Women's History Commons^™

Silenced Voices: Sexual Violence During And After World War Ii, Cassidy L. Chiasson

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the different types of sexual violence present during and immediately after World War II and focuses specifically on the European Theater of the war. Memoirs, journals and diaries were used as primary sources. This research focuses on the overlapping themes of sexual violence in the form of forcible rape and sexual violence as a means of protection and survival. The goal of this research is to provide a comprehensive view of the complexity surrounding many situations in which sexual violence occurred. It also aims to partially fill the gap in historical literature on this topic, and bring …

Marriage And Gender: A History Through Letters, Victoria Kern

Senior Honors Projects

Research on the evolution of marriage can be found quite easily, but the opportunity to see into the lives of married couples from the past is rare. Through the analysis of letters between my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, I provide a glimpse of what being married has meant throughout the 20^th Century for heterosexual couples. Societal ideas about what makes a marriage ideal have changed over time, but they have always been closely linked with gender expectations (Berk, 2013), so a feminist approach to the analysis of the evolution of marriage is used with my family’s letters as a …

The Women Airforce Service Pilots (Wasp) Of World War Ii, Natalie J. Stewart-Smith

ERAU Prescott Aviation History Program

Hear the fascinating story of the women who flew in WW II as members of the WASP, from Natalie Stewart-Smith. Her thesis on them was the very first academic study of the WASP and is based on numerous personal interviews, including Jacqueline Cochran, their founder. The military contribution of women fliers during World War I is a seldom seen part of the WASP story as well.

“I Am Always Thinking First Of You:” The Chamberlains In Love And War, Bryan G. Caswell

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Soldier. Professor. Hero. Braggart. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain has been called many things by many people. Regardless of whether one loves or despises him, Chamberlain and his role in the American Civil War never fail to evoke intense emotion. While books, movies, and the occasional painting have all immortalized Chamberlain the soldier, rare is the occasion to observe Chamberlain the husband. In honor of Valentine’s Day, I bring you the story of the Chamberlains; a story of romance and rebuttal, of peace and conflict, of injury both physical and emotional and, in the end, a deep, abiding love. [excerpt]

Gettysburg Historical Journal 2015

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

No abstract provided.

Foreign Affairs: Policy, Culture, And The Making Of Love And War In Vietnam, Amanda C. Boczar

Theses and Dissertations--History

Foreign Affairs: Policy, Culture, and the Making of Love and War in Vietnam investigates the interplay between war and society leading to and during the Vietnam War. This project intertwines histories of foreign relations, popular culture, and gender and sexuality as lenses for understanding international power relations during the global Cold War more broadly. By examining sexual encounters between American service members and Vietnamese civilian women, this dissertation argues that relationships ranging from prostitution to dating, marriage, and rape played a significant role in the diplomacy, logistics, and international reception of the war. American disregard for South Vietnamese morality laws …

Broken Promises: Rape, Race, And The Union Army, Kellie J. Hedgers

All Master's Theses

Through the use of Union courts-martial records, this paper will examine the ways in which black women who had been assaulted by white men were denied justice in military courts. Although the Union Army was often perceived of as an army representing freedom and higher moral purpose, the court martial records reveal a darker side. They reveal that sometimes black women found no safety behind Union lines; rather, they found themselves victims of sexual violence by white men and had little recourse to justice. Although outwardly the Union Army was devoted to abolishing slavery, the inner workings of its courts …

Mass Rape In Foča: The International Criminal Tribunal For The Former Yugoslavia Vs. Dragoljub Kunarac, Mark William Iverson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The Bosnian war witnessed the organized expulsion of Bosnian Muslims by Serbian and Bosnian Serb military forces from 1992 until 1995. As a tactic aimed at creating mono-ethnic towns from multicultural populations, rape was perpetrated against all women, but particularly Muslim women, as part of a larger plan to terrorize populations into permanently abandoning their homes. The Muslims of Foča, a township close to the border with Montenegro, were one of the first multiethnic populations to be attacked and terrorized by Bosnian Serb and Serbian forces. Dragoljub Kunarac, Radomir Kovač, and Zoran Vuković were three Bosnian Serb soldiers, among thousands, …

Revolutionary Decade: Reflections On The 1960s, Booth Library

Booth Library Programs

Photo galleries and supporting exhibits can be found on the REVOLUTIONARY DECADE exhibit page.

Exhibit Dates

This exhibit was displayed at Booth Library September 9 - November 20, 2014

The British Women’S Land Army: Gender, Identity, And Landscapes, Hilary M.K. Anderson

Masters Theses

The land girls who comprised the Women’s Land Army in Great Britain during the Second World War challenged cultural assumptions regarding gender and femininity. Through their work in agriculture, social anxieties were provoked regarding proper notions of femininity and separate spheres, which left these women in conflicting positions as they carved a spot for themselves in a war torn society. In order to carry out their work in the Women’s Land Army, land girls operated at the convergence of private and public spheres in a conjoined space. Living and operating in this conjoined space enabled them to blur the ideological …

The Avenger - July 2014, Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum

The Avenger

No abstract provided.

From Self-Sacrifice To Self-Preservation: The Changing Roles Of Southern Women During America's Civil War, Jennifer E. Edine

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

The Civil War is an event in American history that will continue to be discussed and analyzed for years to come. The conflict affected the entire population of the country, regardless of social class or race. One of the most important changes in southern society was the change in the roles and ideologies of southern women as a result of the war. Before the war, the South was a patriarchal society with prominent gender roles and ideologies on how the perfect Southerner should behave. Ideally, the Cavalier Man, filled with honor and chivalry, was meant to be in complete control. …

In Her Own Right: A Study Of Freya Von Moltke In The German Resistance 1940-1945, Sarah E. Hayes

Student Publications

Freya von Moltke was a member of the Kreisau Circle resistance group in Nazi Germany from 1940 to 1944. This intellectual group planned for the future of Germany after the anticipated downfall of the Nazis and was led by Helmuth von Moltke, the husband of Freya, and Peter Yorck. Despite the significance of her resistance in comparison to the majority of the German population, the resistance story of Freya von Moltke is often overwhelmed by that of her husband. The examination of Freya von Moltke’s interviews, letters, and memoirs as well as a variety of secondary sources reveals that she …

A Case Study Of Melita Maschmann: Women And The Third Reich, Lynda Maureen Willett

Graduate History Conference, UMass Boston

The case study of Melita Maschmann shows that despite the deep manipulation and gender discrimination she was subject to in her youth by National Socialism Maschmann made her own free choices as an adult and chose to zealously absorb its political ideology. The general assumption is that National Socialism, and fascism, were male dominated political ideologies in which women played a passive role, such as that professed by Gertrude Scholtz-Klink. However, many women found National Socialism appealing and became active supporters of its ideals. The purpose of this paper is to explore that appeal and analyze why certain women such …

The Avenger - March 2014, Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum

The Avenger

No abstract provided.

"Remembrance Will Cling To Us Through Life": Kate Bushman's Memoir Of The Battle Of Gettysburg, Brian Matthew Jordan

Adams County History

Kate Bushman never expected that the Civil War would visit her tiny town. Nor could she have predicted the life altering impact of Gettysburg’s grisly scenes, indelibly etched into the folds of her memory. The best evidence of that transformation is the remarkable memoir of the battle and its aftermath that she obediently entered into her leather-bound scrapbook sometime in the early 1870s. Leaving no room for pretense, she recognized that the events she witnessed were significant, and that hers was important historical testimony. No longer just another devoted wife, mother, and Unionist, she was “an eye witness.” [excerpt …

Call To Duty: Women And World War I, Jennifer D. Keene

History Faculty Articles and Research

"Watching loved ones depart, uncertain if they would return—this was an experience that women around the world shared during the Great War. The continual scene of women sending men off to fight was troubling; paradoxically, it was also a familiar, traditional ritual that reinforced gender roles within western societies. "

Dallas, William Robert, Sr., 1910-1997 (Mss 472), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 472. Correspondence, almost exclusively between William Robert Dallas, Sr., and his girlfriend, fiancé, and later wife Virginia “Ginny” Eileen Lindsay. Dallas was in the Army Air Corps and stationed in Louisville, Kentucky, while Ginny was living in her hometown of Ventnor, New Jersey, right outside Atlantic City. The letters are courtship related and are filled with plans for their wedding on 15 September 1945.

Hume, Glee, 1902-1998 (Mss 470), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 470. Letters written 1940-1946 to Glee Hume, a teacher at Burkesville High School, Cumberland County, Kentucky, by former students and relatives serving in various military service units around the world.

The Avenger - October 2013, Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum

The Avenger

No abstract provided.

Coombs Family Collection (Mss 349), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 349. Correspondence, photographs, business records and miscellaneous papers of the Coombs, Robertson and related families of Warren and Simpson counties in Kentucky and of Alabama, Texas and Tennessee. Includes correspondence, personal papers and research of Elizabeth Robertson Coombs, librarian at the Kentucky Library, Western Kentucky University. Several documents from this collection have been scanned are available for viewing by clicking on the "Additional Files" below.

Cook, Elizabeth Charlotte (Mss 403), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 403. Letters written by various male friends, many in military service during World War II, to Elizabeth Charlotte Cook while she was in school at Campbellsville College, Campbellsville, Kentucky and Western Kentucky State Teachers College, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Some of the letters are of a courtship nature.

Morgan, John Hunt, 1825-1864 - Relating To (Mss 423), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 423. Family letters, notes and typescripted scrapbook items (primarily contemporary newspaper articles) relating to the family and career of Confederate raider John Hunt Morgan.

The Avenger - August-December 2012, Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum

The Avenger

No abstract provided.

Selby, Cornelia Frances, 1916-2005 (Sc 2530), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2530. Letters from Cornelia Frances “Fran” Selby to her sister, Mary Agnes Selby in Utica, Ohio, written during Cornelia’s service in the Women’s Army Corps at Camp Campbell, Kentucky. She writes of her activities, her anticipated furlough and their male acquaintances.

Moore, Nancy Elam, 1807-1889 (Mss 405), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 405. Journal of Nancy Elam Moore, an eldress of the Shaker colony at South Union, Kentucky, describing life in the colony during the Civil War, 1861-1863, especially visitation and exploitation by both Union and Confederate forces. Includes a diary of unknown authorship recording daily life at the colony in 1866. The original diary is owned by the Dayton [Ohio] Public Library.

The Avenger - March-May 2012, Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum

The Avenger

No abstract provided.

“No Man’S Land”: Fairy Tales, Gender, Socialization, Satire, And Trauma During The First And Second World Wars, Dawn Heerspink

Grand Valley Journal of History

No abstract provided.

Covington, Josephine (Wells), 1832-1872 (Sc 236), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 236. Photocopies and typescript of 2 March 1862 letter written by Mrs. Josephine (Wells) Covington, Bowling Green, Kentucky, to her father, Judge Robert William Wells of Missouri. She relates happenings in Bowling Green during its occupation and later evacuation by Confederate troops (18 September 1861-14 February 1862). Also includes information about Mrs. Covington and the Covington family. The original 2 March 1862 letter is housed at the Filson Club, Louisville, Kentucky.

The Avenger - November 2011, Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum

The Avenger

No abstract provided.