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History Department Masters Theses Collection

Theses from 2024 2024.

'Our Sacred Rights': The Southern Baptist Convention and the Rhetoric of Oppression, 1845 and Present Day , Katlyn Durand, History

Theses from 2023 2023

Memories of Hope and Loss: “kerhi maa ne bhagat singh jameya” , Sheher Bano, History

Quṭb al‐Dīn al‐Shīrāzī and His Political, Religious, and Intellectual Networks , Carina Dreyer, History

Imagining the “Day of Reckoning”: American Jewish Performance Activism during the Holocaust , Maya C. Gonzalez, History

Cut Out of Place: The Geography and Legacy of Otto Ege's Broken Books , Melanie R. Meadors, History

Theses from 2022 2022

Heavy Metal in Medieval Europe , Sean M. Klimmek, History

Historic Houses and the Food Movement: Casey Farm and Coastal Growers' Market , Allison L. Smith, History

Theses from 2021 2021

“A Constant Surveillance”: The New York State Police and the Student Peace Movement, 1965-1973 , Seth Kershner, History

Theses from 2020 2020

Our Souls are Already Cared For: Indigenous Reactions to Religious Colonialism in Seventeenth-Century New England, New France, and New Mexico , Gail Coughlin, History

The Art of Not Seeing: The Immigration and Naturalization Service’s Failed Search for Nazi Collaborators in the United States, 1945-1979 , Jeffrey Davis, History

Treating the Revolution: Health Care and Solidarity in El Salvador and Nicaragua in the 1980s , Brittany McWilliams, History

Theses from 2019 2019

Interpreting Access: A History of Accessibility and Disability Representations in the National Park Service , Perri Meldon, History

“Nothing Material Occurred”: The Maritime Captures That Caused Then Outlasted the United States’ Quasi War with France , Emma Zeig, History

Unsettling East Jersey: Borders of Violence in the Proprietary Era, 1666-1719 , Amelia Zurcher, History

Theses from 2018 2018

Wanderers of Empire: The Tropical Tramp in Latin America, 1870-1930 , Jack Werner, History

Theses from 2017 2017

The Economy of Evangelism in the Colonial American South , Julia Carroll, History

Springing Forth Anew: Progress, Preservation, and Park-Building at Roger Williams National Memorial , Sara E. Patton, History

Conformity and Digression: Change of Narrative in a Chinese Peasant's Personal Writing , Danping Wang, History

Theses from 2016 2016

"The Fate Which Takes Us:" Benjamin F. Beall and Jefferson County, (West) Virginia in the Civil War Era , Matthew Coletti, History

Theses from 2015 2015

Araguaia: Maoist Uprising and Military Counterinsurgency in the Brazilian Amazon, 1967-1975 , Thamyris F. T. Almeida, History

"Who's Hiring the Indochinese Worker? Your Competition, Probably": Work, Welfare Dependency, and Southeast Asian Refugee Resettlement in Lowell, Massachusetts, 1975-1985 , Janelle Bourgeois, History

AN EERIE JUNGLE FILLED WITH DRAGONFLIES, SNIPER BULLETS AND GHOSTS: CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF VIETNAM AND THE VIETNAMESE THROUGH THE EYES OF AMERICAN TROOPS , Matthew M. Herrera, History

Combating Slavery and Colonization: Student Abolitionism and the Politics of Antislavery in Higher Education, 1833-1841 , Michael E. Jirik, History

Theses from 2014 2014

Against The Odds: Accounting For The Survival Of The Berkshire Athenaeum , John Dickson, History

Motives of Humanity: Saint-Domingan Refugees and the Limits of Sympathetic Ideology in Philadelphia , Jonathan Earl Dusenbury, History

The City of Minas: The Founding of Belo Horizonte, Brazil and Modernity in the First Republic, 1889-1897 , Daniel Lee McDonald, History

Mishoonash in Southern New England: Construction and Use of Dugout Canoes in a Multicultural Context , Jacob M. Orcutt, History

The Politics of Psychiatric Experience , Shuko Tamao, History

Commodore Perry's Expedition, 1852-4: Layered Experiences and Perceptions of the U.S., Japan, and the Kingdom of Ryukyu , Erika Tomoyose, History

Theses from 2013 2013

The Regional Influences on Religious Thought and Practice: A Case Study in Mormonism’s Dietary Reforms , Samuel Alonzo Dodge, History

Henry Thoreau's Debt to Society: A Micro Literary History , Laura J. Dwiggins, History

Colonial Role Models: The Influence of British and Afrikaner Relations on German South-West African Treatment of African Peoples , Natalie J. Geeza, History

From Main to High: Consumers, Class, and the Spatial Reorientation of an Industrial City , Jonathan Haeber, History

The Terrorist Doppelganger: Somoza and the Sandinistas , Thomas A. Hohenstein, History

The Third Reich in East German Film: Defa, Memory, and the Foundational Narrative of the German Democratic Republic , Jaimie Kicklighter, History

Nationalism and the Public Sphere: Tracing the Development of Nineteenth-Century Latin American Identities , Lisa Ponce, History

Theses from 2012 2012

Citizens and Criminals: Mass Incarceration, "Prison Neighbors," and Fear-Based Organizing in 1980s Rural Pennsylvania , Erika Arthur, History

The Praxis of Horst Hoheisel: the Countermonument in an Expanded Field , Juan Felipe Hernandez, History

Si Se Puede: The United Farm Workers, Civil Rights, and the Struggle for Justice in the Fields , Roneva C. Keel, History

Good News , Eesha Williams, History

Theses from 2011 2011

"Super Successful People": Robert Schuller, Suburban Exclusion, and the Demise of the New Deal Political Order , Richard Anderson, History

SCAR'd Times: Maine's Prisoners' Rights Movement, 1971-1976 , Daniel S. Chard, History

Intellectuals and Local Reforms in Late Qing Wuxi: 1897-1904 , Lei Duan, History

An End to the “Vichy/Algeria Syndrome”?: Negotiating Traumatic Pasts in the French Republic , Justin W. Silvestri, History

The Politics of Labor Militancy in Minneapolis, 1934-1938 , Kristoffer Smemo, History

Eugenothenics: The Literary Connection Between Domesticity and Eugenics , Caleb J. true, History

Theses from 2010 2010

"Flying is Changing Women!": Women Popularizers of Commercial Aviation and the Renegotiation of Traditional Gender and Technological Boundaries in the 1920s-30s , Emily K. Gibson, History

Bolivia's Coca Headache: The Agroyungas Program, Inflation, Campesinos, Coca and Capitalism In Bolivia , John D. Roberts, History

Theses from 2009 2009

For Love or Money: Labor Rights and Citizenship for Working Women of 1930s Oaxaca, Mexico , Sandra K. Haley, History

A New Vision of Local History Narrative: Writing History in Cummington, Massachusetts , Stephanie Pasternak, History

Drawing Defeat: Caricaturing War, Race, and Gender in Fin de Siglo Spain , Joel C. Webb, History

Theses from 2008 2008

Reconstructing Molly Welsh: Race, Memory and the Story of Benjamin Banneker's Grandmother , Sandra W. Perot, History

Theses from 2007 2007

"Somebody understood us" :: Nancy Macdonald and the Spanish Refugee Aid/ , Marta H. Healey, History

Abandoning nature :: European philosophy and the triumph of equal temperament/ , Noel David Hudson, History

American workers, American empire :: Morrison I. Swift, Boston, Massachusetts and the making of working-class imperial citizenship, 1890-1920/ , Justin Frederick Jackson, History

Men of the meanest sort :: military leadership and war in the New England colonies, 1690-1775/ , Seanegan P. Sculley, History

Theses from 2005 2005

"This place is not meant for recreation. It is meant for inspiration" :: the legacies of Clara Endicott Sears/ , Megan M. Kennedy, History

Theses from 2004 2004

Woodrow Wilson's conversion experience :: the President, the woman suffrage movement, and the extent of executive influence , Beth A. Behn, History

Hardball diplomacy and ping-pong politics: Cuban baseball, Chinese table tennis, and the diplomatic use of sport during the Cold War , Matthew J. Noyes, History

Theses from 2000 2000

John F. Kennedy, the development of counterinsurgency doctrine and American intervention in Laos, 1961-1963 , Daniel C. Koprowski, History

Theses from 1998 1998

Eadric Streona :: a critical biography/ , Terry Lee Locy, History

Theses from 1997 1997

Sectionalism and national consciousness in the early Republic :: the case of New England Federalists, 1800-1815/ , Denis A. Kozlov, History

Theses from 1996 1996

A stabilizing influence :: the "war of the dictionaries," 1848-1861/ , James F. Leach, History

I ain't got no home in this world anymore: sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and the Southern Tenant Farmer's Union , James D. Ross, History

Theses from 1995 1995

Marching through hell :: the British soldier in the First World War's East African campaign/ , Taylor Harper, History

The daughters of rural Massachusetts :: women and autonomy, 1800-1860/ , Glendyne R. Wergland, History

Theses from 1994 1994

Law and public life in thirteenth century Montpellier/ , Charles E. Bashaw, History

Into the hornet's nest :: how shall they hear without a preacher/ , Jean Sherlock, History

Theses from 1993 1993

The committees of correspondence, inspection and safety in old Hampshire County, Massachusetts, during the American Revolution/ , Carolyn D. Hertz, History

Theses from 1992 1992

The education of a field marshal :: Wellington in India and Iberia/ , David G. Cotter, History

"Webs of significance" :: Italian textile labor and the fabric of society, 1750-1850/ , Dorothy M. Dumont, History

Aspects in creating a gentleman :: education and the Grand Tour in eighteenth-century England/ , Lisa C. Mangiafico, History

Theses from 1991 1991

American Catholicism and the political origins of the Cold War/ , Thomas M. Moriarty, History

The ass worship controversy/ , Robert E. Ravens-seger, History

The development of local religious tolerance in Massachusetts Bay Colony/ , Andrew Leonard Sweet, History

Theses from 1990 1990

Bucking the tide :: Charles Phelps and the Vermont land grant controversies, 1750-1789/ , Peter E. Dow, History

Populism and the Guatemalan revolution :: politics and power in transition, May 1944-March 1945/ , Todd R. Little, History

Theses from 1988 1988

Very special circumstances :: women's colleges and women's friendships at the turn of the century/ , Rosalind S. Cuomo, History

Charlemagne and kingship :: the responsibility of absolute power/ , Jane Swotchak Ourand, History

Chinese political movements and historiography on American history/ , Wenjun Xing, History

Theses from 1984 1984

The distorting image : women and advertising, 1900-1960/ , Judith A. Freeman, History

Amherst soldiers in the American Revolution/ , Martha N. Noblick, History

Theses from 1983 1983

Genealogy and social history :: the early settlement of Lebanon, Connecticutt, as a case study. , Robert Charles Anderson, History

Theses from 1982 1982

Morphology of the 1980 Massachusetts business elite. , David P. Perlman, History

Theses from 1981 1981

The way that good folks do: Junior Achievement and corporate culture. , Edwin Gabler, History

Theses from 1978 1978

Lindomania or the Penny Press observed :: a study of the 1850 New York press in action. , Janet Lehrman Brown, History

Signal: a study in Geman propaganda of the Second World War. , Jeffrey Alan Hanson, History

Theses from 1977 1977

The status of West Indian immigrants in Panama from 1850-1941. , Sadith Esther Paz B., History

The Peace of Nicias/ , Milo Milton Williams, History

Theses from 1976 1976

The British War Office ;: from the Crimean War to Cardwell, 1855-1868. , Paul H. Harpin, History

The Santa Cruz strikes: a case study in labor relations in the Yrigoyen era/ , Robert Nelson Landback, History

An examination of the laws of William the Conqueror. , Steven D. Sargent, History

Farmer's daughter, innkeeper's daughter, minister's daughter ;: young women of the early republic. , Thomas Paul Smith, History

Theses from 1975 1975

Aufbau-Reconstruction and the Americanization of German-Jewish immigrants 1934-1944. , Dorothee Schneider, History

Theses from 1974 1974

Anglo-American blood sports, 1776-1889: a study of changing morals. , Jack William Berryman, History

Theses from 1973 1973

Between a crown and a gibbet: Benjamin F. Butler and the early war years. , David M. Nellis, History

Theses from 1972 1972

Imperial looting and the case of Benin. , Mary Lou Ratté, History

Theses from 1971 1971

The attitudes of the American business community to the Soviet Union, 1917-1933. , Patricia J. Behenna, History

Religious conversion in Tlaxcala, 1520-1550. , Edmund C. Hands, History

The early career of Pliny Earle: A founder of American Psychiatry , Constance M. Mcgovern, History

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Module 9: The New Deal (1932-1941)

Historical arguments and thesis statements, learning objectives.

• Evaluate historical claims and thesis statements

The Research Writing Process

In an earlier historical hack, we talked about the research writing process, as shown below:

• Understand the assignment
• Select a research topic/develop a research question
• Conduct research: find and evaluate sources
• Create your claim (make an argument)
• Synthesize evidence
• Put it together

These are guidelines to help you get started, but the process is iterative, so you may cycle through these steps several times while working towards your finished product. In this hack, we want to focus on the final three steps—once you’ve done your research and have a few ideas about what to say, how do you put it together to create your finished product?

Crafting Historical Arguments

In open-ended historical research assignments, you are almost always expected to create an argument (revisit the assignment prompt or ask your instructor if you’re unsure about this). Historical arguments are not like the arguments that you and your roommate might have about the best show on T.V. or an argument you’d have with the referee at a sporting event; historical arguments require you to pick a stance on an issue and defend it with supporting evidence.

Your objective is not to create an informal persuasive essay convincing others of your viewpoint based on your personal opinions, but an argumentative one, where you defend your stance on an issue by backing it with historical evidence. Argumentative writing is done for a formal, academic purpose— you have a compelling viewpoint on a topic, and you’ve conducted research. Now you are communicating that research and using evidence to back your claim. When you write an argumentative piece, you write as if you are the authority on the topic, a subject-matter expert.

The Differences Between Persuasive and Argumentative Writing

Check out the table below for a quick breakdown of the differences between persuasive and argumentative writing.

Sometimes it can be hard to tell a topic from an argument. If someone sees you reading an article and asks, “What’s that article about?” You might say, “It’s about photography during the Great Depression.” That’s a topic, not an argument. How do we know? You can’t disagree with “photography during the Great Depression.” An argument is something you could disagree with, like “Photography during the Great Depression was essential in bringing the realities of poverty into the public eye.”

Argumentative Statements

Understand the assignment.

Don’t forget the first step in approaching a research paper or assignment—to carefully understand what you are asked to do. Some assignments are more obviously arguments than others. They may ask you to pick an obvious side, like “Was the New Deal effective or ineffective?” Or “How do you think the government should address reparations for slavery? Or “Was the American Revolution really a revolution?”

Understanding Argumentative Statements

Other times the “argument” part is less obvious. The prompt may be more generic or broad. Let’s take a look at this option for a capstone assignment in this class:

Pick a reformer or activist involved with a social movement between 1877 and 1900. Evaluate and analyze the ideas, agenda, strategies, and effectiveness of the work done by your chosen reformer or activist. You can pick one aspect of the person’s involvement or significance to the movement to focus on in your research. You should make a claim in your final report that answers one of the questions below:

• What was the influence of your person on American life during their time period?
• What is their influence and legacy today?
• What changes came about as a direct result of their activism? 
• What obstacles stood in the way of this person from having a more significant impact on society?
• What activism methods used by your reformer were most effective, and why?
• How did their activism compare or contrast with other reform movements from the same time period?
• How are things different today because of their activism? In what ways are things the same?
• Why should people be aware of the work done by your chosen reformer?
• Can you draw any connections to a modern-day reform movement— what reform movement might they support today, and why?

With this prompt, you are tasked with creating an argument about the reformer or activist you chose. It is not simply a narrative or biography where you report about their lives, but you want to pick one of the listed questions to create an argument—something that shows your ability to take a stance (that could be debated by others) and support your view with evidence.

Activity #1

Give it a try—without even doing some research- what argumentative statement could you make about a 19th-century activist?

Let’s take a look at a more detailed example. For example, say that your chosen activist was  Bayard Rustin , a Black activist who was instrumental in organizing the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. What’s an argument you could make about Rustin?

Here is one option. “While you’ve heard of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream Speech” during the 1963 March on Washington, you may not have heard of Bayard Rustin, whose involvement in planning the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was essential in propelling Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As the deputy director of the March, Rustin’s background in nonviolence and vision for the March led leaders to prioritize the civil rights movement and gave public backing to the federal law prohibiting racial discrimination.”

As you’ll learn in just a moment, this argument is what becomes the thesis statement.

Begin With a Thesis

The central claim you make in your argument is called the thesis statement . A thesis consists of a specific topic and an angle on the topic. All of the other ideas in the text support and develop the thesis.

Where in the Essay Should the Thesis Be Placed?

The thesis statement is often found in the introduction, sometimes after an initial “hook” or interesting story; sometimes, however, the thesis is not explicitly stated until the end of an essay, and sometimes it is not stated at all. In those instances, there is an implied thesis statement. You can generally extract the thesis statement by looking for a few key sentences and ideas.

Most readers expect to see the point of your argument (the thesis statement) within the first few paragraphs. This does not mean that it has to be placed there every time. Some writers place it at the very end, slowly building up to it throughout their work, to explain a point after the fact. For history essays, most professors will expect to see a clearly discernible thesis sentence in the introduction.

Characteristics of a Thesis Statement

Thesis statements vary based on the rhetorical strategy of the essay, but thesis statements typically share the following characteristics:

• Presents the main idea
• Most often is one sentence
• It tells the reader what to expect
• Is a summary of the essay topic
• Usually worded to have an argumentative edge
• Written in the third person

Crafting strong argumentative writing is a skill that teaches you how to engage in research, communicate the findings of that research, and express a point of view using supporting evidence.

Link to learning

For a few more examples of how to create arguments and thesis statements, visit this helpful writing guide .

What Makes a Good Claim?

Let’s take a closer look at this process by reviewing a worked example. For this example, we will use a topic you’ve studied recently—the FDR presidency and New Deal. Let’s imagine you’ve been assigned the following prompt:

• Did New Deal spending and programs succeed in restoring American capitalism during the Great Depression, and should the government have spent more money to help the New Deal succeed, or did the New Deal spend unprecedented amounts of money on relief and recovery efforts but ultimately fail to stimulate a full economic recovery?

You’ve already examined the prompt, selected a research topic, and conducted research, and now you are ready to make your claim. First, what claim do you want to make?

Identify the Claim

Let’s look at a sample introductory paragraph that responds to this prompt. Look for the central claim made in the argument.

Example ESSAY #1

Since the stock market crash and the onset of the depression, British economists John Maynard Keynes, Roy Harrod, and others had urged western governments to stop tinkering with monetary solutions and adopt an aggressive program of government spending, especially in the areas of public works and housing, to stimulate the economy during the depression. Keynes stressed these ideas when he met with President Roosevelt, who soon complained to labor secretary Frances Perkins: “He [Keynes] left a whole rigamarole of figures. He must be a mathematician rather than a political economist.” Roosevelt’s comments about Keynes opened a window on one fundamental reason why the president’s New Deal, despite unprecedented federal spending, never achieved full economic recovery between 1933 and 1940. Although surrounded by critical advisers such as Federal Reserve chairman Marriner Eccles, who understood Keynes and his central message about the importance of government spending, Roosevelt did not grasp these ideas intellectually. He remained at heart a fiscal conservative, little different from Herbert Hoover. Roosevelt condoned government spending when necessary to “prime the pump” for recovery and combat hunger and poverty, but not as a deliberate economic recovery tool.

Let’s look at yet another example. This also responds to this same prompt which you can find again below for reference:

Example ESSAY #2

When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave his inaugural address on March 4, 1933, America was in the midst of financial collapse. Banking holidays closed banks in 28 states, and investors traded their dollars for gold to have tangible wealth. The president reassured Americans” “This great Nation will endure as it has endured and will revive and will prosper.” He listed three goals to shore up capitalism through his New Deal: banking regulation, laws to curb speculation, and the establishment of a sound currency basis. Roosevelt shored up the financial sector through regulation to restore the public trust that mismanaged banks, and financial speculators had destroyed. His New Deal gave the federal government regulatory responsibility to smooth economic downturns. Over the next eight years, the New Deal’s economic practices and spending helped create recovery and restore capitalism.

Finding the Thesis Statement

You’ve found the central claims from each of these two sample essays. Quite often, the claim is the thesis statement. But sometimes, the thesis statement elaborates on the claim more by including the angle you’ll take about your claim. In the sample essay above, the thesis statement is written in reverse order, with the primary claim coming at the end, but if you read the sentences before that, you can see what the essay’s focus will be as well.”

• “Roosevelt shored up the financial sector through regulation to restore the public trust that mismanaged banks, and financial speculators had destroyed. His New Deal gave the federal government regulatory responsibility to smooth economic downturns. Over the next eight years, the New Deal’s economic practices and spending helped create recovery and restore capitalism”.”

Now we know that the rest of the essay will focus on how the New Deal’s economic practices and spending habits helped the recovery and also show 1) ways that Roosevelt shored up the financial sector and 2) gave the federal government regulatory responsibility.

Pick a reformer or activist involved with a social movement between 1877 and 1900. Pick two questions below and write a thesis statement explaining the main claim and angle you would take in an essay about the topic.

• What changes came about as a direct result of their activism?

Thesis statement #1:

Thesis statement #2:

thesis statement : a statement of the topic of the piece of writing and the angle the writer has on that topic

• Historical Hack: Crafting Historical Arguments. Authored by : Kaitlyn Connell for Lumen Learning. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Analyzing Documents Using the HAPPY Analysis. Provided by : Lumen Learning. Located at : https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-ushistory2/chapter/analyzing-documents-using-the-happy-analysis/ . License : CC BY: Attribution
• Secondary source. Provided by : Wikipedia. Located at : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_source . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• What is an argument?. Provided by : Lumen Learning. Located at : https://courses.lumenlearning.com/englishcomp1coreq/chapter/introduction-to-what-is-an-argument/ . Project : English Composition I Corequisite. License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Did the New Deal End the Great Depression?. Provided by : OpenStax. Located at : https://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:WWZKMA1o@2/12-16-%F0%9F%92%AC-Did-the-New-Deal-End-the-Great-Depression . Project : Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. License : CC BY: Attribution . License Terms : Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

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How to Research and Write a Compelling History Thesis

Just as history is more than a collection of facts about past events, an effective history thesis goes beyond simply sharing recorded information. Writing a compelling history thesis requires making an argument about a historical fact and, then, researching and providing a well-crafted defense for that position.

With so many sources available—some of which may provide conflicting findings—how should a student research and write a history thesis? How can a student create a thesis that’s both compelling and supports a position that academic editors describe as “concise, contentious, and coherent”?

Key steps in how to write a history thesis include evaluating source materials, developing a strong thesis statement, and building historical knowledge.

The Importance of Research for Writing a History Thesis

Compelling theses provide context about historical events. This context, according to the reference website ThoughtCo., refers to the social, religious, economic, and political conditions during an occurrence that “enable us to interpret and analyze works or events of the past, or even the future, rather than merely judge them by contemporary standards”.

The context supports the main point of a thesis, called the thesis statement, by providing an interpretive and analytical framework of the facts, instead of simply stating them. Research uncovers the evidence necessary to make the case for that thesis statement.

To gather evidence that contributes to a deeper understanding of a given historical topic, students should reference both primary and secondary sources of research.

Primary Sources

Primary sources are firsthand accounts of events in history, according to Professor David Ulbrich, director of Norwich University’s online Master of Arts in History program. These sources provide information not only about what happened and how it happened but also why it happened.

Primary sources can include letters, diaries, photos, and videos as well as material objects such as “spent artillery shells, architectural features, cemetery headstones, chemical analysis of substances, shards of bowls or bottles, farming implements, or earth or environmental features or factors,” Ulbrich says. “The author of the thesis can tell how people lived, for example, by the ways they arranged their material lives.”

Primary research sources are the building blocks to help us better understand and appreciate history. It is critical to find as many primary sources from as many perspectives as possible. Researching these firsthand accounts can provide evidence that helps answer those “what”, “how”, and “why” questions about the past, Ulbrich says.

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources are materials—such as books, articles, essays, and documentaries—gathered and interpreted by other researchers. These sources often provide updates and evaluation of the thesis topic or viewpoints that support the theories presented in the thesis.

Primary and secondary sources are complementary types of research that form a convincing foundation for a thesis’ main points.

How to Write a History Thesis

What are the steps to write a history thesis? The process of developing a thesis that provides a thorough analysis of a historical event—and presents academically defensible arguments related to that analysis—includes the following:

1. Gather and Analyze Sources

When collecting sources to use in a thesis, students should analyze them to ensure they demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the materials. A student should evaluate the attributes of sources such as their origin and point-of-view.

An array of primary and secondary sources can help provide a thorough understanding of a historical event, although some of those sources may include conflicting views and details. In those cases, the American Historical Association says, it’s up to the thesis author to determine which source reflects the appropriate point-of-view.

2. Develop a Thesis Statement

To create a thesis statement, a student should establish a specific idea or theory that makes the main point about a historical event. Scribbr, an editing website, recommends starting with a working thesis, asking the question the thesis intends to answer, and, then, writing the answer.

The final version of a thesis statement might be argumentative, for example, taking a side in a debate. Or it might be expository, explaining a historical situation. In addition to being concise and coherent, a thesis statement should be contentious, meaning it requires evidence to support it.

3. Create an Outline

Developing a thesis requires an outline of the content that will support the thesis statement. Students should keep in mind the following key steps in creating their outline:

• Note major points.
• Categorize ideas supported by the theories.
• Arrange points according to the importance and a timeline of events addressed by the thesis.
• Create effective headings and subheadings.
• Format the outline.

4. Organize Information

Thesis authors should ensure their content follows a logical order. This may entail coding resource materials to help match them to the appropriate theories while organizing the information. A thesis typically contains the following elements.

• Abstract —Overview of the thesis.
• Introduction —Summary of the thesis’ main points.
• Literature review —Explanation of the gap in previous research addressed by this thesis.
• Methods —Outline how the author reviewed the research and why materials were selected.
• Results —Description of the research findings.
• Discussion —Analysis of the research.
• Conclusion —Statements about what the student learned.

5. Write the Thesis

Online writing guide Paperpile recommends that students start with the literature review when writing the thesis. Developing this section first will help the author gain a more complete understanding of the thesis’ source materials. Writing the abstract last can give the student a thorough picture of the work the abstract should describe.

The discussion portion of the thesis typically is the longest since it’s here that the writer will explain the limitations of the work, offer explanations of any unexpected results, and cite remaining questions about the topic.

In writing the thesis, the author should keep in mind that the document will require multiple changes and drafts—perhaps even new insights. A student should gather feedback from a professor and colleagues to ensure their thesis is clear and effective before finalizing the draft.      

6. Prepare to Defend the Thesis

A committee will evaluate the student’s defense of the thesis’ theories. Students should prepare to defend their thesis by considering answers to questions posed by the committee. Additionally, students should develop a plan for addressing questions to which they may not have a ready answer, understanding the evaluation likely will consider how the author handles that challenge.

Developing Skills to Write a Compelling History Thesis

When looking for direction on how to write a history thesis, Norwich University’s online Master of Arts in History program can provide the needed skills and knowledge. The program’s tracks and several courses—taken as core classes or as electives in multiple concentrations—can provide a strong foundation for thesis work.

Master of Arts in History Tracks

In the Norwich online Master of Arts in History program, respected scholars help students improve their historical insight, research, writing, analytical, and presentation skills. They teach the following program tracks.

• Public History —Focuses on the preservation and interpretation of historic documents and artifacts for purposes of public observation.
• American History —Emphasizes the exploration and interpretation of key events associated with U.S. history.
• World History —Prepares students to develop an in-depth understanding of world history from various eras.
• Legal and Constitutional History —Provides a thorough study of the foundational legal and constitutional elements in the U.S. and Europe.

Master of Arts in History Courses

Norwich University’s online Master of Arts in History program enables students to customize studies based on career goals and personal interests through the following courses:

• Introduction to History and Historiography —Covers the core concepts of history-based study and research methodology, highlighting how these concepts are essential to developing an effective history thesis.
• Directed Readings in History —Highlights different ways to use sources that chronicle American history to assist in researching and writing a thorough and complete history thesis.
• Race, Gender, and U.S. Constitution —Explores key U.S. Supreme Court decisions relating to national race and gender relations and rights, providing a deeper context to develop compelling history theses.
• Archival Studies —Breaks down the importance of systematically overseeing archival materials, highlighting how to build historical context to better educate and engage with the public.

Start Your Path Toward Writing a Compelling History Thesis

For over two centuries, Norwich University has played a vital role in history as America’s first private military college and the birthplace of the ROTC. As such, the university is uniquely positioned to lead students through a comprehensive analysis of the major developments, events, and figures of the past.

Explore Norwich University’s online Master of Arts in History program. Start your path toward writing a compelling history thesis and taking your talents further.

Recommended Readings

Achieving Your Educational Goals: The Ultimate Guide to Getting the Most from a Master’s Degree      What Can I Do With a History Degree? Defining Different Career Tracks      What Is Digital History? A Guide to Digital History Resources, Museums, and Job Description

Writing History: An Introductory Guide to How History Is Produced , American Historical Association     How to Write a Thesis Statement , Scribbr     The Importance of Historic Context in Analysis and Interpretation , ThoughtCo.     7 Reasons Why Research Is Important , Owlcation     Primary and Secondary Sources , Scribbr     Secondary Sources in Research , ThoughtCo.     Analysis of Sources , History Skills     Research Paper Outline , Scribbr     How to Structure a Thesis , Paperpile     Writing Your Final Draft , History Skills     How to Prepare an Excellent Thesis Defense , Paperpile

Department of History

Yale history dissertations.

During the late 1800’s, only a trickle of dissertations were submitted annually, but today, the department averages about 25 per year. See who some of those intrepid scholars were and what they wrote about by clicking on any of the years listed below.

Writing a Thesis and Making an Argument

Almost every assignment you complete for a history course will ask you to make an argument. Your instructors will often call this your "thesis"– your position on a subject.

What is an Argument?

An argument takes a stand on an issue. It seeks to persuade an audience of a point of view in much the same way that a lawyer argues a case in a court of law. It is NOT a description or a summary.

• This is an argument: "This paper argues that the movie JFK is inaccurate in its portrayal of President Kennedy."
• This is not an argument: "In this paper, I will describe the portrayal of President Kennedy that is shown in the movie JFK."

What is a Thesis?

A thesis statement is a sentence in which you state an argument about a topic and then describe, briefly, how you will prove your argument.

• This is an argument, but not yet a thesis: "The movie ‘JFK’ inaccurately portrays President Kennedy."
• This is a thesis: "The movie ‘JFK’ inaccurately portrays President Kennedy because of the way it ignores Kennedy’s youth, his relationship with his father, and the findings of the Warren Commission."

A thesis makes a specific statement to the reader about what you will be trying to argue. Your thesis can be a few sentences long, but should not be longer than a paragraph. Do not begin to state evidence or use examples in your thesis paragraph.

A Thesis Helps You and Your Reader

Your blueprint for writing:

• Helps you determine your focus and clarify your ideas.
• Provides a "hook" on which you can "hang" your topic sentences.
• Can (and should) be revised as you further refine your evidence and arguments. New evidence often requires you to change your thesis.
• Gives your paper a unified structure and point.

Your reader’s blueprint for reading:

• Serves as a "map" to follow through your paper.
• Keeps the reader focused on your argument.
• Signals to the reader your main points.
• Engages the reader in your argument.

Tips for Writing a Good Thesis

• Find a Focus: Choose a thesis that explores an aspect of your topic that is important to you, or that allows you to say something new about your topic. For example, if your paper topic asks you to analyze women’s domestic labor during the early nineteenth century, you might decide to focus on the products they made from scratch at home.
• Look for Pattern: After determining a general focus, go back and look more closely at your evidence. As you re-examine your evidence and identify patterns, you will develop your argument and some conclusions. For example, you might find that as industrialization increased, women made fewer textiles at home, but retained their butter and soap making tasks.

Strategies for Developing a Thesis Statement

Idea 1. If your paper assignment asks you to answer a specific question, turn the question into an assertion and give reasons for your opinion.

Assignment: How did domestic labor change between 1820 and 1860? Why were the changes in their work important for the growth of the United States?

Beginning thesis: Between 1820 and 1860 women's domestic labor changed as women stopped producing home-made fabric, although they continued to sew their families' clothes, as well as to produce butter and soap. With the cash women earned from the sale of their butter and soap they purchased ready-made cloth, which in turn, helped increase industrial production in the United States before the Civil War.

Idea 2. Write a sentence that summarizes the main idea of the essay you plan to write.

Main Idea: Women's labor in their homes during the first half of the nineteenth century contributed to the growth of the national economy.

Idea 3. Spend time "mulling over" your topic. Make a list of the ideas you want to include in the essay, then think about how to group them under several different headings. Often, you will see an organizational plan emerge from the sorting process.

Idea 4. Use a formula to develop a working thesis statement (which you will need to revise later). Here are a few examples:

• Although most readers of ______ have argued that ______, closer examination shows that ______.
• ______ uses ______ and ______ to prove that ______.
• Phenomenon X is a result of the combination of ______, ______, and ______.

These formulas share two characteristics all thesis statements should have: they state an argument and they reveal how you will make that argument. They are not specific enough, however, and require more work.

As you work on your essay, your ideas will change and so will your thesis. Here are examples of weak and strong thesis statements.

• Unspecific thesis: "Eleanor Roosevelt was a strong leader as First Lady."  This thesis lacks an argument. Why was Eleanor Roosevelt a strong leader?
• Specific thesis: "Eleanor Roosevelt recreated the role of the First Lady by her active political leadership in the Democratic Party, by lobbying for national legislation, and by fostering women’s leadership in the Democratic Party."  The second thesis has an argument: Eleanor Roosevelt "recreated" the position of First Lady, and a three-part structure with which to demonstrate just how she remade the job.
• Unspecific thesis: "At the end of the nineteenth century French women lawyers experienced difficulty when they attempted to enter the legal profession."  No historian could argue with this general statement and uninteresting thesis.
• Specific thesis: "At the end of the nineteenth century French women lawyers experienced misogynist attacks from male lawyers when they attempted to enter the legal profession because male lawyers wanted to keep women out of judgeships."  This thesis statement asserts that French male lawyers attacked French women lawyers because they feared women as judges, an intriguing and controversial point.

Making an Argument – Every Thesis Deserves Its Day in Court

You are the best (and only!) advocate for your thesis. Your thesis is defenseless without you to prove that its argument holds up under scrutiny. The jury (i.e., your reader) will expect you, as a good lawyer, to provide evidence to prove your thesis. To prove thesis statements on historical topics, what evidence can an able young lawyer use?

• Primary sources: letters, diaries, government documents, an organization’s meeting minutes, newspapers.
• Secondary sources: articles and books from your class that explain and interpret the historical event or person you are writing about, lecture notes, films or documentaries.

How can you use this evidence?

• Make sure the examples you select from your available evidence address your thesis.
• Use evidence that your reader will believe is credible. This means sifting and sorting your sources, looking for the clearest and fairest. Be sure to identify the biases and shortcomings of each piece of evidence for your reader.
• Use evidence to avoid generalizations. If you assert that all women have been oppressed, what evidence can you use to support this? Using evidence works to check over-general statements.
• Use evidence to address an opposing point of view. How do your sources give examples that refute another historian’s interpretation?

Remember -- if in doubt, talk to your instructor.

Thanks to the web page of the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s Writing Center for information used on this page. See writing.wisc.edu/handbook for further information.

Home > USC Columbia > Arts and Sciences > History > History Theses and Dissertations

History Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2023 2023.

Cashing the Check of Democracy The American Revolution and Citizenship in the Black Freedom Struggle 1960-1970 , Zachary Earle Clary

“All the Rights of Native Cherokees”: The Appearance of Black People in Cherokee Society , Ayanna Goines

“We Are Created Inferior to Men”: Leveraging Horsemanship to Reinforce Gender Expectations, 1830-1861 , Gabrielle Marie McCoy

The Widened Hearthstone Urban Playgrounds as the Infrastructure of Public Mothering, 1900-1930 , Alexandra Miller

Piratical Transportation: Highlighting Silences in Carolina’s Enslavement and Exportation of Native Americans , Jordan Stenger

Lunatics, Liberals and Bloodthirsty Haters: The South in the 1972 Presidential Election , Thomas Clayton Strebeck

In Her Possession and Keeping Revolutionary War Widows and the Politics of Family Archives, 1820–1850 , Riley Kathryn Sutherland

Colored Lawyer, Topeka: The Legend and Legacy of Elisa Scott , Jeffery Scott Williams

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

The Presbyterian Exception? The Illegal Education of Enslaved Blacks by South Carolina Presbyterian Churches, 1834-1865 , Margaret Bates

Roy Acuff, Democratic Candidate , Henry Luther Capps III

Before the Storm: Youth Hockey in North Carolina Ahead of the NHL’s Arrival , Sarai ShareI Dai

Flying Saucer of the Smokies: The Debate Over National Park Architecture and Wilderness Values in Clingmans Dome Observation Tower , Michelle Fieser

“I Like a Fight”: Margaret Sanger and the First Birth Control Clinic in the United States , Rebecca Linnea Hall

Who Has the Right to Reproduce? Forced Sterilization in South Carolina in the Early Twentieth Century , Kathryn Pownall

Sex (Work) And the City: Sex Work in Columbia, South Carolina, 1860-1880 , Presley McKalyn Ramey

Resurrecting a Nation Through Silk and Diplomacy: American Material Culture and Foreign Relations During the Reconstruction Era , Paige Weaver

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Building a New (Deal) Identity The Evolution of Italian-American Political Culture and Ideology, 1910–1940 , Ryan J. Antonucci

“It Seemed Like Reaching for the Moon:” Southside Virginia’s Civil Rights Struggle Against The Virginia Way, 1951-1964 , Emily A. Martin Cochran

“We are Going to be Reckoned With”: The South Carolina UDC and the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Museum, 1986-2000 , Caitlin Cutrona

Enslaved Rebellion and Abolitionist Imperialism in Britain’s Atlantic World, 1807-1884 , Lewis Eliot

Religion, Senses, and Remembrance: Brooklyn’s Sumter Club in Postbellum Charleston, S.C. , Michael Edward Scott Emett

Praying Soldiers: Experiencing Religion as a Revolutionary War Soldier Fighting for Independence , Roberto Oscar Flores de Apodaca

Engraved in Prejudice: How Currency Displayed the Mindset of the South , Holly Johnson Floyd

The Governor’s Guards: Militia, Politics, Social Networking, and Manhood in Columbia, South Carolina, 1843-1874 , Justin Harwell

Patients’ Rights, Patients’ Politics: Jewish Activists of the U.S. Women’s Health Movement, 1969-1990 , Jillian Michele Hinderliter

Joshua Gordon’s Witchcraft Book and The Transformation of the Upcountry of South Carolina , E. Zoie Horecny

“The Once and Future Audubon:” The History of the Audubon Ballroom and the Movement to Save It , William Maclane Hull

A Culture of Control: Progressive Era Eugenics in South Carolina as a Continuation of Created White Supremacy , Hannah Nicole Patton

Shaping a Queer South: The Evolution of Activism From 1960-2000 , A. Kamau Pope

The Robber Barons of Show Business: Traveling Amusements And The Development of the American Entertainment Industry, 1870- 1920 , Madeline Steiner

Charlotte's Glory Road: The History of NASCAR in the Queen City , Hannah Thompson

Foxy Ladies and Badass Super Agents: Legacies of 1970s Blaxploitation Spy and Detective Heroines , Carlie Nicole Todd

Media Combat: The Great War and the Transformation of American Culture , Andrew Steed Walgren

“Hungering and Thirsting” for Education: Education, Presbyterians, and African Americans in the South, 1880-1920 , Rachel Marie Young

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Gendering Secession: Women and Politics in South Carolina, 1859- 1861 , Melissa DeVelvis

The Chasquis of Liberty: Revolutionary Messengers in the Bolivian Independence Era, 1808-1825 , Caleb Garret Wittum

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Learning Church: Catechisms and Lay Participation in Early New England Congregationalism , Roberto O. Flores de Apodaca

Useful Beauty: Tiffany Favrile, Carnival Glass, and Consumerism at the Turn of the Twentieth Century , Chelsea Grayburn

Restoring America: Historic Preservation and the New Deal , Stephanie E. Gray

For the Common Man: An Analysis of the United States Space and Rocket Center , Patrice R. Green

Made to Be Forgotten: The Chevalier DE Saint-Sauveur & the Franco-American Alliance , Katelynn Hatton

Leaders in the Making: Higher Education, Student Activism, and the Black Freedom Struggle in South Carolina, 1925-1975 , Ramon M. Jackson

Exclusive Dining: Immigration and Restaurants in Chicago during the Era of Chinese Exclusion, 1893-1933 , Samuel C. King

Complicating the Narrative: Using Jim's Story to Interpret Enslavement, Leasing, and Resistance at Duke Homestead , Jennifer Melton

“Unknown and Unlamented”: Loyalist Women in Nova Scotia from Exile to Repatriation, 1775-1800 , G. Patrick O’Brien

Raising America Racist: How 1920’s Klanswomen Used Education to Implement Systemic Racism , Kathleen Borchard Schoen

Learning the Land: Indians, Settlers, and Slaves in the Southern Borderlands, 1500-1850 , William Cane West

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Beyond Preservation: Reconstructing Sites Of Slavery, Reconstruction, And Segregation , Charlotte Adams

Reading Material: Personal Libraries And The Cultivation Of Identity In Revolutionary South Carolina , Gabriella Angeloni

Politics and the Built Environment: Civic Structures of Eighteenth Century Williamsburg, Virginia and Charles Town, South Carolina , Paul Bartow

The Lost Ones: The Cold War State, Child Welfare Systems, And The Battles Over The Rosenberg Children , Megan Bennett

“Catering To The Local Trade”: Jewish-Owned Grocery Stores In Columbia, South Carolina , Olivia Brown

If This Be Sin: Gladys Bentley And The Performance Of Identity , Moira Mahoney Church

“I Hope They Fire Me:” Black Teachers In The Fight For Equal Education, 1910-1970 , Candace Cunningham

Constructing Scientific Knowledge: The Understanding of the Slow Virus, 1898-1976 , Burke Hood Dial

Ayatollahs And Embryos: Science, Politics, And Religion In Post-Revolutionary Iran , M Sadegh Foghani

Of Cannonades and Battle Cries: Aurality, The Battle of The Alamo, and Memory , Michelle E. Herbelin

Anti-Sabbatarianism in Antebellum America: The Christian Quarrel over the Sanctity of Sunday , Kathryn Kaslow

A Divisive Community: Race, Nation, And Loyalty In Santo Domingo, 1822 – 1844 , Antony Wayne Keane-Dawes

“Remember Them Not for How They Died”: American Memory and the Challenger Accident , Elizabeth F. Koele

Garagecraft: Tinkering In The American Garage , Katherine Erica McFadden

Black Power And Neighborhood Organizing In Minneapolis, Minnesota: The Way Community Center, 1966-1971 , Sarah Jayne Paulsen

The Popular Education Question in Antebellum South Carolina, 1800-1860 , Brian A. Robinson

Perks Of Perkins: Understanding Where Magic And Religion Meet For An Early Modern English Theologian , Kyle Sanders

Black Men, Red Coats: The Carolina Corps, Race, and Society in the Revolutionary British Atlantic , Gary Sellick

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Skin Deep: African American Women and the Building of Beauty Culture in South Carolina , Catherine Davenport

Funding South Carolina’s Monuments: The Growth of the Corporate Person in Monument Financing , Justin Curry Davis

Sex and the State: Sexual Politics in South Carolina in the 1970s , Jennifer Holman Gunter

Within the House of Bondage: Constructing and Negotiating the Plantation Landscape in the British Atlantic World, 1670-1820 , Erin M. Holmes

Odor and Power in the Americas: Olfactory Consciousness from Columbus to Emancipation , Andrew Kettler

From Rice Fields to Duck Marshes: Sport Hunters and Environmental Change on the South Carolina Coast, 1890–1950 , Matthew Allen Lockhart

Potential Republicans: Reconstruction Printers of Columbia, South Carolina , John Lustrea

Lamps, Maps, Mud-Machines, and Signal Flags: Science, Technology, and Commerce in the Early United States , James Russell Risk

Rebirth of the House Museum: Commemorating Reconstruction at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home , Jennifer Whitmer Taylor

Buy for the Sake of your Baby: Guardian Consumerism in Twentieth Century America , Mark VanDriel

Environmental Negotiations Cherokee Power in the Arkansas Valley, 1812-1828 , Cane West

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

A Call To Every Citizen: The South Carolina State Council Of Defense And World War I , Allison Baker

National Register Nomination for the Waikiki Village Motel , Jane W. Campbell

“Antagonistic Describes the Scene:” Local News Portrayals of the New Left and the Escalation of Protest at the University of South Carolina, 1970 , Alyssa Jordan Constad

Ahead of Their Time: Black Teachers and Their Community in the Immediate Post- Brown Years , Candace Cunningham

Deserts Will Bloom: Atomic Agriculture And The Promise Of Radioactive Redemption , Chris Fite

Restoring the Dock Street Theatre: Cultural Production in New-Deal Era Charleston, South Carolina , Stephanie E. Gray

In Search Of Granby: A Colonial Village Of South Carolina , Kathryn F. Keenan

Preserving The Architectural Legacy Of Lyles, Bissett, Carlisle & Wolff, 1948-1976 , Casey Lee

Looking for Remnants of Rice Cultivation at Manchester State Forest Through the Use of LIDAR , Sarah Anne Moore

Uncle Sam’s Jungle: Recreation, Imagination, And The Caribbean National Forest , Will Garrett Mundhenke

G.I. Joe v. Jim Crow: Legal Battles Over Off-Base School Segregation Of Military Children In The American South, 1962-1964 , Randall George Owens

Radioactive Dixie: A History of Nuclear Power and Nuclear Waste in the American South, 1950-1990 , Caroline Rose Peyton

A Culture Of Commodification: Hemispheric And Intercolonial Migrations In The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, 1660-1807 , Neal D. Polhemus

Rediscovering Camden: The Preservation of a Revolutionary War Battlefield , Gary Sellick

The “Forgotten Man” of Washington: the Pershing Memorial and the Battle over Military Memorialization , Andrew S. Walgren

Proslavery Thinking In Antebellum South Carolina: Higher Education, Transatlantic Encounters, And The Life Of The Mind , Jamie Diane Wilson

Colonialism Unraveling: Race, Religion, And National Belonging In Santo Domingo During The Age Of Revolutions , Charlton W. Yingling

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

"Very Many More Men than Women": A Study of the Social Implications of Diagnostics at the South Carolina State Hospital , Clara Elizabeth Bertagnolli

Forgotten Science of Bird Eggs: The Life Cycle of Oology at the Smithsonian Institution , Katherine Nicole Crosby

Shifting Authority at the Confederate Relic Room, 1960-1986 , Kristie L. DaFoe

Boundary Stones: Morbid Concretions and the Chemistry of Early Nineteenth Century Medicine , Edward Allen Driggers Jr.

Main Street, America: Histories of I-95 , Mark T. Evans

National Register Nomination for St. James the Greater Catholic Mission , Diana Garnett

They Held Their Fists Up: The Myth of the Violent Black Panther and the Making of the Angola 3 , Holly Genovese

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Home > CLA > HISTORY > HISTORY_THESES

History Masters Theses Collection

This collection contains open access and campus access Masters theses, made possible through Graduate Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The full content of open access theses is available to all, although some files may have embargoes placed on them and will be made available as soon as possible. The full content of campus access theses is only available to those either on the UMass Boston campus or with a UMass Boston campus username and password. Click on the "Off-Campus UMass Boston Users" link on the record page to download Campus Access publications. Those not on campus and those without a UMass Boston campus username and password may gain access to this thesis through resources like Proquest Dissertations & Theses Global or through Interlibrary Loan.

Theses from 2023 2023

Margaret Cross Norton in Context: Norton’s Portrayal in American Archival Theory, the Social Conditions of Her Time and the Evolution of Presidential Libraries in the United States , Marie H. Bowen

Culture Wars: North Carolina, Representation, and the Vote on the Federal Constitution of 1787 , Maria A. Carlson

“Each Heart Alone Knoweth Its Own Bitterness”: The Jackson Family in Clarke County, Virginia, from Enslavement to Jim Crow , Melanie E. Garvey

Deconstructing Reconstruction: The Portrayal of The Reconstruction Era in High School History Textbooks , Eleanor Katari

Radical Routes: The Formation of the Boston School Bus Drivers Union Local 8751 , Maci Mark

Limitations & Liberation: Republican Motherhood and Female Advancement in Nineteenth Century America , Hannah Russell

The Armenian Genocide as Presented by the American Press , Grace A. Wargovich

Theses from 2022 2022

Northeastern Pennsylvania's Forgotten Labor Massacre: Analysis pf the English Language Record of the Lattimer Massacre , Jamie C. Costello

Shadow of the Vietnam War on the Senate Persian Gulf Debate of 1991 , Austin DiBari

Popular Memory, Silence, and Trust: A Mother and Son’s Relationship to School in the Shadow of the Prince Edward County Closures , Rory S. Dunn

The Arrows, The Shield: Mapping, Identity, and Tradition in Colonial Cempoala, Mexico , Savvas Papadopoulos

The Unsung Influence of the National Day of Mourning: A Study of Indigenous Activism, Race, and Memory , Erika T. Tauer

The Role of the Catholic Church’s Teachings on Slavery and Secession Affecting Allegiances During the American Civil War , David J. Thompson

Theses from 2021 2021

Celebrating Chinese American Veterans: Commemoration and America's Collective Memory Of War , Kevin Lee

Community in a Time of Crisis: How the People of Provincetown, Massachusetts Worked to Combat the HIV/AIDS Epidemic , Danielle Maria Lisbon

Uncommon Ground: Pawtucket-Pennacook Strategic Land Exchange in Native Spaces and Colonized Places of Essex County and Massachusetts Bay in the Seventeenth Century , Kristine Malpica

The Decline of the Massachusetts Know-Nothing Party: The Impact of Slavery and Temperance in 1855 , Alexander Rodrigues

The Boston Black United Front and Community-Centered Alternatives to the Carceral State , Joseph W. Sikowitz

Theses from 2020 2020

Operation Nickel Grass: Richard Nixon and the Yom Kippur War , Luke George Bergquist

Essential Labor: Marginalized People in the American Whaling Industry, Southeastern Massachusetts , Brielle E. Berical

A Dogged Resolve: The Doctrine and Decline of Mormon Plural Marriage, 1841-1890 , Jaclyn Thornock Gadd

The Hyde Park Thought Club: Pioneers in the Women’s Club Movement -- A Case Study 1868 – 1902 , Patrice A. Gattozzi

The Ghosts of Empires Past: The Red Army Faction’s Violent Relationship with Cold War Neo-Imperialism, 1969-1974 , Renee Danielle Jean

Reassessing the Factors that Led to the Evacuation of Japanese in World War Two , Mark S. Lewis

Black Masters; The Ownership of Slaves by Free People of Color in the Antebellum South 1780-1861 , Michael O. Magbagbeola

"To Have and Enjoy": Seating in Boston's Early Anglican Churches, 1686-1732 , Erica Jill McAvoy

Scholars, Spinners and Economies of Scale: Public Education on Exhibit in the Textile Era in New Bedford, Massachusetts , Arthur P. Motta Jr.

Beyond the Big Top: The Legacy of John Ringling and the American Circus , Casey L. Nemec

“Even if it Means Our Battles to Date are Meaningless” The Anime Gundam Wing and Postwar History, Memory, and Identity in Japan , Genevieve R. Peterson

"Full of Light and Fire": John Brown in Springfield , Louis J. Rocco Jr.

The Psychogram , Nathaniel M. Sullivan

Washed Away: Native American Representation in Oklahoma Museums and High Schools, 2000 – 2020 , Catherine E. Thompson

Theses from 2019 2019

Revelation and Concealment; The Words and World of Omar ibn Said , David Gabriel Babaian

Anabasis Aquilonos: The Interplay of Exemplarity and Scientific Historiography in B.H. Liddell Hart’s A Greater than Napoleon: Scipio Africanus , Daniel T. Barbre

The Language of the Herodians: An Analysis of Herodian Material Culture , Alexander J. D'Amore

Theses from 2018 2018

The Charge of Deserting Their Sphere: The Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society and Women’s Place in the Abolitionist Movement , Megan Irene Brady

Competing Goals: The Boston Teachers Union and the Boston Busing Crisis , Matthew R. Clark

"The Right to Play" The Establishment of Playgrounds in the American City , Kyle James Fritch

Good Girls Gone Bad: Interpreting the White Slavery Scare As A Response To Changing Women's Roles in the Progressive Era , Rachael Gorski

Innocent Victors: Atomic Identity at the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge, Tennessee , Kathryn Leann Harris

William Monroe Trotter and His Contributions to the Early Civil Rights Movement , Katherine N. Jahl

Lapidary Medicine in Early Modern Spain , Dana L. Marquis

A Seemingly Insurmountable Problem: Carl Stokes and the Failure of Cleveland Now! , David M. Rainey

The Creation of the OSS And Anglo American Intelligence Co-Operation In Yugoslavia: A Case Study In Diverging Agendas , Christopher J. Royack

Luis V. Manrara & the Truth About Cuba Committee, Inc.: A Microhistory on the Effect of Socio-Economic Advantages and Politics on Early Cuban Acculturation within American Society , Francis E. Tansey

“Wicked and Illegal Traffic”: Newspaper Portrayal of Nigerian Women in the Cannabis Trade (circa 1970 – 1980) , Edet A. Thomas

Theses from 2017 2017

Mendez V. Westminister (1945): A Case that Brought Race to Center Stage , Samantha R. Albert

A Light in the Darkness: Constructing a View of Victorian Gynecological Surgery through Examination of Medical Treatises , Mandy M. Jimenez

Riot and Resurgence: The Antebellum African American Community of Providence, Rhode Island , Christopher J. Martin

Reverend James D. Eaton and Congregationalist Missionary Education in Revolutionary Mexico , Lucas A. Mihalich

Indian, Black, Mustee, and Music: Race, Identity, and Culture in Native Communities During the Age of Whaling , Tara M. Munro

Expendable: Eight Soldiers From Massachusetts Regiments Executed For Desertion During the United States Civil War , Stephen F. Ragon

Theses from 2016 2016

Exploring Reconstruction in the Territory of New Mexico , Krystle Eugley Beaubrun

'For the Sake of the Salvation of our Souls': An Analysis of Hildegard of Bingen's Authority and Reformist Theology in Relation to the Founding of Mount St. Rupert , Alexandra G. Borkowski

Rebuilding the City on a Hill: The Currents of New England Sectionalism and Liberal Christianity in Garrisonian Abolitionism , Zachary Boutin

'For the Benefit of Mankind': Franklin Roosevelt's Development of Trusteeship for the Postwar World , Tasnin R. Chowdhury

Run Aground: Cultural Transformation in Southeastern Massachusetts' Aquatic Spaces, 1637-1711 , Jonathan Dennis Green

In Freedom's Cause: An Exploration of Suffragette and Chartist Militancy in Britain , Ashley Kennedy-MacDougall

Countdown to Martial Law: The U.S-Philippine Relationship, 1969-1972 , Joven G. Maranan

He was a Camera: Christopher Isherwood, Weimar Germany, and Transationalism in the American Gay Rights Movement , Kristof R. Nelson

Somewhere Between Exploitation and Partnership: English and Native Alliances Surrounding the Raids on Deerfield and King William’s War , Caitlyn J. Remmes

The Barbadoes Family and the Pursuit of African-American Equality in 19th Century America , Robert J. Shaw

Theses from 2015 2015

Traitor or Pioneer: John Brown Russwurm and the African Colonization Movement , Brian J. Barker

A Queen's Legacy: The Lives of Elizabeth Woodville and Jacquetta of Luxembourg , Heather E. Bump

We're Just Like You: Strategies of Gay Activism against the Religious Right, Politics and Conservatism, and the AIDS Crisis , William G. Burton

Gay Outlaws: The Alpine County Project Reconsidered , Jacob D. Carter

George Loney Wallace and the Wrentham State School: 1906-1930 , Lindsay Fulton

Charles Francis Adams: A Study on the Crucial Role of Adams in Maintaining British Neutrality During the American Civil War , Jonathan S. McIsaac

The Massachusetts Bay Circuit , Corey W. Medeiros

É Para Sair de Portugal a Todos os Custos! The Policia Repressiva de Emigração Clandestina (1896-1911) and the Politics of Azorean Emigration to the United States , Sonia Patricia da Silva Pacheco

The Integration of African Americans in the Civilian Conservation Corps in Massachusetts , Caitlin E. Pinkham

Anti-Catholicism and Gender Norms: Reassessing the Charlestown Convent Riot, 1834 , Daniel S. Sousa

Theses from 2014 2014

Crowning a Florentine Princeps in a New Rome: The Civic Humanism of Leonardo Bruni and the Rise of Cosimo de' Medici, "Pater Patriae" , Jason F. Amato

The Transvaal Constitution and Responsible Government: How Churchill influenced Apartheid , Christopher H. Beckvold

"Tenacious of Their Lands": Fortifying the District of Mashpee, 1834-1842 , Nicole Alexis Breault

Assent and You Are Sane: "John Brown Was Right" , Jermain S. Corbin

Saving the "Original Paradise": Health Tourism, Tropical Disease, and the Problem of Cuba in the American Imperial Imagination, 1848-98 , Liana DeMarco

Panthersprung: The Vital Inheritance of the Agadir Crisis , Patrick E. Doerr

Lusitania: An Examination of Captaincy and Seamanship in the Face of Disaster , Robert J. Goulding

“So Succeeded by a Kind Providence”: Communities of Color in Eighteenth Century Boston , Eric M. Hanson Plass

Constructing A Vernacular Narrative: Communal Memory of Boston's West End , Eleanor Martinez Proctor

Theses from 2013 2013

Generations Apart: Cultural Revolution Memory and China's Post-80's Generation on the Chinese Internet , Vincent R. Capone

Once Lords and Emperors: Chivalry and the Making of Clerical Masculinity in High Medieval Normandy , Charles S. Carroll

Fort Devens: Civil Rights Unrest and African-American Identity in a Northern Military Camp during World War I and World War II , Janine Hubai

The Hidden Experience: Untold Stories of Immigrant Agency During the Settlement House Movement in Boston , Deirdre L. Kutt

General Von Seeckt and Sino-German Cooperation , Yue Lan

"Our Brothers In This Country": Captivity and Kinship in the Colonial Northeast , Steven C. Moore

The Teacher Revolt: Militancy, Grassroots Mobilization, and Local Autonomy in the National Education Association and the Massachusetts Teachers Association (1960-1980) , Jamie A. Rinaldi

Germs, Pigs and Silver: King Philip's War and the Deconstruction of the Middle Ground In New England , Benjamin M. Roine

Men of Uncommon Substance: Sailor Literature and American Identity in Antebellum America, 1805 - 1840 , Pete Sprayregen

Technology Transfer and Diffusion in the Context of Globalization: A Study of a Critical Decade in the Ottoman Empire through the Experiences of Henry Eckford, 1830-1840 , Gulumhan Huma Yildirim

Theses from 2012 2012

The Forgotten Children: The Educational Demographics of an Austrian Diocese 1848-1852 , Mathew Richard Boyeson

Gaetano Salvemini: A Lesson in Thought and Action , Michael Christopher DiClemente

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The Legacy of Conquest

The unbroken past of the american west (book review).

by Jenni Ostwinkle Silva

Patricia Nelson Limerick isn’t setting out to discredit Frederick Jackson Turner as an historian and scholar. And it isn’t that she believes his influential “ Frontier Thesis ” was without merit. On the contrary, she describes Turner as a “scholar with intellectual courage, an innovative spirit, and a forceful writing style” whose thesis served a purpose in the late 19 th /early 20 th centuries. 1  In Limerick’s opinion, the problem lies in the “excessive deference” for Turner that led many historians to believe that Turner’s thesis was the first, final, and only word in Western history. Although his conception of the frontier seemed unifying and efficient, its dominance wedded Western historians to an idea that was static, rigid, and exclusionary. The Frontier Thesis may have “created” Western history but it also set up arbitrary divisions between “the West” and “the rest” – divisions Limerick was determined to break down in The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West.

Much of Limerick’s work hinges on the debate of “process” (how events unfolded) versus “place” (the importance of location). In Turner’s view, the process of settling the frontier served as the basis of American exceptionalism, the belief that the United States are unique among world nations. Limerick and other “New Western” historians have challenged this theory by declaring that the West was always a place, with many different actors and events, not an empty land anxiously awaiting the arrival of white settlers. Turner’s thesis drew a line in time, carving out the arrival of white settlers as the beginning of the West and the closing of the frontier in 1890 (based on his interpretation of census records) as the end of this era. Limerick attempts to restore continuity to both time and space, and in doing so, opens up the field of Western history.

To accomplish this, Limerick addressed the history of the West thematically and divides her book into two tellingly-titled sections: “The Conquerors” and “The Conquerors Meet Their Match.” Turner believed that the frontier, shifting from savagery to civilization, served to “Americanize” the nation. Working under that pretext, scholars and citizens have conceptualized the frontier as a positive process. Using “place” instead of “process,” Limerick characterizes this period of Western history as “conquest.” By viewing the West as a place, she repositions the role of white settlers. These enterprising individuals did not discover a new place – they attempted to conquer a land that was already inhabited by Indians. Although this concept may seem jarring to the uninitiated, Limerick points out the contradiction of believing that “the legacy of slavery was serious business, while the legacy of conquest was not.” 2  The older framework only made sense was through the thick veil of denial. This denial, in turn, allowed for the proliferation of a number of myths in Western history, such as the idea of rugged individualism. Under this model, Westerners were fully removed from the rest of the country. When other actors appeared, they were viewed as imposing upon the Western (white) settlers. And if the settlers themselves happened to be imposing upon the Plains Indians, it was only because the forward march of history demanded it – and because the settlers had convinced themselves that Indians were a doomed race.

Unfortunately for this last myth, she states, the conquered refused to be or remain conquered, nor were they passive participants in the drama of the West. Attacking the notion that the history of the West is the history of the white man, Limerick turns her attention to Plains Indians, Hispanic, Chinese, Japanese, and blacks. Although she addresses these groups of people in a fairly general manner, she makes a strong case for the study of borderlands history. Viewed from a 21 st -century perspective, it can be easy to forget that the giant coast-to-coast landmass of the United States was never preordained. Battles were fought, treaties were drawn, and revenge was sought before state lines could be carved into the map of America. Introducing other ethnic and racial groups broadens the scope of Western history and highlights the centrality of conquest in the creation of the West. As Limerick makes clear, the history of the West is a nuanced and multi-faceted tale. While an historian annoyed “by the ethnocentricity of earlier frontier history” may be tempted by the desire to “take the Indian side,” doing so will not erase ethnocentricity. 3 The Indian (or Hispanic, or Chinese, or Japanese, or black) “side” is a difficult thing to locate. Instead, she recommends that historians view these groups – she is speaking of Indians in particular, but the same motivation carries throughout her other discussions – as “people steering their way through a difficult terrain of narrowing choices.” 4 The history books may not have treated these groups kindly (if they addressed them at all) but that does not mean they did not act, react, and affect the environment and the people around them.

In her final chapter, Limerick attempts to wrestle with the enduring power of the mythologized West and the problems that remain. The “frontier” still commands great respect and politicians from John Kennedy to Ronald Reagan have invoked its notion of progress. 5 Mexicans became “aliens” in their homeland when the United States conquered the Southwest and today, immigration remains a hot-button issue. Indians, still decidedly not-extinct , continue to maneuver through legal and political channels in an attempt to recoup their losses. But a restoration of rights does not, as Limerick points out, solve the larger problem of scarce resources. Although white settlers and the U.S. government were determined to “manage nature,” drought and limited access to water remain critical concerns.

Ironically, Limerick, considered one of the greatest scholars in the field of New Western history, is actually opposed to viewing Western history as an area of specialized study; her intention is to create connections. Reaching across the fields of economics, geography, anthropology and dipping into the current events, Limerick is trying to erase the lines Turner drew around the West. If the old ways of understanding Western history no longer work, new ways must be introduced. Here, environmental history and borderlands history take center stage.

A number of historians have followed in a similar vein. William Cronon and Elliot West address many of the same issues as Limerick – and then push them further. West affords Plains Indians an even more prominent position on the Western stage, portraying them as active participants in a history that is sometimes of their own making and sometimes out of their control. In examining the importance of 19 th -century Chicago, Cronon points out the problems with ideas of Western independence. In both of these works, as with Limerick, environmental history looms large. These Contested Plains and Nature’s Metropolis simply could not have been written in the framework provided by Turner even if they largely discredit its theories.

There are several minor missteps in The Legacy of Conquest , many of which Limerick admits to in the preface to the 2006 reprint. For one, she does not investigate the role of fur traders in the West, which would have given her an avenue to explore more fluid conceptions of identity. She also does not take into account the role of cities, reverting, against her best intentions, to the tired “idea that the real West meant the rural West!” 6 Although Limerick employed contemporary examples to illustrate her argument about continuity (and these topics are now 20-plus years old), the book has aged well – perhaps as more evidence of continuity of the West. Many of the issues she discussed remain unresolved: issues about resource conservation, immigration, and the management of nature seem as relevant today as they did in the 1980s – or even the 1880s.

Below, Patricia Limerick delivers her lecture, “The Winning of the West Revisited,” at the 2011 Theodore Roosevelt Symposium in Medora, North Dakota on October 29, 2011. Q&A session follows the lecture.

If anything, Limerick seems to run the risk of overselling her case. In her fifth chapter, “The Meeting Ground of the Past and Present,” Limerick thoroughly grounds her discussion in the political and environmental problems of 1970s and 1980s. It is a somewhat distracting diversion from the technique that Limerick employs in her other chapters. Her argument about continuity is most effective when woven within the larger narrative, not considered separately. Instead of drawing connections, it can seem as though Limerick is only pushing her agenda – perhaps the danger of any historian venturing into the present. Additionally, perhaps because many of the themes she addresses have been long-adopted by the historical profession, the reader is often willing to accept her ideas before Limerick has concluded her argument.

These issues are minor. The Legacy of Conquest stands out as a cogent, well-written, and gloriously accessible examination of the major themes in Western history. While experts are unlikely to be surprised, Legacy of Conquest serves as an excellent starting point for Western historians and, she hopes, American historians in general (after all, as Limerick might ask, what’s the difference?) Limerick cheerfully admits that her book is a work of synthesis. Many of the stories and characters she highlights are purposefully familiar to illustrate their previous historical immobility. Cast in the new light of environmental history or borderlands history, what is old becomes new again. Limerick is arguing (beseeching, pleading) for a new focus on inclusivity and continuity in Western scholarship. It is a point well made, and, judging by the durability of Legacy of Conquest and endurance of the New Western history, a point still well-taken.

For more information: Visit the U.S. History Scene reading lists for Environmental History , History of the American West , and Native American History