Public History Commons^™

Downtown Hattiesburg: In History And Memory, Joseph Reosti

Honors Theses

This paper explores how public memory of Downtown Hattiesburg has been shaped by race, class, and historical change, drawing primarily on oral history interviews conducted by the author. Once the heart of the city, Downtown Hattiesburg experienced significant decline from the 1970s onward due to suburbanization, white flight, and demographic shifts. In response, the 1970s saw the emergence of a historic preservation movement focused on revitalizing memories of the city's early 20th-century prosperity (1910-1929), often idealized as a period of economic success even despite racial segregation. Many interviewees identified this era as the city’s "golden age," despite its deeply inequitable …

Army-Navy "E" Awards In New Orleans, Louisiana, Timothy S. Wilson

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis, in conjunction with an interactive digital exhibit, examines the Army-Navy “E” Award as it was applied to military defense industries in New Orleans, Louisiana during World War II. The thesis and the website is available for World War II researchers who are researching wartime manufacturing in New Orleans as well as teachers who are conducting lessons on wartime manufacturing and home-front activities in New Orleans throughout the duration of World War II. A thorough examination of historical records establishes the significance of wartime manufacturing capabilities of New Orleans during World War II by providing an historical narrative of …

Selling Childhood: How The Middle Class Used Children In The Anti-Tuberculosis Movement (1930s-1940s), Hannah Fisher

Senior Theses

During the anti-tuberculosis movement of the 1930s and 1940s, children were chosen as focal points, with their roles shaped by society’s changing view of childhood, the emergence of the middle class, and the socioeconomic and political climate. Children were used by middle-class reformers as conduits through which to disseminate information and enact controls on the working class. Health education in schools had two main goals: (1) for educated children to become educated adults, and (2) for educated children to transform the behaviors of adults around them. Although researchers have studied middle-class interventions into children’s health, few have analyzed the role …

Dynamics Of War: Culture, Society, Environment, And Pedagogy, Breanne Jacobsen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

War is an ever-present feature of human civilization. Nearly all cultures and societies show accounts of human conflict. This portfolio seeks to provide both a multidimensional analysis of war and a means of instructing students to appreciate its significance as a driving force of history using three different components.

The syllabus project provides a long-term view of how the various wars and conflicts came to be and progressed in Western Civilization in the modern era.

The chapter-length paper shows the ravaging effects that war and conflict can have on a physical landscape and the environment in which the conflict takes …

The Lives Of Soldiers In World War Ii, Caroline M. Bosworth

Student Publications

An examination of soldiers' quality of life during World War II. This is done through comparing and contrasting the letters of two different soldiers.

On The Fields Of Glory: A Student’S Reflections On Gettysburg, The Western Front, And Normandy, Kevin P. Lavery

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

I’m very fortunate to have had no shortage of opportunities to get out into the field and put my classroom learning into practice. I am especially lucky to have twice had the opportunity to travel to Europe. Two years ago, I went with my first-year seminar to explore the Western Front of World War I in France and Belgium. This year, I travelled with The Eisenhower Institute to tour the towns and beaches of Normandy where the Allies launched their invasion of Hitler’s Europe during World War II. Having experienced these notable sites of military history, and having taken a …

0794: The Bon Ton Bullets In The Service, 1943-1945, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists copies of nineteen editions of a Huntington, West Virginia area newsletter titled, “The Bon Ton Bullets in the Service” published between 1943 and 1945. The newsletter describes activities of area service members during World War II, and published excerpts from letters sent from servicemen, news from home, addresses, and miscellanea. Also included is an index of individuals mentioned in many of the newsletters.

0742: John E. Wellman Photograph Collection, 1943-1988, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection is primarily composed of digital copies of a photograph album containing photographs taken by John E. Wellman, a combat photographer with the 571st Bomb squadron, 390th Bombing group, 8th Air Force, 1943-1945. Photographs show B-17s and fighter planes in formation, bombing runs, aerial views of bombs and ground attacks, and anti-aircraft fire during World War II. Other materials in the album include a 1943 class photo from the Army Air Force Technical Training School at Lowry Field, group and training photographs, a certificate signifying service in the 390th bomb group, and a 1988 color photograph featuring Wellman at …

0612: Jim Comstock Collection, 1976, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection is composed of three items: a signed letter to Jim Comstock by Marvin L. Stone, including a request from Comstock for stone to write about Marshall University and Page Pitt, the envelope the letter came in, and a handwritten reminiscence of Huntington in 1940-1945 by John Duncan titled, “We Polished Our Buttons,” which discusses Duncan’s experience in World War II as well as his memories of Huntington during that time.

0541: Huntington Jaycees Scrapbook, 1945-1946, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection is composed of a scrapbook created by the Huntington, West Virginia Junior Chamber of Commerce, or Jaycees, in application for the Geissenbier Award, an award of excellence distributed for exemplary community works. The scrapbook features the work conducted by the Jaycees on behalf of the war effort during World War II in Huntington, and includes photographs, newspaper clippings, correspondence, ephemera, and some hand drawn illustrations for the various areas in which the Jaycees did work.

0439: Dunn-Henderson Family Papers, 1892-1947, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Deeds for property in Huntington, West Virginia., Wayne County, West Virginia. and Lawrence County, Ohio. Also correspondence and newspaper clippings of John P. Henderson during World War II. There are Collis P. Huntington signatures on some of the deeds. Deeds for property in Huntington, W.Va., Wayne County, W.Va. and Lawrence County, Ohio. Also correspondence and newspaper clippings of John P. Henderson during World War II. There are Collis P. Huntington signatures on some of the deeds.

05/31/1946, Israel Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter to Sumner Bernstein from father Israel regarding family visits; summer school; Kravchenko's I Chose Freedom.

05/29/1946, Sumner T. Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter to family from Sumner Bernstein regarding visit with family (Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Don, Aunt Esther, Ellen); summer school; court martial; Cluny Brown.

05/28/1946 B, Israel Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter to Sumner Bernstein from father Israel regarding attempt to call Senator Brewster; registration for Harvard.

05/28/1946 C, Rebecca Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter to Sumner Bernstein from mother Rebecca (Peggy) regarding attempts to move up Sumner's discharge date; Harvard summer school.

05/28/1946, Sumner T. Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter to family from Sumner Bernstein regarding meeting with Colonels; when he will leave the Army; registering for Harvard.

05/27/1946, Sumner T. Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding meeting with Colonels on timing of his leaving the Army; life insurance.

05/27/1946 B, Israel Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter to Sumner Bernstein from father Israel regarding train strike.

05/26/1946, Sumner T. Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter to family from Sumner Bernstein regarding plans for leaving the Army; visits with family friends in Allentown, PA.

05/24/1946, Sumner T. Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter from Sumner Bernstein to sister Helen Barbara regarding correspondence; Harvard registration; news from home.

05/23/1946, Sumner T. Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding life on base; demobilization; strike.

05/21/1946, Sumner T. Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter to Sumner T. Bernstein regarding life on base; Harvard summer school; demobilization.

05/22/1946, Israel Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter to Sumner Bernstein from his father Israel Bernstein regarding correspondence; Sumner's last few weeks in service; mother's eye surgery; staying in the reserves.

05/20/1946, Sumner T. Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter to family from Sumner Bernstein regarding weekend trip to New York.

05/17/1946, Sumner T. Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding life on base; Jewish services; weekend plans.

05/16/1946, Israel Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter to Sumner Bernstein from father Israel regarding news from Sumner; the American Zionist movement; reading I Chose Freedom by Victor Kranchenko.

05/15/1946, Sumner T. Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter to family from Sumner Bernstein regarding upcoming demobilization; pay; leave; thoughts about joining the reserves.

05/14/1946, Sumner T. Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter to family from Sumner Bernstein regarding correspondence; news from home; weekend plans; life on base.

05/13/1946 B, Israel Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter to Sumner Bernstein from his father Israel regarding news from Sumner; news about mother; news about sister Helen's sorority formal.

05/13/1946, Sumner T. Bernstein

Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Letter to family from Sumner Bernstein regarding trip to New York for a date; weekend plans; life on base.