Introduction

Thanks to a generous private endowment, Ibid. awarded the prize for “Best Paper” to three works in this volume. The prize, named for TWU professor emeritus Valentine J. Belfiglio, were awarded to Stefanie Hustoft, Lauren Davis and Ryann Guthrie for excellent scholarship and writing.

In addition to featuring our Belfiglio Prize winners’ essays, this volume includes featured forum departments examining Female Agency, Politics in the 20th Century, and the Environment in History.

This volume of Ibid. presents 13 essays written by graduate and undergraduate students which explore a diverse assortment of historical topics and research methods. The authors utilize various methodologies of analysis to delve into the intricacies of race, gender, politics, and the environment. They utilize original research to explore the political impact of the antebellum North Texas fires; explore women’s agency in gentile society during the 18th century; examine the historiographies of family values politics during the 20th century; and review works centered on the American West.

The first section of essays in this journal presents papers on women’s agency and how they were able make an impact domestically and in society. The first essay in this section, “Women and the Desire for Gentility in Colonial America,” by Ryann Guthrie, winner of the Valentine J. Belfiglio prize, examines material culture and how women’s possessions increased their status in the 18th century. The second essay in this section, “Early American Women on the Move: Captivity Narratives, Travel Journals, and Female Agency, 1676-1790,” by Riley Thompson is an analysis of women’s narratives during their travels. Through Thompson’s research, they describe how women were able to find increased levels of agency away from their homes. The third essay in this section, “Historiography of Progressive Era Women’s Organizations,” by Emily Gray, is an examination of late 20th century historians’ research on women’s organizations of the 1800s. The final paper of this section is “Seventeen: A History of the Transformations of the Magazine in Its Initial Years,” by Elizabeth Wickstrom. This paper analyzes how post World War II’s culture consumerism created a new market demographic of teenaged girls and helped form Seventeen Magazine.

The second section of essays presents papers on the prevalence of the environment in history. All three essays in this section discuss nature being manipulated or reacted to by the United States. The first essay in this section, “Burning Bridges: An Analysis of the Media Frenzy of the 1860 North Texas Fires,” by Stefanie Hustoft, winner of the Valentine J. Belfiglio prize, discusses the impact of the 1860 North Texas fires on Texas’ political theatre in the months leading to secession. The second essay in this section, “Slave Spirituals and the Southern Environment,” by Damon Parker, analyzes enslaved people’s connection the nature and how they integrated it into their spirituality. The third essay of this section, “Tourism, Myth and Scripted Spaces in the American West,” by Amy Evans, is a historiography that examines historians’ various arguments regarding tourism’s emergence in the United States’ frontier. The final paper in this section, “Karl Jacoby, Crimes Against Nature: Squatters, Poachers, Thieves, and the Hidden History of American Conservation (Berkley: University of California Press, 2001) (Review),” by Stefanie Hustoft, reviews Jacoby’s work to examine his use of settings to highlight the United States’ hand in disrupting Native American’s cultural practices.

The third section in the journal turns towards medieval France. Lydia McMillan’s paper, “Abelard and Heloise: A tragedy,” examines the well-known love story against the religious and societal norms of the period. McMillan primarily uses their letters to explore the two academics’ feelings for one another contrasted with wider cultural perceptions of how they were expected to act.

The fourth group of essays presents papers on 18th century political and cultural narratives. The first essay in this section is “Eighteenth-Century Gentility as Shown Through Estate Inventories from York County, Virginia,” by Elizabeth Croix-Blust. This paper analyzes estate inventories to examine gentility, class, and reputation in the 18th century. The second essay in this section is “Analysis on Suffrage Extension in 1776 New Jersey,” by Madilyn E. McGoodwin looks at New Jersey’s attempts to extend voting rights to white women and freed Black people after the Revolutionary War.

The final group of essays focuses on politics of the 20th century. The first essay, “Some Traditions are Worth Fighting For: Historiography of Family Values Politics,” by Lauren Davis, examines the ways that historians have written about how conservatives of the 20th century utilized domestic talking points to change the political landscape. The second essay in this section, “Review: The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas,” by Amy Evans, reviews the 2018 work of Monica Muñoz Martinez to examine her use of sources and how they support her analysis of Southern violence towards Mexicans during the early 20th century.