Nestled into the history department offices of Saint Michael's Durick Library is a treasure-trove of unique research findings. They offer new angles on the past -- each documented in detail through the senior thesis papers developed by Saint Michael's history majors, and archived in the library alongside the work of notable historians.
On two evenings at Saint Michael's, 15 history seniors presented the results of their thesis work from the Spring 2009 semester. Included in the lineup, Ashlynn Sylvain discussed her research on the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, a wealthy aristocrat turned peasant whose beliefs of non-violent resistance and the necessity of manual labor sparked an international following. Tolstoy's writings had influenced Gandhi among other leaders, and his views generated such wide public response that he had received over 8,000 letters written in 26 languages.
The European region also served as the basis for senior Andrew Martin's research, whose thesis focused on Jewish Resistance to the Holocaust. Martin gathered compelling evidence that illustrated how individuals banded together to carry out military resistance and rescue missions of captured Jews. An example of one such alliance, the Bielski partisans in German-occupied Poland, rescued more than 1,000 Jews.
Sylvain, Martin, and their senior history peers each spent the spring semester in senior seminar researching and writing a 40-page thesis on a topic of choice. The research needed to be original, drawing conclusions in part from a variety of primary sources -- first-hand accounts -- including memoirs, newspaper clippings, correspondence letters, paintings and photographs. In addition to completing their theses, the seniors give 15-minute presentations on their findings. This semester, Sylvain and Kelley Callahan also defended their theses in separate 40-minute sessions with history faculty to fulfill an Honors Program component.
The papers by this year's seniors will eventually be catalogued in the library, and will join the larger collection of student scholarship kept on file from more than 20 years of history senior seminar work at Saint Michael's.
The Spring 2009 student presenters and their research topics are listed below.
-
Ashlynn Sylvain
"Tolstoyan Communes and Political Landscape"
-
Andrew Martin
"Jewish Resistance to the Holocaust"
-
Shannon Burns
"John Brown and Impact on Origins of Civil War"
-
Nicholas Smith
"Irish and Burlington"
-
Stephan O'Neil
"Cuban Missile Crisis and Leadership"
-
Vassilios Kostakis
"Visual Arts and 1348 Plague"
-
Michael Durkin
"Presidents and Environmental Issues"
-
Evan Curry
"Bushido and Japanese Army in WWII"
-
Taylor Smoke
"Native American Clan Networks"
-
Caroline Reuss
"Women of American Revolution"
-
Josh Pastina
"SMC Foundation/Mission"
-
Matthew Gagnon
"Ski Industry in VT & NH"