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The Art-Union and Photography, 1839-1854: The First Fifteen Years of Critical Engagement between Two Cultural Icons of Nineteenth-Century Britain (open access)

The Art-Union and Photography, 1839-1854: The First Fifteen Years of Critical Engagement between Two Cultural Icons of Nineteenth-Century Britain

This study analyzes how the Art-Union, a British journal interested only in the fine arts, approached photography between 1839 and 1854. It is informed by Karl Marx’s materialism-informed commodity fetishism, Gerry Beegan’s conception of knowingness, Benedict Anderson’s imagined community, and an art critical discourse that was defined by Roger de Piles and Joshua Reynolds. The individual chapters are each sites in which to examine these multiple theoretical approaches to the journal’s and photography’s association in separate, yet sometimes overlapping, periods. One particular focus of this study concerns the method through which the journal viewed photography—as an artistic or scientific enterprise. A second important focus of this study is the commodification of both the journal and photography in Britain. Also, it determines how the journal’s critical engagement with photography fits into the structure and development of a nineteenth-century British social collectivity focused on art and the photographic enterprise.
Date: August 2011
Creator: Boetcher, Derek Nicholas
System: The UNT Digital Library
The German-Polish Boundary at the Paris Peace Conference (open access)

The German-Polish Boundary at the Paris Peace Conference

Although a great deal has been written on the Paris Peace Conference, only in recent years have the necessary German documents been available for an analysis of the conference, not only from the Allied viewpoint but also from the German side. One of the great problems faced by the Allied statesmen in 1919 was the territorial conflict between Germany and Poland. The final boundary decisions were much criticized then and in subsequent years, and in 1939 they became the excuse for another world war. In the 1960's, over twenty years after the boundaries established at Versailles ceased to exist, they continued to be subjects of controversy. To understand the nature of this problem, it is necessary to study the factors which influenced the delineation of the German-Polish boundary in 1919. From the conflict of national interests there emerged a compromise boundary which satisfied almost no one. After this boundary was destroyed by another world war, the victors were again faced with the complex task of reconciling conflicting strategic and economic necessities with the principle of self-determination. This time no agreement was possible, and the problem remained a significant factor in German-Polish and East-West relations. The methods by which the statesmen …
Date: August 1963
Creator: Bostick, Darwin F.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Muse of Fire: Liberty and War Songs as a Source of American History (open access)

The Muse of Fire: Liberty and War Songs as a Source of American History

The development of American liberty and war songs from a few themes during the pre-Revolutionary period to a distinct form of American popular music in the Civil War period reflects the growth of many aspects of American culture and thought. This study therefore treats as historical documents the songs published in newspapers, broadsides, and songbooks during the period from 1765 to 1865. Chapter One briefly summarizes the development of American popular music before 1765 and provides other introductory material. Chapter Two examines the origin and development of the first liberty-song themes in the period from 1765 to 1775. Chapters Three and Four cover songs written during the American Revolution. Chapter Three describes battle songs, emphasizing the use of humor, and Chapter Four examines the figures treated in the war song. Chapter Five covers the War of 1812, concentrating on the naval song, and describes the first use of dialect in the American war song. Chapter Six covers the Mexican War (1846-1848) and includes discussion of the aggressive American attitude toward the war as evidenced in song. Chapter Six also examines the first antiwar songs. Chapters Seven and Eight deal with the Civil War. Chapter Seven treats derivative war songs, including …
Date: August 1984
Creator: Bowman, Kent A. (Kent Adam), 1947-
System: The UNT Digital Library
Polk and the Mexican War: a Study in Motives and War Policies (open access)

Polk and the Mexican War: a Study in Motives and War Policies

This paper discusses James K. Polk and his stance on the annexation of Texas as well as the different war plans and policies he originated during the Mexican War.
Date: August 1945
Creator: Bradford, Willard R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Southern Promise and Necessity:  Texas, Regional Identity, and the National Woman Suffrage Movement, 1868-1920 (open access)

Southern Promise and Necessity: Texas, Regional Identity, and the National Woman Suffrage Movement, 1868-1920

This study offers a concentrated view of how a national movement developed networks from the grassroots up and how regional identity can influence national campaign strategies by examining the roles Texas and Texans played in the woman suffrage movement in the United States. The interest that multiple generations of national woman suffrage leaders showed in Texas, from Reconstruction through the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, provides new insights into the reciprocal nature of national movements. Increasingly, from 1868 to 1920, a bilateral flow of resources existed between national women's rights leaders and woman suffrage activists in Texas. Additionally, this study nationalizes the woman suffrage movement earlier than previously thought. Cross-regional woman suffrage activity has been marginalized by the belief that campaigning in the South did not exist or had not connected with the national associations until the 1890s. This closer examination provides a different view. Early woman's rights leaders aimed at a nationwide movement from the beginning. This national goal included the South, and woman suffrage interest soon spread to the region. One of the major factors in this relationship was that the primarily northeastern-based national leadership desperately needed southern support to aid in their larger goals. Texas' ability to …
Date: August 2010
Creator: Brannon-Wranosky, Jessica S.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Defense Industries in North Texas, 1941-1965: the Social and Economic Impact on Bowie County (open access)

Defense Industries in North Texas, 1941-1965: the Social and Economic Impact on Bowie County

World War II was a watershed in American history, altering Americans' perceptions of their place in society. This study focused on Bowie County, Texas, during the twenty-five-year period that began with America's entry into the war. The construction of two defense plants there, Red River Army Depot and Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant, brought immediate changes to surrounding communities, and local residents faced many challenges as they struggled to adjust. This study used extensive primary sources, including archival materials from Red River and Lone Star, oral histories from former employees, census information, minutes from the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce, and local newspapers, to document the social and economic impact of these plants on Bowie County. The body of this dissertation contains nine chapters. Chapters two and three describe how Bowie County obtained and constructed its defense plants, and chapters four through six focus on changes precipitated by the plants during the war years. Chapters seven through nine explore the social and economic impact of the defense presence on Bowie County through 1965. The impact of the defense industries on Bowie County was significant. Plant construction brought thousands of workers into the county, and local residents faced housing, transportation, and sanitation …
Date: August 1995
Creator: Brantley, Janet G.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Anti-Semitism and Der Sturmer on Trial in Nuremberg, 1945-1946: The Case of Julius Streicher (open access)

Anti-Semitism and Der Sturmer on Trial in Nuremberg, 1945-1946: The Case of Julius Streicher

The central focus of this thesis is to rediscover Julius Streicher and to determine whether his actions merited the same punishment as other persons executed for war crimes. Sources used include Nuremberg Trial documents and testimony, memoirs of Nazi leaders, and other Nazi materials. The thesis includes seven chapters, which cover Streicher's life, especially the prewar decades, his years out of power, and his trial at Nuremberg. The conclusion reached is that Streicher did have some influence on the German people with his anti-Semitic newspaper Der Sturmer, but it is difficult to ascertain whether his speeches and writings contributed directly to the extermination of the Jews in World War II or simply reflected and magnified the anti-Semitism of his culture.
Date: August 1997
Creator: Bridges, Lee H. (Lee Hammond)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Black Political Leadership During Reconstruction (open access)

Black Political Leadership During Reconstruction

The key to Reconstruction for both blacks and whites was black suffrage. On one hand this vote made possible the elevation of black political leaders to positions of prominence in the reorganization of the South after the Civil War. For southern whites, on the other hand, black participation in the Reconstruction governments discredited the positive accomplishments of those regimes and led to the evolution of a systematized white rejection of the black as a positive force in southern politics. For white contemporaries and subsequent historians, the black political leader became the exemplar of all that was reprehensible about the period. Stereotyped patterns, developed to eliminate black influence, prevented any examination of the actual role played by these men in the reconstruction process. This study is partially a synthesis of recent scholarly research on specific aspects of the black political role and the careers of individual political leaders. Additional research included examination of a number of manuscript collections in the Library of Congress and the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina, state and federal government documents, and contemporary newspapers. On the basis of all these sources, this study evaluates the nature of black political leadership and its impact …
Date: August 1974
Creator: Brock, Euline Williams
System: The UNT Digital Library
Cultural Exchange: the Role of Stanislavsky and the Moscow Art Theatre’s 1923 and 1924 American Tours (open access)

Cultural Exchange: the Role of Stanislavsky and the Moscow Art Theatre’s 1923 and 1924 American Tours

The following is a historical analysis on the Moscow Art Theatre’s (MAT) tours to the United States in 1923 and 1924, and the developments and changes that occurred in Russian and American theatre cultures as a result of those visits. Konstantin Stanislavsky, the MAT’s co-founder and director, developed the System as a new tool used to help train actors—it provided techniques employed to develop their craft and get into character. This would drastically change modern acting in Russia, the United States and throughout the world. The MAT’s first (January 2, 1923 – June 7, 1923) and second (November 23, 1923 – May 24, 1924) tours provided a vehicle for the transmission of the System. In addition, the tour itself impacted the culture of the countries involved. Thus far, the implications of the 1923 and 1924 tours have been ignored by the historians, and have mostly been briefly discussed by the theatre professionals. This thesis fills the gap in historical knowledge.
Date: August 2014
Creator: Brooks, Cassandra M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Ultimate Ethos: Challenges, Cooptation and Survival During Ultimate’s Adolescence (open access)

The Ultimate Ethos: Challenges, Cooptation and Survival During Ultimate’s Adolescence

Ultimate is the fastest growing field sport in America. Created in 1968, forty-five years later the sport was still on the periphery of the mainstream but reached new heights in 2013 – two professional leagues, over 800 college teams and a broadcasting deal with ESPN – and the discussions throughout the sports’ history have never been as relevant. Self-officiation and the Spirit of the Game are the main tenets that make up the ethos of the sport and its community. These unique aspects differentiate Ultimate’s predominate culture from that of mainstream sports culture. This study shows the countercultural ties and survival of the ethos during the adolescent period of Ultimate’s evolution (1987-2010). It examines the progression of the community’s established grassroots culture and the governing body of the sport alongside the influx of young players with mainstream sports attitudes who bolstered certain organizers’ attempts to alter Ultimate in the hopes of gaining “legitimacy” through adding third-party officials, commercialization and corporate sponsorship.
Date: August 2013
Creator: Brooks, David
System: The UNT Digital Library

The Balkan Imbroglio: The Diplomatic, Military, and Political Origins of the Macedonian Campaign of World War I

The Macedonian Campaign of World War I (October 1915-November 1918) traditionally remains one of the understudied theatres of the historiography of the conflict. Despite its vital importance in the outcome of the war, it is still considered as a mere sideshow compared to the Western Front and the Gallipoli Campaign. This dissertation presents a much-needed re-evaluation of the Macedonian Campaign's diplomatic and political origins within the war's early context. In doing so, this study first concentrates on a longue durée perspective and assesses the main historical events in the Balkans and Central Europe from the end of the French Revolution to World War I. In a perspective running throughout the entire nineteenth century, this dissertation integrates the importance of nascent nationalism in the Balkans and examine the Austro-Hungarian Empire's steady decline and subsequent diplomatic realignment toward the Balkans. Similarly, this work depicts the intense power struggle in Southeastern Europe between some of this story's main protagonists, namely the Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Ottoman Empires. This dissertation also evaluates the rise of new regional powers such as Bulgaria and Serbia and examines their connection to the European balance of power and general diplomatic equilibrium. In the first half of this dissertation, I …
Date: August 2021
Creator: Broucke, Kevin R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Cowboys, “Queers,” and Community: the AIDS Crisis in Houston and Dallas, 1981-1996 (open access)

Cowboys, “Queers,” and Community: the AIDS Crisis in Houston and Dallas, 1981-1996

This thesis examines the response to the AIDS crisis in Houston and Dallas, two cities in Texas with the most established gay communities highest number of AIDS incidences. Devoting particular attention to the struggles of the Texas’ gay men, this work analyzes the roadblocks to equal and compassionate care for AIDS, including access to affordable treatment, medical insurance, and the closure of the nation’s first AIDS hospital. In addition, this thesis describes the ways in which the peculiar nature of AIDS as an illness transformed the public perception of sickness and infection. This work contributes to the growing study of gay and lesbian history by exploring the transformative effects of AIDS on the gay community in Texas, a location often forgotten within the context of the AIDS epidemic.
Date: August 2014
Creator: Bundschuh, Molly Ellen
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Nazi Blood Purge of 1934 (open access)

The Nazi Blood Purge of 1934

This thesis deals with the problem of determining the reasons behind the purge conducted by various high officials in the Nazi regime on June 30-July 2, 1934.
Date: August 1972
Creator: Burkholder, Vaughn
System: The UNT Digital Library
Got Silk?: Buying, Selling, and Advertising British Luxury Imports During the Stamp Act Crisis (open access)

Got Silk?: Buying, Selling, and Advertising British Luxury Imports During the Stamp Act Crisis

Despite the amount of scholarship on the Stamp Act Crisis, no study has used advertisements as a main source. This study attempts to show that a valuable, objective source has been overlooked, through the quantitative analysis of 5,810 advertisements before, during and after the Stamp Act Crisis from five port cities: Boston, Charleston, Philadelphia, New York, and Portsmouth. The findings reveal the colonists' strong connection to imported British luxury goods, and a lack of interest in American-made goods, especially before and after the boycott. Advertisements also demonstrate that the decision of many merchants to place the needs and expectations of their community before their own personal gain offered a rare economic opportunity for others. The colonists' devotion to imports tested the strength of the boycott, especially among Boston merchants, who continued to advertise imported goods a good deal more than any other city. This lack of dedication to the boycott on the part of the Boston merchants shows disunity among the colonies, at a time when many argue was the first instance of colonial nationalism. Capitalism challenged and undermined a commitment to communal sentiments such as nationalism. Moreover, if Americans did share a sense of nationhood during the Stamp Act …
Date: August 2007
Creator: Busse, Michele Conrady
System: The UNT Digital Library
Weeding Out the Undesirables: the Red Scare in Texas Higher Education, 1936-1958 (open access)

Weeding Out the Undesirables: the Red Scare in Texas Higher Education, 1936-1958

When the national Democratic Party began to transform to progressive era politics because of the New Deal, conservative reactionaries turned against the social welfare programs and used red scare tactics to discredit liberal and progressive New Deal Democrat professors in higher education. This process continued during the Second World War, when the conservatives in Texas lumped fascism and communism in order to anchor support and fire and threaten professors and administrators for advocating or teaching “subversive doctrine.” In 1948 Texas joined other southern states and followed the Dixiecrat movement designed to return the Democratic Party to its original pro-business and segregationist philosophy. Conservatives who wanted to bolster their Cold Warrior status in Texas also played upon the fears of spreading communism during the Cold War, and passed several repressive laws intended to silence unruly students and entrap professors by claiming they advocated communist doctrine. The fight culminated during the Civil Rights movement, when conservatives in the state attributed subversive or communist behavior to civil rights organizations, and targeted higher education to protect segregated universities. In order to return the national Democratic Party to the pro-business, segregationist philosophy established at the early twentieth century, conservatives used redbaiting tactics to thwart the …
Date: August 2014
Creator: Bynum, Katherine E.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Supreme Court in Crisis : Four Selected Cases (open access)

The Supreme Court in Crisis : Four Selected Cases

In view of the ability of the Court to retain and increase its power in the face of criticism, a study of past historical precedents should furnish some guide to an assessment of the position of this branch of the government today.
Date: August 1960
Creator: Calvert, Robert A.
System: The UNT Digital Library

'The Marshall System' in World War II, Myth and Reality: Six American Commanders Who Failed

This is an analysis of the U.S. Army's personnel decisions in the Second World War. Specifically, it considers the U.S. Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall's appointment of generals to combat command, and his reasons for relieving some generals while leaving others in place after underperformance. Many historians and contemporaries of Marshall, including General Omar N. Bradley, have commented on Marshall's ability to select brilliant, capable general officers for combat command in the war. However, in addition to solid performers like J. Lawton Collins, Lucian Truscott, and George S. Patton, Marshall, together with Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lesley J. McNair, often selected sub-par commanders who significantly underperformed on the battlefield. These generals' tactical and operational decisions frequently led to unnecessary casualties, and ultimately prolonged the war. The work considers six case studies: Lloyd Fredendall at Kasserine Pass, Mark Clark during the Italian campaign, John Lucas at Anzio, Omar Bradley at the Falaise Gap, Courtney Hodges at the Hürtgen Forest, and Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. at Okinawa. Personal connections and patronage played strong roles in these generals' command appointments, and often trumped practical considerations like command experience. While their superiors ultimately relieved corps commanders Fredendall and Lucas, field army and …
Date: August 2020
Creator: Carlson, Cody King
System: The UNT Digital Library
Indians of Southeast Texas (open access)

Indians of Southeast Texas

The following account is written to give the history of the Indians who have at one time inhabited southeast Texas, and of those who still inhabit it. The account begins with the history of each tribe as far back as any facts can be found concerning them and continues through their stay in Texas.
Date: August 1939
Creator: Carlton, Lessie
System: The UNT Digital Library
Constitutional Change in Texas During the Reconstruction, 1865-1876 (open access)

Constitutional Change in Texas During the Reconstruction, 1865-1876

In the decade following the Civil War the Texas political scene was dominated by revisionist activity with regard to the state's constitution. In that period the organic law of the state was altered three times, twice because of the exigencies of National Reconstruction and a third time to satisfy the retrenchment impulses partially stimulated by the Reconstruction experiment. None of the three constitutions written during this ten year period can be properly understood in isolation from the other two, nor can any of them be correctly interpreted separate from the serious post-war political, social, and economic issues faced by the entire nation. Hence, a uniform study of the three constitutions in their local context and their relations to national problems of the period provides a field of significant research and evaluation. It is the purpose of this study to analyze the constitutional changes of the Reconstruction era in Texas in their historical perspective, giving special attention to both the internal political structures and the socio-economic considerations dominant during that period.
Date: August 1967
Creator: Carrier, John Pressley
System: The UNT Digital Library
History of Public Welfare Legislation in Texas (open access)

History of Public Welfare Legislation in Texas

Includes summaries of legislation from 1856 to 1949 regarding the blind, deaf and dumb, the mentally deranged, child welfare, the physically ill, and the aged. Also includes histories of schools and institutions established, including Deaf and Blind institute for Colored youths, State Lunatic Asylum, Epileptic Colony, Insane Asylum for Negroes, State Juvenile Training School, The State Orphan's home.
Date: August 1949
Creator: Cathey, Velma Lee
System: The UNT Digital Library
The History of the Texas Negro and His Development Since 1900 (open access)

The History of the Texas Negro and His Development Since 1900

This thesis is a descriptive account of the history of Negroes in Texas including how they came to reside in Texas, their population trends, and the developments they have made since 1900 in areas such as politics, education, and the work force.
Date: August 1940
Creator: Chambers, Bill
System: The UNT Digital Library
A History of Federal Aid to Education in Texas Through the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (open access)

A History of Federal Aid to Education in Texas Through the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare

On April 11, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower put into effect Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1953, creating a new cabinet level department within the federal government. The new Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) was a consolidation of organizations dealing with national social concerns. Some of the organizations dated back to 1785 when the Congress of the Confederation first set aside public lands for schools. This paper concerns the creation and growth of the department of Health, Education and Welfare, including it's various educational programs, educational research programs, aid to higher education, federally impacted areas, and other HEW programs which affect education.
Date: August 1973
Creator: Chaney, Bobby L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Robert Boyle and the Significance of Skill and Experience in Seventeenth-Century Natural Philosophy (open access)

Robert Boyle and the Significance of Skill and Experience in Seventeenth-Century Natural Philosophy

The purpose of this study is to examine how English natural philosophers of the seventeenth century—in particular, Robert Boyle (1627-1691) considered and assessed the personal traits of skill and experience and the significance of these characteristics to the practice of seventeenth-century science. Boyle's writings reveal that skill and experience impacted various aspects of his seventeenth-century experimental natural philosophy, including the credibility assessment of tradesmen and eyewitnesses to natural phenomena, the contingencies involved in the making of experiments, and Boyle's statements about the requisite skills of experimental philosophy in contrast to other traditions. Subtopics explored include the popularization of science and Boyle's expectations concerning the future improvement of natural philosophy.
Date: August 2000
Creator: Chipman, Gary V.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The National Liberal Republican Movement of 1872 (open access)

The National Liberal Republican Movement of 1872

The purpose of this study is to present an historical account of the Liberal Republican movement during the Reconstruction period. The Liberal movement was chosen for investigation because it was the first prominent third party movement in the post-Civil War years. The Liberal Republican movement was less important in shaping the policies of the two major policies than later third party movements, and, in fact, its long range results are almost impossible to trace. By gaining national prominence, however, and by accepting the Democrats in a coalition, the movement did provide a much needed stimulus to the Democratic party and caused the Republicans to reconsider their policies. It also provided an example to later movements that a third party could gain a great deal of support by advocating and working for general political reform.
Date: August 1963
Creator: Clark, Sterling Douglas
System: The UNT Digital Library