<p> The delayed discovery of oil in North Dakota resulted from remoteness, environment, and economic disadvantage, three of the six themes of Elwyn B. Robinson. Initially, lacking outside capital, the local explorers turned to their communities from 1917 to 1935 to raise the capital necessary to search for oil. As a result a complex group united to raise the capital necessary, but did not discover oil. The Great Depression ushered in the era of outside capital from 1937 to the successful discovery of oil on April 4, 1951. During this entire exploration period the state legislature, restricted by a lack of tax revenue, was unable to properly fund the North Dakota Geologic Survey. The survey achieved only marginal success throughout this exploration period. This history of early petroleum exploration not only enhances public knowledge but also lays the groundwork for further research toward a complete history of the industry.</p>

<p> This paper examines the role of Major General Everett S. Hughes during World War II. While Hughes has often been quoted in biographies of Dwight D. Eisenhower or George S. Patton Jr. this is the first work to exclusively examine Hughes' contribution to the Allied victory in World War II. The paper argues that Hughes played an important part throughout the war, both in his ability to solve numerous problems and his influence with Eisenhower. It also examines topics such as Hughes' work with the Women's Army Corps, his friendship with Patton, the relationship between Eisenhower and his driver Kay Summersby, along with many other issues afflicting the Allied high command. Finally, this paper argues that Hughes' influence in Eisenhower's Headquarters needs to be taken seriously by those trying to understand the decisions of the U.S. military leadership in Europe during World War II.</p>

<p>In this comparative social history of the American Revolution, the stories of eight men recounted through the use of their biographies, journals, and memoirs. The lives of four enlisted soldiers and four officers are depicted to gain an understanding of how they became involved in the revolution. In order to do so, their early lives are scrutinized, as well as their post-war lives as they transitioned to peacetime. The main purpose, however, is to examine how each man became motivated to join the war for independence, whether socially, economically, and/or politically. As each man had different aspirations for their expectations before and after the war, one thing is certain: the enlisted soldiers were motivated for different reasons compared to the officers. </p><p> By examining their early lives, as well as post-war lives, one can gain a better understanding of whether their motivations came to fruition, in the end. The intention is not to disprove their patriotism or zeal for joining the war, but instead to prove there were other motivational factors that contributed to their decision. Their patriotism is undeniable, which was a crucial reason why they were able to win the war after eight long years. Even though they experienced deprivation for eight years, due to the lack of resources, the spirit of the men could not be deterred. Despite harrowing circumstances, the revolutionary soldiers were able to prevail over a superior enemy. With that, their motivations and expectations must be examined to shed light on how these men were able to win the war. </p>

<p> Focusing on the relationships between agriculture, industry, and sense of place, this thesis explores the dynamic landscapes and identities of the Verde Valley from the establishment of Anglo settlements in 1864 to the agricultural renaissance in 2014. It argues that agriculture remains an important part of the Verde Valley's physical and cultural landscape that should be better represented in public history exhibits. Using a methodology featuring interviews, archival research, and public history theory, this thesis takes an agri-ecological approach. This perspective internalizes the effects of farming upon the landscape, and situates it within the region's socio-economic-environmental ecosystem. This thesis also analyzes the valley's public history sites and the absence of its agri-ecological narrative. Renarrativization and the incorporation of living history techniques are two methods that can integrate agriculture into an existing site, such as Slide Rock State Park, or a future site, such as the Verde Valley Agricultural Heritage Center.</p>

<p> In 2002, Salt Lake City joined an elite group of cities, in the world, when it hosted the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. This "once in a lifetime" chance gave the city, community, and state of Utah an opportunity to show the world a different side of the community than just the home to the peculiar people known as Mormons. The city took the chance and pulled it off beautifully. Salt Lake not only managed to stage one of the most impressive Olympic Winter Games ever but ended up with an unprecedented amount of profit. But what do you do after the party is over? In an effort to keep the spirit of the Olympics alive, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) wanted to build a legacy park where locals and tourists could visit and relive the thrill and excitement the Olympics. The announcement of the legacy park brought great support from the people, the city, and state government officials but unfortunately, it also brought along all of the politics and personal agendas involved when working with these entities. In the end, the legacy park was merged with a park which was originally planned to showcase just the Olympic cauldron at Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah. The following thesis is the story of how the legacy park came to reside at the University of Utah, the planning and design of the park, the operations and maintenance, and the celebrations it hosted in the ten plus years since the Olympic Winter Games. This thesis focuses on whether or not the Olympic Cauldron Park served as a legitimate and appropriate legacy for the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Winter Games and if that legacy should continue now that original contracts are expiring. Primary research was gathered through local and national newspaper articles, oral interviews, personal experience, and official documents such as contracts between SLOC and the University of Utah. As time and the outdoor elements take their toll on the park, contracts are finished and expansion of the stadium for the Pac 12 Athletic Conference pending, the future of the Olympic Cauldron Park looks bleak. Although there are plans to have some items from the park live on at another Olympic legacy destination, the Olympic Cauldron Park story needed to be told before it ceases to exist.</p>

<p> This dissertation examines the cultural and religious dynamics of the North Carolina Piedmont's non-planter social order. I look in depth at the modernizing elements of antebellum religion, particularly the sensibility of liberality that accompanied institutional development, how church disciplinary procedures adapted to changing social reality, and the formation of middle class style nuclear families under the aegis of evangelical prescription. In addition to using denominational records, I utilize four diaries of ordinary Piedmont residents in extended explorations of how individuals enacted in their private lives the public lessons of evangelicalism. I conclude that an evangelical ethic developed that existed alongside the dominant planter ideology, and that ethic formed the basis for both unity, and dissent, in the late antebellum period.</p>

<p> This thesis explores how the Haliwa-Saponi Indians Halifax and Warren County, North Carolina, challenged the Jim Crow black-white racial classification system between the 1940s and 1960s. To seek political autonomy the Indians worked with and against the dominant strategies of the civil rights movement. The Indians strategically developed Indian-only political and social institutions such as the Haliwa Indian Club, Haliwa Indian School, and Mount Bethel Indian Baptist Church by collaborating with Indians and whites alike. Internal political disagreement led to this diversity of political strategies after 1954, when school desegregation became an issue throughout the nation. One faction of Meadows Indians embraced a racial identity as "colored" and worked within the existing black-white political and institutional system, while another group eschewed the "colored" designation and, when necessary, asserted a separate political identity as Indians; as such, they empowered themselves to take advantage of the segregated status quo.</p>

<p> This dissertation explores the concerns and discussions about lessons of Irish identity for the children of Irish immigrants in mid to late nineteenth-century New York and New England. The author argues that there were recurrent efforts to maintain Irish identity by ensuring the young would understand their Irish and Catholic heritage and that adults often based this identity on the themes of Irish nationalism. Yet Irish-Americans understood that they had to demonstrate Irish loyalty to the United States, so they attempted to blend Irish and American identities in their progeny, articulating an early vision of cultural pluralism for American society. This research contributes to understandings of the invention of ethnicity and ethnic endurance in the United States and how immigrants use conceptions of the meaning of "American" with their national backgrounds as they create identities for their descendants. This dissertation also illuminates the importance of children and ideas about childhood to the development of ethnicity in the United States. But it also has broader meanings for the ways in which religion, ethnicity, and nationality affect the transition of immigrant progeny from the world of their parents to that of the United States and how the children of immigrants eventually become American ethnic groups.</p>