Browsing by Author "Robbins, Kevin C."

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Billy Sunday and the Masculinization of American Protestantism: 1896-1935
    (2008) Hayat, A. Cyrus; Robbins, Kevin C.; Lindseth, Erik L.; Goff, Philip; Lantzer, Jason S.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Defining community need through the lens of the elite : a history of the Indianapolis Foundation and its funding of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, 1893-1984
    (2012-11-16) Hardy, Marc Alan; Robbins, Kevin C.; Gladish, Kenneth L.; Craig, David M.; Barrows, Robert G. (Robert Graham), 1946-
    This history investigates the beginnings of community foundations in general and the creation of the Indianapolis Foundation specifically and its eventual funding of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. My findings reveal that, contrary to previous histories that have been written, the creation of community foundations was not driven by benevolence but by changes in federal and state banking laws starting in 1913 that allowed banks to have trust departments that broke the monopoly that trust companies had long enjoyed. In response, trust company executives chartered community trusts to publicly position themselves as benevolent, community-minded businessmen. This distinguished them as trustworthy compared to the greedy bankers of the day, which helped trust companies gain trust customers. Community trusts were responsible for identifying and disbursing funds to deserving beneficiaries, thereby relieving trust companies of a costly and time consuming burden. Even more important, the trust companies retained control over the community trusts by appointing surrogate board members. In addition, none of the trust companies that chartered the Indianapolis Foundation donated their own money, yet appeared charitable. All of these factors made community foundations a very lucrative arrangement. Funding the areas of arts and culture was not designated in the Indianapolis Foundation’s original purpose statement, yet the Indiana State Symphony Society was funded at the height of the Great Depression while many Indianapolis citizens went hungry. The love of music played a very small part in efforts by the wealthy elite to garner support from the Indianapolis Foundation for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. The public justifications for funding the symphony began with giving psychological relief to the citizens of Indianapolis from the pressures of the Great Depression, to the need of employment for musicians, then the importance of musical education of children, expanding to the importance of the symphony to the city’s reputation, and finally, in the 1980s, the symphony as a community asset that helped rejuvenate downtown Indianapolis. However, the real reason for funding was that the wealthy elite wanted the symphony to use as a flattering cultural institution that would elevate their social status and attract fellow elites and businesses to Indianapolis.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    In brighter colors: Fauvist influences and gender politics in the art of Gabriele Münter
    (2016-01-01) Miller, Janice; Robbins, Kevin C.
    Gabriele Münter (1877-1962) was a primary member of the twentieth-century German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). This thesis examine the stylistic intersection between avant-garde French Fauvism and German Expressionism in Gabriele Münter's substantial oeuvre. Her body of work demonstrates an unmistakable affiliation with modern French aesthetic inclinations, a distinctive characteristic that confirms Münter's intrinsic comprehension of innovation artistic principles in creative communities across Europe. To contextualize the analysis of Münter's stylistic experimentation, this thesis illuminates the development and maturation of German feminine artistic culture from 1900 to 1933.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Kimberlins Go To War: A Union Family in Copperhead Country
    (2010) Murphy, Michael B.; McKivigan, John R., 1949-; Barrows, Robert G. (Robert Graham), 1946-; Robbins, Kevin C.
    This is the story of the Kimberlin Family that sent 33 fathers and sons, brothers and cousins to fight for the Union cause during the Civil War. Ten family members were killed, wounded, or died of battlefield disease, a 30 percent casualty rate that is unmatched in recorded Scott County history. Of the 134 known deaths of Scott County soldiers, ten were members of the Kimberlin clan. While we know that the Kimberlins suffered disproportionately, our only clues to their feelings about the war come from 40 letters to and from the battlefield that have survived to this day. Were they fighting to save the Union or to free the slaves? How did they express grief over the loss of a brother? Did they keep up with their business and the women at home? And what did they think about “secesh” neighbors in southern Indiana who tried to undermine the Union cause? The answers to these questions will help determine if the Kimberlins were unusual in their patriotism or simply acting as any Union family would in an area of the nation known as Copperhead Country
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Labor Branch of the Office of Strategic Services: An Academic Study from a Public History Perspective
    (2007) Lynch, Doria Marie; Robbins, Kevin C.; Bingmann, Melissa; Barrows, Robert G.
    The first chapter of this thesis provides the background of the Labor Branch and the OSS as a whole. From the OSS’s inception in 1942 through its postwar transformation into the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), I cover the evolution of the foreign intelligence community in the United States. This includes sections on the politics within the OSS, the reasons the Labor Branch has not been a focal point of OSS research, and quirks about the Labor Branch that make it stand out from the rest of the OSS. The Labor Branch’s specific role in the infiltration of Germany is also discussed in chapter one. Chapter two is an extension of the materials presented in the first chapter. It focuses on a section of the Labor Branch called Bach Section. This section was devoted to making the infiltration of Germany possible by creating cover stories, forging documents, and preparing agents to go to Germany in the midst of Nazism and be able to survive, gather intelligence, and create resistance networks. The bravery, intelligence, and will of the Bach Section are clear in this chapter, and the reader will recognize that, without the Labor Branch and their colleagues at the Bach Section, no one, be they with the OSS or British intelligence, would have had much success in infiltrating Germany during World War II. My third chapter is a bit more complicated than the first two. In it, I discuss the nuances of writing historical fiction responsibly and as a viable means of public history. As guidance, I undertake a discussion of the OSS in published works of fiction. I give an overview of the way different novelists handle the bureaucracy, agents, accomplishments, and failures of the OSS, revealing what I feel each does effectively and poorly. While discussing each of the potential strengths and pitfalls of historical fiction, especially as seen in the OSS novels, I then provide real examples of how historical fiction might work with a case study involving the OSS Labor Branch. One particular OSS mission, known as the Hammer Mission, serves as my example. I detail different parts of the mission, the men who participated, their training, and the mission itself and discuss how to use these details within a novel.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Reformation Nuremberg: The Printers' Role
    (2003) Norris, Robert; Cramer, Kevin; Wokeck, Marianne; Robbins, Kevin C.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Riding Red Ink: Public Ownership of Mass Transit in Indianapolis
    (2011) Wilhite, Ryan Daniel; Robbins, Kevin C.; Barrows, Robert G. (Robert Graham), 1946-; Coleman, Annie Gilbert
    Today, most urban mass transit providers are publicly owned. Just a few decades ago, and for a majority of the history of mass transit, private owners provided transportation for communities. The decline of private ownership in Indianapolis resulted in transit crisis that pitted private owners against local government, riders and community groups. Advocates lambasted the private owners for their profit-first tactics, pointing to the dividends gained by the private owners. These owners, the Midland Transportation Corporation, also owned the mass transit companies in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Louisville, Kentucky. Indianapolis politicians, residents and newspapers, all firmly conservative, hoped private owners could continue to operate Indianapolis Transit Systems without public assistance. The imminent failure prompted a discussion of the future of transportation in the city of Indianapolis. Community groups hoped the new public corporation would increase service for Indianapolis and not continue the skeleton system managed by the private owners. A storm of uncontrollable events prevented the robust expansion of the new public corporation and its lack of funding resulted in a continuing decline of service, much akin to the private owners that were abhorred by transit riders. Public ownership in Indianapolis revealed the importance of public ownership in the historiography of mass transportation and urban history. The regional investigation of Midland Transportation confirmed the notion of transit as a unique industry, both in its industrial relations and influence of the locality. The basic rationale for public ownership in Indianapolis would be the most important: the provision of public transportation for those unable to afford private transportation to obtain necessary services.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    "A Steady Demand for the Usual": The Federal Housing Administration's Effect on the Design of Houses in Suburban Indianapolis, 1949-1955
    (1996) Verhoff, Andrew John; Monroe, Elizabeth Brand, 1947-; Barrows, Robert G. (Robert Graham), 1946-; Robbins, Kevin C.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item