Student Research

Students who complete designated Programs of Emphasis in the department of History and Art History write senior theses during 1 or 2 semesters. For details on the process, see the Curriculum page. For faculty research, please see the individual faculty pages in the left sidebar or the links below the senior thesis list.

ACADEMIC YEAR 2022-2023

  • Avi Vaughan '22, "The Devil in the Discourse: Reading the Roman de Silence as Religious Allegory" (Joint thesis in History and French)
  • Brian Standfest '23, "The Rise, the Fall, and the Legacy of the Tucker '48"
  • Courtney A. Eller '23, "Cults and the Establishment Clause" (Joint thesis in History and Politics)
  • Ethan Flint '23, "Freedom and Unity: How the People of the New Hampshire Grants Formed Vermont"
  • Meaghan Grennan '23, "Almost Feminists: 1960s Los Angeles Groupies"
  • Meaghan Grennanj '23, "F*** You! A Thesis on the Development of New York Punk on the Lower East Side"
  • Zhining Zhang '22, "Global Relations under the COVID-19: the Beginning of the New Cold War History"
  • Will Zeke Trowbridge '23, "Finding Robert de Reddinge: the Story of a Thirteenth-century Convert to Judaism"
  • William Harrell '23, "The Gracchi Domino that Collapsed the Roman Republic"
  • Tyler Yuslum '23, "The Fight for Purity in Ephrata: G. Edwin Brumbaugh and the Restoration of the Historic Ephrata Cloister"
  • Roland Hunter '22, "Fort Halifax: the Importance of Archaeology"
  • Timothy Fox '23, "A Story of Water, Iodine, and Plutonium: Hanford Engineering Works' Environmental Impact during World War II"
  • Nicholas Sifford '23, "An African American Odyssey through 363 Years: Reclaiming the History of the Siffords"

ACADEMIC YEAR 2021-2022

  • Jesse Chorba '23, "Memory, Modernity, and Sport: A Historiographic Analysis of Kon Ichikawa's Tokyo Olympiad (1965)"
  • Emilie Deffenbaugh '22, "Peace During a Time of War: A Look at How the Civilian Public Service Program Affected the Creation of Modern International Humanitarian Programs"
  • Madison Eicher '22, "Hexenwahn ('Witch-craze'): A Glimpse into Early Modern 'Witch' Lore, Inquisitions, and Trials"
  • Lucero Figueroa '22, "Malquerida: the voices of women in rural Michoacan, Mexico"
  • Elyzabeth Graham '22, "Andrei Amalrik: Prophet, Puppet, or Pasquinade?"
    Kai Islander '22, "The Lasting Institutions of Henry I and his Legacy"
  • Michael Meyer Starr '23, "The United States Minimum Wage: Controversy and Incremental Change"
  • Rabecka Mason '22, "Lacing Identity: Corsets in Mid-Victorian Britain"
  • Jordan Wilson '22, "Pre-Raphaelites and Painting: How the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood Revived and Individualized English Art"

ACADEMIC YEAR 2020-2021

  • Abigail Altland '21,  "The Earl Grey Scheme and the Immigration of Irish Famine Orphan Girls to Australia: Stories of Hardship, Discrimination, and Perseverance."
  • Kaden Zellers '21,  "Never Treated Like and Adult: Changes in Patient Autonomy from the 1950s through the 1970s."
  • Lena Hathaway '21, "Crafting Culture: Crochet’s Changing Styles and Status "
  • Adeline Pointer '21, "Francis Bacon: Exploring the Connections between Pig Carcasses and the Crucified Christ."
  • Grace Woolway '21, "Changing the Perspective: Suzanne Valadon and the Female Nude."
  • Emma Lane '21, "Challenging Library Neutrality: Black Lives Matter and Art in the Library."

ACADEMIC YEAR 2019-2020

  • Olivia Backenstoes '20, "Changing Perspective: American Indians in Pennsylvania's Historical Marker Program"
  • Mara Revitsky '20, "Oh, Brother: A Deconstruction of Gender Ideologies in Grimms' Fairy Tales"
  • Luke Kresse '20, "Boulevard Driver to the Sports Car Tiger: The Evolution from a Styling First to an Engineering First Design for the Chevrolet Corvette"
  • Kiera Lindner '20, "Continuity in Prehistoric Irish Religious and Cultural Practices: A Brief Survey of the Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Bronze Age-Iron Age transition in Ancient Ireland"
  • Karan Nair '20, "'Crack in a Can': The Role of Energy Drinks and Other Drugs in the Twenty-First Century U.S. Military"
  • Lauren Rollison '20, "'I have found Woman more Bitter than Death': Women in the Malleus Maleficarum"
  • Abigail Teaford '20, "Sofonisba Anguissola: Uncovering the Artist Behind the Paintings"
  • Benjamin Shupp '20, "To Serve God or Country: Understanding American Mennonite Military Service in the Second World War"
  • Logan Ulsh '20, "Only in a Jeep: The History of the Jeep as an Icon in American Culture"
  • Rose Vermette '20, "Hierarchies of Gender in Nazi Germany: How Nazi German Gender Hierarchies Shaped Gendered Violence in Concentration Camps"

ACADEMIC YEAR 2018-2019

  • Maddison Garrick '19, "Refuse, Withhold From, or Deny: Pennsylvania's Struggles with Public School Segregation from 1930 through 1970"
  • Veronica Cosmopolis '20, "The Guerrilla Girls and further strategies for enacting feminist agency"
  • Nitya Chagti '19, "Kalós' and the Intellectual Development of Greek Aesthetics."
  • Bridget Redpath '19, "Picture Perfect Power: How Queen Elizabeth I Politicized Fashion and Portraiture to Tame her Nobility."
  • Andrea Zilch '19, "His Brother's Keeper: Esau Jenkins's Commitment to Voting Rights on Johns Island, South Carolina, 1948-1972."
  • Allison Rismondo '19, "Taking a Bite of the Truth"

ACADEMIC YEAR 2017-2018

  • Kahley Stewart '18, "'She's Making History Working for Victory': The Women Who Were Rosie the Riveter and the Foundation They Laid for 20th Century Feminism."
  • Mason Sherry '18, "A Historiographical Examination of the Nanjing Massacre: Victimization, Silence, and Denial." 
  • Christina Altland '18, "Fort Dewart: A Historical and Archaeological Analysis of an Underrepresented Fort." 
  • Andrew Burlingame ’17: “The Roots and Effects of Conservatism in Central Pennsylvania,”
  • Emma Campbell '16, "The Prodigal Daughter Returns: An Analysis of the Relationship Between Henry VIII and his Daughter Mary." 
  • Linley Erickson '16, "Curmudgeon for a Cause: Harold Ickes' Lifelong Work for Racial Justice." 
  • Kayla Morgan '16, "Fleeing to the Fort: Loyalist and Indian attacks in Sinking Valley." 
  • Erik Krueger '15, “Pride and Prejudice:  An Examination of the Nazis’ Anti-Semitic Propaganda Campaign, 1933-1941."

Faculty Research

“When they think of their work in the shower, they know their work has come alive. The voices of people from the past whisper in their ears, and they can’t ignore that.” Read more...

—Alison Fletcher, professor of history