a communication gap in how the career value of a history degree is conveyed to students in introductory-level courses. Using improvement science principles and a mixed-methods case study design, the capstone team investigated how introductory history instructors communicate durable skills and career applicability, how students perceive the relevance of introductory history coursework to their career plans, and why students …

Science Fiction Cinema And The Technological Sublime: Spectacle And The Infinite From Early Cinema To Digital, David Jackson Dr.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation examines how science fiction cinema constructs and reimagines the technological sublime in the twentieth century: the experience of awe, terror, and admiration provoked by human-made power and scale. Drawing on the philosophical foundations of the sublime in Edmund Burke and Immanuel Kant and extending through Leo Marx’s and David E. Nye’s theorization of the technological sublime, I propose an aesthetic mode in which representation inflected with affect translates technological spectacle into examinations of humanity’s role and agency in the face of overwhelming technologized worlds and in some cases, even the universe itself.

Through three distinct historical periods …

Cultivating Diversity In Sustainable Food Systems: Black Farming And Lived Experience In Rural Southern Ontario, Kadeem Jerofy Morgan-Adamson Mr.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This research examines the lived experiences of Black food growers in rural Southern Ontario to understand how their perspectives challenge dominant narratives of rurality and inform broader discussions on food sovereignty in Canada. Grounded in postcolonial theory, the study highlights how historical dispossession and persistent inequities shape the access of Black communities to land and resources. Using a mixed-methods approach that includes surveys, semi-structured interviews, and reflexive journaling within a community-based research framework, the study documents the barriers Black food growers face. These include limited land access, insufficient funding, inadequate training pathways, and experiences of racial isolation in rural contexts. …

Civil War Memory In New York City, 1861-1902, Kevin J. Sugrue

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines how New York City experienced, understood, and later remembered the American Civil War, from the outbreak of war (1861) through the dedication of major monuments at the turn of the twentieth century (1902). Although New York was the Union’s largest city and its most significant source of troops, casualties, industrial output, financial capital, and press coverage, the city’s wartime experience was deeply conflicted. As a Democratic stronghold and home to large populations of recent immigrants and working-class laborers, New York’s support for the Union was broad but conditional, fractured by class, ethnicity, race, and political allegiance. These …

Light And Fire: Kerosene And The Rise And Fall Of Standard Oil, 1859-1911, Minseok Jang

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

This dissertation revisits the rise and fall of Standard Oil between 1859 and 1911 through the lens of petroleum’s materiality and the fire hazards it posed. Moving beyond traditional narratives that focus on the company’s corporate strategy, this study argues that the volatility of petroleum and the global consumer experience of its environmental risks were central to shaping the company’s trajectory. The research highlights how Standard Oil struggled to control the flammable nature of kerosene—the primary petroleum product used for illumination at the time—before aligning with Great Britain’s advanced inspection technologies and regulatory frameworks. This transimperial cooperation enabled Standard Oil …

Models Of Emulation: Representations Of Foreign, Indigenous, And Accented Speech In Early American Literature, Elaina A. Frulla

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

“Models of Emulation: Representations of Foreign, Indigenous, and Accented Speech in Early American Literature” explores how American writers used depictions of “nonstandard” English and accented English language speech, traditionally described as “literary dialect,” as a way to negotiate identity, power, and political belonging in the formative years of nation building after the American Revolution. Beginning with Noah Webster’s mission to establish a standardized pronunciation of the English language that would simplify and purify spoken American-English and definitively differentiate it from what he saw as the corrupted, cosmopolitan British-English model, each of the three chapters examines literary representations of nonstandard emulated …

German Science, American Manufacturing: Ethnic Capital, Transnational Technology, And Corporate Development At Bausch & Lomb, 1853–1953, George L. Grobe Iv

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

This dissertation examines the first century of the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company, founded in Rochester, NY in 1853 by German immigrants John Jacob Bausch and Henry Lomb. It argues the firm’s success was driven by leveraging of management’s German ethnic identity as “ethnic capital” to access resources like financial liquidity, immigrant labor, and technical expertise. These resources allowed for the transformation of the firm from a small optical retail shop into a major manufacturer of advanced optical instruments. However, as later generations of the family Americanized, the ability of the firm to leverage ethnic capital eroded until breaking completely …

The Response Of Diaspora And Religious Institutions On The Refugee Crisis: Case Study Of The Republic Of Croatia, Galyna Sagan Dr., Tetiana Kostiuk Dr.

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article is dedicated to the multifaceted support that Ukrainian diaspora and Catholic organizations in the Republic of Croatia have been providing to Ukrainian refugees since the full-scale Russian invasion on February 24, 2022. The study details the systemic response of such key religious institutions as the Diocese of Križevci, Caritas and the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). Particular attention is paid to integration initiatives, like educational programs developed by the Catholic University of Croatia (HKS), and the provision of spiritual and pastoral care, which remains the unique prerogative of the Church. The study emphasizes coordination between ecclesiastical and state …

The Long Shadow Of The Boys In Blue: Civil War Memory & The Evolution Of Veteran Identity In Twentieth Century Pennsylvania, Alexander L. Barbolish

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a case study of the transformation of veteran identity and civic culture in Northeastern Pennsylvania, tracing the profound shifts in the way Americans remembered war, commemorated sacrifice, and defined what it meant to be a veteran, from the turn of the twentieth century to the dawn of World War II. By examining the complex interactions and relationships between three distinct and overlapping generations of veterans—those of the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I—this study argues that veteran identity was neither static nor monolithic, but was continually renegotiated through commemorative practice, organizational culture, and public …

The Weight, Hammet Reavis

Theses and Dissertations

What follows drifts between out to under, argument to object, learned to unlearned, and then back again, for now. What remains is not erased, but held in tension - pressed forward by an unspoken weight. However, let's go on record and retrace this gesture, not by means of crossthru, but as underline.

Tuberculosis In Jim Crow Virginia, 1900-1972, Elizabeth Dooley

Theses and Dissertations

Tuberculosis (TB) was a major public health concern in the United States, especially in the first half of the twentieth century. Transmission and treatment of the disease, which is spread between humans through close contact, was complicated by racial segregation laws in the South known as Jim Crow laws. Virginia subscribed to these laws, which played a role in how and where Black Virginians with TB could be treated. Segregated treatment facilities with an inadequate number of beds for the number of infected people and deaths in the state added to these complications of disease control and plan for eradication. …

Review: Big Skies, White Hoods: The 1920s Klan And A History Of Hate In Montana, By Christine K. Erickson, Brent M. S. Campney

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Tora! Tora! Tora! And The Halloween Queen [El Bombardeo Y La Reina Del Festival De Los Brujos], Manuel F. Medrano

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

High School Daze, Sylvia Perez, And La Llorona, Manuel F. Medrano

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Los Pescadores, Manuel F. Medrano

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

El Valle Del Rio Grande – From Carromatos To Spaceships, Manuel F. Medrano

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Fajitas, Vaqueros And Viboras, Manuel F. Medrano

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

My Last Boat?, Manuel F. Medrano

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Editor's Pen, Ronald E. Goodwin

The Griot - Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.

No abstract provided.

Into The Fire: An Examination Of Violence In Reconstruction Texas, 1865-1868, John Gorman

The Griot - Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.

This article examines the scale, patterns, and political implications of racial violence in Texas between 1865 and 1868, arguing that white terror functioned as a systematic effort to suppress Black freedom and restore antebellum racial hierarchies. Drawing on Congressional testimony, Freedmen’s Bureau records, and the 1868 Report of the Special Committee on Lawlessness and Violence in Texas, the study reveals that violence was not random but structured along social, labor, and political lines. Murders, whippings, intimidation, and organized attacks—such as the Millican riot—intensified when freedpeople asserted labor autonomy or political rights. Despite nearly 900 reported murders, convictions were exceedingly rare, …

Religious Freedom Without Material Autonomy: Property Dispossession And The Containment Of Religion In Socialist Macedonia, 1945-1958, Aleksandar Spasenovski

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the relationship between religious freedom and property rights in socialist Macedonia within Yugoslavia between 1945 and 1958. It argues that the formal constitutional recognition of religious freedom did not necessarily guarantee the institutional autonomy of religious communities. Through a legal-historical analysis of federal Yugoslav and Macedonian legislation, implementing regulations, and administrative mechanisms, the article shows how agrarian reform, nationalization of private economic enterprises, expropriation, and the nationalization of rental buildings and construction land progressively reduced the material foundations of religious organizations. The central claim is that property was one of the clearest indicators of the practical scope …

Mapping Historical Neighborhoods With Geospatial Viewshed Buffers, James B. Townsend

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The concept of neighborhood has been long studied with little agreement beyond the notion that neighborhoods are somewhat self-contained areas within a wider urban environment. Despite the lack of a finite definition, there is wide agreement of the importance of studying population dynamics at the neighborhood scale. Many attempts have been made to spatially define, measure, and quantify contemporary neighborhoods, but less attention has been given to methods to spatially define historical neighborhoods. In this paper, we utilize a historical spatial data infrastructure for the city of London, Ontario to develop a viewshed methodology that recognizes that ‘neighborhood’ is unique …

G Willis Tyson - Interview About His Aviation Career Reported In Fly Paper 17.09.1942, Jenifer A. Harding

Documents: George Willis Tyson

Interview with G Willis Tyson, General Manager, 5BFTS, Riddle Field about his aviation career reported in Fly Paper September 17, 1942. Mr Tyson died on August 19, 1943, after a plane crash in Tallahassee.  He is buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California.

G Willis Tyson, Report Of Death In Clewiston News August 20, 1943, Jenifer A. Harding

Documents: George Willis Tyson

Death of G Willis Tyson, General Manager, 5BFTS, Riddle Field, who died after a plane crash in Tallahassee on August 19, 1943. He is buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California. Reported in The Clewiston News, August 20, 1943.

G Willis Tyson, Report Of Death In Fly Paper August 27, 1943, Jenifer A. Harding

Documents: George Willis Tyson

Death of G Willis Tyson, General Manager, 5BFTS, Riddle Field, who died after a plane crash in Tallahassee on August 31, 1943. He is buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California. Reported in Fly Paper, Vol VI, No 19, August 27, 1943.