Changing Times, Changing Themes: An Exhibit Proposal of the Historical Occupancy at the Library Site from 1849 to 1869

The James Miller Leaming Resource Center is a public and educational institution established in 2000. Many students today may not know that a human skull was discovered during the construction of the library in January of 1999. ln fact. numerous graves were found at this site, with some having skeletal remains. There are many stories to tell from past occupants of this block. This. thesis will disclose the historical periods that occurred, how they developed and became an integral part of St. Cloud State University and the larger community. The year 1849 was chosen as the start date for this work because that was the year Minnesota Territory was created and also about the time the government was encouraging settlers to move here. 1869 was approximately the time the businesses moved away from this study area. During those twenty years, this block was within a frontier town and held the first church in St. Cloud and a cemetery. The exhibition proposal will consist of two parts displayed at two different places. The first part is a brief overview exhibition displayed at the library\u27s front exhibition case to provide context for the three main exhibits by displaying photographs and maps of the main occupants of this block from the time of 1 frontier town to the library. The second part will be a more in-depth display based on the research of the study area from 1849 to 1869 at the library\u27s lobby where there will be three main exhibitions about a frontier town, a church and a cemetery. The goal of the exhibition is to inform the Saint Cloud community especially Saint Cloud State students on the history of what took place at this site that they might not realize, with hope that they will appreciate its history. Also, the exhibit \u27s intention would be to show how the occupancy of the land changed serving different purposes. The investigation of the historical aspects would be done to provide an introduction to the history of the research area

“Anatomy, Grave-Robbing, and Spiritualism in Antebellum St. Louis”

Dr. Joseph Nash Smith’s Missouri Medical College was a leading school for physicians and part of the professionalization of medicine before the Civil War. He also required human dissection that, along with being a St. Louis character, made him one of the period’s most controversial figures as well

Serving the Religious Information Needs of Our Communities Without Blowing the Budget

Anecdotal evidence suggests that some Indiana public libraries are hesitant to purchase religious materials, especially small and medium sized libraries. The most frequently cited reasons are a potentially high demand upon a limited budget, the enormous pool of materials from which to select and the sometimes controversial nature of religious materials. Yet religious information needs are as real as any other need for information and, within the context of the current war, are of special importance for American citizens. After first addressing these hesitations in more detail, this article will offer practical suggestions for building a modest collection of religious reference materials for small Indiana public libraries

“To Think of the Subject Unmans Me:” An Exploration of Grief and Soldiering Through the Letters of Henry Livermore Abbott

“‘To think of the subject unmans me:’ An Exploration of Grief and Soldiering Through the Letters of Henry Livermore Abbott,” explores the challenges to both the Victorian ideals of manliness and the culture of death presented by the American Civil War. The letters of Henry Abbott, a young officer serving with the 20th Massachusetts, display the tension between his upper class New England world in which gentleman were to operate within an ideal of emotional control and sentimentality, and his new existence on the ground level of the Army of the Potomac. After the death of his brother, this tension initially caused him to suppress his grief for fear of being “unmanned” in front of his fellow soldiers. Eventually, Abbott found a different and more acceptable way to display emotion through mourning the deaths of fellow soldiers in his regiment as surrogates for his brother’s death. Over time, Abbott’s comrades became much more than stand-ins for his family. He truly began to conceive of the men he fought and suffered with from the beginning of the war in brotherly terms, and this allowed him to create a space in which he was comfortable openly grieving. Abbott’s use of surrogates both for his family and for the idealized “Good Death” allowed him to salvage his ideological foundations and apply them to a new world of carnage and violence

Elvis’ Gospel music: Between the secular and the spiritual?

Do fans sanctify their heroes? In the past, I have argued that Elvis fandom is not a neo-religious practice but that attention to a modified version of Durkheim’s theory of religion can, nevertheless, help to explain it as a form of social interaction. I take that argument further here, first by revealing the ethical and analytical advantages of neo-Durkheimian theory, then by pitting this theory against three aspects of Elvis’ sincere engagement with gospel music. Elvis Presley won three Grammy awards for his gospel albums and was the musician who did most to bring the gospel quartet tradition to the mainstream. His eclectic personal ties to spirituality and religion have become a focus of debate within his fan culture. They offer a set of discursive resources through which to explain the emotional impact and social influence of his music. If star musicians are positioned as centres of attention, what happens when they use their privileged position in the spotlight to offer a “spiritual” message

Institutionalized Individuality: Death Practices and Afterlife Beliefs in Unity Church, Unitarian Universalism, and Spiritualism in Santa Barbara

Both scholars and the larger public are becoming more interested in death rituals and afterlife beliefs as demonstrated by emerging scholarly panels and conferences on the topic and popular books that are topping the best-seller lists. This interest coincides with polls that show increasing numbers of nonreligious people in the United States. Where do people who fall into this “nonreligious” category—including those that are “spiritual but not religious,” unaffiliated, atheist, agnostic, and others—turn when considering ontological questions about death and afterlife? One possibility is toward American liberal religious institutions such as Unity Church, Unitarian Universalism, and Spiritualism. Through ethnographic research at these three institutions in Santa Barbara, I examine the way in which the individual and the group interact to understand afterlife beliefs and death rituals. Unity Church of Santa Barbara, the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara, and the Spiritualist Church of the Comforter each has flexible guidelines and leadership training that invites the integration of personal afterlife beliefs and death rituals within an institutionally agreed-upon framework. These are sites of meaning-making for those that are religious or “spiritual but not religious.” Here, beliefs about the afterlife and expectations surrounding death rituals are actively explored through interactions with other members, ritual attendance, and personal experiences of loss