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There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

The purpose of this study is to understand the connections between the public and private worlds of American women as described in their journals and diaries and to show how the interaction between the two realms changed the way women thought about themselves, their roles, and their environment.A total of ninety-four personal narratives were examined for the study and from that number, four were profiled. Two personal narratives were examined that were published following the Suffrage Movement and two personal narratives were chosen that were published following the Liberation Movement. Methods of rhetorical analysis were used to focus on changing levels of women's awareness of self, community, roles available to women, and issues appropriate for women's attention. I examined text divisions and organization, sentence structures, and markers of audience awareness.A pattern emerges demonstrating five metamorphoses: as the twentieth century continues, women's personal narratives are exhibiting greater self-awareness, greater audience-awareness, awareness of responsibility to the community of women, and awareness of expanding opportunities for women as well as generating an ever increasing readership. / Department of English

The study sought to identify the relationship between the increase in participation in adult education and the rate of social change in American society. Three major research questions were examined: 1) What changes are taking place in the traditional social institutions which may be causing adults to rely upon education as a means of adjustment; 2) What are the effects of technology upon the cultural values in contemporary American society; 3) What changes are taking place in the social roles and responsibilities of American adults.The study related the knowledge of the intellectual and psychological growth of adults to educational programming, and suggested the role which adult education will continue to play in the immediate future. Relevant publications by social critics and educators were examined, and statistical information related to social change in the United States was cited. It was determined that there had been dramatic social change in the United States during this century as a result of the deep and pervasive impact of technology on all aspects of society. As an example it was reported that an enormous upheaval in family life was refected in the 350% increase in the divorce rate in the fifteen year period from 1960 to 1975.The impact which this change has had upon individual adjustment is reflected in the fact that the largest percentage of increase in reasons for participation in adult education programs was in the area of personal and family interests and that the increase itself was strongly related to the general increase in participation in adult education programs by women.The study concluded that the changing role of women in society and the upheaval in family life was related to the increase in the number of women taking courses for personal and family reasons. It concluded that the impact of technological change on all aspects of society would have to be dealt with by educators for many years to come, directly assisting adults to develop the flexibility and creativity necessary to adapt to change. It recommended specific areas for planning adult education programs, and cited a number of areas of sociological and educational concern which were raised during the study, to which other scholars might address themselves.

This study is an attempt to uncover the considerable contribution to antebellum reform made by a small unassuming frontier community in Indiana, That this community has been largely neglected in social histories of the United States is probably because the region did not produce any nationally outstanding figure as well-'known as William Lloyd Garrison., Elijah Love joy,, Theodore Weld, James Birney or Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This dissertation is an in-depth look at a group of so-called ordinary men and women who were really rather extraordinary in the enlightened positions they took.The two decades, 1826-1846, were the major years of Newport's ascendancy as a leading community in antebellum reform, Newport was made up largely of members of the Society of Friends, many of whom had migrated to the area from the Carolinas and other parts of the South to escape the spreading institution of slavery. Their opposition to slavery, then, was part of their religious tradition, and included aiding runaways to reach free soil. I t was only, however # among the more activist Friends, centered mainly in Newport that organized efforts to manage more efficiently antislavery activities resulted in that community being dubbed the "Grand Central Station" in the Underground Railroad.The outstanding individual in these efforts was Levi Coffin, reputed "President of the Underground Railroad," His coming to Newport in 1826 marked the beginning of organized, wisely managed efforts to oppose slavery. This included such activities as an antislavery tract society, an antislavery library, antislavery newspapers, antislavery societies (including also a young men's antislavery society and a female antislavery society), schools for free blacks and fugitives, as well as the free Produce Movement, an attempt to encourage abstension from the purchase of goods produced by slave labor.In this, Coffin and the Newport reform leaders were opposed by many, a vast majority at first, who felt their direct action methods were too revolutionary and disruptive and as a result were counterproductive, So severe was the disagreement that a rupture of eleven years took place in the Indiana Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends. By 1846, public toleration of abolition was such that Newport leaders felt little imperative to continue agitation for antislavery causes, instead, they centered their efforts in the political solution offered by the formation of the Liberty Party.The Newport community led in other popular contemporary reform movements including temperance, women's rights, education, and the peace movement. This comprehensiveness of 2lewport antebellum reform was consistent with antebellum reform in general. All the reforms were interrelated, all part of a larger pattern of moral planning. The cause of human rights embraced not only the freeing of slaves from bondage, but also the liberating of women from the bonds of less than equal status with men, the freeing, of the uneducated from the restrictions imposed by ignorance, the prohibition of the abuse of alcohol which shackled man's reason and will, and tie lifting from man of the curse of war.The Newport reformers believed in racial equality as tenaciously as did the Garrisonians or the Weld abolitionists. They seemed to have recognized that rhetoric, as ennobling and inspiriting as it can be, can also grow shrill and tiresome in its self-righteousness. Their reform was the kind of responsible reform directed at those around them--their family, friends, and neighbors--rather than at the faraway "demon" at whom shots can be taken with relative assurance he cannot immediate retaliate.

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No description available.

This thesis provides an historical review of the role and function of the philanthropic foundation as an institution of American society, stressing in particular the foundation response to social change. The period of emphasis is World War II to the present, although earlier history is also covered in some detail.

This dissertation focused on the relationship between psychological well-being and life situations of older persons. Specifically, this study examined whether life situations were different for persons whose Life Satisfaction Index scores changed over a two-year period compared to those whose scores were stable. The sample included 215 older persons living in reduced circumstances. These persons were interviewed on three occasions separated by one-year intervals. Pearson correlations, analysis of variance, and multiple regression procedures were employed to test five hypotheses. Fourteen case studies were selected to illustrate statistical findings. When the dissertation data were analyzed for each occasion separately, findings from this study regarding correlates of psychological well-being were similar to findings from past studies. However, a different pattern of results emerged from the longitudinal analyses. For the group of persons having stable life satisfaction scores across occasions, life satisfaction was not significantly correlated with health, lack of impairment, or activities. In contrast, change in psychological well-being was significantly related to changes in these life situations. Practical and theoretical implication of the findings as well as directions for future research are discussed.