This thesis uses qualitative ethnographic research methods to present a case study that explores the multiplicity of meanings and representations that are attached to the Old Deery Inn & Museum in Blountville, Tennessee. Within the community, the Inn functions as a center for cultural memory, with the physical structure itself acting as an artifact that holds community identity. This community narrative contrasts with the official narrative used by tourism entities that markets the Inn as a part of the Appalachian region, situating the Inn within a complex and intricately constructed identity of place that is shaped by lived experiences as well as perceived cultural markers. By unraveling the narratives, this study unpacks the ways that the Inn’s various identities figure into the development of current interpretation and management efforts, and the way that this locally important historical site fits into the larger narrative of tourism marketing in East Tennessee.

Cette thèse vise à démontrer que les travaux de l’historien d’art et d’architecture britannique d’origine allemande Nikolaus Pevsner (1902-1983) ont joué un rôle majeur dans l’accession de l’histoire de l’art et de l’architecture au statut de discipline universitaire au Royaume-Uni à partir des années 1930-1940. L’étude de ce cas particulier et des constellations et réseaux qui entrent en jeu durant son émigration vers l’Angleterre en 1933 apportent un éclairage différent sur le champ de l’histoire des migrants intellectuels en rappelant le conflit latent entre l’idéal d’universalisme de la science et les vecteurs socio- culturels nationaux qui président aux déplacements transnationaux.Notre recherche se concentre sur les transferts méthodologiques, institutionnels et historiographiques qui ont fait de la carrière de Pevsner un moment-clé de l’historiographie de l’art, de l’architecture et du design et aborde les domaines suivants : la question du Mouvement moderne, l’utilisation du concept d’espace dans le discours architectural d’après le principe de l’empathie (Einfühlung) ou encore dans l’exploration, à travers la méthodologie de la géographie de l’art, de la production artistique et du patrimoine architectural du pays d’accueil de Pevsner.Il s’agit de montrer que l’oeuvre de médiateur d’un historien d’art entre sa matière et la société se déploie aussi hors du seul cadre universitaire. Cette thèse expose comment Pevsner se fait une place dans la culture britannique en tant qu’éditeur, homme de radio, critique d’art, autant d’activités qui se basent sur des modèles allemands, mais qui font progressivement de l’historien déplacé, interprète de sa culture d’accueil, une véritable institution culturelle. / This thesis demonstrates how the works of art and architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner (1902-1983), a British scholar of German origin, played a major part in the accession of the history of art and architecture to the status of an academic discipline in the United Kingdom in the 1930s and 40s. This case study, along with the various networks that played a part in his displacement from Germany to Britain in 1933, sheds a different light on current research on the history of émigré intellectuals, as it seeks to show that there is a latent conflict between the ideal of universalism in science and the national socio-cultural vectors at play in transnational displacements.Our research focuses on methodological, institutional and historiographical transfers that made Pevsner’s career into a milestone in the historiography of art, architecture and design. It tackles the main aspects of his contribution, from the issue of the Modern movement, through the use of the concept of space in the architectural discourse based on the principle of empathy (Einfühlung), to the exploration of the artistic production and the architectural heritage of Pevsner’s country of adoption.Our contention is that the role of an art historian as a mediator between his subject and society goes beyond the realm of academia. This thesis shows how Pevsner found a place in British culture as editor, broadcaster and art critic, while basing these activities on German models, and how these activities gradually transformed an interpreter of culture into a cultural institution.

This thesis chronicles the development of Henderson and its media. Unlike most pioneering towns that sprung up west of the Allegheny and Appalachian Mountains during the 18th century, Henderson assumed a unique position in the development of the Midwest as an important and major tobacco port, as an agricultural conduit to the North and industrial path to the South. and as an outpost of trade to the West. A clearer picture of its aggressive nature becomes evident by tracing the hard-fought beginnings of the region. As Henderson grew in importance, so did its lust grow for excitement and entertainment. Compared to the gleaming major Atlantic seaports of the youthful nation. Henderson sparkled like a diamond amongst the rough and crude Midwest settlements by providing residents and travelers inland entertainment at its Ohio riverport. Two overlapping questions embrace the focus of the study: what caused the underlying pride of development that Henderson obviously possesses? Why, too, has Henderson had such an extensive amount of media from which to choose? The questions serve as a blueprint for depicting the cultural growth and the impact of media that has existed in Henderson and for its smaller surrounding communities. Information will come from printed newspaper articles, books of Henderson and Henderson County history, interviews with some of those few remaining theater operators, phonograph operators, and broadcasters. use my twenty-years' experience of working in radio and television production, sales, and management to interpret the jargon of their craft and to make their information more meaningful to the reader.

The purpose of this study is to examine the logging industry found along, the upper Cumberland River from the 1870s to the 1930s. Because the industry was very much a part of the economic lifeblood of the people of the region, the study will focus upon the loggers and raftsmen who worked with the timber. Any attempt to describe the lumber business alone would be futile due to the nature of the industry. It is impossible to separate the logging industry of the Cumberland from the general folk life of the area, because of the involvement of the people in the business. This study then is as much a description of the folk life of the Cumberland River Valley as it is a consideration of the logging industry.

The purpose of writing about the Greens of Falls of Rough is to record the extraordinary lives of three generations of a prominent, but somewhat neglected, Kentucky family that contributed greatly to the history of the Commonwealth. This family’s activities parallel that history in social, economic and political aspects from the state’s inception to the 1960s. In addition, this thesis should alleviate a pervasive misunderstanding regarding the identity of Willis Green, founder of the Greens of Falls of Rough. Mr. Green, a prominent Kentuckian in his own right, has been confused with another Kentuckian, a Willis Green of Danville. The misidentification has indicated that they were either the same man or father and son. This research offers evidence that they were neither the same man nor father and son; they were apparently not even related, or at most, only very distantly so. The Greens of Falls of Rough follows the lives of the three generations of Greens and spans the years 1795 through 1965. The principal issues addressed fall into four main categories: politics – Kentucky (1827-1845; 1859-1860; 1881-1884) and United States (1839-1845); Falls of Rough businesses, 1830s-1960s – farming, milling (saw and grist), and merchandising; domestic activities, 1860s-1960s; and social life, 1860s-1960s. Political subjects include some movements of Kentucky’s militia in the War of 1812, the national political campaigns of 1840 and 1844, Whig issues, and Willis Green’s relationship with Henry Clay. Business-related information includes entrepreneurial land acquisition activities in Kentucky’s Grayson and Breckinridge Counties (1820s-1830s), procedures of sawmilling and related transportation (river and railroad), farm commodities trading (1818-1900), and farm and business practices and their economic ramifications. Domestic issues encompass food-related procedures/habits and household practices – servants, remodeling/decorating, cleaning (1870-1890). Social aspects revolve around courtship (1860s) and rearing a family (1860s-1900), especially educational (Kentucky Military Institute, Centre College, Princeton Collegiate Institute) and moral training. In additions, some details of family disease/area epidemics and their treatments are discussed as well as entertainment activities. Materials for this thesis were obtained almost entirely from political and family correspondence with some contribution from military and business records. More than six thousand items of correspondence were thoroughly studied and analyzed in this research. These materials are located in the Kentucky Library, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky; Filson Club, Louisville, Kentucky; University of Louisville Library, Louisville, Kentucky; National Archives, Washington, D.C.; M.I. King Library, Lexington, Kentucky; and Eastern Kentucky University Library, Richmond, Kentucky. Some materials are in the possession of Mrs. Mary O’Neill (owner of Green property), Falls of Rough, Kentucky and Hugh Ridenour (author of this work), Hanson, Kentucky.

The intention of this thesis is to provide an alternative counter-narrative to the mainstream histories of punk that center white men. By focusing on the contributions of fem queer and POC punks, I aim to legitimize punk music as a form of resistance against systems of oppression that are oppositional to the commodified forms of mainstream punk. Using Alice Bag, as my central case study as a fem queer punk that is often left out of punk historical narratives, I contextualize her work through feminist, queer, and media studies lenses to bridge the gap between academia and forgotten personal experience.

In 1960, when Ruby Bridges was six-years-old, she desegregated the formerly all white William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, Louisiana. This thesis traces her formation as a Civil Rights icon and how her icon narratives are influenced by, perpetuate, or challenge hegemonic memory of the Civil Rights Movement. The hegemonic narrative situates the Civil Rights Movement as a triumphant moment of the past, and is based upon the belief that it abolished institutionalized racism, leaving us in a world where lingering prejudice is the result of the failings of individuals. Analysis of narratives about Ruby Bridges by Norman Rockwell, Robert Coles, and Bridges herself show that there is a consistent shift over time in which the icon narratives conform to and reinforce the hegemonic narrative. These icon narratives situate Bridges’ story as a historical account of the past that teaches lessons of how to combat instances of interpersonal racism through kindness and tolerance, and obscures Bridges’ lived experience. These reductive stories demonstrate just how powerful the hegemonic narrative is and create a comforting morality tale that pervades dominant culture and prevents us from understanding and finding ways to combat the institutionalized racism and inequality that still exists within the United States.

This dissertation will focus on how the bicycle industry dealt with a period of dwindling popularity for their product how the bicycle found redemption—as a child’s toy. The central question that will serve as the driving force of this dissertation is: Why did Americans lose interest in cycling and what can this tell us about American culture and societal ideals? By examining industry practices and American consumption of the bicycle, this dissertation will seek to understand this question by mapping changes in American culture that occurred from the 1880s-1960. It examines why Americans lost interest in cycling and what this tells us about American culture and American’s self-perceptions, as individuals and as a nation. It interrogates how Americans used the bicycle to demonstrate ideals of race, class, age, and gender and how the bicycle’s role as a status symbol changed over time. This study also considers how larger historic changes, such as urbanization, suburbanization, changes in the economy, war, and political decisions regarding the built environment affected cycling. Shifts in social and cultural norms instigated changes in the symbolic nature of the bicycle and the public’s use of it to attain and affirm socially constructed ideals. Attempts to manage the image of the bicycle in reaction to cultural changes—as well as the societal contestations and negotiations arising in response to those attempts, what they teach us, and how those lessons can be applied in a contemporary setting—drive this dissertation. This examination of cycling in the U.S. will argue that the manner in which the bicycle was marketed and designed as well as the manner in which it was consumed both relate directly to alterations in American culture. As bicycle production increased and prices fell the bicycle lost the interest of its target market—white middle-class males—and manufacturers began a series of attempts at redefining the bicycle and broadening its market. By arguing that the bicycle industry itself was culpable in the bicycle’s loss of status, this dissertation will go beyond overly simplistic arguments that fail to look beyond automobiles.

Over the twentieth century, Camille Lucie Nickerson excelled in her multi-faceted career as an educator, musician, and interpreter for the advancement of musical education for generations of black students in New Orleans and at Howard University in Washington D.C. Nickerson devoted herself to furthering her musical education through private instruction with her father, Professor William J. Nickerson. She then graduated with a diploma from Southern University and with a B.A. and M.A. in music from Oberlin College. Nickerson’s leadership in musical associations on a local and national level enhanced her ability to reach audiences of all ages through her performances. She dedicated her life to musical education and the sharing Creole folk music, both personal attributes passed down from her father. While Nickerson was determined to preserve Creole folk music through her lecture-recitals, her wider purpose argued for a distinct recognition for Creole culture, thus, acknowledgment of her culture.

Serving three times as president of the Cavalry Association, Camp Nine of the United Confederate Veterans (UCV), George Tichenor was instrumental in forging Lost Cause ideology into a potent social force in New Orleans. Though more widely remembered in New Orleans for his antiseptic invention, his support of Confederate monuments, Confederate activism, and his wife Margret’s role as vice-president of a chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) are lesser known aspects of Tichenor’s life in New Orleans. This paper examines the cultural changes taking place in New Orleans that allowed Tichenor to become a leader of the Lost Cause movement that transformed New Orleans, with a focus on social networking via the United Confederate Veterans and the collaborative nature of their work with the UDC in New Orleans, a collaboration that opened a cultural and societal pathway for Lost Cause ideology to permeate Southern cities and influence national thinking on how to interpret the history of the Civil War.