1940s

The Forties saw the beginning and the end of the War. In the first part a man was either 4-F or in the service, and the campus ratio wasn\u27t as favorable to women as usual. The shift brought more women to Iowa State College because families didn\u27t have to pay to put their sons through school, and they sent their daughters. In 1941, home economics enrollment hit a peak of nearly 1,800 students

A Feeling for History? Bakhtin and `The Problem of Great Time'

‘Great time’ has usually been seen as a ‘late term’ of Bakhtin’s. However, although it occurs most frequently in works written in the 1960s and 1970s, there is one known instance of its use in the 1940s. This confirms the close association between the notion and Bakhtin’s dominant concerns of the 1930s and 1940s, in particular the ‘becoming’ that he associates with the novel in general and the Bildungsroman in particular. ‘Great time’ thus needs to be examined in the context of the connections between his thought and Hegelian antecedents, as well as his of his approach to time in terms of other models, both philosophical and anthropological

Disease And Humanity: Ba Jin And His Ward Four: A Wartime Novel Of China

Family as Ba Jin’s intense concern seems to be a central icon of his literary works, carrying through from his Family (1933) to Cold Nights (1947). After briefly reassessing Ba Jin’s literary contribution in his early phase, this essay will focus more on Ba Jin’s novels written in the 1940s, particularly his Ward Four, which rarely attracts critical attention. For Lu Xun, mental disease in China was more crucial than physical disease. Ba Jin uses both mental and physical diseases to explore humanity in a wartime hospital. Ba Jin’s early novels were infused with more radical ideas, but as a more mature writer in the 1940s he provided readers with a new perspective to explore and understand society

“A Certain Stigma” of Educational Radio: Judith Waller and “Public Service” Broadcasting

This paper explores Judith Waller’s radio programming philosophy over her career that began in 1922 at WMAQ Chicago. In the 1940s, representing the interests of her employer NBC, Waller began to use the phrase “public service” as a way to break free of the “stigma” of educational radio. The concept of public service programming shifted during the 1930s and 1940s in the US, redefined and negotiated in response to assumptions about radio listeners, the financial motivations of commercial radio, and Federal Communications Commission rulings. This paper brings renewed attention to the past and present political economy of media in the US, providing a window into the historically complex relationship between commercial and noncommercial media that continues to this day

Viscose Rayon: An Absorbing Problem. An Investigation into the Impact Conservation Wet Cleaning Treatments have on Historic Woven Viscose Rayon Fabrics; with a Supplementary Analysis of Current Techniques for Identifying Man-Made Fibres

Viscose rayon has been in production for over a century, however, minimal literature is available on its conservation. Pre-1940s viscose rayon has poorer wet strength than later versions. The fiber’s manufacture has influence on its wet strength and progressive improvements to processing methods have improved this characteristic. The implications for conservation wet cleaning treatments on examples from different eras were investigated. Tensile strength testing was conducted on three sets of specimens from different times – c.1940s, c.1960s and c.1980/90s – each subjected to a controlled wet cleaning treatment. Results showed the two later viscose rayons lost significant strength in the wet state, up to 50%. The c.1940s fabric had a greater strength reduction of around 80% - however, degradation from a black colorant present affected the results. This highlighted the risk that degradation, even when not visible macroscopically, can become significantly exacerbated in wetted viscose rayon. Further tensile tests on specimens subjected to wet cleaning and then air dried showed a return of strength upon drying, suggesting that no apparent immediate permanent impact was had on fibers. This research has shown it can be suitable to wet clean viscose rayon, although such treatment may be less appropriate for older more degraded versions

University Scholar Series: Alison McKee

The Woman’s Film of the 1940s: Gender, Narrative, and History On February 25, 2015, Dr. Alison L. McKee spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Andy Feinstein at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Dr. McKee discussed her recent book, The Woman’s Film of the 1940s: Gender, Narrative, and History, which addresses the terrain between official public histories and private experiences of love, desire, and loss against the backdrop of World War II. McKee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Television, Radio, Film, and Theatre Arts at SJSU. She specializes in film history, theory and criticism, and gender issues. In particular, her interests include how gender and sexuality shape and inform narratives across different media.https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/uss/1021/thumbnail.jp

Reassessing presidential influence on state legislative election outcomes

I reassess the influence of presidential approval on state legislative election outcomes, incorporating the period from the 1940s to the 1970s in my analysis. Previous research finds that presidential approval has a significant effect, but such findings may be biased-they focus on elections after the 1970s, when the president was more visible to the public. Using an original state partisan balance dataset, I measure the effects of presidential approval and find that it has as much influence on state legislative elections from the 1940s to the early 1970s. These findings may engender concerns of state legislative accountability-if state legislators’ electoral prospects become increasingly reliant upon assessments of the president than themselves, they are less likely to feel beholden to voters and uphold their interests

Note on the Significance of the New Logic

Brief note explaining the content, importance, and historical context of my joint translation of Quine's The Significance of the New Logic with my single-authored historical-philosophical essay 'Willard Van Orman Quine's Philosophical Development in the 1930s and 1940s'