Women's History Commons^™

Taking Aim: The Evolution Of Women In Competitive Shooting Sports In The 20th Century United States, Alena Rose-Marie Buczynski

Masters Theses

Throughout history, women have been overlooked, discounted, and ignored for their skills and abilities as competitive and professional athletes. Competitive shooting sports were popular in the United States; however, men excluded women from participating in many of these activities until the early 19th century, when America saw the rise of famous markswomen such as Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane, and Lillian Smith. These women challenged the masculinity of the sport of shooting and bested many of their male counterparts as they traveled and performed across the United States. In the 1970s, women found themselves entering the Olympic arena of competitive shooting …

Gendered Language In The Catalogues Of Saint Mary’S Academy, 1860-1871, Kylie Hamm

Masters Theses

This research builds upon studies that explore Catholic women’s and girls’ educational institutions in the nineteenth century. This case study focuses on one girls’ academy, Saint Mary’s Academy, precursor to Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana, founded by the Congregation of the Holy Cross in 1844. The research provided here analyzes the gendered language utilized by school leaders in the academy’s public catalogues during the decade of the Civil War, from 1860 through 1871. The language in these catalogues subtly changed over the course of the decade, reflecting changing white, middle-class gender norms surrounding women’s work and education. Leaders of …

Reframing National Women's History Month: Practicalities And Consequences, Skylar Bre’Z

Dissertations

This study evaluates the practicalities and consequences of designating one month (March) out of the calendar year for the commemoration of women’s history. In the 1970s and 1980s, national women’s organizations such as the Women’s Action Alliance (WAA) collaborated with the Smithsonian Institute and the Women’s History Program at Sarah Lawrence College to build programs to increase awareness of women’s history. Using an interdisciplinary approach grounded in feminist theory, media studies, and historical memory studies, this project contextualizes the commemoration through its connection to 1970s women’s activism, explores its usefulness as a tool for building educational equity, and questions its …

Miraculous Monstrosity: Birth And Female Sexuality In The Illuminated Scivias And Cloisters Apocalypse, Jenna M. Mckellips

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

This paper compares the illuminations in two medieval apocalypses, the Cloisters Apocalypse and Hildegard von Bingen’s Scivias, to inspect their similar constructions of female sexuality, motherhood, and monstrosity. It first analyzes the monstrosity of female sexual organs found in Hildegard’s portrayal of the Church and the Mother of the Antichrist. The paper then goes on to consider the uncanny slippage between images of birth and death in the Cloisters’s depiction of John and the Woman of Revelation 12. Ultimately, the paper not only explores the monstrosity of female bodies in apocalyptic manuscripts, but also concludes that medieval women’s …

Precarious Manhood: Adolescence And Group Rape In Late Medieval Europe, Michelle Armstrong-Partida

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Sexual assault, through coercion or violence, was omnipresent at every level of medieval society and perpetrated by males from all socio-economic backgrounds. This article argues that a specific type of sexual violence—group rape—committed by two or more individuals, was a phase of men’s social development. It explores the connection between adolescence and sexual aggression to show that collective rape was a feature of male youth culture used a form of recreation to gain sexual experience, forge bonds with peers, and publicly prove masculinity as adolescents transitioned from childhood to adulthood. Many young males first learned to rape in groups before …

The Portrayal Of The Woman’S Suffrage Movement In High School History Textbooks, Michelle A. Devries

Masters Theses

The narrative of the woman’s suffrage movement in high school history textbooks varies from textbook to textbook and over time. Textbooks include different information, people, events, and interpretations of events. They employ different word choices and pictures. By using comparative analyzation of numerous popular high school textbooks, the pressure exerted by external economic, social, and political forces on the historical narrative can be seen. Studying the historical narrative in this way trains students to be discerning learners of history and equips them not only to recognize the bias in any historical narrative, but also to be able to analyze how …

Disordered Women? The Hospital Sisters Of Mainz And Their Late Medieval Identities, Lucy C. Barnhouse

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Debates over the identity of women’s religious communities have exercised historians no less than late medieval canonists and officials. Even as the legal regulation of such communities increased, so, paradoxically, did the diversity of forms that such communities took. Although these trends have been the subject of much historical attention, the division of mixed-gender hospital communities which occurred across Europe in the thirteenth century has not hitherto been integrated into such studies. I attempt to redress this lacuna by examining the contested religious identity of the hospital sisters of Mainz. Forced to leave the mixed-gender staff of the city’s Heilig …

Opportunism & Duty: Gendered Perceptions Of Women's Involvement In Crusade Negotiation And Mediation (1147-1254), Gordon M. Reynolds

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Women’s involvement in negotiation and mediation during the Middle Ages has received close scrutiny. However, few scholars have concentrated their investigations on the trends in female-led negotiations during the crusades in the Near East, and the significance of the religious connotations of such leadership in this theatre. There were dramatic societal shifts in the Latin East during the twelfth-thirteenth centuries, most significantly in the aftermath of the Battle of Hattin and loss of Jerusalem in 1187. The destruction of much of the Latin East’s crusader states that followed Jerusalem’s fall displaced many individuals, and with a plethora of Christian nobles …

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project 2018 Annual Report, Michael S. Nassaney

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Western Michigan University (WMU) hosted its 43rd annual archaeological field school this past July and August under the auspices of the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project. The Project is a long-term, multidisciplinary, community-based partnership between the City of Niles and WMU that investigates and interprets colonialism and the fur trade in the region.

We selected the theme “Technology Then and Now,” to focus our activities in 2019. We recognize that technology is not only important in the 21st century, but has defined humanity since our earliest ancestors crafted simple tools to assist them in their survival. Most of the archaeological …

Curation, Erika K. Hartley, Miro Dunham

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Table of Contents

• Preserving the Past for the Future
• Common Curation Challenges
• Fort St. Joseph Collection
• Did You Know?
• Collection Challenges
• Fort St. Joseph Curatorial Fellowship
• How You Can Help

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project 2017 Annual Report, Michael Nassaney

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

In 2017, the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project (hereafter the "Project") continued its focus on discovering and sharing the history of Fort St. Joseph while emphasizing the importance of community partnerships. This was a logical theme for 2017 since the Project has long been a collaboration between Western Michigan University (WMU) faculty and students, the City of Niles, the Fort St. Joseph Archaeology Advisory Committee (see Appendix A), interested stakeholders, supporters, members, and community volunteers in the greater Niles area. In addition, the Project has embraced a community service-learning model to guide our field, laboratory, and outreach activities. Students learn …

Technology Then And Now 4: Hide Processing In The Fur Trade, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Native Americans were the primary procedures of hides in the fur trade.

Technology Then and Now was developed by the students (Nicole Aquino, John Campbell, Patrick Dwyer, Abby Floyd, Jacob Kowalczyk, Allie Lewis, Amanda Owens, Brendan Sapato, and Callisto Wojcikowski) in the Museum Studies class (HIST 4080) at Western Michigan University under the direction of Professor Michael Nassaney. The research, contents, and design of the exhibit were made possible through the support and assistance of Christina Arseneau, David Brose, Mary Ellen Drolet, Joe Hines, Larry Horrigan, Cori Ivens, Erika Loveland, Meghan Williams and Michael Worline.

Full size panel available as …

Technology Then And Now 6: Flintlock Muskets, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Flintlocks were imported from Europe and widely distributed in New France for hunting and warfare.

Technology Then and Now was developed by the students (Nicole Aquino, John Campbell, Patrick Dwyer, Abby Floyd, Jacob Kowalczyk, Allie Lewis, Amanda Owens, Brendan Sapato, and Callisto Wojcikowski) in the Museum Studies class (HIST 4080) at Western Michigan University under the direction of Professor Michael Nassaney. The research, contents, and design of the exhibit were made possible through the support and assistance of Christina Arseneau, David Brose, Mary Ellen Drolet, Joe Hines, Larry Horrigan, Cori Ivens, Erika Loveland, Meghan Williams and Michael Worline.

Full size …

Technology Then And Now 1: Technology Then And Now, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Archaeologists employ technology to learn how goods were made and used at Fort St. Joseph in the eighteenth century.

Technology Then and Now was developed by the students (Nicole Aquino, John Campbell, Patrick Dwyer, Abby Floyd, Jacob Kowalczyk, Allie Lewis, Amanda Owens, Brendan Sapato, and Callisto Wojcikowski) in the Museum Studies class (HIST 4080) at Western Michigan University under the direction of Professor Michael Nassaney. The research, contents, and design of the exhibit were made possible through the support and assistance of Christina Arseneau, David Brose, Mary Ellen Drolet, Joe Hines, Larry Horrigan, Cori Ivens, Erika Loveland, Meghan Williams and …

Technology Then And Now 2: Glass Beads, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

People at Fort St. Joseph used glass beads to embellish their appearance in the eighteenth century.

Technology Then and Now was developed by the students (Nicole Aquino, John Campbell, Patrick Dwyer, Abby Floyd, Jacob Kowalczyk, Allie Lewis, Amanda Owens, Brendan Sapato, and Callisto Wojcikowski) in the Museum Studies class (HIST 4080) at Western Michigan University under the direction of Professor Michael Nassaney. The research, contents, and design of the exhibit were made possible through the support and assistance of Christina Arseneau, David Brose, Mary Ellen Drolet, Joe Hines, Larry Horrigan, Cori Ivens, Erika Loveland, Meghan Williams and Michael Worline.

Full …

Technology Then And Now 5: Birch Bark Canoes, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Birch bark canoes were a technologically-sophisticated means to travel and transport goods during the fur trade.

Technology Then and Now was developed by the students (Nicole Aquino, John Campbell, Patrick Dwyer, Abby Floyd, Jacob Kowalczyk, Allie Lewis, Amanda Owens, Brendan Sapato, and Callisto Wojcikowski) in the Museum Studies class (HIST 4080) at Western Michigan University under the direction of Professor Michael Nassaney. The research, contents, and design of the exhibit were made possible through the support and assistance of Christina Arseneau, David Brose, Mary Ellen Drolet, Joe Hines, Larry Horrigan, Cori Ivens, Erika Loveland, Meghan Williams and Michael Worline.

Full …

Technology Then And Now 3: Building A House In New France, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph buildings were constructed using Old World techniques and local and imported raw materials.

Technology Then and Now was developed by the students (Nicole Aquino, John Campbell, Patrick Dwyer, Abby Floyd, Jacob Kowalczyk, Allie Lewis, Amanda Owens, Brendan Sapato, and Callisto Wojcikowski) in the Museum Studies class (HIST 4080) at Western Michigan University under the direction of Professor Michael Nassaney. The research, contents, and design of the exhibit were made possible through the support and assistance of Christina Arseneau, David Brose, Mary Ellen Drolet, Joe Hines, Larry Horrigan, Cori Ivens, Erika Loveland, Meghan Williams and Michael Worline.

Full …

Depending On Sex? Tongue, Sieve, And Ladle Shaped Pendants From Late Iron Age Gotland, Meghan P. Mattsson Mcginnis

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Artifacts of female dress such as brooches and pendants have long been objects of interest to scholars of late Iron Age /early medieval Scandinavia. They figure in dating and tracing stylistic developments, and their presence is often (controversially) used to help assign gender to burials. There are three types of pendants which constitute a type of feminine adornment unique to Viking Age Gotland: the so-called tongue, sieve, and ladle pendants. The purpose of this paper is to examine these pendant types and the possible symbolic and magical functions behind their forms and manner of use, and how these functions intersected …

Eternal Perspectives In Nineteenth-Century Friendship Albums, Jenifer Blouin

The Hilltop Review

It is apparent through the inscriptions made in nineteenth-century friendship albums that the young women who wrote in and owned the albums were highly concerned with eternity, with things they believed would last forever. This preoccupation with eternity raises the question of how young women in the nineteenth century related to time and to religion, both of which are inherently concerned with eternity. These topics will therefore be addressed in brief discussions of how nineteenth-century conceptions of time and the Second Great Awakening affected young women. This will be followed by an examination of the friendship album verses themselves, which …

A Right To Motherhood? Race, Class, And Reproductive Services In The Jim Crow South, Cynthia Edmonds-Cady

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This research examines birth control and sterilization practices aimed at low-income black women in the United States from 1939-1950, within the framework of specific race- and class-based constructions of motherhood in the Jim Crow South. How these social services aimed at reproductive health were grounded within differential ideals about family, childbirth, and motherhood for White versus African American women is explored. Evidence is presented from archival collections containing records for Planned Parenthood’s Negro Project, The Association for Voluntary Sterilization’s programs, and The American Social Health Association’s public health programs. Birth control services in the South were delivered within a framework …

Agents Of Justice: Female Plaintiffs In The King’S Court In Thirteenth And Fourteenth-Century England, J. Savannah Shipman

Masters Theses

It has often been assumed that medieval women, noble or common, had little or no agency, were forced into submissive roles by dominating men, and had little control over their day-to-day lives. Theoretical statements about law served to support these assumptions as they forbade women from prosecuting men for any crimes other than the murder of her husband or for rape. Yet the records of the court proceedings before the king and his justices and the Calendar of Patent Rolls paint a very different picture. The sources themselves show that women regularly came to court to gain compensation and justice …

Unconfessing Transgender: Dysphoric Youths And The Medicalization Of Madness In John Gower’S “Tale Of Iphis And Ianthe”, M W. Bychowski

Accessus

On the brink of the twenty-first century, Judith Butler argues in “Undiagnosing Gender” that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) defines the psychiatric condition of “Gender Identity Disorder” (or “Gender Dysphoria”) in ways that control biological diversity and construct “transgender” as a marginalized identity. By turning the study of gender away from vulnerable individuals and towards the broader systems of power, Butler works to liberate bodies from the medical mechanisms managing difference and precluding potentially disruptive innovations in forms of life and embodiment by creating categories of gender and disability.

Turning to the brink of the 15 …

Fort St. Joseph Post - Spring 2016, Michael S. Nassaney

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

We hope you enjoy this issue of the Fort St. Joseph Post, filled with information about current activities that are being conducted under the auspices of the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project, a partnership between the City of Niles and Western Michigan University. As you can see, students, staff, faculty, and volunteers are busy investigating, interpreting, and promoting the archaeology of Fort St. Joseph, one of the most important French colonial sites in the western Great Lakes region. We are regularly present at professional conferences, community events, and other venues sharing information about the fort and inviting the public to …

5: Project History, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Investigations at the long lost fort were begun in 1998 by WMU archaeologists.

2: Fort History, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

The French established Fort St. Joseph in the 1691 in present day Niles.

7: Public Archaeology At Fort St. Joseph, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

The Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project practices community service learning.

8: Religious Life At Fort St. Joseph, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Written documents indicate that the Jesuit priests settled among neighboring Native American groups and were successful at creating some converts at the St. Joseph mission.

6: Military Presence At Fort St. Joseph, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

From 1691 the 1698 and from 1717 to 1761, French military personnel occupied Fort St. Joseph to defend the site's strategic position on a major trade route near the portage between the St. Joseph and Kankakee rivers, while maintaining alliances with friendly Native American groups to facilitate the trade in furs.

4: Commercial Activities At Fort St. Joseph, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph was an important link in the chain of frontier outposts that marked the far reaches of New France and facilitated the fur trade between the French and Native Americans in the Western Great Lakes region.

3: Change And Continuity At Fort St. Joseph, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph was a multi-ethnic community.