Lynnwood Farnam, who lived from 1885 to 1930, was considered by most of his contemporaries to be the greatest organist of his day. He came from a close-knit family in a small Canadian town, and his precocious musical gifts led to a scholarship at the Royal College of Music in London at age fifteen. Qualities that characterize his entire life may be observed in correspondence, diaries, notebooks, and scrapbooks from his four years of study there. These have been preserved in the Lynnwood Farnam Collection at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, along with numerous other personal items. Farnam began his professional music career in Montreal, moved to Boston in 1913, and ultimately ended up in New York at the Church of the Holy Communion in 1920. His professional philosophy combined church and concert work into one musical career, as exemplified in his extensive twilight concert series. He also undertook several European and American concert tours, and befriended many of the greatest organists and organ composers of the era. His untimely death at age forty-five elicited an extensive public outpouring of grief. Characteristics of Farnam's playing universally cited time and again by critics include a prodigious manual and pedal technique, an incredible gift for utilizing the myriad of tone colors available on the organ, and a choice of repertoire entirely idiomatic to the instrument. His personal standards of programming and performance would ultimately raise the standards of the profession, and his regular inclusion of Bach's works and earlier compositions would inspire later generations of players to examine and perform this repertoire. Farnam also extensively promoted compositions by his contemporaries, often leading to their eventual inclusion in the standard organ repertoire. Farnam was appointed to head the Organ Department at the Curtis Institute in 1927, and taught some of the most significant players and teachers of the next generation. Through them, his influence extended to future generations of organists.

Small towns fulfilled an important and unique role in southern life. After examining archival resources, public documents, and the architecture of the town of Clinton, Louisiana, two distinct but interlocking themes emerge. The first is the quest for order, respectability, and prosperity. The second is an outgrowth of those three goals, in that the social and economic infrastructure created by the townsfolk's activities acted as a catalyst to produce interactions that would not otherwise have occurred in a predominantly rural setting. Social, economic, and political interactions in small towns took place on a day-to-day and face-to-face basis. Village life allowed the citizens to interact with those outside their family groups and immediate neighbors for a broader social and economic base than country-dwellers yet did not provide the anonymity of large cities like New Orleans or Charleston. In the years before the American Civil War, wealthy and middle-class whites dominated Clinton's society and economy. By building railroads, establishing strong mercantile houses, and developing a varied corps of artisans, Clinton's elite made the town the center of a booming cotton region. One-third of the village's 1000 residents were slaves, and despite the lack of anonymity within the community, they were still able to create a semblance of a unique subculture away from whites' prying eyes. Following the Civil War, however, the small-town environment proved particularly stifling for the freed slaves, as white-supremacist attitudes prohibited free development of social and political organizations, with the notable exception of black churches. Whites in Clinton reacted violently to their loss of power, ultimately pursuing a massive campaign of terror against local Republicans during the contested presidential election of 1876. Small-town life is not incongruous within the framework of southern history; in fact, these villages incorporated the best and worst features of the southern rural and urban milieux.

<p> The study of women at Southwestern Louisiana Institute &mdash; now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette &mdash; during World War II on the American home front serves to show how young women responded to wartime necessities while at the same time reacting to the evolving and often contradictory meaning of womanhood and the sexual division of roles on the home front. On Southwestern's campus women's visible presence and expanded education included the areas of war work, athletics, and leadership within academic circles on campus. Women on campus used their war efforts to claim expanded opportunities on campus that allowed them to be not only &ldquo;Victory Belles&ldquo; who sold war bonds by looking pretty &mdash; in keeping with more traditional feminine roles &mdash; but also to participate in athletic competition and military training, gaining access to more institutional resources. As Victory Belles, female students at Southwestern initially responded to the war by making defense work part of their traditional female social spaces but worked toward fostering an environment conducive to recruitment, as women began to consider joining the war effort off campus. In order to prepare themselves physically for the war effort, women at Southwestern also approached athletics with wartime goals in mind. Women on university grounds, although pursuing expanded educational opportunities, did not reject domesticity. Women at Southwestern rather sought to broaden their academic circles and educational goals by becoming leaders and challenging initial stereotypes of women that existed before the war that categorized women's worth as primarily domestic. These young women, as campus officials concentrated on adjusting to a war&ndash;centered environment, used the war to go beyond the established curriculum to widen their sphere of influence at Southwestern during the mid&ndash;1940s. The expanded opportunities women pursued helped Southwestern in the postwar environment embrace co-education within numerous social spaces at the university.</p>

<p> This thesis seeks to expand understandings of resistance, particularly in the context of everyday actions and social institutions. It achieves this by tracing the development of a gay community that became increasingly visible in Lafayette, Louisiana, from the late 1960s through the late 1980s. By crafting their own social mores and spaces, religious institutions, Mardi Gras associations, AIDS service organization, and political association, gay men resisted and contested efforts to marginalize or denigrate their identities and desires. Relying on oral histories and periodicals distributed within gay bars, this work highlights the importance of primarily non-political institutions in affirming gay identity, same-sex desire, and gender nonconformity. It finds agency within a group that has a largely undocumented history in Louisiana, outside of New Orleans. Previous scholarship on gay communities has focused too broadly on entire states or too exclusively on major metropolitan areas. This thesis, then, also brings to light the experiences of gay men in a small southern city, tracking the development of various means of resistance within that community.</p>

<p> Many historians of religion and politics in the early republic period fail to fully examine the importance of the debate between the Connecticut's Standing Order and religious dissenters concerning the necessity of a religious establishment in America. Relying on sermons, newspaper accounts, this project examines the ideology and justification of Connecticut's Standing Order in defending religious establishment, as well as the ideological reasons Republicans and religious dissenters offered in opposing it. Exploring the value of the church establishment from the perspective of both the supporters of the Standing Order and those who sided with the Jeffersonians offers important insight into how issues of religion shaped the political and social battles in the early republic. </p><p> This work focuses upon the political ideology of Connecticut's established clergy and Federalist allies in relation to the defense of the church establishment. In particular, the motives for those who defended the established church were based not upon selfish ambition, but rather upon well-constructed ideas about how best to maintain the prosperity of the American republic. In Connecticut, the adherents of the Standing Order valued holding the Congregational Church as the established church for the state because traditional social structures and social systems such as churches seemingly benefitted the continued success of the community. </p><p> This project demonstrates that the convictions on both sides of the debate were grounded upon ideas, not ambitions. For the Standing Order, the state church was a fundamental component of stability and prosperity in Connecticut. The established clergy of Standing Order, as well as their dissenter counterparts, believed that the outcome of the ecclesiastical issue was crucial for determining the future prosperity of the republic. Their vision for the nation may have lost out to that of the Jeffersonians and religious dissenters, but it was nonetheless a vision that ultimately had meaningful consequences for the development of the nation and the role of Christianity in shaping the political and social spheres.</p>

<p> Soldiers from southeastern Ohio and their families fought the Civil War (1861&ndash;1865) in a reciprocal relationship, sustaining one another throughout the course of the conflict. The soldiers needed support from their families at home. The families, likewise, relied upon the constant contact via letters for assurance that the soldiers were surviving and doing well in the ranks. This dissertation qualitatively examines the correspondence between soldiers and their families in southeastern Ohio, developing six major themes of analysis including early war patriotism, war at the front, war at home, political unrest at home, common religion, and the shared cost of the war. The source base for the project included over one thousand letters and over two hundred and fifty newspaper articles, all of which contribute to a sense of the mood of southeastern Ohioans as they struggled to fight the war together. The conclusions of the dissertation show that soldiers and their families developed a cooperative relationship throughout the war. This dissertation helps to provide a corrective to the overly romantic perspective on the Civil War that it was fought between divided families. Rather, Civil War soldiers and their families fought the war in shared suffering and in support of one another. </p>

This thesis attempts to provide a comprehensive review of the teaching of sociology in universities and colleges in the United states in tne nineteenth century. (The primary sources are the catalogues and various other publications, such as presidential reports and alumni yearbooks, of 663 institutions from their foundings until the end of the academic year 1900-01). Evidence of the teaching of courses in sociology, or in some closely related study such as social science or social problems, was found in 227 of the total number of institutions. After some introductory observations on the extensive inclusion of sociology in American university curricula, the first chapter goes on to describe the nature of the sources used and to comment upon previous studies of a similar type, none of which have provided the sort of complete historical documentation of the rise of sociology teaching as the present study sets out to do. This specific development is set in the general context of higher education in the nineteenth century which saw a decline of older methods based upon the recitation system in favour of a more liberal attitude to teaching and research. The Land Grant College Act of 1862, with its particular encouragement of scientific training, and the influence of German ideals in higher education are singled out as movements of great importance for the changing conception of higher education. The second chapter contains a discussion of some of the first attempts at sociological writing in the United States, mostly before the Civil War. The largely Aristotelian and conservative views of the southern writers are contrasted with those of the Utopian social thinkers of the North. Here, as throughout the thesis, emphasis is placed upon the relationship between the attempts at sociological theory and the social context in which they arose. Chapter III describes in some detail the beginnings of sociology teaching in universities and colleges from the 1860's, witn some reference to instruction in social matters before this time. For the first years after its introduction attention is paid to each institution which offered sociology; for the later years particular institutions are singled out for special comment where noteworthy new departures were made. Chapter IV describes the regional development of sociology teaching from its beginnings in Eastern institutions. Graphic illustration of its spread is provided in a chronological series of maps. The second part of the chapter relates the development of sociology to contemporary movements in theology, particularly the ideas of Social Christianity and the Social Gospel. The extreme involvement of sociologists in these movements, and the encouragement given to sociology in certain denominations which were also prominent in the Social Gospel, are used as facts to support the contention that the outlooks upon society of sociologists and Social Gospel theologians were not only parallel but often so closely interwoven as to be inseparable. Chapter V goes into greater detail concerning the nature of the sociology being taught by describing various representative courses, with much illustrative material drawn from catalogue summaries of such courses. In the second part of the chapter some of the most popular textbooks for sociology courses are described. Chapter VI is concerned with those who taught sociology; four cases of opposition on the part of university authorities to certain aspects of the teaching of sociology are discussed. The education of sociology teachers is outlined with special reference to the influence which German higher education exercised over many of the most prominent American sociologists. Chapter VII documents the rise of sociology as a subject for graduate study in American universities and colleges, and includes lists of doctorates submitted in sociology and in sociological topics up to 1900. The subsequent careers of graduate students in sociology are briefly summarized. In the concluding chapter emphasis is placed upon the essentially American nature of sociology in the United States, its peculiar importance lying in its early and generally enthusiastic inclusion in the curricula of institutions of higher learning. Some contrasts are made in this respect with its position in Europe in the same period. Its popularity as a university subject is contrasted with the ill-developed nature of sociological theory in America at the time; some attempt is made to characterize such theory. A series of appendices is included to provide full documentation of the colleges and universities under review, a complete catalogue of courses in sociology, a bibliography of textbooks recommended in course descriptions together with writers cited without reference to particular works in such descriptions, chronological lists of the founding of departments of sociology and social science, a list of appointments in sociology and social science, and a catalogue of teachers of courses in sociology, outlining the institutions at which they taught, up to 1901.

<p> The development of a Western identity, derivative and evolved from Northern, Midwestern, and Southern identities, played a significant role in determining the loyalty of the Pacific States on the eve of the Civil War. Western identity shared the same tenets as the other sections: property rights, republicanism, and economic and political autonomy. The experiences of the 1850s, though, separated Westerners from the North and the South, including their debates over slavery, black exclusion, and Indian policy. These experiences helped formulate the foundations of a Western identity, and when Southern identity challenged Western political autonomy by the mid-1850s, political violence and antiparty reactions through vigilantism and duels threw Western politics into chaos as the divided Democratic Party, split over the Lecompton Controversy, struggled to maintain control. With the election of 1860, Lincoln's victory in California and Oregon were the result of this chaos, and Westerners remained loyal to the North due to economic ties and Southern challenges to Western political autonomy. On the eve of the Civil War, the West was secured through the efforts of Republicans, but the belief in economic freedom from a slave labor system and federal aid for Indian campaigns played a significant role in forming a Western identity determined to remain in the Union. </p>

<p> Prior to the Civil War, the lives of free African Americans in Fairfax County, Virginia were both ordinary and extraordinary. Using the land as the underpinning of their existence, they approached life using methods that were common to the general population around them. Fairfax was a place that was undergoing a major transition from a plantation society to a culture dominated by self-reliant people operating small farms. Free African Americans who were able to gain access to land were a part of this process allowing them to discard the mantle of dependency associated with slavery. Nevertheless, as much as ex-slaves and their progeny attempted to live in the mainstream of this rural society, they faced laws and stereotypes that the county's white population did not have to confront. African Americans' ability to overcome race-based obstacles was dependent upon using their labor for their own benefit rather than for the comfort and profit of a former master or white employer. </p><p> When free African Americans were able to have access to the labor of their entire family, they were more likely to become self-reliant, but the vestiges of the slave system often stymied independence particularly for free women. Antebellum Fairfax had many families who had both slave and free members and some families who had both white and African American members. These divisions in families more often adversely impacted free African American women who could not rely on the labor of an enslaved husband or the lasting attention of a white male. Moreover, families who remained intact were more likely to be able to care for children and dependent aging members, while free African American females who headed households often saw their progeny subjected to forced apprenticeships in order for the family to survive. </p><p> Although the land provided the economic basis for the survival of free African Americans, the county's location along the border with Maryland and the District of Columbia also played a role in the lives of the county's free African American population. Virginia and its neighbors remained slave jurisdictions until the Civil War, but each government wished to stop the expansion of slavery within its borders. Each jurisdiction legislated against movement of new slaves into their territory and attempted to limit the movement of freed slaves into their jurisdictions. Still, in a compact border region restricting such movement was difficult. African Americans used the differences of laws initially to petition for freedom. As they gained access to the court system, free African Americans expanded their use of the judiciary by bringing their grievances before the courts which sided with the African American plaintiffs with surprising regularity. Although freed slaves and their offspring had few citizenship rights, they were able to use movement across borders and the ability to gain a hearing for their grievances to achieve increasing autonomy from their white neighbors. </p><p> No one story from the archives of the Fairfax County Courthouse completely defines the experience of free African Americans prior to the Civil War, but collectively they chronicle the lives of people who were an integral part of changing Fairfax County during the period. After freedom, many African Americans left Fairfax either voluntarily or through coercion. For those who stayed, their lives were so inter-connected both socially and economically with their white neighbors that any history of the county cannot ignore their role in the evolution of Fairfax.</p>

<p> Cemeteries of the enslaved on many plantations in the 18th and 19th centuries were places where communities could practice forms of resistance, and develop distinct African-American traditions. These spaces often went unrecorded by elites, whose constructed landscapes were designed to convey messages of their own status and authority. In their oversight of these spaces, however, elites failed to notice the nuanced meanings the slaves themselves instilled in the landscapes they were forced to live and work in. These separate meanings enabled enslaved African Americans to maintain both human and cultural identities that subverted the slave system and the messages of inferiority that constantly bombarded them.</p><p> This thesis focuses on the archaeological study of the Slave Cemetery at George Washington's Mount Vernon. Here, methodological and theoretical principles are utilized to study the area that many enslaved workers call their final resting place. Through the use of this space, it is hypothesized that Mount Vernon's enslaved community practiced distinct traditions, instilling in that spot a sense of place, and reinforcing their individual and communal human identities. This thesis will also investigate the cemetery within its broader regional and cultural contexts, to attain a better understanding of the death rituals and culturally resistant activates that slaves at Mount Vernon used in their day-to-day battle against the system that held them in bondage.</p>