▼ This dissertation is based on six leading families in the United States, their mansions and their yachts. They experienced status through consumption of luxury goods, especially in decorating their homes. The thesis of this study is that it appears that yacht owners borrowed interior design ideas of their homes to decorate the interiors of their yachts. Their purpose was to enhance and maintain a presentation of status while at sea. It is assumed that yacht interiors from 1870 to 1920 were an extension of house interiors, reflecting the owner’s status, specifically in the use of textiles. The luxury yachts were extravagant symbols of the wealth, taste, and social power of their owners and were paraded as a statement of social status. The consumption of luxury products and an overt demonstration of leisure were part of the lifestyle that Gilded Age industrials and financiers strove to obtain. Luxury yachts were used as a tool, either through sport, cruising or extravagant entertaining, to promote the apparent well-being of the family. The three eras of yachting during the Gilded Age were: schooner-yachts, auxiliary-yachts and steamer yachts. This study will examine the interiors and textiles of mansion drawing rooms and luxury yachts at each phase of development, and whether or not they were transferred to the yacht’s main saloon as a statement of social status. Four specific topics will be addressed. These are: developments in the Gilded Age that gave rise to elite Americans’ desire for extravagance in luxurious home interiors, the rise of the American parlor as a status prototype, evaluation of the auxiliary activities that supported yachting as a social status statement and the technological advances that promoted luxury yacht, and home interiors. Advisors/Committee Members: Cunningham, Patricia.

Advisors/Committee Members: Sibley, L. R.

▼ The physical and chemical structure of dyed and undyed historic cotton samples recovered from the site of a deep ocean shipwreck, a modern reference cotton, and a sample of the reference cotton immersed at the ocean site for three months were studied with five analytical methods: optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, FT-IR microspectroscopy, x-ray diffractometry, and energy dispersive spectroscopy.The results indicate that the physical macro and micro structure of the two historic cotton fibers have been altered during their long-term exposure to the deep ocean environment, but their cellulosic composition has been retained. X-ray diffraction crystallinity ratios and the infrared crystallinity indices indicate that the undyed historic marine cotton displays increased crystallinity because of the biodegradation it sustained. Crystallite size in the dimension ⊥ (002) was reduced in both of the historic marine cotton samples. Infrared spectra analysis showed evidence of molecular rearrangement in the cotton fibers with marine immersion history.Particulate deposits and deposit layers encrusting entire fiber surfaces were observed. The observed black deposits contain iron and sulfur, and are likely to have formed as a result of microbial sulfate reduction. Two types of cellulolytic microorganisms were found, and they attack the undyed cotton fiber in two distinct manners: layer to layer attack by rod-shaped microorganisms, and wall penetration by oval-shaped ones. It was found that dyed historic cotton was mordanted with tin, which also functioned as a biocide and protected the fiber from biodegradation.The results obtained from the five analytical methods also indicate that the methods are applicable methods for the study of small samples, achieving relatively high precision and accuracy. Second derivative infrared spectra provided reliable peak identification. The peak fitting method applied to the x-ray spectra resolved more diffraction lines than those by the methods reported in the literature. In addition, more crystalline structure information is revealed by fitting the x-ray spectra through a Gaussian function without phase separation than by polynomial fitting methods of phase separation reported in the literature. Advisors/Committee Members: Jakes, Kathryn A.

Advisors/Committee Members: Dickey, Lois E.

Advisors/Committee Members: Dickey, Lois E.

Advisors/Committee Members: Dickey, Lois E.

Advisors/Committee Members: Lennon, S.

▼ Spinning is the twisting process by which short fibrous materials are combined into longer, stronger structures such as string or yarn. Thigh-spinning and spindle-spinning are two ethnographically documented methods used to create yarns in eastern North America. Despite the existence of fine yarns in Mississippian (ca. A.D. 800 - A.D. 1600) textiles, no directly associated evidence of spinning technology is found in the archaeological record. The objective of this research was to characterize thigh-spun and spindle-spun yarns to determine a set of yarn properties that distinguish them from one another.Yarns were produced for the study by experienced thigh-spinners and spindle-spinners. To ensure that the yarns studied would represent yarns made with materials available in eastern North America, bast fibers were collected from common milkweed and Indian hemp, both indigenous fiber plants. Yarns were also made with commercially available flax fibers. Production of experimental yarns afforded opportunities to explore additional areas of inquiry, including fiber production rate, yarn production rate, and yarn quality.Twist angle, surface fiber arrangement, and cross-sectional fiber arrangement were properties used to characterize yarns made by the two spinning methods. These properties were chosen because they can be measured in a minimally destructive manner. Yarn twist, expressed as singles yarn twist angles, proved to be the most promising yarn feature for differentiating thigh- and spindle-spun yarns. The surface fiber arrangements were useful for visual identification of spinning method, and the cross-sections showed differences in yarn structure. These characterization results contributed to development of a Spinning Technology Determination Checklist. The Checklist employs a series of research tasks to gather evidence from the archeological record that will lead to acceptance or rejection of spindle-spinning as the most likely method of yarn formation. Although developed with the Mississippian textiles from Etowah Mound, GA (ca. A.D. 1200) as an intended case study, the Checklist is designed to be applicable to textiles from other societies. The testing of yarn production rate as well as quality-related properties such as tensile strength and yarn irregularity provided insight into the roles of the two spinning technologies in the broader contexts of time use and textile manufacture. Advisors/Committee Members: Jakes, Kathryn A.

▼ Previous research supported the predictive effectiveness of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model, and extended it to explain consumers’ behaviors in various social friendly behavioral settings. However, little research has used a psychosocial perspective to examine the predictors of consumers’ purchase intentions towards socially responsible products. The present study provides an empirical application of the TPB model to increase understanding of socially responsible purchasing. Based on a literature review, in this study I add personal moral norms as a predictor of purchase intention, along with the other three predictors in the original TPB model. Based on the results of an online survey of 198 college students, the original TPB model and the extended model are tested and compared regarding the predictive power for purchasing intention. The relationships of the personal norm to other volitional variables, i.e. attitude and subjective norm, are also discussed, in order to have a better understanding of the comprehensive role of personal norms in a normative-related context. Advisors/Committee Members: Stoel, Leslie.