Field House Museum

is Middlebury’s Virtual Sports Museum. The exhibits on this site were generated by students in a Winter 2013 course, “Designing a Field House Museum,” in collaboration with faculty, archivists, athletic administrators, and representatives of Sasaki Associates, the architectural firm charged with designing the new Field House. Each exhibit offers a thematic approach to Middlebury sports history. A separate exhibit features interviews with Middlebury coaches and administrators. Finally, we have created a timeline of Middlebury athletics.  Please feel free to comment on any of the exhibits, or contact us directly.

 

People Holly Allen, Assistant Professor of American Studies Students in WT2013 AMST1007 class

Related Links http://sites.middlebury.edu/fieldhousemuseum/

The origins of a general trend in Europe of rising prices between 1520 and 1640, labeled the Price Revolution, have been deeply contested by economic historians since the 1920s. The debate is divided between two major camps, stressing the importance of monetary and ‘real’ factors respectively. My paper provides a general overview of the literature since the 1920s. I identify the influence of parallel developments in economic thought on the debate. Further, using the same qualitative primary sources employed by previous works on the topic I construct a novel explanation for these rising prices, avoiding constraints presented by flawed/restricted data.

People Anil Menon Professor Paul Monod

Related Links My experience at the Spring Symposium

Downloads The Price Revolution

The popular Western perceptions of both Mohandas Gandhi and Subhas Chandra Bose are belied by their interactions in 1939. Gandhi, popularly perceived as the saint-like Mahatma, displayed his willingness to play political hardball to retain his hold on power. Subhas Chandra Bose, a left wing rival to Gandhi within the Indian independence movement, left a political legacy within the movement that controverts his image as an Axis collaborator of minor importance. Using primary source documents including British colonial records, contemporary newspaper reports, Indian National Congress resolutions, and statements issued by Bose and Gandhi, I outline the reasons for their clash and argue that Bose’s influence persisted past his ouster from the Congress Party leadership, reappearing in the push for the Quit India movement in 1942.

 

People Will Woodworth – Researcher Ian Barrow – Sponsor and Professor of History

Related Links  British Library Archive Search Times of India Online Archive Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Online Congress President: Speeches, Articles and Letters January 1938 – May 1939

Downloads 2012 Spring Symposium Slides Full Text of Thesis

For thousands of years, the written word contained only streams of capital letters, with unseparated words and sentences. Punctuation appeared in only rudimentary forms in the early centuries A.D., and was invented specifically to prevent those who read aloud in church from misreading on misinterpreting a passage of the scriptures. Spaces between words did not appear until the 700s A.D., after the development of the Carolingian Miniscule and the establishment of Benedictine rule, and it was not until the 1100s that they became common place. Suddenly, readers no longer needed to mumble through passages to discern their meanings, and began to read as we do most commonly today: in silence. The new written form inspired the first alphabetized glossaries, made books more compact and personal, and made literacy a more widespread goal. But it also triggered a sense of independence and empowerment as yet unknown in medieval society, causing a rise of critical thinkers and skeptics, and, in turn, inciting fear of heresy in the church. Indeed, without punctuation and the space between words, would we have the same capacity for questioning that we do today?

People Melissa Hirsch Researcher Louisa Burnham Sponsor & Associate Professor of History

Related Links

Downloads Symposium Presentation Slides

Primary sources, diaries, ancient coins, a mere scrap of paper, are the materials from which the stories of the past are discovered. The project I undertook while interning at the National Archives and Records Administration addressed how we, as teachers of history, keep primary sources available, captivating, and the focus of historical education. I investigated this directly by assisting in the testing and presenting of DocsTeach, one of the most innovative historical tools for educators, which provides interactive activities built from a database of digitized primary sources. I helped increase access to records further with use of social media. The growing social phenomenon of digitization is not just connecting us with our future; it is connecting us to our past like never before, lowering the barrier of access for students young and old. The educational tools being created around these now easily accessible records, such as DocsTeach, are just the beginning.

People Brittany Gendron Researcher Amy Morsman Sponsor & Associate Professor of History

Related Links Middlebury College: Digital Collections Berkman Center Announces Digital Public Library Planning Initiative The Strategic Plan of the National Archives and Records Administration 1997-2007 Library of Congress: American Memory Library of Congress: National Jukebox New York Times: Playing Catch Up In a Digital Library Race

Downloads Symposium Presentation Slides The National Archives: DocsTeach The National Archives: Digital Vault

Beginning in the thirteenth-century, artists in Cologne created reliquary busts to contain the physical remains of Saint Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins. These reliquaries are visually unique because they are strikingly life-like and coney obvious feminine qualities. It is odd that the reliquaries’ approachable femininity is celebrated because women were often damned as the instigators of the original sin. With this central Christian idea in mind, it is therefore all the more surprising that Christians venerated Saint Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins, a group of female martyrs, whose reliquaries and legend have highly gendered characteristics. In my presentation, I explicated the significance of these reliquaries through examining the symbolism of the Passion of Saint Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins, the formation of the cult of their relics, and the meaning of these reliquary busts in late medieval society.

People Elizabeth Hirsch Researcher Eliza Garrison Sponsor and Assistant Professor of History of Art & Architecture

Related Links History of Art & Architecture Department Undergraduate Research at Middlebury

Downloads Symposium Presentation [PowerPoint]

Although early literature of Maryland and Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay reflected the first settlers’ unbridled consumption of resources, as the twentieth centuries due to habitat loss, overfishing, and pollution, literature, specifically an emergent genre of children’s and young adult literature, demonstrated a shift from entitlement towards stewardship of the Bay’s resources. Authors of children’s and young adult literature increasingly encouraged youth, either didactically or through metaphor, to value the Bay’s resources, protect the health of the Bay, and persuade others to become stewards of a healthy Chesapeake for future generations. This presentation will examine the transformation of Chesapeake Bay literature, and explore how these children’s and young adult works color the growing environmental education movement in the Bay region.

People Laura Williams Researcher Daniel Brayton Sponsor & Assistant Professor of English & American Literature

Related Links Undergraduate Research Office

Downloads Symposium Presentation Slides Introduction – The Chesapeake Bay – A History of Degradation Chapter 1 – The Lorax Within – Children’s Literature of the Chesapeake Bay Chapter 2 – Stewardship Ambassadors – Young Adult Literature of the Chesapeake Bay Conclusion – Children’s and Young Adult Literature Grow Up – Environmental Education and the Chesapeake in Memoir Works Consulted Acknowledgements

It is impossible to understand a nation’s motivations and actions without being familiar with its national identity and the circumstances that shaped it. In the early twentieth century, Germany and Italy were both governed by authoritarian regimes that intertwined extreme nationalism with fascist ideology. After WWII, each nation faced the difficult task of redefining the political, social, and ethical terms of its national identity. We ask the question “How did Italy and Germany come to terms with their fascist past, and to what extent is the legacy of fascism still alive in national discourse?” Our research, which uses Italian, German and English sources, shows that despite underlying similarities, each nation has taken a different approach to integrating their fascist past into national identity. We look, for example, at how Hitler and Mussolini are differently remembered and the effect of their political and cultural legacies. The larger aim of this presentation is to show how, generally speaking, memory is a key factor in national identity.

People Ashley Litzenberger Mark Turpin Researchers Natasha Chang Sponsor & Professor of Italian Natalie Eppelsheimer Sponsor & Assistant Professor of German

Related Links Undergraduate Research Office

Downloads Symposium Presentation Slides

Baseball is certainly Japan’s most popular sport, in part because players there are said to embody bushido, an ancient set of values said to have described samurai gentlemen of old. However, bushido is far from timeless and unchanging. Instead, it is a dynamic term that has changed, especially in the 20th Century, as Japanese society has struggled to maintain its unique identity despite the homogenizing pressures of globalization. I argue that baseball players bring about this change by setting examples for the rest of society, and that as the behavior of players has evolved, the popular perception of bushido and the way Japanese citizens idealize their own history has evolved right with them.

People Adam Lee Researcher Neil Waters Sponsor & Kawashima Professor of Japanese Studies

Related Links The Samurai Way of Baseball and the National Character Debate Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame Shoriki: Miracle Man of Japan. A Biography. Japan: A Documentary History

Downloads Symposium Presentation Slides Thesis Title Page Thesis Paper

One way of understanding British power in India is by looking at British policies in individual states. Beginning in 1818, the state of Sattara was ruled by an Indian prince called a Raja, who was directly put into power by the East India Company. Two decades later, the East India Company came into the possession of documents which questioned the Raja’s allegiance to the Company, British troops within India, and even Great Britain itself. Even with the knowledge that these documents were falsified, however, the British deposed the Raja of Sattara after an insufficient and politicized investigation into his supposed crimes. An examination of the fall of the Raja provides a glimpse into British power in India.

People Samuel Hurt Researcher Ian Barrow Sponsor and Professor of History

Related Links Debates at the India House: August 22nd, 23rd, and September 24th, 1845, on the case of the deposed raja of Sattara, and the impeachment of Col. C. Ovans. With historical notes, and a sketch of previous proceedings at the India House (1845) Sumitra Kulkarni: The Satara raj, 1818-1848: a study in history, administration, and culture The Times of London reporting on Sattara Undergraduate Research at Middlebury College

Downloads Presentation Slides [PowerPoint]

October 21st- 29th will be the Fall Student Symposium, “American Poverty in Context.” We aim to build awareness and encourage discussion of poverty-related issues on the local and national level. The symposium will tackle issues such as hunger and local foods, social determinants of health, labor legislation, community action, and homelessness. In addition to inspiring intellectual discourse on poverty, we hope to motivate more students to participate in volunteer activities and to consider pursuing careers in non-profits.

Please click on the posters below in the downloads section for more detailed information about each event!

People Joel Berg Executive Director of the New York Coalition Against Hunger Harlan Beckley Director of the Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty and Human Capability at Washington and Lee University Robert Prasch Middlebury College Professor of Economics Samantha Marder Project Manager, Project Health  Providence Hannah Nichols Talent and Technology Coordinator, Project Health National Offices Hal Colston Founder and Director of Good News Garage and Neighborskeepers Doug Sinclair Co-Founder of Middlebury Community Care Coalition Ingrid Pixley Property Manager for Addison County Community Trust Jeanne Montross Executive Director of HOPE (Helping Overcome Poverty’s Effects) Yuan Lim Student Organizer Veronica Muoio Student Organizer Dan Murphy Student Organizer

Related Links To Learn More and Take Action, check out these links First Stop: Alliance for Civic Engagement (ACE) ! Hunger and Food Justice Issues: VT FoodBank Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger New York City Coalition Against Hunger Health Equity: Project Health Unnatural Causes: Documentary on Poverty and Poor Health Housing Issues: National Coalition for the Homeless Vermont Committee for Temporary Shelter (COTS) Middlebury Community Care Coalition (MCCC) Helping Overcome Poverty’s Effects (HOPE) Feel Free to Post your own links below as well.

Downloads Full Symposium Schedule Information about Individual Events: Harlan Beckley Joel Berg Hal Colston Ingrid Pixley and Doug Sinclair Professor Robert Prasch Samantha Marder and Hannah Nichols

“Life Stories of Middlebury College” is a multi-phase initiative intended to gather people’s experiences while at the college, particularly reflections that highlight issues of diversity. In his interview, Ian McCray discusses the transfer student experience, the growth of the Middlebury campus, working as a staff member at the College, the admissions process, questioning perceptions of racism in town, and the changes to the student body in terms of socioeconomic and racial diversity.

People Ian McCray Assistant Director of Admissions; Interview Subject Emma Hodge Interviewer Susan Burch Associate Professor of American Studies; Director, CCSRE; Head of Life Stories project

Related Links Lacrosse Rugby Transfer Students Life Stories Project

Downloads Historic Maps of Middlebury College Area Interview Transcript

Oaths play an important role in our modern society from swearing-in procedures to Middlebury’s own Honor Code. A thousand years ago, oaths had a much larger role in early medieval society. Oaths were used to create artificial bonds between people. These bonds were the glue that kept the often violent early medieval society from falling apart. My study focuses on the social history of the oaths in northwestern Viking Age Europe through a close examination of Norse Sagas and French and English epics.

People Christopher Rogers Researcher Louisa Burnham Associate Professor of History & Advisor

Related Links University of Pittsburgh’s Folklore and Mythology Texts

Downloads Watch the Presentation with Slides (requires RealMedia player) Presentation Slides

The onset of terminal illness within low and middle income families often has devastating effects. This effect is substantially magnified if the person who becomes terminally ill is the primary bread winner of the family. In the Indian setting the onset of terminal illness causes three primary changes within a family’s daily functioning. Firstly, the individual and to an extent the family has to face social stigma that is associated with certain terminal illnesses like HIV/AIDS and Cancer. Secondly, if the primary bread winner is affected then the family looses a significant revenue source. Thirdly, the terminal illness results in large increases in medical expenses. However, regardless of the intensity of the financial crisis these families do function (however impaired) from a week to the next. My research explores the support structure that allows for this sustenance, its nature and composition, and attempts to utilize the findings to stimulate policy changes within the local and state systems.

People Anil Menon Researcher Peter Matthews Sponsor and  James B. Jermain Professor of Political Economy

Related Links

Downloads Symposium Presentation Slides

At the dawn of Europe’s global age, England and the Dutch Republic clashed in a series of violent naval battles known as the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652-1654). I argue that the First Anglo-Dutch War was the direct result of the calculated political and economic strategies of the English East India Company (EIC).  Through carefully crafted popular marketing campaigns and the consistent, calculated lobbying and infiltration of England’s monarchy and national government, the EIC definitively influenced English foreign policy – a strategy that would establish the foundation for the greatest global empire the world had yet seen.

People Andrew Van Horn Ruoss Researcher Paul Monod Advisor & A. Barton Hepburn Professor of History

Related Links 1651: A true relation of the unjust, cruel, and barbarous proceedings against the English 1614: Englands vvay to vvin vvealth, and to employ ships and marriners 1651: An act for increase of shipping

Downloads Presentation Slides