United States History Commons^™

Talbott, John Daniel, 1883-1950 (Sc 2707), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2707. Letter, 27 October 1939, from J. Dan Talbott to “All Employees of the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” with lists of duties to be performed before and on Election Day, 7 November, including letter-writing, personal contacts, providing transportation to the polls, and handing out sample ballots. The letter urges every employee to “do his duty” to ensure election of the Democratic ticket in the state.

Anne Weston Mcgowan, Anne Mcgowan '76, Abigail Szunyogh 2014

All oral histories

Anne Weston McGowan graduated with a BA in English in 1976. She moved to Bloomington-Normal when her husband James joined the English Department faculty in 1969. Anne is a former Board member of the community organization Ecology Action Center (founded in 1971 and called Operation Recycle). She remains active in that and other community organizations.

James Mcgowan, James Mcgowan, Elissa Ledvort 2013

All oral histories

James McGowan, Professor of English Emeritus, joined IWU's faculty in 1969 and retired in 2000. He and Anne (Class of 1976) remain active in the community. Dr. McGowan read his original poem commemorating the inauguration of IWU's 15th President Richard F. Wilson may be found at http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/wilson_inauguration/15

John Law’S Flawed But Well Intended Système, Katy Baker

Young Historians Conference

Of the world's many economic meltdowns spurred by desperation, overconfident leaders with too much power, and a lack of experience or transparency, the Mississippi Bubble was one of the first that wiped out an entire economy. This paper explores how the decisions of John Law, a Scottish financier, economist, and compulsive gambler, led to the so-called Mississippi Bubble. A phenomenon which contributed to the drastic rise and fall of individuals' finances, hyperinflation, the devaluation of France's currency during the regency of Philippe d'Orleans.

Senator Dodd Versus The National Rifle Association: Passing The Gun Control Act Of 1968, Bennett D. Sorensen

Young Historians Conference

After the assassination of President Kennedy, Senator Dodd sought to pass gun control legislation. The National Rifle Association took the forefront on the debate against Dodd and became more politically active as an organization. After long debate, news coverage, and blame on both sides, the assassinations of two political figures MLK and Robert Kennedy spurred Dodd's Bill into passing, but only after amendments lessening its original effect The Gun Control Act of 1968 formed the basis of the modern, polarizing gun control debate and reflects the process of passing gun control legislation today.

How Did Wwii Pull The United States Out Of Economic Stagnation?, Chris Constans

Young Historians Conference

This investigation will evaluate how U.S. involvement in WWII stimulated the economy allowing America to climb out of economic stagnation and decline. To assess the extent to which the war stimulated the U.S. economy, this investigation will focus on parts of the economy specifically effected by the war, and the U.S. economy as a whole from 1939‐1945. To understand the drastic change in economic growth, Depression era statistic will be referenced for comparison. The investigation will cover macroeconomic topics specifically government spending and the multiplier effect and their effects on GDP. This investigation does not extend to Roosevelt’s New Deal …

Labor Issues During The Construction Of The Panama Canal, Paul C. Diebold

Young Historians Conference

The Panama Canal represented America’s first great achievement on the international stage. But in its triumph, the United States showed itself willing to pursue success on the backs of the laborers—most of them black—without whom the canal could not have become a reality. This paper focuses on these men—men who braved dangerous conditions and the institutionalized segregation of the Canal Zone despite America’s reluctance to confront the issue of racism over a group of non-citizen, non-white laborers hundreds of miles removed from any American city or shore.

Hardcore Punk For A Hardcore President: The Action And Response To Ronald Reagan, Julian Heninger

Young Historians Conference

President Ronald Reagan has been both highly revered and despised by different groups of Americans. In order to find an accurate view of what life was really like under the Reagan presidency, this study views Reagan through the exciting and gritty lens of the Punk movement, specifically in Southern California. Through research of lyrics, a personal interview, and writers of the Punk era, the voice and feelings, personality and purpose of a great amount of people reveal the true opposition to the effects the Reagan Administration had on the Nation.

The Armenian Problem: What Was The United States’ Response To The Armenian Genocide?, Alexandra Fleming

Young Historians Conference

The Armenian Genocide was an appalling tragedy that has proven to have longstanding effects upon many individuals. Would the effects have been so widespread if the Armenian people received more help? This paper will explore the United States' involvement in the Armenian Genocide as shown through primary sources by individuals in the U.S. and Armenia.

Smith, Elizabeth, 1824-1920 (Sc 2706), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2706. Mimeographed copy (no. 30 of an edition of 55) of “Bishop Benjamin Bosworth Smith as Seen by a Daughter,” a memorial sketch written for Bishop Alfred Lee of Delaware by Elizabeth “Lizzie” Smith. Includes annotations by Eugene Hester Thompson, Jr. with additional family and biographical information.

Civil War, 1861-1865 - Loyalty Oaths (Sc 2705), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2705. Blank oath of allegiance and United States bond, to be sworn by residents of Warren County, Kentucky.

Pennsylvania At Chancellorsville, But Headed Back Home, John M. Rudy

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

With the anniversary of the battles around Fredericksburg this week, the Civil War world's eyes seem to be turned toward Chancellorsville and the battles there. Almost as a reflex, my mind has gone there too. I've been thinking about Simon Stein Wolf, the Gettysburgian who faced death at Chancellorsville only to find it terribly displayed in the days after. So today another excerpt from my manuscript, to start re-conceptualizing Chancellorsville through the eyes of a Pennsylvania College dropout. [excerpt]

Archeological Investigations For The Levi Jordan Plantation House Stabilization, Brazoria County, Texas, Jennifer K. Mcwilliams, Douglas K. Boyd, Aaron Norment

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

The Levi Jordan plantation house is one of the few antebellum plantation structures to have survived in Brazoria County. It is the only standing structure associated with the plantation, which began operating in 1848 and was occupied continually up through the 1990s. The original house, built in the early 1850s using slave labor, was a 20x60-ft two-story wooden frame structure. It was altered many times during its long occupation, often due to hurricane damage. A portion of the Levi Jordan Plantation was acquired by the State of Texas in 2002 and managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department until …

From Practical Woodsman To Professional Forester: Henry S. Graves And The Professionalization Of Forestry In The United States, 1900-1920, Brendan D. Ross

Kaplan Senior Essay Prize for Use of Library Special Collections

This research paper looks at the life and career of Henry S. Graves (1871-1951), the founding dean of the Yale Forest School who, along with Gifford Pinchot, lead efforts to professionalize forest science in the United States. In working to bring a new applied science to the U.S., Graves sought to legitimize forestry within academia, federal bureaucracy, and the communities of the American West. Graves’ diverse career adds rich context to the environmental history of forestry and the history of professionalization. Drawing on Graves’ extensive archives, from his work at the Yale Forest School to his time as second chief …

Who Governed Yale? Kingman Brewster And Higher Education In The 1970s, Nathaniel Zelinsky

Kaplan Senior Essay Prize for Use of Library Special Collections

Relying on archival material and oral history, this essay examines two committees at Yale in the 1970s as case studies in how University President Kingman Brewster reshaped the school after the student unrest of the long 1960s. The first committee, led by the political scientist Robert Dahl, endorsed the equal admission of female students in 1972. The second committee, chaired by historian C. Vann Woodward, composed a nationally renowned report on the importance of “unfettered” free expression at the university in 1974-5. I show how each of these committees was a carefully calibrated political tool that allowed Brewster to moderate …

Second Families Of Virginia: Professional Power-Brokers In A Revolutionary Age, 1700-1790, Wesley Thomas Joyner

Dissertations

Between 1700 and 1790, a diverse assortment of merchants, lawyers, doctors, soldiers, and various other specialists forged a prominent position in Virginia that was integral to the colony’s planter-elites. These professionals complicated Virginia’s social hierarchy and affected numerous decisions planters made on personal business ventures, urban development, military conflicts, and political policies. Consequently, as Virginia planters struggled to maintain a sense of socioeconomic dominance, political influence, and familial solidarity, this upper-middling, professional contingent forced planters to compromise their seemingly exclusive modes of behavior. Accounting for the perspectives of professionals and planters, this study addresses how and why this occurred, as …

Tabor, Sharon - Collector (Sc 2704), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of contents (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2704. Calendar of events, historic walking tour information, and Pioneer Cemetery Lantern Tour scripts and supporting research, all relating to Civil War Sesquicentennial commemorations in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Includes information on Civil War-era burials in Pioneer Cemetery.

Bowling Green Civil War Round Table Newsletter (May 2013), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Bowling Green Civil War Round Table Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Went Off To The Shakers: The First Converts Of South Union, William R. Black

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In 1807 the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing (Shakers)
established a society near the Gasper River in Logan County, Kentucky. The society was soon named South Union, and it lasted until 1922, the longest-lasting Shaker community west of the Appalachians. Most of the first Shaker converts in Logan County had only a few years beforehand participated in a series of evangelical Presbyterian camp meetings known collectively as the Kentucky Revival, the Revival of 1800, or the Great Revival.Though Presbyterian revivalism and Shakerism shared certain characteristics (particularl millennialism and enthusiastic forms of worship), there were many differences between …

Active Religion: James Ireland, The Separate Baptists, And The Great Awakening In Virginia, 1760-1775, Cooper Pasque

Masters Theses

In the mid-eighteenth century, the religious fervor of the Great Awakening entered Virginia. Evangelical Baptists soon threatened to undermine the authority of the Anglican Church and its planter patrons. Despite their efforts to quiet the Baptists, evangelical religion took root in Virginia by the end of the American Revolution. Historical works on these events offer valid but incomplete explanations. Puzzling dynamics in the Virginian context require a more complex interpretation. The life of James Ireland provides a unique window into possible answers. His autobiography provides evidence for what appears to be the most fundamental reason for evangelicalism's successes in Virginia. …

Many Worlds Converge Here: Vision And Identity In American Indian Photography, Alicia L. Harris

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

Photographs of Native Americans taken by Frank A. Rinehart at the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in 1898 were then and continue to be part of the construction of indigenous identities, both by Anglo-Americans and Natives. This thesis analyzes the ramifications of Rinehart’s portraits and those of his peers as well as Native American artists in the 20^th and 21^st centuries who have sought to re-appropriate these images to make them empowering icons of individual or tribal identity rather than erasure of culture.

This thesis comprises two sections. In the first section, the analysis is focused on the historical …

In-Group Bias—Coloring Public Opinion And Spurring Public Backlash: A Comparative Analysis Of Affirmative Action And Title Ix, Samuel Joseph Knehans

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The Civil Rights and Women’s Rights Movements were two parallel rights revolutions in American history. Each spurred noteworthy social change for a disadvantaged group, through affirmative action for African Americans and through Title IX programs for women. However, when one looks at the college enrollment data, it becomes clear that these programs achieved success at different rates—at least in higher education. This thesis is an attempt to explain why these seemingly analogous programs produced such disparate results. It attempts to answer the question: Did in-group bias influence public opinion and public backlash in the form of Supreme Court litigation, impacting …

Propositions For Reform, Brett Vigil

All Theses

In the decades immediately following the Civil War, the impetus for
industrialization and technological development which had helped propel the Union
to victory began to dramatically pick up speed, engendering staggering changes in
almost every facet of American economic and social. Indeed, by the end of the
century, such changes had helped precipitate the closing of the frontier, the United
States' emergence onto the international scene as a major imperialist power, and the
rise of the populist movement, which climaxed in the great realigning Presidential
election of 1896. The last of these was particularly significant in that it was arguably …

"An Ample Provision For Our Posterity": Transportation, Ceramic Diversity, And Trade In Historic Arkansas, 1800-1930, Katherine Rose Cleek

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I present a method to study transportation using ceramic diversity and access to transportation infrastructure. Ceramic tableware richness, or the number of types present, is analyzed over time as a proxy for access to local transportation infrastructure at seven sites in Arkansas, dating from approximately 1800 to 1930. Previous efforts to look at trade in historical archaeology including Adams (1976), Riordan and Adams (1985), and Adams, Bowers, and Mills (2001) have not thoroughly assessed transportation as a means of trade. This dissertation looks at the many ways of assessing diversity in archaeology, biology, business, and economics, as …

Researching North America: Sir Humphrey Gilbert’S 1583 Expedition And A Reexamination Of Early Modern English Colonization In The North Atlantic World, Nathan Probasco

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s 1583 expedition to North America was the first attempt by an Englishman to colonize beyond the British Isles, and yet it has not been subject to thorough scholarly analysis for more than seventy years. Although it is often overlooked or misinterpreted by scholars, an exhaustive examination of the voyage reveals the complexity and preparedness of this and similar early modern English expeditions. Gilbert recruited several specialists who expended considerable time and resources while researching and otherwise working in support of the voyage. Their efforts secured much needed capital, a necessary component of expensive private voyages, and they …

Adapting To A Changing World: An Environmental History Of The Eastern Shoshone, 1000–1868, Adam R. Hodge

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Using the Eastern Shoshone Tribe as a case study, this dissertation argues that the physical environment must be considered integral to processes of ethnogenesis. It traces the environmental history of the people who became known as the Eastern Shoshone over the course of several centuries, exploring how those Natives migrated throughout and adapted to a significant portion of the North American West – the Great Basin, Rocky Mountains, Columbia Plateau, and Great Plains – prior to the reservation era. In examining that history, this project treats Shoshones, other Natives, and Euro-Americans not as people who simply used the environment, but …

Freedom Indivisible: Gays And Lesbians In The African American Civil Rights Movement, Jared E. Leighton

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This work documents the role of sixty gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals in the African American civil rights movement in the pre-Stonewall era. It examines the extent of their involvement from the grassroots to the highest echelons of leadership. Because many lesbians and gays were not out during their time in the movement, and in some cases had not yet identified as lesbian or gay, this work also analyzes how the civil rights movement, and in a number of cases women’s liberation, contributed to their identity formation and coming out. This work also contributes to our understanding of opposition to …

Black Women In The "Black Metropolis" Of The Early Twentieth Century: The Case Of Professional Occupations, Robert L. Boyd

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Little research has examined the employment of Black women as teachers, nurses, and librarians in the urban Black communities of the early twentieth century. The present study fills this void, analyzing Census data on the largest urban Black communities at the start of the Great Migration to cities. The results show that, in spite of the supposed advantages of the northern "Black Metropolis," Black communities in the urban North were relatively limited in their potential to offer opportunities for Black women to enter pursuits that were, at the time, mainstays of a nascent class of Black professional women.

Economic Growth And Recovery In The United States, 1919-1941, Alexander J. Field

Economics

The first part of this chapter provides an overview of what lay behind record productivity growth in the US economy between 1929 and 1941. The second part considers the role of rigidities and other negative supply conditions in worsening the downturn and slowing recovery. While arguing consistently that the overarching explanation of the Great Depression will and should continue to emphasise a collapse and slow revival in the growth of aggregate demand, the chapter spends relatively little time on what drives this. The emphasis of the chapter is on aggregate supply—both the broad array of positive shocks that propelled potential …

Fraunces Tavern Museum: Revolutionizing Collections Care In A Small Museum Environment, Suzanne Prabucki

History Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to present a comprehensive history of the Fraunces Tavern Museum and its collection along with an official catalogue comprising approximately 5,000 artifacts. It documents the Museum’s own experience with the collections care remediation process so that other institutions may use this Museum’s success story as a model for their own collections care issues.

The Fraunces Tavern Museum, located in New York City, is best known as the site where George Washington bade farewell to his officers at the end of the American Revolutionary War. The lineage group, the Sons of the Revolution in the …