History Theses and Dissertations

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Open Access
1816: "The Mighty Operations of Nature": An Environmental History of the Year Without a Summer
(University of Oregon, 2012) Munger, Michael; Munger, Michael; Dennis, Matthew
The catastrophic eruption of the Indonesian volcano Mt. Tambora in April 1815, which ejected a cloud of sulfur dioxide into the upper atmosphere, plunged the world into a rapid temporary climate change event. A series of bizarre weather anomalies, including snowstorms in June and repeated heavy frosts throughout the rest of the summer, earned 1816 the moniker "the Year Without a Summer." This paper examines the various ways in which Americans reacted to the climate change--seeking causation explanations through science and superstition, political and religious responses, and the efforts to appreciate what the events meant in terms of the world's changing climate. Through these various reactions, a picture emerges of Americans' incomplete understanding of science and nature, as well as an uneasy reckoning with the impossibility of fully explaining their environment and the potential dangers it presented to them.
Open Access
A Deal with the Devil: Arizona State University and the Built Environment in the 20th Century
(University of Oregon, 2024-08-07) Gorham, Chandler; Howell, Ocean
This thesis examines the changing role of Arizona State University (ASU) in Phoenix and the United States from 1950 to 1994. The regional alliance of boosters in Phoenix made ASU a key part of the Valley’s economy as the university advanced research and development (R&D) capabilities to attract knowledge industries. Parallel to the distribution of knowledge production to Phoenix was the Cold War which granted American firms and universities R&D funding increases. The growth of Arizona State changed the built environment in Tempe and across the Valley as the university transitioned space to fit their needs. ASU expanded their facilities in Tempe, built a branch campus in Glendale in 1986, and opened a research park in 1984, all highlighting the university’s commitment to knowledge production. The process of development was unevenly distributed in Tempe as original residents were replaced by students and knowledge workers.
Open Access
A Precarious Home: Japanese American Incarceration, Citizenship, and Strategies for Belonging, 1940s-1960s
(University of Oregon, 2020-02-27) Wing, Olivia; Weisiger, Marsha
Japanese Americans on the West Coast experienced multiple losses of home before, during, and after their incarceration during World War II. Repeated and coerced migration and exclusion uprooted Japanese Americans from physical and imagined homes, characterizing their experience of belonging in the United States. Their continuing struggle to regain “home” is apparent in the continuing geographic, social, and legal displacement that many Japanese Americans experienced during the postwar period. This thesis explores the relationship between home and Japanese American identity—how identity influenced the “home” that they pursued, and how the stakes and longevity of incarceration clarified the boundaries of citizenship and belonging for them. Looking at incarceration as part of a long pattern of uprootedness allows insight to the way that repeated denial of Japanese American access to home and belonging was part of the experience of—and barriers to—conditional inclusion in the United States.
Open Access
"A Special Relationship of Peculiar Intimacy": Marriage Education in the United States, 1920s-1960s
(University of Oregon, 2018-09-06) Guest, Lacey; Herman, Ellen
Marriage education emerged in universities across the United States in the 1920s as a response to a perceived “marriage crisis.” Over the next several decades, marriage educators shaped marriage course content to reflect student interests and maintain relevance to students’ lives. With the goal of saving marriage from the abstract forces of modernity, faculty initially targeted a specific demographic: white, middle-class, college students. This thesis chronicles the trajectory of marriage education as it shifted from a mechanism of positive eugenics to a vehicle by which black students in the South could access rights of citizenship in the post-WWII period. What began as a method of civic exclusion with roots in the eugenic movement transformed into a means through which Southern black citizens asserted their rights to education, marriage, sexuality, and family. This democratization of education for citizenship reflected the diverse uses of marriage education from the 1920s through the 1960s.
Open Access
The adminstrative and social reforms of Russia's military, 1861-1874: Dmitrii Miliutin against the ensconced power elite
(University of Oregon, 2010-09) Anderson, Scott Patrick, 1956-
As a key figure in Imperial Russia's Great Reforms from 1861 to 1874, Count Dmitrii Alekseevich Miliutin has received a good deal of attention by historians and scholars; however, his recently published memoirs have yet to be used extensively as the foundation for any study. Having them readily at one's fingertips would be a boon by itself, but to examine them using a different methodology could potentially provide a totally unique perspective. The methodology in question was based on the assumption that war influenced societies and society affected how war was conducted. By reexamining Imperial Russia's military administrative and social reforms with the newly published memoirs and afore-mentioned methodology, Miliutin's logic in formulating the reforms became apparent, as did his intended results, which included a challenge to the privileged status of Russia's ensconced power elites.
Open Access
Aesthetics of Womanhood in Heian Japan
(University of Oregon, 2014-10-17) Hunter, Rebekah; Goble, Andrew
This study acts as a response to questions surrounding the position of women in the Heian court as encountered by earlier scholars. To that end this study examines the construction of the Heian concept of femininity with regard to both women of the lady-waiting and elite classes, as illustrated in diaries and court records. The findings indicate that the aesthetic of womanhood oftentimes related to an ideal of female passivity in romantic relations with men and of selflessness in involvement in major court decisions. This aesthetic was physically manifested in the attention given to the sequestration of women of high rank. However, evidence suggests that this aesthetic did not mean that women were not influential, in part because this aesthetic was an ideal that did not necessarily reflect reality.
Open Access
Alfred B. Meacham Promoter of Indian Reform
(University of Oregon, 1963-06) Phinney, Edward Sterl
A study of existing materials raised questions about Meacham: Was he a sincere well-intentioned reformer, or was he a fool? Did he deserve the abuse heaped upon him by Oregonians and Coloradans? Was the support of eastern humanitarians warranted? Did he make effective contributions to Indian reform? It was discovered that satisfactory answers to these questions could be found only in a biographical study. The study was made, and this dissertation is the report.
Open Access
American Fast Food as Culture and Politics: The Introduction of Pepsi and McDonald's into the USSR
(University of Oregon, 2013-10-03) Alexander, Roman; Hessler, Julie
This thesis explores how and why two capitalistic American corporations were granted access to the Soviet Union's internal market. For decades communist leadership railed against what they termed "cheap bourgeois consumption," yet in 1972 Pepsi-Cola became the first officially sanctioned American consumer product in the USSR. Eighteen years later, McDonald's would become the first American restaurant to open in the Soviet Union. Both companies became deeply involved in Cold War politics and diplomacy, with high-ranking officials from both sides taking part in the negotiations to bring these companies into the country. These two case studies shed light on a seldom-covered aspect of American-Soviet economic relations and cultural exchange.
Open Access
American Policy and Nicaragua 1921-1927
(1958-06) Rouff, William
Open Access
"An Anxious Desire of Self Preservation": Colonialism, Transition, and Identity on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, 1860-1910
(University of Oregon, 2013-10-03) Lozar, Patrick; Ostler, Jeffrey
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the United States government, in its relations with Native Americans, implemented a policy of assimilation designed to detribalize Indian peoples and absorb them into the dominant society. Subjected to this colonial agenda, the Cayuse, Walla Walla, and Umatilla tribes of Oregon's Umatilla Indian Reservation, as a matter of survival, endeavored to maintain community cohesion and retain their indigenous identity. In this context, I argue that the tribes confronted federal initiatives with a strategy of adaptive resistance that allowed them to approach these onerous impositions on their own terms. This study examines their diverse responses to assimilation and colonialism, specifically accommodation, adaptation, and diplomacy. Employing the investigative frameworks of education, religion, and economics reveals the variety of tactics applied within these categories, which range from incorporation to evasion. Through these actions and reactions, the tribes reaffirmed their capacity to assert native agency.
Open Access
As Our Might Grows Less: The Philippine-American War in Context
(University of Oregon, 2014-06-17) Angeles, Jose Amiel; May, Glenn
The Philippine-American War has rarely been analyzed from the Filipino viewpoint. As a consequence, Filipino military activity is little known or misunderstood. This study aims to shed light on the Filipino side of the conflict. It does so by utilizing the Philippine Insurgent Records, which are the records of the Philippine government. More importantly, the thesis examines 300 years of Filipino history, starting with the Spanish conquest, in order to provide a framework for understanding Philippine military culture.
Open Access
Asahel Bush, Party Master and Political Boss in Oregon 1850-1863
(University of Oregon, 1951-06) Malouf, Naseeb Mahfoud
The writer has attempted to trace, in this paper, the coming of Asahel Bush to Oregon and the part he played in its growth as a territory and in its creation and further maturation as a state. Intermingled in the story are the activities of many of his friends and enemies. No attempt has been made to separate into a single tale the activities of Mr. Bush for his story is the story of the Oregon Democracy; any attempt to segregate a single portion would render such an attempt sterile.
Open Access
ASHEL BUSH – PIONEER EDITOR, POLITICIAN AND BANKER
(University of Oregon, 1939-08) Roberts, Jenette Elizabeth
This study endeavors to show the part played in Oregon during the years 1851-1913 by Asahel Bush, pioneer editor, politician, and banker. The writer has made use of the plentiful source material available for the territorial period. The correspondence which the editor of the Statesman carried on with many men in Oregon has been fairly well preserved. Contemporary newspapers, particularly the Oregonian and the Argus, supplement the information about the political life, economic interests, and various activities gleaned from the Statesman. The papers of the territorial government give much reliable information. These are available for study in the Oregon Historical Library, Portland, Oregon.
Open Access
The Background and Progress of Sino-American Relations in the Second World War
(1961-06) Hybertson, Larry
The usefulness of public opinion studies in historical analysis has been amply demonstrated by many recent and contemporary historians. My purpose in this thesis is not to defend the concept but to contribute in a small way to the growing store of literature dealing with public attitudes towards historical events. I have chosen to deal with the specific subject of American attitudes towards China in the Second World War because of a particular interest in China during that period. It was during the war that the American people began to accept the blame for China's plight. The United States had not observed its promise to uphold Chinese territorial and administrative integrity; it was not sending enough military supplies to Chinese soldiers; and, near the end of the Second World War, Americans began to feel responsible for their failure to solve the civil dispute between the Nationalists and the Communists. This sense of exaggerated responsibility has persisted, retarding a Sino-American settlement that would recognize the fact of Chinese Communism, while seeking to prevent further violation of Nationalist territorial boundaries.
Open Access
Benjamin Franklin Dowell, 1826-1897: claims attorney and newspaper publisher in southern Oregon
(University of Oregon, 1964-06) Mahar, Franklyn Daniel, 1939-
Open Access
"The Best Possible Education": Federal Indian Educational Policy in the Public Schools, 1969-1980
(University of Oregon, 2013-10-03) Gunyon, Richard; Weisiger, Marsha
The scholarship regarding the education of American Indians has focused primarily on the trials and atrocities of the period between 1870 and 1930. This thesis expands this analysis and explores the shifts in Indian educational policy that occurred in the mid to late twentieth century. Whereas federally controlled institutions had served as the primary means of educating Indian students prior to the 1930s, between the 1940s and 1960s, the federal government began shifting Indian children into state-controlled public schools. Unbeknownst to federal policymakers, this shift effectively limited federal control of Indian education by putting this control largely in the hands of local white communities whose goals for Indian education often differed greatly from those of the federal government. This limiting of federal power was most clearly demonstrated in the 1970s, when federal policymakers attempted to create a policy of self-determination for Indian education that was applied in only a limited fashion by state public schools.
Open Access
“Big Tales of Indians Ahead:” The Reproduction of Settler Colonial Discourse in the American West
(University of Oregon, 2024-01-09) Smith, Christopher; Ostler, Jeffrey
“Big Tales of Indians Ahead” traces the reproduction of settler colonial discourses—sentiments narrated by a settler society about themselves and about the Native American societies that predated them—from the period of colonial history of the seventeenth century to the present day in the twenty-first century. This study argues that the anti-Indian rhetoric that could be found in early colonial EuroAmerican writings, particularly Indian captivity narratives, were reproduced by subsequent settler societies throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the form of settler narratives from the overland trail migrations and various forms of popular culture. In the twentieth century these discourses, heavily influenced by past settler discourses, reached wider audiences through new forms of popular culture—particularly Western genre films and mass-produced works of fiction aimed at younger audiences. Finally, this dissertation tracks the ways in which these discourses are still reproduced and present in contemporary popular culture media and political identities in the American West. From Mary Rowlandson’s Indian captivity narrative of the late-seventeenth century to the overland trail settler narratives of the Oregon Trail and the wildly-popular Western films of the mid-twentieth century, Native Americans had consistently been tied to reductive and derogatory depictions in American collective cultural discourses that has tied stereotypes of so-called “Indians” to inherently-racial traits such as savagery, depravity, and violence. This study not only shows that these assertions from a settler population, and their descendants, has been falsely (and thus unfairly) attributed to racialized notions of “Indianness,” but also provides a clear and consistent historical timeline that tracks these depictions across centuries and various forms of settler discourses.
Open Access
Bodies That Speak: Early Modern European Gender Distinctions in Bleeding Corpses and Demoniacs
(University of Oregon, 2017-09-06) Ingram, Margaret; Luebke, David
This thesis examines the concept of “speaking bodies” in the early modern European world, primarily in the seventeenth century. Demoniacs and corpses that bled due to cruentation are examined comparatively through the lens of gender. Utilizing sources that include pamphlets, broadsheets, witness testimonies, and legal records, this thesis performs a close textual analysis to reveal that the gender of the speaking bodies informed contemporaries’ beliefs in the validity of a body’s speech. This thesis also argues that one form of speaking bodies – bleeding corpses – survived over another form – demoniacs – because of gender differentials. In order for a body to speak and be heard, whether through literal demonic speech or metaphorical blood, this body either had to be male, or possessed by a male spirit such as a demon.
Open Access
British Evangelicals, Native Peoples and the Concept of Empire, 1837-1852
(1963-08) Cooke, Raymond McIntyre
Open Access
British Policy in the Baltic Region - 1919
(1957-06) Phillips, Robert Foster
The aims of this thesis are twofold; first, to examine the policy of Great Britain in the Baltic provinces in those troubled times immediately following World War I; and, second, to show how British policy in this area fitted into the overall European policy of Great Britain. The year 1919 has been selected for concentrated analysis because it was one of the most complex periods in modern Baltic history. At the time, it seemed that the whole future destiny of the area hung in the balance, and that the outcome of the contest in 1919 would determine who would rule the Baltic for generations to come: Germany, Russia, the Allied Powers, or the Baltic peoples themselves... In order to understand Britain's Baltic policy in 1919, it is necessary to examine the geographical and historical background of this area. A brief geographical sketch and an account of the history of this region prior to 1900 will be included in the introduction. This will be followed by a more detailed account of Baltic history from 1900 through 1918, which will stress the independence movements within the Baltic area and the beginnings of British Baltic policy. The remainder of the thesis covers the year 1919 and deals primarily with British attempts to free the Baltic of German and Bolshevik domination.