Social History Commons^™

“An Extremely Dangerous Institution:” The Cultures And Controversy Of Public Social Dances In Montana, 1900-1930, Danielle Allison Brown

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper explores public social dances east of the Continental Divide in Montana from 1900 to 1930. Rural social dances in schoolhouses and urban dances in dance halls created two different dance cultures. The relaxed nature of rural dances preserved the traditional values of nineteenth-century social dances, which reinforced community and family ties. Urban dances reflected the modern fads of the roaring twenties and challenged traditional values with sexual suggestiveness. Progressive Era moral reformers concerned about the possibility that social dance promoted illicit sexuality participated in an anti-dance movement and pushed for regulations of social dances. The anti-dance movement in …

"Troublesome Medicine Man": Representations Of The Sword Bearer Incident In Newspaper Coverage, Cara Sue Swaim

History Undergraduate Honors Theses

Newspaper coverage of Native Americans during the nineteenth century had an “artistic bias,” or a tendency to emphasize action, danger, and treachery as a part of the “Indian formula.” This meant that vast amounts of journalistic zeal was spent on instances of conflict and tension between tribes, within tribes, between tribes and white settlers, or between tribes and the U.S. military, while times of peace and instances of cooperation received miniscule amounts of attention. This was largely motivated by a desire to justify American western expansion and the need to “civilize” Native groups. This “Indian formula” was also applied in …

Establishing The Narrative – A Comparative Analysis Of Nashville Newspaper Reporting During The Civil Rights Era, Katherine E. Cannon

SPARK Symposium Presentations

Public memory serves as the collective public consciousness – how a group of people remember a historical narrative and thus how they interpret and interact with their current environment. Journalism and news reporting plays a pivotal role in the creation of public memory. This study will analyze the differences in reporting between two Nashville-based newspapers, The Nashville Banner and The Tennessean, and how their reporting shaped public memory in Nashville. These publications are crucial to the Nashville community and how the public is informed. To properly conduct this research with narrow enough scope to get accurate results, this study will …

Feminine Felons: Violent Offenders' Intersectional Experiences In Twentieth-Century Montana, Cassidy Ann Vander Voort

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper explores the treatment of violent female offenders in Montana in both the media and prison system from 1900-1960. Women of all races faced gender discrimination from both the carceral system and popular media. Local newspapers sensationalized crimes committed by female offenders, portraying them as women who lived outside of the expectations of womanhood in the twentieth century. Newspapers and courts placed women into two categories: “mad/sad” female offenders, who received forgiveness for their crimes; or unforgivable, “bad” offenders. Crime did not determine these categorizations; instead, gender expectations of the white middle class shaped female criminals’ treatment. If these …

The Black Press And Late Imperial Russia, Benjamin Pierce

History Undergraduate Honors Theses

For centuries, western observers had looked to Russia and seen a place fundamentally different from their home countries. In their accounts, Russia was distinctly oppressive, a state characterized by tyranny, barbarism, and Mongolian influence. But these accounts were faulty. They were written by merchants, diplomats, and explorers, wealthy white men who had never experienced the kind of repression they witnessed in Russia. When Black Americans looked to Russia, however, they saw a place fundamentally similar to the United States. Both countries were large, multiethnic empires driven by territorial acquisition and fueled by forced labor. By tracing the coverage of Russia …

‘Where Do We Go From Here?’: Discourse In Louisiana Surrounding The Foundation Of The State Of Israel, May 1948, Devan Gelle

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

A study of ten Louisiana newspapers during May 15-31,1948 revealed a period in which articles varied in their coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict and wider international relations. Discourse about Arabs and Israelis which became evident in newspapers in later years had emerged but was not fully developed. This coverage revealed a silence about the Holocaust and a subtext about the United Nations.

The Intermedial Politics Of Handwritten Newspapers In The 19th-Century U.S., Mark A. Mattes

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Handwritten newspapers appeared in a variety of social contexts in the 19th-century U.S.1 The largest extant portion of 19th-century handwritten newspapers emerged from home and school settings. More far-flung examples include those written aboard ships during exploratory and military voyages. Others were produced within institutions such as hospitals and asylums. Such works were written during times of privation, including life in an army regiment or a prisoner-of-war camp during the Civil War. At other times, handwritten newspapers accompanied efforts at westward settlement and transcontinental railway journeys. Impromptu papers could follow in the wake of natural disasters that knocked out print-based …

Threads Of The Zoot Suit Riots: How The Initial Explanations For The Riots Hold Up Today, Antonio Franco

Voces Novae

This paper is about the 1943 Los Angeles Zoot suit Riots. These riots lasted for five days and were fought between the city’s young Mexican-American population and U.S. servicemen who were in the city. The name comes from a popular style that many young Mexican-Americans in L.A. wore at the time called the zoot suit. The Zoot Suit Riots was one of the most important moments in Chicano history. Throughout the riots as well as sometime afterward, many who were in the city at the time tried to discern its origins. The local newspapers, the Los Angeles Police Department, Mexican-Americans, …

Jews And The Sources Of Religious Freedom In Early Pennsylvania, Jonathon Derek Awtrey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Historians’ traditional narrative regarding religious freedom in the colonial period and early republic focuses on Protestants and sometimes Catholics to the exclusion of other religious groups; the literature also emphasizes the legal dimensions of freedom at the expense of its cultural manifestations. This study, conversely, demonstrates that Jews, the only white non-Christian minority group in early Pennsylvania, experienced freedom far differently than its legality can adequately explain. Jews, moreover, reshaped religious freedom to include religious groups beyond Protestant Christians alone. But such grassroots transformations were neither quick nor easy. Like most of the Anglo-American world, William Penn’s “Holy Experiment” excluded …

“When One Shingle Sends Up Smoke”: The Summit Beacon Advises Akron About The Epidemic Cholera, 1849, Elizabeth Hall

Nineteenth-Century Ohio Literature

Elizabeth Hall explains the American cholera epidemic of 1849, with special attention to how cholera afflicted Akron, a booming canal town in Northeast Ohio. The article presents the full text of 1849 Akron newspaper articles on cholera and explains how their mix of good and bad information was published right before scientific breakthroughs in cholera research.

When Ink Turned Into Bullets: The Effect Of The Press In Buffalo, New York And The Nation Along With Its Role In Igniting A Civil War, Nicole C. Kondziela

History Theses

The American Civil War was a multi-faceted conflict: North versus South, states’ rights versus federal law, slavery versus abolition. Due to increasing and constant advancements in technology, this was the first war in American history that developed in full view of the public through newspapers. The Industrial Revolution and capitalism allowed the press to evolve into rich and powerful soap boxes for political bosses and editors alike to voice their opinions far beyond the village square. Unbeknownst to much of the public at the time, the Union had been at the mercy of newspaper editors and politicians in a grand …

Missouri Democrat [St. Louis], January-December 1864, Vicki Betts

By Title

Selected articles from the Missouri Democrat, published in St. Louis, Missouri, taken from the period January through December, 1864.

Mobile Daily Register, January-June 1860, Vicki Betts

By Title

Selected articles from the Mobile Daily Register, published in Mobile, Alabama, covering the months January through December, 1860.

Gettysburg's New Dawn, 1864, John M. Rudy

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

The first few days of January are usually crisp and cold in Gettysburg. Sometimes there is frost or snow, sometimes not. Sometimes there is a bitter wind, sometimes not. Sometimes there is sun bleeding across the horizon and splashing a cloudless sky, sometimes there is not. But the new year here, like everywhere else, stands as a symbol of promise and hope for the future. [excerpt]

Hopkins And Anthony: A Struggle Over Freedom, John M. Rudy

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

This piece is the original draft of a piece I wrote for the Philadelphia Inquirer, which appeared last week as part of the paper's Gettysburg sesquicentennial coverage. Here's the full, uncut piece for your perusal.

Choice Poetry: Valiant Manhood's Flinch, John M. Rudy

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

Throughout the war, the front page of Gettysburg's newspapers, regardless of your political stripe, had an evergreen column. Poetry graced the upper left corner each week. Sometimes raucous, often love-lorn, chiefly patriotic, the poems must have buoyed many a Pennsylvanian spirit as America floundered in the depth of Civil War.

Most of the poems were mainstream schmaltz, passed from paper to paper as each editor read a line or two he liked and thought his readers might appreciate. The poems spread like a particularly odd malignant cancer from organ to organ. [excerpt]

In Plain Black And White: Race & Gettysburg, Winter 1863, John M. Rudy

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

"Kinkyheads," the Gettysburg Compiler gleefully quipped at the bottom of a column in its February 23rd edition, "is the new title used for Abolitionists." This was, of course, "in contradiction to 'Copperheads.'"

Race was the live wire of Gettysburg's political scene. For the roughly 10% of the borough's population that was black, that live wire must have shocked daily. [excerpt]

Strange Collection (Mss 42), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 42. Correspondence, 1864-1878 (8); journal, 1852-1883; scrapbooks (2); Manuscript: “House of Madison and McDowell in Kentucky,” 1888; family genealogical data; slave records; etc., of Agatha (Rochester) Strange, 1832-1896, a lifelong resident of Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Crusader, May 4, 2012, College Of The Holy Cross

Student Newspapers

The student newspaper for the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Articles include coverage of campus events and issues, sports, editorials and special features.

Crusader, April 27 2012, College Of The Holy Cross

Student Newspapers

The student newspaper for the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Articles include coverage of campus events and issues, sports, editorials and special features.

Crusader, April 20, 2012, College Of The Holy Cross

Student Newspapers

The student newspaper for the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Articles include coverage of campus events and issues, sports, editorials and special features.

Crusader, April 13, 2012, College Of The Holy Cross

Student Newspapers

The student newspaper for the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Articles include coverage of campus events and issues, sports, editorials and special features.

Crusader, March 30, 2012, College Of The Holy Cross

Student Newspapers

The student newspaper for the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Articles include coverage of campus events and issues, sports, editorials and special features.

Crusader, March 23, 2012, College Of The Holy Cross

Student Newspapers

The student newspaper for the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Articles include coverage of campus events and issues, sports, editorials and special features.

Crusader, March 2 2012, College Of The Holy Cross

Student Newspapers

The student newspaper for the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Articles include coverage of campus events and issues, sports, editorials and special features.

Crusader, February 24, 2012, College Of The Holy Cross

Student Newspapers

The student newspaper for the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Articles include coverage of campus events and issues, sports, editorials and special features.

Crusader, February 17, 2012, College Of The Holy Cross

Student Newspapers

The student newspaper for the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Articles include coverage of campus events and issues, sports, editorials and special features.

Crusader, December, 9, 2011, College Of The Holy Cross

Student Newspapers

The student newspaper for the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Articles include coverage of campus events and issues, sports, editorials and special features.

Crusader, December, 2, 2011, College Of The Holy Cross

Student Newspapers

The student newspaper for the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Articles include coverage of campus events and issues, sports, editorials and special features.

Davis, Virginia Wood, 1919-1990 (Mss 375), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 375. Correspondence, photographs, diaries, and personal and professional writing of Virginia Wood Davis, a Smiths Grove, Kentucky native and a reporter and editor, 1943-1985, for newspapers in Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and McCreary County, Kentucky. Includes genealogical data as well as correspondence and miscellaneous papers of her family, especially her mother, Virginia Wood (Cox) Davis.