Before and during the Civil War, Richmond's German-Americans were divided by their diverse politics, economic interests, cultures, and religions. Some exhibited Confederate sentiments and others Unionist. At the start of the war, scores of Richmond's German-born men volunteered for Confederate military service while others fled to the North. Those who remained found that they were not fully accepted as members of the Confederate citizenry. Political allegiances within the German-American community were not static. They changed during the course of the war, largely under the influence of nativism. Nativists put into practice a self-fulfilling prophecy that, by accusing the German-born of disloyalty, alienated them and discouraged their sympathies towards the Confederacy. In doing so, by constructing an image of a German antihero, the Confederacy built up its spirit of nationalism. Although German immigrants moved to cities, in the South and in the North, primarily in order to seek economic opportunities, the immigrants who came to Richmond were different from their ethnic counterparts of the North. As they assimilated and acculturated to the South, their values, behaviors, and loyalties became diverse. By the time of the Civil War, the German-American community of Richmond was quite divided. A common ethnicity failed to hold even those hundreds of German-Americans living in Richmond to one political ideology. Their story illustrates that ethnic divisions often do not coincide with political ones. Richmond's German-American community received, during the Civil War, a reputation for universal disloyalty. This myth continues today, though a complex analysis of the German-born does not support it. / Master of Arts

Voter turnout in the United States began to decline at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, and since then, turnout has not returned to the high percentages that were commonplace in the 1860s and 1870s. Numerous scholars point to the late 1800s and early 1900s as the era when significant changes in voting, turnout, and political party competition took place. Many of these same scholars contend that the consequences of these changes, such as continuing low voter turnout, can be seen today. Yet, scholars have made very few efforts to connect what happened in the past to what is happening today. In this thesis I attempt to examine the root causes of declining voter turnout in the United States at the turn of the 20th century. The significance of this examination rests with the thought that if we can understand why voter turnout began to fall we may then have a clearer sense of why low voter turnout persists today. Specifically, this study tests two competing theoretical models, one by V.O. Key and Walter Dean Burnham and the other by Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, that claim to explain how and why turnout began to fall in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Both models use the same variables -- voting statutes, political party competition, and voter turnout -- to explain this fall, but the models place these variables in different time sequences.. This thesis tests the models by examining dynamics found in a single city -- Richmond, Virginia. Richmond affords an opportunity to inspect dynamics of voter turnout at the turn of the 20th century in a geographic area of the country that neither model used as a basis for its theoretical propositions. / Master of Arts

Introduction: The World Health Assembly declared violence as a worldwide public health problem. Homicides have been identified as a leading cause of death in the United States across all age groups. The national homicide rate for 2004 and 2005 are 5.5 and 5.6 per 100,000 population, respectively. The reported rates for Virginia are 5.2 (2004) and 5.6 (2005) per 100,000 population, showing a 16.9% increase. Richmond has been ranked as high as the sixth most dangerous among similar cities in the United States. This study examines penetrating trauma injuries identified through 9-1-1 calls as an indicator of the incidence of homicide in Richmond, Virginia. The purpose of this study was to determine if Richmond has become a safer city, with respect to this type of injury over a five year period. Objectives: (1) To determine if the incidence of penetrating trauma has changed significantly over the five year study period. (2) To examine possible trends in descriptive statistics of study variables. (3) To assess trends in the distribution of response location. Methods: This is a retrospective study of data collected from 91 1 calls to Richmond Ambulance Authority in Richmond, Virginia, with a chief complaint of penetrating trauma during the years 2002-2006. Descriptive statistics were completed on all transported patients. Chi-square tests were used to determine trends. GIs was used to spatially examine the distribution of incident locations.Results: There was no significant trend in the incidence by year. Annual distribution of shooting versus stabbings varied significantly over the study period with the proportions of gunshots decreasing while stabbings increased. There was no significant trend in age, gender, number of patients transported or transport protocol over the study period. Level of care varied significantly over the five year period with BLS decreasing while Basic ALS increased. 39% of neighborhoods had no known incidents, while 8% of neighborhoods accounted for 40% of known gunshot and stabbing incidents. Discussion: These findings show that overall, with respect to known penetrating trauma incidents, Richmond has not become much safer over the five year period. A major limitation of this study is that most analyses were completed using only patients transported by the RAA. Future research should examine outcome data to determine if the change in type of penetrating trauma proportions resulted in greater survival rates.

Zugl.: Birmingham, Aston Univ., Diss., 2009

Richmond School District successfully implemented in 1978-1984 an innovative approach to the teaching of writing--the writing process. This study sought to determine why teachers participated in developing a new writing curriculum in their schools, what characteristics of the setting promoted these curriculum development practices, and what curriculum leaders did to promote teacher participation in curriculum decision making. Historical evidence for this thes is included interviews with eleven participants in reform, including the curriculum leader with greatest responsibility for its implementation. In addition, various print and manuscript documents provided a basis for interpretation of pertinent events. As policy study this thesis described and analyzed the practices and experiences of the school district that embodied the implementers' values. A single teacher-leader in the district accounted for much of the change in teacher practice. A district-wide emphasis on writing process praxis was further supported by the school board and the district's senior staff. Specific social characteristics of the curriculum development setting, Richmond School District, help account for the adoption of the reform. The study argues for the importance of; (a) selecting the most appropriate innovation for implementation, (b) empowering participants in educational reform, and (c) an effective change agent to inspire participants. Implications for educators and recommendations for further research came from these insights.

The William G. Scott House in Richmond, Indiana was built c. 1885 for William G. Scott and his wife, Clara A. Robie McCoy. Mr. Scott, who was a successful executive at the prosperous steam engine manufacturing company Gaar, Scott & Co., was hailed as having one of the most prominent and beautiful homes within the city. The Scott family occupied the house until Mr. Scott's death in 1897, and the property was passed down to several Scott family descendants. In 1921, Richmond's local chapter of the Knights of Columbus purchased the Scott House and converted the building into their clubhouse. The Knights of Columbus continue to own and occupy the property today.The Knights of Columbus made several significant changes to house over the past eighty-two years, including installing a ceramic tile floor on the first floor, creating a Lodge Room on the third floor, remodeling the basement and the kitchen, and building a modern 5,000 sq. ft. meeting hall on the west side of the house. After the new meeting hall was constructed, the Knights of Columbus utilized the new addition most often, rather than the old clubhouse, and the historic Scott House was left vacant and allowed to slip into disrepair.Today, the Knights of Columbus use the Scott House to host "Tea Room Luncheons" featuring traditional Victorian menu items and local entertainment to revitalize public interest in historic architecture and generate funds for the future rehabilitation of the Scott House. The organization is also exploring future uses for the property and identifying additional fundraising opportunities, in hopes of rehabilitating the Scott House and restoring the property to its original elegance and grandeur.The Planning Study for the Scott House contains a history of the property, illustrations, elevation and floor plan drawings, building condition assessments, recommended treatment methods, and suggested maintenance practices. For further reference, the author's building assessment forms and annotated assessment drawings, and the Secretary of the Interior Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties are included as appendices.This project was primarily an academic exercise and intended to help the author learn the process of evaluating the condition of a building, proposing treatment methods and maintenance practices, and writing a preservation planning study. In addition, the report is intended to serve as an outline and reference guide for Knights of Columbus to help direct the organization with the future rehabilitation, preservation, and maintenance of the William G. Scott House. / Department of Architecture

This creative project presents a plan for interpreting the natural, cultural, and historical features of the Whitewater Gorge Park in Richmond, Indiana to the people who will visit the park in the future. The plan begins with inventories of natural, cultural, and historical resources, management concerns, and visual character, and also examines patterns of use in the park. The park's greatest assets are summarized in a series of interpretive themes; for each theme, specific interpretive media and methods are proposed and discussed. Interpretive measures are then grouped in lists of short-term and long-term priorities.An appendix to this creative project outlines the results of a questionnaire completed by a group of hikers in the park. The questionnaire was designed to sample hikers' opinions about the usefulness of a printed trail guide with which they had been supplied, and to investigate their reactions to the Whitewater Gorge Park as a whole. / Department of Landscape Architecture

There is no abstract available for this thesis. / Department of Journalism

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Bowling Green State University, 2007. / Document formatted into pages; contains x, 268 p. : ill. Includes bibliographical references.

Richmond School District successfully implemented in 1978-1984 an innovative approach to the teaching of writing--the writing process. This study sought to determine why teachers participated in developing a new writing curriculum in their schools, what characteristics of the setting promoted these curriculum development practices, and what curriculum leaders did to promote teacher participation in curriculum decision making. Historical evidence for this thes is included interviews with eleven participants in reform, including the curriculum leader with greatest responsibility for its implementation. In addition, various print and manuscript documents provided a basis for interpretation of pertinent events. As policy study this thesis described and analyzed the practices and experiences of the school district that embodied the implementers' values. A single teacher-leader in the district accounted for much of the change in teacher practice. A district-wide emphasis on writing process praxis was further supported by the school board and the district's senior staff. Specific social characteristics of the curriculum development setting, Richmond School District, help account for the adoption of the reform. The study argues for the importance of; (a) selecting the most appropriate innovation for implementation, (b) empowering participants in educational reform, and (c) an effective change agent to inspire participants. Implications for educators and recommendations for further research came from these insights. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate