IU Indianapolis ScholarWorks :: Browsing by Author "Robertson, Nancy Marie, 1956-"

Browsing by Author "Robertson, Nancy Marie, 1956-"

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The arsenal of democracy drops a stitch : WWII industrial mobilization and the Real Silk Hosiery Mills of Indianapolis, Indiana
(2013) Wilson, Carol Marie; Morgan, Anita A.; Robertson, Nancy Marie, 1956-; Cramer, Kevin
Conventional interpretations of WWII hold that the war brought the United States out of the Great Depression and laid the path for future economic prosperity. However, this was not the case for all businesses and industries. During WWII, unprecedented production output was required of U.S. industries to supply the great “Arsenal of Democracy.” Industrial mobilization required the creation of new agencies and commissions to manage the nation’s resources. These organizations created policies that deeply impacted U.S. industries involved in war production. Policies governing such areas as the allocation of raw materials, transportation of finished goods, and distribution of war contracts created challenges for businesses that often resulted in lost productivity and in some cases, loss of profitability. Government regulation of the labor force and labor problems such as labor shortages, high absenteeism and turnover rates, and labor disputes presented further challenges for businesses navigating the wartime economy. Most studies of WWII industrial mobilization have focused on large corporations in high priority industries, such as the aircraft, petroleum, or steel industries, which achieved great success during the war. This thesis presents a case study of The Real Silk Hosiery Mills of Indianapolis, Indiana, a company that is representative of small and mid-sized companies that produced lower priority goods. The study demonstrates that the policies created by the military and civilian wartime agencies favored large corporations and had a negative affect on some businesses like Real Silk. As such,the economic boost associated with the war did not occur across the board.
The Battle Over A Black YMCA and Its Inner-City Community: The Fall Creek Parkway YMCA As A Lens On Indianapolis’ Urban Revitalization and School Desegregation, 1959-2003
(2014) Burlock, Melissa Grace; Scarpino, Philip V.; Robertson, Nancy Marie, 1956-; Labode, Modupe
The narrative of the Fall Creek Parkway YMCA is central to the record of the historically black community northwest of downtown Indianapolis, which was established in the early 1900s, as well as reflective of the urban revitalization projects and demographic fluxes that changed this community beginning in the 1960s. This is because the conflict between administrators of the Fall Creek YMCA branch and Greater Indianapolis YMCA or Metropolitan YMCA over the viability of the branch at 10th Street and Indiana Avenue was a microcosm of the conflict between community and city leaders over the necessity of large-scale forces. This thesis specifically examines the large-scale forces of urban revitalization, defined in the study as the city’s implementation of construction projects in Indianapolis’ downtown area, and school desegregation, which was the focus of a federal court case that affected Indianapolis Public Schools. Delineating the contested visions held by Fall Creek and Metropolitan YMCA administrators about how the Fall Creek YMCA should have functioned within an environment changed by urban revitalization and school desegregation is crucial to understanding the controversies that surrounded major construction projects and desegregation measures that took place in the downtown area of Indianapolis during the late twentieth century. The study therefore understands the conflict between the Metropolitan and Fall Creek YMCAs over targeted membership groups and autonomy as a reflection of changes in the branch’s surrounding area. Moreover, the study utilizes such conflict as a lens to the larger conflict that took place in Indianapolis between the agents of citywide urban revitalization plans and community leaders who opposed the implementation of these plans, as well as school desegregation measures, at the expense of the historically black community located in the near-downtown area of the city. This thesis is informed and humanized, respectively, by archival research and oral history interviews with individuals who were involved in either the administration or advocacy of the Fall Creek YMCA between 1971 and 2003.
"But the half can never be told" : the lives of Cannelton's Cotton Mill women workers
(2013) Koenigsknecht, Theresa A.; Morgan, Anita A.; Robertson, Nancy Marie, 1956-; Dichtl, John R., 1965-
From 1851 to 1954, under various names, the Indiana Cotton Mills was the dominant industry in the small town of Cannelton, Indiana, mostly employing women and children. The female industrial laborers who worked in this mill during the middle and end of the nineteenth century represent an important and overlooked component of midwestern workers. Women in Cannelton played an essential role in Indiana’s transition from small scale manufacturing in the 1850s to large scale industrialization at the turn of the century. In particular, this work will provide an in-depth exploration of female operatives’ primary place in Cannelton society, their essential economic contributions to their families, and the unique tactics they used in attempts to achieve better working conditions in the mill. It will also explain the small changes in women’s work experiences from 1854 to 1884, and how ultimately marriage, not industrial work, determined the course of their later lives.
"Charity Never Faileth": Philanthropy in the Short Fiction of Herman Melville
(2014) Goldfarb, Nancy D.; Schultz, Jane E.; Eller, Jonathan R., 1952-; Robertson, Nancy Marie, 1956-; Tilley, John J.
This dissertation analyzes the critique of charity and philanthropy implicit in Melville’s short fiction written for periodicals between 1853 and 1856. Melville utilized narrative and tone to conceal his opposition to prevailing ideologies and manipulated narrative structures to make the reader complicit in the problematic assumptions of a market economy. Integrating close readings with critical theory, I establish that Melville was challenging the new rhetoric of philanthropy that created a moral identity for wealthy men in industrial capitalist society. Through his short fiction, Melville exposed self-serving conduct and rationalizations when they masqueraded as civic-minded responses to the needs of the community. Melville was joining a public conversation about philanthropy and civic leadership in an American society that, in its pursuit of private wealth, he believed was losing touch with the democratic and civic ideals on which the nation had been founded. Melville’s objection was not with charitable giving; rather, he objected to its use as a diversion from honest reflection on one’s responsibilities to others.
The Dilemmas of Bringing Your Culture With You: The Career Advancement Challenges of African-American Women Foundation Executives
(2014) Logan, Angela R.; Stanfield, John H.; Mesch, Debra J. (Debra Jo); Robertson, Nancy Marie, 1956-; Rogers, Pier C.
Grounded in leadership, cultural, communication, and gender studies, this dissertation investigates the challenges African-American women executives in the philanthropic foundation sector faced as they strive to have their culture legitimated within the culture of the workplace. Through the use of case study methodology, I examined the experiences of participants by conducting oral history interviews that traced their critical path to leadership. I also incorporated my own experiences in the field to further explore the connections between race, gender, and leadership styles in philanthropic organizations. The interviews and my own auto-ethnographic research explored the possible consequences of black executive women in the foundation world not being able to share aspects of their cultural lives in workplace networks and the impact of the critical exclusion of who they really are as whole human beings on the quality of their careers. An analysis of data collected from the interviews revealed key factors critical to the success of study participants. First was the presence of familial or close adults actively engaged in philanthropic activity during the participants’ formative years. Second was a strong influence of a faith tradition. Additionally, the date revealed that participants’ involvement in outside leadership roles, often tied to their racial and gender identities, were not capitalized on by employers. This study achieved several key outcomes. First, it afforded participants an opportunity to develop the personal satisfaction of expanding the body of knowledge related to leadership development within the philanthropic foundation sector. Additionally, by sharing their stories, these individuals were able to develop or strengthen mentorship relationships. Lastly, this study has the potential of being of significant benefit to the greater philanthropic foundation sector, since it worked towards the expansion of the body of knowledge specific to the issues of gender and cultural differences within the foundation sector.
Entertaining the Public to Educate the Public at Conner Prairie: Prairietown 1975-2006
(2010) Allison, David B.; Robertson, Nancy Marie, 1956-; Scarpino, Philip V.; Bingmann, Melissa
The nexus of presenting an authentic environment and engaging audiences has been at the core of debate around living history museums since their inception in the 1960s. Conner Prairie's transition from a folklife model to a learning theory and research-based organization is traced in this thesis.
The Farmland Opera House : culture, identity, and the corn contest
(2013) Wernicke, Rose; Monroe, Elizabeth Brand, 1947-; Morgan, Anita A.; Robertson, Nancy Marie, 1956-
Festive Expressions of Ethnicity: National German-American Festivals in Indianapolis at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
(2014) Rippel, Elena Marie; Wokeck, Marianne Sophia; Robertson, Nancy Marie, 1956-; Hoyt, Giles R.
Expressions of German-American culture in Indianapolis reached a high point in the first decade of the twentieth century. Social clubs such as the Socialer Turnverein and the Maennerchor enriched the city’s cultural life through musical performances and athletic classes and provided a social outlet for their members. During this decade, these clubs played a large role in organizing two national festivals held in Indianapolis: a Turnfest (gymnastics festival) in 1905 and a Saengerfest (singing festival) in 1908. Examining the planning and implementation of the Turnfest and Saengerfest sheds light on how club leaders responded to their social and political environment at the beginning of the twentieth century, how the respective clubs’ members conceived of their ethnic and club identities, and how they represented these identities in the festivals.
From social hygiene to social health: Indiana and the United States adolescent sex education movement, 1907-1975
(2015) Potter, Angela Bowen; Scarpino, Philip V.; Schneider, William H.; Robertson, Nancy Marie, 1956-
This thesis examines the evolution of the adolescent sex education during from 1907 to 1975, from the perspective of Indiana and highlights the contingencies, continuities, and discontinuities across place and time. This period represents the establishment of the defining characteristics of sex education in Indiana as locally controlled and school-based, as well as the Social Health Association’s transformation from one of a number of local social hygiene organizations to the nation’s only school based social health agency. Indiana was not a local exception to the American sex education movement, but SHA was exceptional for SHA its organizational longevity, adaptation, innovation in school-based curriculum, and national leadership in sex education. Indiana sex education leadership seems, at first glance, incongruous due to Indiana’s conservative politics. SHA’s efforts to adapt the message, curriculum, and operation in Indiana’s conservative climate helped it endure and take leadership role on a national stage. By 1975, sex education came to be defined as school based, locally controlled and based on the medicalization of health, yet this growing national consensus belied deep internal contradictions where sex education was not part of the regular school health curriculum and outside of the schools’ control. Underlying this story is fundamental difference between social hygiene and health, that hygiene is a set of practices to prevent disease, while health is an internal state to promote wellness.
Gospel of Giving: The Philanthropy of Madam C.J. Walker, 1867-1919
(2014-10-08) Freeman, Tyrone McKinley; Robertson, Nancy Marie, 1956-; Walton, Andrea; Labode, Modupe; Gasman, Marybeth
This dissertation employs a historical approach to the philanthropic activities of Madam C.J. Walker, an African American female entrepreneur who built an international beauty culture company that employed thousands of people, primarily black women, and generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual revenues during the Jim Crow era. The field of philanthropic studies has recognized Walker as a philanthropist, but has not effectively accounted for how her story challenges conventional understandings of philanthropy. I use historical methods and archival research to determine what motivated and constituted Walker’s philanthropic giving to arrive at three main conclusions. First, Walker’s philanthropy can be best understood as emerging out of a moral imagination forged by her experiences as a poor, black, female migrant in St. Louis, Missouri during the late 1800s dependent upon a robust philanthropic infrastructure of black civil society institutions and individuals who cared for and mentored her through the most difficult period of her life. Second, she created and operated her company to pursue commercial and philanthropic goals concurrently by improving black women’s personal hygiene and appearance; increasing their access to vocational education, beauty culture careers, and financial independence; and promoting social bonding and activism through associationalism, and, later, fraternal ritual. Third, during her lifetime and through her estate, Walker deployed a diverse array of philanthropic resources to fund African American social service and educational needs in networks with other black women. Her giving positions her philanthropy as simultaneously distinct from the dominant paradigm of wealthy whites and as shared with that of other African Americans. Her approach thus ran counter to the racialized and gendered models of giving by the rich white male and female philanthropists of her era, while being representative of black women’s norms of giving.

Browsing by Author "Robertson, Nancy Marie, 1956-"

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