Thesis (M.S.) B.Y.U. Dept. of History.

Thesis (M.S.) B.Y.U. Dept. of History. / Electronic thesis. Also available in print ed.

Thesis (M.A.)--Pennsylvania State University, 2008. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. Thesis advisor: Jeremy Engels.

In 1763, the British government attempted to control land hungry colonists by prohibiting settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. The ambitious attempt failed. Two years later! Great Britain, submitting to the pressure of land speculators, homestead seekers, and fur trappers, initiated the treaty making process with the American Indians. Although the Indians had no concept of private property, they exchanged their mountains and valleys for whiskey, beads, and muskets. Following independence, the American government continued the British policy of treaty making and pushing the red men out of the path of white civilization. After the Louisiana Purchase, many Americans considered the region lying beyond the Mississippi River a convenient area in which to settle the Indians. A policy of concentration evolved through John C. Calhoun's idea of a permanent Indian country where settlers had no desire to go. The white man's drive for the western lands doomed this policy to failure. During the 1850's the federal government extinguished Indian title to much of the Great Plains and opened the prairies for white settlement. By the 1860's, only two large areas remained in which to concentrate the red men--Indian Territory and the public lands north of Nebraska. Treaty negotiations for moving the Indians had always been carried on as if each small band, village, or tribe were an autonomous and independent nation. Ohio Senator John Sherman, brother of General William Tecumseh Sherman, called the process . . . a ridiculous farce." Although the treaty making policy was attacked, it was not abandoned until 1871. Why Congress dealt with the savages in the same manner as it dealt with the French is perhaps best summed up by one critic who said, "Treaties were made for the accommodation of the whites, and broken when they interfered with the money getter." In fairness to the federal government, however, one should note that the attitude of Indian officials in Washington and the attitude of frontiersmen contrasted markedly. Eastern officialdom favored peaceful relations with the Indians, but the settlers, miners, and soldiers who came into contact with the Indians desired drastic solutions to the Indian problem. With both sides exerting pressure upon the government, procrastination became the accepted solution. Temporary policies, such as peace commissions, were formulated but they usually provided temporary solutions rather than a settlement of the overall racial conflict. Torn by dissension within its own ranks and goaded by its land hungry citizens, the government attempted to pacify the red men or to evade the Indian issue until conditions forced it to take a definite stand,

Jesse Crawford, the "Poet of the Organ," was probably the most famous theatre organist of all time. Yet no biography of this noted musician existed. The purpose of this biographical study is to fill that gap.The period of the mid-1920's'to the mid-1930's was the golden age of the theatre pipe organ. The National Geographic Society estimates that some 6,500 organs were enthroned in movie palaces across the United States.Pianos had first been used to accompany the action on silent screens before Hollywood learned how to put sound on film. Organs came into use because of the wide range of sound effects available and because the organ lent itself more effectively towards creating the mood of the picture, from sorrow to joy, from hate to love, from fear to happiness. Organ music helped create the "escapist" atmosphere of American films during the Twenties and Thirties. Furthermore, the movie palace itself, lavish and opulent, provided not only an escape, but also an opportunity to enjoy surroundings more luxurious than royalty could afford. Theatre organists finding their way to the consoles of ever more elaborate theatre organs-in ever more opulent movie palaces became "personalities" over night. One name towered above all the rest--Jesse Crawford.Crawford, born of a very poor family in Woodland, California in 1895, learned music in an orphanage where his mother placed him because of her extreme poverty. Crawford played cornet and piano eventually graduating to the pipe organ. He found that it was very easy to evoke an emotional response on the part of his listeners thus earning for himself the title, The Poet of the Organ."Crawford played at the major theatres of his day including Grauman's Million Dollar Theatre in Los Angeles, The Chicago Theatre in Chicago, and reached the apex of his career at the Paramount Theatre, Times Square New York, where he spent seven years at the console of the "Mighty Wurlitzer" theatre pipe organ playing solos and in tandem with his wife, Helen.When theatre organs went into decline after the advent of sound films and the Depression of the 1930's, Crawf ord made his way into radio and continued on the personal appearance circuit. He capped his career with several years of teaching the organ at New York University, and in Los Angeles.Crawford's lasting contributions include his many organ compositions and arrangements, his writing of a short course on how to play the organ, serving as consultant on theatre organ design, development of some new organ techniques such as the so-called "Tibia roll," and, to some extent, the popularization of organ music itself.The writing of Crawford's life story involved three years of research, reading all available related materials, books, articles, and newspapers, and traveling back and forth across the country interviewing family members including Crawford's widow and daughter, friends and professional acquaintances. Preparation included assembling a virtually complete collection of Crawford's many recordings and transcriptions.At the end of his life Crawford's fame was on an upward swing. High fidelity recordings brought about a rebirth of interest in the theatre pipe organ. The newly formed American Association of Theatre Organ Enthusiasts elected him as its first Honorary Member. He made several new long playing recordings of theatre pipe organ music in the last years of his life and was in the process of preparing to play a concert for the Annual Convention of ATOE at the time of his death in 1962. Unlike many persons in the world of show business, Crawford's life did not end in obscurity.

Thesis (M.A.) History--University of Central Oklahoma, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-110).

An outgrowth of the author's thesis, Temple University, 1951.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2003--Bonn.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Excerpt: Here’s another interview conducted by the folks at the Mountains of Music Homecoming celebration, set to kick off tomorrow across southwestern Virginia...One of the artists that is being celebrated this year is Jesse McReynolds, a Virginia native who with his brother, Jim, toured for more than 50 years as Jim & Jesse.