Research Projects
The Bell Buckle Hotel: Life, Death, and Rejuvenation
Through research into census and tax data at the Bedford County archives in Shelbyville, TN, analysis of historic newspapers from the 19th and early 20th centuries, and personal documents from the homeowners, I compiled an in-depth history of the historic Bell Buckle, or Lynch Hotel, in downtown Bell Buckle, TN. This paper examines the history of the "Piano-Box" style of architecture, which originates from the Middle Tennessee region, and provides a history of the owners of the home from the 1870s through to today. Not only was the research involved important to add to historical narrative of Bell Buckle, but it allowed me the chance chance to delve into the history of a home owned by his family since the 1970s.
The Bell Buckle Hotel today.
Two Tribes - Cultural Appropriation During the Summer of Love
This paper examines the history of Native American appropriation with a specific focus upon the ways in which the Hippie Movement of the 1960s both aided and abused Native American cultural imagery throughout that period. Through the usage activist college newspapers, Native American community newspapers, documents from the American Indian Movement (AIM), and a particularly problematic LIFE Magazine article (pictured), coupled with secondary sources, I compiled a history of the perspectives surrounding Native American culture throughout the 1960s. This paper examines the ways both hippies and Native American activists used Native cultural imagery and stereotypes for their own benefits, resulting in a scenario in which Native American activists used the Hippie Movement to further their own agenda by embracing some stereotypes in order to gain a wider audience for their cause.
Copyright - LIFE Magazine 1967
Reclaiming the Voices of the Past and Present
This paper analyzes the history of Native American archives in the United States and Canada as well as the contemporary efforts to form community-based archives on Native American reservations across the United States. Due to a history of distrust between Indigenous and colonial communities, Native American tribes are largely distrustful of allowing outside institutions access to their historical documents, but over the past half-century many tribal groups have taken it upon themselves to form tribal archives on reservations so that they can better control access to their records. This paper delves into the ways in which Native peoples today are using archives to safely protect their own cultural records and items, as well as the efforts non-Native run archives are employing culturally sensitive archival practices to preserve Native objects they have within their collections. Alongside this, Native peoples today are using archival practices to document the lives and legacies of those who were forced to attend Residential Schools to prevent modern assimilationist tactics from being forgotten.