PHD, Kent State University, 2013, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

Soldiers from southeastern Ohio and their families fought the Civil War (1861-1865) in a reciprocal relationship, sustaining one another throughout the course of the conflict. The soldiers needed support from their families at home. The families, likewise, relied upon the constant contact via letters for assurance that the soldiers were surviving and doing well in the ranks. This dissertation qualitatively examines the correspondence between soldiers and their families in southeastern Ohio, developing six major themes of analysis including early war patriotism, war at the front, war at home, political unrest at home, common religion, and the shared cost of the war. The source base for the project included over one thousand letters and over two hundred and fifty newspaper articles, all of which contribute to a sense of the mood of southeastern Ohioans as they struggled to fight the war together. The conclusions of the dissertation show that soldiers and their families developed a cooperative relationship throughout the war. This dissertation helps to provide a corrective to the overly romantic perspective on the Civil War that it was fought between divided families. Rather, Civil War soldiers and their families fought the war in shared suffering and in support of one another.

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2013, History

This thesis argues that electrification in Ohio, which spread from cities to the countryside, required a strong impetus from the Federal Government to reach its ultimate fulfillment. The author attempts to address a lacuna in the scholarship of electrification by providing an original work on the history of electrification in Ohio. This thesis makes use of a “case study” approach to examine the topic in a three-stage analytical framework: urban electrification in Cleveland to address the changes in public perception regarding power and the resulting municipal reform; the transition of Toledo's interurban railways from primarily traction companies to electrical power companies to illustrate the expansion of electrical access beyond the municipality making the issue a state concern; and restriction of Ohio's utility holding companies and the electrification of Miami and Shelby Counties by the Rural Electrification Administration to examine how firm federal policies succeeded where state and local intervention could not. The case is made here using a synthesis of existing literature on electrification and archival research. The present work concludes that the earliest attempts to expand electrification were made by private enterprise, but private efforts were most successful in cities where higher population densities guaranteed higher profits. Government actions on the part of municipal and state institutions tried to further electrification beyond the areas serviced by private utilities, but they lacked the resources and authority of the federal government.

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2020, History

Ohio politics during the Reconstruction era has received sparse treatment by historians. Not until 1970 with Felice Bonadio's North of Reconstruction was there a monograph solely dedicated to Ohio politics during the era. Robert Sawrey wrote his Dubious Victory in 1992, but still the historiography on Reconstruction Ohio remains dramatically underdeveloped. In Ohio, the question of African American suffrage was the single most divisive issue facing politicians during the era. Radical Republicans brought a referendum before the people of Ohio in 1867 to change the state constitution to protect the suffrage rights of both white and black males above the age of 21. The measure failed 216,987 votes (45.9 percent) to 255,340 (54.1 percent) votes. The failure of the suffrage amendment disheartened many Radical Republicans across Ohio and the rest of the North, yet Ohio Republicans managed to elicit more support for suffrage than most states in the North. Such support did not arise randomly; it intentionally developed over a three-year period beginning after the Civil War. Two primary research questions drive this project: 1) Did suffrage become a crucial issue in the state of Ohio earlier than the existing historiography suggests, 2) why were Ohio radicals able to generate more support for black suffrage within the Republican party than in other states in the North? By showing that Republican support (through Congressional voting records, public support via speeches and letters, and by Republican-sympathetic papers throughout the state) for black suffrage existed in significant numbers in 1865 (prior to 1866-1867, as Bonadio, Sawrey and others suggest) in both the Western Reserve and in other parts of the state and only continued to grow until the referendum in the fall of 1867, this project will argue that black suffrage was not only being pursued by radicals, but ultimately by the vast majority of the Republican party. Ohio's inability to secure black suffrage with over (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science, University of Toledo, 2018, Civil Engineering

According to the FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) memo dated November 15, 2013, state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are required to incorporate SHVs (Special Hauling Vehicles) in their load rating scheme and, if necessary, post bridges. Ohio-DOT uses its own set of legal trucks (2F1, 3F1, F1 and 5C1) in place of AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) type 3, 3-S2, and 3-3 legal trucks for load rating. A comparison of moments produced by the AASHTO SHVs showed an increase of up to 25\% over the Ohio legal trucks. To reduce the population of total bridges to be load rated for SHVs, it was hypothesized that Ohio bridges with a span of less than 200 feet, and a rating factor (RF) greater than or equal to 1.35 for Ohio legal loads, will have a load rating factor greater than 1.00 under the new SHV loads. This thesis presents the research work to assist ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation) in parametrically demonstrating the above-mentioned hypothesis. The parametric study examines theoretical single and multiple span bridges of uniform stiffness. For the parametric study of simple span bridges, the ratio of controlling RFs increased from fifteen to eighty feet, having 1.35 ratio at a span of seventy feet, and a maximum ratio of 1.36 for spans eighty feet followed by a decreasing trend. A ratio of 1.36 meant the controlling RF for SHV could fall to 0.99 for a bridge if its controlling RF for Ohio legal load is 1.35. Shear did not control in any of the cases The parametric study of multi-span bridges was done in two stages. Since thousands of span combinations were possible in the inventory, the first stage was to find the most conservative span configurations. It was found that two-span bridges are more conservative than other multi-span configurations, except for negative moment when the ratio of exterior to interior span is equal to or greater than 0.96. When the ratio of exterior to interior span is greater than o (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science in Environmental Science, Youngstown State University, 2018, Department of Physics, Astronomy, Geology and Environmental Sciences

The aquatic ecosystem of Mill Creek Watershed (MCW) is currently susceptible to pollution from nutrients and heavy metals due to the various human activities within the watershed. Sediment quality parameters such as trace metals, organic matter (OM%), pH, total phosphorus (TP) and particle sizes were measured at 13 sampling points along Mill Creek. The overall objective of the research was to determine the immediate land use around each of the 13 sampling sites and how that impacts the sediment quality. Each of these sampling points were used as watershed outlets to delineate 13 distinctive drainage areas, with their individual land uses. The results showed most of the parameters measured were within acceptable values. TP values within the southern watershed were higher than all other sites (MacDonalds et.al, 2005). These observations were explained by the land use of the delineated drainage areas around each of these sites. Site 9 had about 30% of its drainage area covered by agricultural land row crops, site 10 had 20% and site 8 had 14%. Agricultural runoffs may have played a role in the TP concentration. A more direct impact may be the location of the Boardman Waste Water Treatment Plant at site 8, the semi buffered cattle ranch located by the creek at site 9 and the crop farm located at site 10. Geospatial statistical maps created showed the northern portions especially site 2A and 4 as well as some middle areas of the watershed which include mostly site 8, 9 and 10, to have higher levels of most of the trace metals compared to the sediment reference values. The calculated correlations among percentages of land use, trace metals, TP, pH & OM%, showed Ba to be statistically significant to agricultural land use. TP was also positively correlated with agricultural land use but not statistically significant. pH was significantly correlated residential areas. The other trace metals were not statistically significant with any land use which may be because of the dom (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Environmental Science, Miami University, 2005, Environmental Sciences

My internship with the Ohio Natural Heritage Program assisted with the transition of the Ohio Natural Heritage Database from a paper to electronic geographic information system. I was hired to convert all data in Ohio's coastal region to digital information. In addition, I created GIS layers of wetlands and conservation lands. I also developed an ecological monitoring project at Irwin Prairie State Nature Preserve, located in northwestern Ohio.

Master of Social Work, The Ohio State University, 1984, Graduate School

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2023, Art History

This thesis and body of work examines the experiences and collective histories of Appalachians and clay. It analyzes and responds to readings about the history of the material starting with the geological formation of clay, and moving through stories of the civilizations that have inhabited this region. Because of its history of glaciation, the Ohio Valley has an abundance of clay. For this reason, it is also one of the earliest places in the archeological record that we see pottery in North America. The use of clay in this region continued after Anglo-Americans settled on the land, with industrial uses of clay expanding and eventually leading to fine art potteries taking root in southern and central Ohio. In this body of work, I continue this collective experience in clay by engaging with my personal history in Appalachia and telling the story of how I have come to make sense of the world around me.

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2020, Journalism (Communication)

The lynching era in Ohio lasted from 1803 to 1937. During these years thirty-five people died at the hands of a lynch mob and seventy-nine escaped from a mob's clutches. This thesis situates the history of lynching in Ohio from 1872 to 1932 and discusses the issue of complacent journalism in the Ohio press through a study of twenty-four cases of white-on-white lynching and racial terror lynching. This thesis shows that lynching was employed as a means to enact fear to keep Black Ohioans in a marginalized position and prevent them from prospering economically or politically. The author also argues that journalists were not objective bystanders but were key to the social voice and national conversation that accepted the practice of lynching in America. By utilizing the concept of critical race theory, the author shows that the racist ideal of Whiteness was able to become hidden by seemingly objective reporting, thus allowing the mainstream press to accept the practice of lynching without the guilt of unlawful “justice.” There is also a paucity of research on Harry C. Smith, a Black journalist who pushed for the first anti-lynching law in Ohio. As such, this research aims to make a significant impact not only on the literature involving northern lynchings but also in the history of Ohio and the need to understand its dark past. In 2020 this historical research hold saliency regarding the racial violence which continues today in America.

Master of Science (M.S.), University of Dayton, 2018, Civil Engineering

The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) began installing median cable barriers in 2003 along highway medians for all roadways that were narrower than 59 ft. The central goal of this work was to prevent cross-median crashes (CMCs) that raised a concern due to their frequencies and severe injuries they caused when they occurred. Cross-median crashes occur when a vehicle leaves its travel way, enters or crosses the dividing median, and collides with vehicles moving in the opposite direction. This study received data from 41 locations totaling about 201 miles of installed median cable barriers in the years 2009-2014. These locations experienced 2,498 median related crashes before and after installation. The study involved a review of police reports to identify target crashes and the manner in which the vehicles hit or crossed the cable barriers, either by penetrating the cables, over-riding, under-riding, stopped, or redirected. A detailed analysis of cable hits was also conducted. The study found that median cable barriers were effective in stopping vehicles from breaching the barrier; 95.4 percent of all cable median barrier crashes had no penetration of the cable barrier, i.e., the vehicles where stopped or bounced by the cables. This thesis study summarizes some key findings of safety effectiveness evaluation of the median cable barriers in Ohio. The findings of overall statewide crash reduction after the median cable barriers compared to before period are based on the safety effectiveness percentages computed by Empirical Bayes (EB) before-after study method using the Highway Safety Manual's (HSM) procedures. Safety effectiveness of Ohio's statewide cable barriers was found to be 73.9 percent for total crashes, 80.4 percent for fatal and injury (FI) crashes combined and 80.1 percent for fatal, incapacitating, and non-incapacitating injury (KAB) crashes combined. Therefore, the estimated crash modification factors (CMFs) for median cable barriers installed in O (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1990, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1981, Graduate School

MA, Kent State University, 2015, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

In the period between the War of the Rebellion and the Militia Act of 1903 the Ohio National Guard struggled to become a capable, professional military force serving both the state of Ohio and federal government. The origins of the Ohio National Guard lay in the Ohio Volunteer Militia of the Civil War. During the war Ohio needed a defense force of its own, separate from but compatible with the army of the United States. After sending its militia into volunteer service, Ohio recreated an organized militia in 1863. When the war ended in 1865 the militia, renamed the Ohio National Guard, numbered nearly 40,000 men. After a period of virtual-inactivity, the Ohio militia reemerged as the Ohio National Guard in the 1870s. It grew and evolved before entering Federal service in 1898 as part of the mobilization in the Spanish-American War. This mobilization lead directly to reform not only for the ONG but the country's entire militia institution. Historians have viewed the 1861-1898 era as one marked by growth of government authority. The relationship of the National Guard to the federal government changed in this era, with the former ceding control gradually to the latter. This thesis examines why that change took place and what implications it had on the ONG.

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 2014, Geology

James Evans, Advisor The Devonian Berea Sandstone is an internally complex, heterogeneous unit that appears prominently both in outcrop and subsurface in Ohio. While the unit is clearly deltaic in outcrops in northeastern Ohio, its depositional setting is more problematic in southeastern Ohio where it is only found in the subsurface. The goal of this project was to search for evidence of a barrier island/inlet channel depositional environment for the Berea Sandstone to assess whether the Berea Sandstone was deposited under conditions in southeastern Ohio unique from northeastern Ohio. This project involved looking at cores from 5 wells: 3426 (Athens Co.), 3425 (Meigs Co.), 3253 (Athens Co.), 3252 (Athens Co.), and 3251 (Athens Co.) In cores, the Berea Sandstone ranges from 2 to 10 m (8-32 ft) thick, with an average thickness of 6.3 m (20.7 ft). Core descriptions involved hand specimens, thin section descriptions, and core photography. In addition to these 5 wells, the gamma ray logs from 13 wells were used to interpret the architecture and lithologies of the Berea Sandstone in Athens Co. and Meigs Co. as well as surrounding Vinton, Washington, and Morgan counties. Analysis from this study shows evidence of deltaic lobe progradation, abandonment, and re-working. Evidence of interdistributary bays with shallow sub-tidal environments, as well as large sand bodies, is also present. A prominent sequence of climbing ripples = 6 cm give evidence for distributary mouth bars. Frequently appearing massive bedding, sparse bioturbation, and a sequence of massive bedding to planar lamination overlying convoluted bedding provides evidence that high sedimentation rates were common during the deposition of the Berea Sandstone. Turbulent debris flows are interpreted based on the presence of a 10 cm incomplete turbidite lithofacies assemblage. Tidal processes can be inferred from tidal rhythmite sequences approximately 5 m thick, and clear storm activity is app (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Music, University of Akron, 2014, Music-History and Literature

ABSTRACT Further elucidation of Northeast Ohios musical endeavors are necessary to expand upon the fact that its equally as vital as other metropolitan centers with fertile underground music scenes such as New York City and London from the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s. Although both of those cities contained many prototypical punks and artists, Cleveland and Northeast Ohio shared rare, sheltered yet sophisticated, artistically supported and substantially influential musical underpinnings. And although there really wasnt what one might call a scene as in a substantial supportive alternative music community, there were many notable and important personalities that emerged and continue to this day to be important countercultural figures. When speaking of the lack of proper elucidation of the Northeast Ohio scene, it is necessary to look to the fact that there are only a handful of well-written books on the Punk and counterculture movements that ever really gave Cleveland and Northeast Ohio its cultural due. Notably these books have come to light in the past 25 years or so: Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil, and From The Velvets To The Voidoids and Babylons Burning, both by Clinton Heylin. Only these three books and a handful of others can stand as a testament to what has been written about the early Cleveland and Northeast Ohio musical environment. Cleveland and Northeast Ohio have had written exposure in a variety of books, magazines and fanzines homemade printed copy booklets Xeroxed in limited runs by fans; however, an investigation of the facts and people who participated in the early scene is in need of being further illuminated. Fully researching the subject, examining many countless books, articles, websites, magazines and other ephemera, it is apparent that Cleveland and Northeast Ohio has been neglected when academically speaking about its historical music.

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2007, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Community Planning

In late 2005, owners of Rumpke, Inc. decided to “expand” their Colerain Township landfill. This report analyzes the zone amendment process for Ohio townships. Case: ZA2006-04 is studied to determine how closely this process is followed. The “expansion” or siting of a landfill is a scenario which will continue to play-out in municipalities across America. For planners, understanding as much as possible about the zone change process necessary for development of a landfill, or other LULUs, enables us to approach these situations strategically. For everyday citizens, educating themselves on statutes which shape their world empowers them to live a more meaningful life, and helps them feel included in decisions their elected officials are making. Findings show there is not much room for deviation from O.R.C. requirements. An analysis of interviewees' opinions revealed a consensus that the NIMBY factor is to blame for why zone amendment decisions are challenged in court.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2005, Arts and Sciences : History

During the American Civil War, guerrilla raids, military operations, economic hardships, political turmoil, and racial tensions upset the status quo of communities situated along the Ohio River border. This dissertation compares the wartime experiences of two border towns – Frankfort, Kentucky and Corydon, Indiana. These communities shared a legacy of white settlement and a distinct western identity, which fostered unity and emphasized cooperation during the first year of the war. However, the exigencies of war and the eventual demise of slavery in Kentucky divided citizens living on either side of the river border, including the people of Corydon and Frankfort. The Ohio River border was a cohesive economic and social unit at the beginning of the war, even though the river served as the legal boundary for slavery. Prominent Unionist citizens in both Corydon and Frankfort galvanized political support by strengthening connections with like-minded citizens throughout the river valley. The majority of white Unionists in the two towns believed that they could maintain peace by negating the radical notions of abolition and secession. Although white citizens in both places agreed on the importance of white supremacy to maintaining the stability of their respective communities, the Union government's evolving policy on slavery, which culminated in the Emancipation Proclamation, ultimately strained the relationship between Unionists in southern Indiana and Kentucky. By the end of the war, Corydon's residents had suffered devastation from raids and guerrilla violence, all emanating from Kentucky. Frankfort was engulfed in anti-government sentiment, guerrilla violence, and local resistance to the inevitable end of slavery in the state. The demise of slavery in Kentucky challenged white supremacy, while in southern Indiana most citizens welcomed the end of slavery if it meant an end to the war. Emancipation, violence, and material loss forged separate wartime experiences for th (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2005, History

Ohio governor James Allen Rhodes (1909-2001) lived both an authentic American success story and an embellished populist myth. The son of a coal miner, Rhodes survived the insecurity that characterized the lives of early twentieth-century working-class Americans, matured after an extended adolescent aimlessness, and became Ohio's most powerful governor. He also exaggerated key parts of his biography and omitted other events in order to authenticate his credentials as a champion of the common man. From this odd mix of fact and fiction emerges a story of an important but overlooked politician. This dissertation is the first full length investigation into Rhodes' life and political career, placing him in a larger context of regional political change, the rise of the consumer culture, and the working-class origins of populist economic security. Before Rhodes, Midwestern Republicans opposed the New Deal and saw nothing more than slavery in Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt's promise to deliver economic security to American voters. As Ohio's longest serving governor (1963-1971 and 1975-1983), as a child of the insecure working class, and as a young politician maturing in the 1930s, Rhodes made security the central part of his Republican philosophy. That concern led him to challenge Midwestern Republican orthodoxy, pioneer Republican Party efforts to capture the working-class vote, and attempt to radically alter the Rustbelt economy of the Midwest.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2012, (Education)

For nearly four decades the Ohio lottery has offered its products with the promise of providing a financial benefit to Ohio's public schools. The purpose of this study was to examine the tax incidence of the Ohio lottery in addition to qualitative aspects of lottery play. Data were collected from Ohio lottery sales and U.S. Census data both aggregated by zip code. Analysis of tax incidence was conducted through Suits Index analysis with confidence intervals in addition to double-log regression analysis creating elasticity coefficients. Qualitative data were collected through interviews. Five qualitative interviews provided data that were analyzed from an adapted grounded theory perspective. Suits Index analysis suggested that the Ohio lottery has been a regressive form of school finance for all of the years covered in this study (1992-2010). The least regressive games were lottery products that offered larger payouts with lower odds of winning. The most regressive games offered significantly smaller jackpots with higher odds of winning. Double-log regression revealed that lottery sales were supported disproportionately by less affluent consumers. Zip codes with higher median ages were found to drive increased lottery sales for all three types of lottery games. Non-African American minorities in Ohio (zip code analysis) were also shown to drive increased Lotto game sales. Increased percentages of males in a zip code resulted in increased Instant game sales. A higher level of education in a zip code reflected increases in lottery product's sales. Findings of regressivity were confirmed in lottery scholarship; however, demographic representation of lottery play offered mixed results. Qualitative findings of this study revealed avoidance by lottery players to outside interference in their lottery play. Respondents also suggested a strong ability to control the lottery process when they were able to select numbers or tickets based on socially constructed or situationally (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2011, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

Paul E. Werner, newspaper publisher, printer, industrialist, was as ruthless as other businessmen of Gilded Age Akron. His story and that of his company exemplifies the “Rags to Riches” American Dream. Lured by steady income from printing, Werner built his family business from a tiny concern in 1873 into a thriving multi-national company by 1894 by acquiring competitors and establishing offices in 20 cities across North America and Europe. Werner printed everything from newspapers and commercial stationary to books, magazines, art, and reference works, including the Encyclopedia Britannica (ninth edition). His once vast, multifaceted business collapsed in 1909 after Encyclopedia Britannica sued the company for copyright infringement, and disappeared by 1914. This dissertation examines the printers of Akron in the nineteenth century, particularly Paul E. Werner, and their place in the history of Akron and demonstrates how Werner is typical of printers of the Gilded Age. Second, it compares Werner to contemporary printers of Cleveland, building upon Russell Duino's 1981 dissertation and Walter Sutton's work on Cincinnati Printers. Finally, it explores intellectual property rights and international copyright infringement as it pertains to Werner's ultimate financial downfall. In an era of micro-histories, this study contributes to Akron's business history by demonstrating the economic significance of printing, and providing another perspective for understanding how industry fosters urban growth and prosperity. Werner's business incorporated, in direct competition with contemporary printers, new merchandising techniques that enticed readers to acquire his books. Secondly, a careful study of Werner's business practices will provide insight into the financial realities of late nineteenth century printers and book publishers, and will contribute to our understanding of the book in Gilded Age America. Lastly, this dissertation will set today's battles over intellectual pro (open full item for complete abstract)