Great River : an environmental history of the upper Mississippi, 1890-1950

Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-212) and index.This study examines the evolving relationship between the river and the people who lived along its shores, focusing on the period from 1890 to 1950. The analysis proceeds from the assumption that in modern urban, industrial societies, such as the United States, people have increasingly transformed the natural environment into a human artifact. Such is certainly the case with the upper Mississippi. Between the late nineteenth century and the mid-twentieth century, both the river and its valley underwent major alterations that affected both the face of the land and the underlying fabric of the original ecosystems.The Keokuk, Iowa, hydroelectric Project : synchronizing the River with the needs of an industrial society -- The Keokuk, Iowa, hydroelectric project : the unanticipated consequences of river development -- Shells, sewage, and silt : the bureau of fisheries and the pearl-button Industry, 1890-1930 -- Conservation crusade : the Izaak Walton League of America -- Pollution of the upper Mississippi River.Digitized at the University of Missouri--Columbia MU Libraries Digitization Lab in 2012. Digitized at 600 dpi with Zeutschel, OS 15000 scanner. Access copy, available in MOspace, is 400 dpi, grayscale

“Ignorance is not Innocence”: The Social Health Association of Indiana and Adolescent Sex Education, 1907-2007

“Ignorance is not innocence,” thundered John Hurty Secretary of the Indiana Board of Health in 1913 attempting to persuade his colleagues that only “sex knowledge” could prevent the problem of adolescent venereal disease. Throughout the twentieth century, Hurty and other Indiana reformers took the lead in national efforts to raise public awareness of the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases as part of larger debates on how to educate adolescents on the dangers of sexual activity prior to marriage This project, funded in part by the IUPUI Solution Center and Social Health Association of Indiana (SHA), seeks to use various public history methodologies to illustrate the important role Indiana played in the history of adolescent sexuality education. The history of the Social Health Association of Indiana (SHA) reflects changes not only in the sexuality education movement, but also in the broader context of adolescent sexuality, educational reform and public health movements. This project is an example of the IUPUI’s Public History Master’s program training that blends theory and hands-on experience specific to public history, often in partnership with community organizations. Today, the SHA continues their 100 year tradition of “foster successful lives by empowering youth to make responsible choices and adopt healthy behaviors.

The Impact on the Ohio River Watershed by the United States Federal Government

poster abstractThis interactive timeline, which currently covers 1775 through the first quarter of 2014, takes accounts of water-related actions of the federal government and places them alongside water-related environmental events. Research drew together water use information within Acts of Congress, legal cases argued before the Supreme Court, actions undertaken by agencies within the Executive Department, and reports of pollution or flood incidents. This data was then charted using Tiki-Toki software into separate bands along the timeline with descriptions, images, and links to add depth of explanation. This juxtaposition reveals a story tracing human interaction along the Ohio River watershed since the American Revolution. In addition, the Tiki-Toki software makes the information available in multiple views through which different patterns emerge allowing future researchers to manipulate the timeline to more easily see connections with their own projects. Because of the data’s inclusiveness and ease of use, this timeline can provide a platform for comparison with the companion site of the Rivers of the Anthropocene study, the River Tyne. However, since the primary region of study in the United States is the Ohio River and its tributaries, only data applicable to this region specifically or all water in the United States generally was utilized. Because of the exclusiveness of the data, frequent gaps in events may risk being misinterpreted as a period of inactivity on the part of the federal government, though this is likely not the case; even apparent inactivity along the Ohio reveals much about human impact on the waterway systems

Rivers of the Anthropocene, Phase 1: A Comparative Study of the Ohio and Tyne River Systems

poster abstractRivers of the Anthropocene” addresses a fundamental problem facing scholars and policy makers alike: despite important advances in our understanding of the earth as a system — one in which humans and human systems have become recognized as prime agents in effecting changes to the earth — we have yet to create an approach that brings together scholars of earth systems with scholars of human systems. This is to the detriment of our overall understanding of global ecological change and limits our ability to respond to escalating crises. Without integrating methods from the earth sciences, social sciences, and humanities, scholars of the environment lose important tools in tackling some of the biggest issues facing humanity in the 21st century. As humans continue to play an increasingly significant role in altering their planet, it is incumbent upon environmental scholars to understand the human-environment interface in all its complexities. It is not enough that scientists measure what humans have done or what they can do to shift environmental systems; it is necessary that they work hand-in-hand with specialists in human systems to understand the limits and feedback mechanisms that beliefs, practices, ideologies, social structures, and cultural norms impose on human action. A comparative study of international river systems is a good place to begin building more meaningful bridges across the science-humanities divide, and it addresses the pressing issue of global water insecurity, which 80% of the earth’s population faces. The first stage of “Rivers of the Anthropocene” will create a flexible, interdisciplinary methodological and conceptual framework for examining the human-environment interface, one in which specialists in the earth sciences can learn from the approaches of the humanities and human sciences and vice versa

Rivers of the Anthropocene

This exciting volume presents the work and research of the Rivers of the Anthropocene Network, an international collaborative group of scientists, social scientists, humanists, artists, policymakers, and community organizers working to produce innovative transdisciplinary research on global freshwater systems. In an attempt to bridge disciplinary divides, the essays in this volume address the challenge in studying the intersection of biophysical and human sociocultural systems in the age of the Anthropocene, a new geological epoch of humans’ own making. Featuring contributions from authors in a rich diversity of disciplines—from toxicology to archaeology to philosophy— this book is an excellent resource for students and scholars studying both freshwater systems and the Anthropocene

Gateways to Commerce: the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers\u27 9-Foot Channel Project on the Upper Mississippi River

Review of: Gateways to Commerce: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers\u27 9-Foot Channel Project on the Upper Mississippi River. O\u27Brien, William Patrick; O\u27Bannon, Patrick; and Rathbun, Mary Yeater

Gateways to Commerce: the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers\u27 9-Foot Channel Project on the Upper Mississippi River

Review of: Gateways to Commerce: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers\u27 9-Foot Channel Project on the Upper Mississippi River. O\u27Brien, William Patrick; O\u27Bannon, Patrick; and Rathbun, Mary Yeater