Stephen Fuller: Jamaican Planter, British Ambassador, Closet Abolitionist

by

Garrett Nagaishi and Dr. Matthew Mason, History Department The 1780s witnessed the rise of abolitionism within the British Empire. In its Two Reports…from the Committee of the Honourable House of Assembly of Jamaica (1788), the Jamaican government, which greatly profited from slavery and the slave trade, responded to claims made against its treatment of slaves. […]

Obrajes, Andean Workers, and the Spanish Elite: Hegemony and Hierarchy in Peru’s Late-Colonial Era

by

Taylor Cozzens and Dr. Jeffrey Shumway, Department of History Introduction Obrajes were textile shops in early Latin America. From the mid-1500s onward, Spanish colonists in Mexico and Peru established obrajes to produce fabrics for local societies. Labor for these shops was often coerced. My research focused on the Peruvian obrajes of the late-colonial era (roughly […]

Portraying “The Responsible Man”: A Historiographical Analysis of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

by

Greer Bates and Dr. Paul Kerry, History The roots of this project stem from years of research into the life and theological work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer—a German pastor who contributed to 20th century Christian theology and who was executed for his work in movements opposing the Third Reich in Nazi Germany. As I have read […]

Jo Marries Goethe: Dr. Bhaer as the Goethean Ideal in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women

by

Megan Armknecht and Paul Kerry, History Introduction: In February 2014, I received an ORCA grant to work on my Honors Thesis, “Jo Marries Goethe: Dr. Bhaer as the Goethean Ideal in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.” I had found resonances between Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the character of Dr. Bhaer in Little Women, and […]

Wet-Nurses in Victorian England

by

Abbie Black and Dr. Amy Harris, History Introduction Wet-nursing, or the occupation of a woman breast-feeding another woman’s child for money, was a common practice in England for most of the country’s history. Today, the practice is much less wide-spread and has a negative stigma attached. Since the mid-eighteenth century, there have been countless critical […]

The Savior in LDS Sermons

by

Joseph R. Stuart and Dr. J. Spencer Fluhman: History Department, Humanities My research concerned the apostolic teachings in the General Conferences of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-­‐day Saints from 1951-­‐2007. Specifically, I was searching for evidence that the Church has always been Christ-­‐centric in its official teachings. Christ was certainly in present, in […]

A Matter of Perspective British Education on the American Revolution

by

Devon Zimmerman and Dr. Eric Dursteler, History Department While history attempts to be factual, history is primarily about perspective, which can sometimes lead to very biased information. Perspective causes countries to have significantly different accounts of the same events, especially wars. In the case of the American Revolution, England and the United States have very […]

In Thanksgiving and Praise: Prayer, Rhetoric, and Congressional Thanksgiving Proclamations

by

Samuel Wells and Dr. Christopher Hodson, History With my grant I analyzed how early congressional Thanksgiving proclamations textually moved away from overtly Christian wording while simultaneously retaining a rhetorical Christian foundation. To illustrate my point I chose to analyze said declarations as textual examples of prayer. In order to do so, I first examined Congress’s […]

Emotional Response to Late Medieval Plague

by

John D. Young and Professor Larry Bolick, General Education and Honors The Black Death and subsequent outbreaks of bubonic and pneumonic plague in late medieval Europe violently jarred the European mind-set. Particularly damaging were the intense emotions fostered in the hearts and minds of common Europeans during this pivotal period. By studying the emotional responses […]

Women’s Needlework In Eighteenth-Century England And America: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

by

Hilary Pothier and Dr. Martha Peacock, Department of Art History In the past eight months, I have completed a great deal of research in a cross-cultural comparison of women’s needlework in England and America during the eighteenth century. The majority of my research focused on women’s embroidery in England during the time period, because I […]