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open access

Creating the Character of North Texas: Demographics and Geography, 1841-1861

Description: Several historians have identified North Texas as constituting a unique cultural region in antebellum Texas, due to the more limited cotton and slave economies and greater opposition to secession. Different settlement patterns have been put forward as an explanation for the distinct "character" of North Texas, with North Texas being portrayed as being settled largely by migrants from the Upper South while the rest of the state was primarily settled by Lower Southerners. The argument rests on th… more
Date: December 2019
Creator: Stites, Russell
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Famine Fighters: American Veterans, the American Relief Administration, and the 1921 Russian Famine

Description: This study argues that the American Relief Administration (ARA) operationally and culturally was defined by the character and experiences of First World War American military veterans. The historiography of the American Relief Administration in the last half-century has painted the ARA as a purely civilian organization greatly detached from the military sphere. By examining the military veterans of the ARA scholars can more accurately assess the image of the ARA, including what motivated their … more
Date: December 2019
Creator: Huebner, Andrew Brooks
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Origins of Roman Infantry Equipment: Innovation and Celtic Influence

Description: The Romans were known for taking technology and advancements from other peoples they encountered and making them their own. This pattern holds true in military affairs; indeed, little of the Roman military was indigenously developed. This dissertation looks at the origins of the Roman's mainline weapons systems from the beginning of Roman Republic expansion in the fourth century BC to the abandonment of Western-style armaments in favor of Eastern style ones beginning in the late-third century A… more
Date: December 2019
Creator: Martin, Ian A.
Partner: UNT Libraries

The Rise and Fall of the Greenback Party in Texas: Economic Change and Political Dissent in the Post-Civil War Era

Description: In 1873, a financial crisis plunged the United States into a deep economic depression that exacerbated a number of post-war economic issues. By the late 1870s, political dissent centered primarily on financial issues merged into the Greenback movement, which represented a loose coalition of reformers calling for economic relief based on the expanded use of greenbacks (paper currency issued by the United States Treasury during the Civil War). The Greenback Party emerged as a direct response to f… more
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Date: December 2019
Creator: Sinclair, Cameron L.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Racial Dynamics: The Importance of SNCC's Arkansas Project, 1962-1966

Description: In this thesis I look at the Arkansas Project and more specifically the racial dynamics within the project and the surrounding communities in Arkansas where SNCC engaged to assist the residents fight for their civil rights. In addition, I analyze how the differences in the urban and rural communities were affected by the racial dynamics of the project's leadership. The Arkansas project was led by William Hansen, a white man, which made him and the project unique from not only other SNCC project… more
Date: December 2019
Creator: Lacy, David Aaron
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Women in the Foreign Service: A Case Study of Margaret Parx Hays, 1942-1964

Description: This project seeks to include the historical significance of women in the Foreign Service and subsequently the United States Department of State between 1942 and 1964. Using the life and experience of Margaret Parx Hays, one of fewer than three hundred female foreign service officers before 1960, this study explores the importance of examining women at the "ground level." This narrative examines the life of Hays at several different duty stations and her experience navigating a male-dominant wo… more
Date: December 2019
Creator: Craig, Maddison L.
Partner: UNT Libraries

Uncle Sam Does Not Want You: Military Rejection and Discharge during the World Wars

Description: In the United States, rapid military mobilization for the world wars marked a turning point in the national need to manage and evaluate manpower. To orchestrate manpower needs for the military, industry, and those relating to familial obligations, Woodrow Wilson's administration created the Selective Service System during the First World War. In categorizing men, local Selective Service boards utilized rapid physical and psychological diagnostic techniques and applied their assessments to curre… more
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Date: August 2019
Creator: Smith Chamberlain, Tiffany Leigh
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Weaponized Nature: How the Environment Saved the Allies at Bastogne, December 16-23, 1944

Description: Many histories written by professional historians discuss the Battle of the Bulge; however, none of them incorporate the growing field of environmental history as a lens of analysis. This paper aims to address that hole in the scholarship by evaluating the impact that environmental factors exerted on the American army's ability to fight in and around Bastogne and St. Vith, Belgium during the first week of the battle. Had it not been for the environmental factors and the Americans' ability to … more
Date: August 2019
Creator: Reader, Darrell Ray
Partner: UNT Libraries

Weapons of Mass Deception: Opacity and the Israeli Nuclear Program

Description: Access to nuclear technology and growing concern over the spread of nuclear weapons triggered an international debate in the 1960s that led to the creation of the Nonproliferation Treaty. Ratified in 1970, NPT was designed to prevent the horizontal spread of nuclear weapons and limit destructive uses of nuclear energy. At the same time, it also normalized the arsenals of existing nuclear states and encouraged exchanges of nuclear information, technology, and materials for peaceful purposes. Non… more
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Date: August 2019
Creator: Beattie, Kathleen E
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Civilian Conservation Corps in Big Bend National Park

Description: During the New Deal, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) put young men to work in state and national parks across the United States. One of such parks, Big Bend National Park, is the focus of this study. The CCC had two camps within the park, one from 1934 to 1937 and another from 1940 to 1942. During their time in Big Bend, the CCC constructed many projects including a road, trails, cabins, and other various structures. The purpose of this study is to delineate the role of the CCC in creatin… more
Date: May 2019
Creator: Jackson, Kimberly
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Health on the Homestead: Women Physicians and the Search for Professional Medical Authority in the American West, 1870-1930

Description: This project seeks to clarify the historical significance of women in the American West between 1870 and 1930 through the education, careers, and personal lives of western women physicians. The narratives presented in the work provide alternative roles for western women aside from the stereotypical images found in popular culture and history, such as the "Bad Woman," the prostitute, and the obedient homesteading wife. This collective biography additionally demonstrates how women participated in… more
Date: May 2019
Creator: Doak, Kate Lynn
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Manipulating Fear: The Texas State Government and the Second Red Scare, 1947-1954

Description: Between 1947 and 1954, the Texas State Legislature enacted a series of eight highly restrictive anti-communist laws. Designed to protect political, military, and economic structures in the state from communist infiltration, the laws banned communists from participating the political process, required registration of all communists who entered the state and eventually outlawed the Communist Party. Drawn from perceptions about Cold War events, such as the Truman Doctrine and the Korean War, and a… more
Date: May 2019
Creator: Bonewell, Shaffer Allen
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Command Unity and the Air War against Germany

Description: Starting in August 1942 the United States and United Kingdom started waging a strategic bombing offensive against Germany. Throughout the course of the 1942 and 1943 campaigns, American and British air forces struggled to gain the upper hand in the European air war. By November 1943 American and British defeats at the hands of the German Air Force, or Luftwaffe, had placed the air war in doubt. By February 1944, the air war had turned around in favor of the Allies. This dramatic turn of events … more
Date: December 2018
Creator: Truxal, Luke
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Forging Their Legacy: Cooperation and Accommodation in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, 1848-1870

Description: Forging Their Legacy: Cooperation and Accommodation in the Lower Rio Grande Valley is an examination of the relationships created during the mid-nineteenth century between Anglo and Tejano elites in the five counties that make up the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Conducted through a quantitative lens, the five-chapter study seeks to demonstrate that, although the period between 1848 and 1870 was fraught with conflict and violence, the Anglo and Tejano elite of the Lower Rio Grande Valley came toget… more
Date: December 2018
Creator: Ballesteros, Nicholas A.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Reclaiming Female Virtue: Social Hygiene, Venereal Disease and Texas Reclamation Centers during World War I

Description: During the Progressive Era in the United States, social hygiene reformers underwent a fundamental change in their stance toward women accused of prostitution or promiscuous behavior. Rather than viewing such women as unfortunate victims of circumstance who were worthy of compassion, many Progressives deemed them as predatory villains who instead deserved incarceration, forced rehabilitation, and non-consenting medical interference. Texas, due to the many military bases within its borders, bec… more
Date: December 2018
Creator: Bridges, Jennifer
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

"When We Go to Deal with City Hall, We Put on a Shirt and Tie": Gay Rights Movement Done the Dallas Way, 1965-2003

Description: This dissertation examines the gay rights movement occurring in Dallas, Texas, from the mid-twentieth century to present day by focusing on the work of the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance (DGLA), previously known as the Dallas Gay Political Caucus and the Dallas Gay Alliance. Members of that group utilized a methodology they called "the Dallas Way" that minimized mass protests and rallies in favor of using backroom negotiations with the people who could make the changes sought by the movement. … more
Date: December 2018
Creator: Wisely, Karen S.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

William's America: Royal Perspective and Centralization of the English Atlantic

Description: William III, Prince of Orange, ascended the throne of England after the English Glorious Revolution of 1688. The next year, the American colonists rebelled against colonial administrations in the name of their new king. This thesis examines William's perception of these rebellions and the impact his perception had on colonial structures following the Glorious Revolution. Identifying William's modus operandi—his habit of acceding to other's political choices for expediency until decisive action … more
Date: December 2018
Creator: Woodlock, Kylie Michelle
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Wrestling with the Past: How National Wrestling Lost Its Regional Heritage

Description: Through a combination of stringent and deceptive corporate control of sources, as well as an academic blind spot on certain low-brow subcultures, there has been a lack of serious study of the various regional professional wrestling traditions that crossed the United States until the end of the 1980s. An in-depth examination of a wide range of books, newsletters, and interviews shows a rich history with a deep economic, social, and creative diversity that has been largely ignored as the industry… more
Date: December 2018
Creator: Treadway, William T.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Bread, Bullets, and Brotherhood: Masculine Ideologies in the Mid-Century Black Freedom Struggle, 1950-1975

Description: This thesis examines the ways that African Americans in the mid-twentieth century thought about and practiced masculinity. Important contemporary events such as the struggle for civil rights and the Vietnam War influenced the ways that black Americans sought not only to construct masculine identities, but to use these identities to achieve a higher social purpose. The thesis argues that while mainstream American society had specific prescriptions for how men should behave, black Americans were … more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Harvey, Matt
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Cattle Capitalists: The XIT Empire in Texas and Montana

Description: The Texas Constitution of 1876 set aside three million acres of Texas public land in exchange for construction of the monumental red granite Capitol that continues to house Texas state government today. The Capitol project and the land went to an Illinois syndicate led by men influential in business and politics. Austin's statehouse is a recognizable symbol of Texas around the world. So too, the massive Panhandle tract given in exchange -- what became the "fabulous" XIT Ranch -- has come to, fo… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Miller, Michael M.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Civil Liberties and National Unity: Reaction to the Sedition Act in the Southern States, 1798

Description: The traditional narrative of political party development in the United States of America during the latter half of the 1790s ascribes the decline in popularity of the Federalist Party in the Election of 1800 to that party's passage of controversial legislation, specifically the Sedition Act of 1798, prior to the election. Between the passage of the Sedition Act and the Election of 1800, however, the midterm elections of 1798-1799 transpired and resulted in a significant increase in Federalist p… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Robinson, Sarah Elizabeth
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Exposing the Spectacular Body: The Wheel, Hanging, Impaling, Placarding, and Crucifixion in the Ancient World

Description: This dissertation brings the Ancient Near Eastern practice of the wheel, hanging, impaling, placarding, and crucifixion (WHIPC) into the scholarship of crucifixion, which has been too dominated by the Greek and Roman practice. WHIPC can be defined as the exposure of a body via affixing, by any means, to a structure, wooden or otherwise, for public display (Chapter 2). Linguistic analysis of relevant sources in several languages (including Egyptian hieroglyphics, Sumerian, Hebrew, Hittite, Old P… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Foust, Kristan Ewin
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Nathanael Greene and the Myth of the Valiant Few

Description: Nathan Greene is the Revolutionary Warfare general most associated with unconventional warfare. The historiography of the southern campaign of the revolution uniformly agrees he was a guerrilla leader. Best evidence shows, however, that Nathanael Greene was completely conventional -- that his strategy, operations, tactics, and logistics all strongly resembled that of Washington in the northern theater and of the British commanders against whom he fought in the south. By establishing that Gre… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Smith, David R.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Service Honest and Faithful: The Thirty-Third Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Philippine War, 1899-1901

Description: This manuscript is a study of the Thirty-Third Infantry, United States Volunteers, a regiment that was recruited in Texas, the South, and the Midwest and was trained by officers experienced from the Indian Wars and the Spanish-American War. This regiment served as a front-line infantry unit and then as a constabulary force during the Philippine War from 1899 until 1901. While famous in the United States as a highly effective infantry regiment during the Philippine War, the unit's fame and the l… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Andersen, Jack David
Partner: UNT Libraries
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