College of Arts & Humanities
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.
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Item The Shipwreck Paintings of Joseph Vernet: An Iconographic Study(1975) Stevens, Adele de Werff; Art; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)The theme of storm and shipwreck was a popular one in eighteenth-century literature, music, opera, and plays as well as in painting. Joseph Vernet (1714-1789) used this theme and became renowned for his paintings of tempest and shipwreck. For fifty-five years, Joseph Vernet's paintings of a coastal shipwreck attracted an international clientele. For them he depicted a vivid variety of clouds, turbulent seas, disabled ships, and the viscissitudes of the living and the dead. Trained by the followers of Pierre Puget in marine painting in Provence, Vernet had observed a tempest during his voyage from Marseille to Civitavecchia in 1734. For the figures in his paintings Vernet drew on the traditional motives of marine and Christian art. Other pictorial sources were the works of Salvator Rosa, Claude Gelee, Adam Elsheimer, and Tempesta, but his observation of nature and "on the spot" sketches were the basis of his paintings. A shipwreck scene often was one of the series of of the four times of day. Vernet's paintings in Italy mingled the post-shipwreck activities with other seaside pursuits in a spacious landscape. After his move to France in 1753, Vernet emphasized the rescue of people. Shipwrecked families were his contribution to the portrayal of drama in family life, which was an important current in art in the middle of the eighteenth century. During his last decade, Vernet's shipwreck scenes featured a closer connection among the persons depicted. He also showed a more compact, wellkept version of the edifice, which stands above the wrecked vessel. Throughout his career Vernet limited the violence in his shipwreck scenes to the forces of nature while portraying the noble behavior of ordinary people.Item Black Gospel Music Styles, 1942-1975: Analysis and Implications for Music Education(1978) Baker, Barbara Wesley; Folstrom, Roger J.The purpose of this dissertation is to determine styles and style changes that have occurred in Black gospel music since 1942, and to document those changes with representative cassette recordings. Implications of those changes are presented for secondary music education and for prospective music teacher training. This study should provide a significant addition to the field of music, and to Black music, because of the creation of an analysis model that provides the framework for analysis of styles in Black gospel music. This study also provides access to another musical resource for use in the secondary school music classroom by linking the a nalysis of Black gospel to the practical, educative uses of Black gospel music.Item A Force for Reform: The American Presbyterian Mission Press in China, 1836-1870(1977) Dove, Kay Lee; Folsom, Kenneth E.; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)The American Presbyterian Mission Press (PMP) was a vital, if indirect, force in stimulating intellectual reform in China. During its early years, 1836-1870, the PMP developed technological innovations in the printing of the Chinese language that led to the modernization of the Chinese printing industry, which, in turn, provided textbooks for modern education and periodical literature for the development of public opinion. At the same time, the Press trained a corps of Chinese in modern printing technology, which was then able to apply this training in Chinese private and governmental printing offices. The PMP worked with Chinese printing establishments, selling them Chinese type and assisting them to purchase printing presses and other equipment which was necessary for use with metal movable type. Before the 19th century Chinese printing had become a finely developed art, but by this time, printing technology in Europe and America had modernized, and it was more efficient and less expensive. Type founders and missionaries in Europe and Asia reduced the 40,000-character Chinese language to amanageable number by determining which characters were necessary for printing Christian literature. Then they mass-produced them in metal movable type. The PMP was the pioneer that succeeded in this effort, thereby modernizing China's printing industry and promoting the massive introduction of Western secular as well as religious thought. The modernization of China in general rests upon the modernization of the printing industry, for this development preceded and made possible the reforms which followed it.Item Clio at College Park: The Teaching of History at the University of Maryland, 1859-1968(1978) Ross, Martha Jackson; Rundell, Walter Jr; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)The evolution of the teaching of history at the University of Maryland reflects both the changing role of history as a course of study and the altered status of history as a scholarly discipline. After a succession of history teachers with degrees in English or political science, the first professor with a history Ph.D., Hayes Baker-Crothers, came to Maryland in 1925. Other trained historians followed, but growth was slow. In 1940, President H.C. Byrd hired Wesley M. Gewehr to head the History Department. In the wake of stresses of World War II, dissension between Byrd and Gewehr caused even more neglect than might otherwise have accrued to a "service" department. History appointments, salaries, and facilities all suffered from Byrd's hostility throughout his administration. Four years after Byrd resigned in 1954, Gewehr retired, leaving to his successor, Aubrey C. Land, the task of developing a true university department with the support of the new president, Wilson H. Elkins. With worthwhile objectives but an abrasive manner, Land alienated a significant number of his senior faculty, especially those who had been close to Gewehr. Eventually, Land lost the confidence and support of the administration and withdrew as department head. An interim committee administered the department under the direction of Dean Charles Manning until a new chairman, David A. Shannon, was chosen in 1965. A recognized scholar, Shannon attracted a number of distinguished historians in a variety of scholarly fields before departing after three years. With a faculty of achievement and promise, the University of Maryland moved to capitalize on its advantageous location near the nation's capital to establish a History Department of the first rank.Item Anglo-American Relations, 1789-1794(1976) Mezzullo, Louis A.; Gordon, Donald C.; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)The thesis is a study of certain internal and external events that affected the development of Anglo-American relations during the period from 1789 to 1794. It examines the international situation b efore and after the adoption of the Constitution in 1789, aspects of British policy toward the United States during this period, the diplomatic mission of Gouverneur Morris, the struggle in Congress over the resolutions introduced by James Madison designed to discriminate against British shipping, and finally, the events leading up to the appointment of John Jay as envoy extraordinary to Great Britain. The narrative and analysis is based on printed secondary and primary sources. The central theme is that the policy advocated by Alexander Hamilton, and supported by most of the Federalists, was on the whole the one best suited to the strengths and weaknesses, internal and external, of the United States during this early stage in its development. Viewed in a contemporary setting, a policy that sought to avoid war and retain commercial intercourse with Great Britain was not only essential to the success of the financial system erected by Hamilton but also necessary to prevent internal disunity and loss of territory as a result of a disastrous war. The Hamiltonian system rested on credit, and that credit was supported by import duties. By far the largest amount of imports came from Great Britain. Internal disunity, exemplified by separatist movements in the west and in Vermont, was an ever present consideration. The United States was not strong militarily. By remaining at peace, America gained time to reduce the national debt, develop internally, and improve the administration of the national government.Item Jane Austen: The Moral Imperative(1976) Carter, Barbara Sue; Myers, Robert Manson; English; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)According to Edward Austen-Leigh and subsequent critical tradition, Jane Austen urged no system of morality save the inferiority of low to high principles. While she propounds no religious doctrine, the six novels reveal, if not a complete code of behavior, a moral imperative, a direction one should take to come to successful terms with life. First, one must face reality. Catherine Morland, in Northanger Abbey, has to learn that Gothic fantasies are neither the stuff of life nor a reliable guide to it. More importantly, she must perceive the motives and feelings of others. Reality, once understood, must be accepted. The tasks of the present must be accomplished; its pleasures, however limited, must be enjoyed, because to squander time in regret for the past or anticipation of the future is to court misery. Sense and Sensibility extends the definition of this duty to include care for the material and emotional welfare of one's family. By failing to provide for his stepmother and sisters, John Dashwood contrasts unfavorably with Sir John Middleton and Colonel Brandon. The difference between Elinor and Marianne Dashwood is not merely between sense and sensibility, but between care for the feelings of others and selfish absorption in one's own troubles. Elinor's sense largely derives from her wish to spare increase of her suffering by spreading its effects . Marianne must nearly die before she comes to a like commitment to practical compassion. In Pride and Prejudice, confrontation of reality and the claims of family are united in a statement of the need for self-knowledge in order to represent our selves accurately to the world and thereby enhance the family's claim to gentility. Elizabeth and Darcy realize they have created erroneous first impressions and must labor to erase these, while Lydia's elopement renews our awareness that what one does individually affects the whole family's position. Mansfield Park elaborates on this theme by arguing for sound judgment in the rearing of children to behave responsibly according to the dictates of society. Although one's station does influence character, there is a better guide available to all: conscience. Mary Crawford, appealing though she is, lacks moral fibre, while Fanny Price, however diffident, delivers accurate judgments because conscience guides her formation of them. In Emma, this eighteenth-century construct of conscience and rationality called right reason is brought to bear on the question of the obligations the privileged have to those less well-circumstanced. Emma must realize that the caste system exists to preserve order, not to gratify conceit. Mr. Knightley emerges as the ideal upper class gentleman: responsible, wise, compassionate. Persuasion shows Sir Walter Elliot as a moral bankrupt, preening himself on lineage and estate instead of laboring to justify the possession of them. He has wasted his substance and dissipated the force of his character to gratify vanity. His daughter Anne has extracted from a bleak existence whatever joy she could find in being useful to others. Her marriage to Captain Wentworth is less a reward for her past endurance than a happy exception to her uncomplaining acceptance of a barren life. Throughout, she has been supported by a belief that in breaking the original engagement she did right in yielding to the persuasion of her older friend Lady Russell, despite her conviction that the advice itself was wrong. The book thus urges clear-sighted evaluation of the real world and its inhabitants, assumption of responsibility for family and dependents, and obedience to the codes needed for social stability.Item ANNUALS: A Collection of Poems(1978) Mackey, John Joseph; Van Egmond, Peter; English; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)The poems in this collection were written during the past year and are arranged in roughly chronological order. My intention in writing the poems was to construct a truthful recreation of experience which would evoke corresponding feeling. By selecting and ordering details of ordinary occurrences, I hoped to create microcosmic situations. The use of literary, mythological, and biblical allusions aided me in this endeavor. These, like all poems, should be read aloud, for the sound of words was a prime consideration in their making. The beauty of poetry, I believe, lies in the expression itself, the art born of ordinary experience and chiseled by the tool of language. My attempt was to create something pleasurable and universal from the raw material of experience. Having begun writing Shakespearean sonnets as a challenge, I soon found that the strict meter and rhyme scheme were excellent aids in producing a poem from a germinal idea. Hence, more than a few that follow are in this mode.Item The Organization and Use of the Maryland Militia in The Whiskey Rebellion, 1794(1978) Rogers, Robin Michael; Bradbury, Miles; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)This thesis is directed at the use of the Maryland militia during the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 in western Pennsylvania. The call for militia, made by President Washington, was not well received in the state. The quota was not tilled, and attempts to fill it touched off riots in western Maryland. These riots made another call necessary, this time made by Maryland Governor Thomas Sim Less. Only Maryland troops were requested, and the quota was filled completely and quickly. The difference in the militia's response is an important part of this thesis because it affords an examination of the condition of federal state relations in the first few years after the ratification of the Constitution. Evidence discussed in this thesis provides material from which several conclusions may be drawn. The examination of the federal and state militia law shows that the federal government was uncertain of its position in attempting to dictate legislation to the states. The state government was uncertain too, about how much it should be dictated to. The result of these uncertainties was a set of weak militia laws that left the responsibility of the obedience to them up the individual militia men. Indeed, the two governments were not only unsure of their positions with each other, but also unsure of their position with the citizens. They were not certain that the citizens would support militia laws, or militia calls. The difference in the militia's response to the two calls also shows that the militia was not certain of its responsibility to answer a requisition. Troops from Maryland were much more concerned with protecting their own state, and possibly homes and families, than they were with protecting the federal government's whiskey excise. Aside from the natural desire for self preservation, the difference indicates that the militia and its leaders were willing to inconvenience themselves for the state, but not for the Union.Item The British in the Arctic, 1818-1829(1971) Lowry, Peter Joseph; Gordon, Donald C.; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)This thesis will concern itself with British involvement in the Arctic during the period 1818 to 1829. This study seeks to determine and to explain why the British decided to go into the Arctic after the Napoleonic Wars, what happened in the various expeditions that were sent out, and what results were achieved from such an investigation. Various forces, motives and prominent figures are examined to establish the kind of rationale that induced government to sponsor not only one expedition but to embark upon a sustained and continuing series of exploration in the Arctic regions. A recurrent theme that presents itself throughout this quest - and a notion that had held the minds of men for centuries - was the road to Cathay. In order to achieve this dream, British policy was directed towards the discovery of a north-west passage or, failing that, a quicker route to the east via the North Pole. By 1829 the British had become disheartened in the quest. Again and again expeditions had returned without having achieved their goals. The most immediate and obvious success was, of course, the opening up of the North American continent bordering the Arctic Ocean. The other major achievements were the discoveries and additions given to science.Item When Vernal Suns Forbear To Roll: Belief and Unbelief, Doubt and Resolution in the Poetry of Philip Freneau(1977) Griffith, Joseph Jeffrey; Vitzthum, R.C.; English; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)This study analyzes and evaluates the pre-1790 lyric poetry of Philip Freneau through close examination of representative poems. Freneau should be taken more seriously as an artist and thinker than he now is: the notions that Freneau was "dwarfed and transformed" or "thwarted" by his environment and that he "entirely congruent" to the literary and philosophic conventions of his day are contradicted by the poetry but have influenced the general critical estimate of the poet. Freneau was a careful poetic craftsman who not only sometimes reversed the poetic and philosophical conventions but also often used his poetry to examine his own philosophical relationship with the universe. The central issue for Freneau was not simply the essential transience of all life, as most critics have argued, but rather the lack of a phenomenological reality which could be reliably known. Thus Freneau was concerned with the development of a meaningful way to live in a world which he speculated might be void of meaning. The introduction reviews past and present critical assessments and summarizes the standard critical views--Pattee's, Clark's, Leary's, Adkins', Bowden's; explains the editorial difficulties in dealing with Freneau's works; and outlines the dissertation's purpose, method, and organization. The body of the study consists of an examination of key lyrics from the editions of 1786 and 1788 which reveal the themes and formal artistic techniques characteristic of Freneau's serious earlier poetry. Each poem is subjected to three kinds of study. First the central thematic concerns of each poem and the patterns of symbol and image with which the poet conveys them are examined. Second the formal structure of each poem, showing how Freneau's manipulation of rime, rhythm, and spatial organization either underscores or undercuts his meaning is considered. Third, the extensive revisions which Freneau made of these poems and their purpose and effect are analyzed. In each case, the first collected edition of the poem is used as the basis for discussion, following the chronology of the poem's publication as closely as possible. The study is divided into six chapters. Chapter one is the introduction; chapters two and three discuss the 1786 edition; chapters four and five the 1788 edition. Chapter six, the conclusion, recapitulates the major points made in the preceding chapters; briefly considers selected poems from the 1795, 1809, and 1815 editions; and assesses Freneau's achievement.