ASRA Past Recipients
Analyzing Uncle Tom's Cabin and Associated Works Through a Children's Literature Lens
Allyn Reynolds
About the project: Allyn’s research centered on the depictions of race in historical children’s texts such as “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”.
Year: 2018
Faculty Mentor: Mary Grycko
Faculty Department: English
Librarian / Archivist: Clare Withers, Bill Daw, Kathy Haines
Deliverables: Poster
Constructing Culture: The African Heritage Room at the Cathedral of Learning
Darien Pepple
About the project: Darien examined the ethics of separating African and Egyptian objects at educational institutions and how this impacts the visitor experience. She consulted the Nationality Rooms’ archives for the African Heritage Room to study the Room’s symbolic layout, contacts from the Room’s Committee, and information regarding which nations are represented.
Year: 2018
Faculty Mentor: Erin Peters
Faculty Department: History of Art and Architecture
Librarian / Archivist: Zach Brodt, Arif Jamal, Kate Joranson
Deliverables: Poster
Muscular Christianity in 19th Century Periodicals for Boys
Melissa Pallotti
About the project: Melissa researched the youth periodicals from the mid to late 19th century Britain to study the constructions of masculinity being presented to boys during the time period.
Year: 2018
Faculty Mentor: Amy Murray-Twyning
Faculty Department:
Librarian / Archivist: Clare Withers, Jeanann Haas
Deliverables: Poster
Analyzing, Describing, and Seeing the Physical Book: A Study in Children's Literature
Sarah LaBouliere
About the project: Sarah utilized the Nesbitt Collection to investigate narrative retellings of previously known stories in children’s literature. She identified at least 5 versions of each story and compared them through descriptive bibliography to draw conclusions about why and for whom these books were created. She also studied the relationship between the book’s physical form and the circumstances of its publication.
Year: 2018
Faculty Mentor: Matthew Lavin
Faculty Department: English
Librarian / Archivist: Clare Withers, Bill Daw, Jeanann Haas
Deliverables: Poster
Transition and Ambiguity: Self-Identification Contextualizing Visual Art Production
Erica Hughes
About the project: Erica researched the links between global identities and how they contextualize works of art. She worked with the artist’ books to examine the interplay of self-proclamation of national identities and their appearance in the artists’ books artistic production.
Year: 2018
Faculty Mentor: Gretchen Bender
Faculty Department: History of Art and Architecture
Librarian / Archivist: Kate Joranson, Kiana Jones
Deliverables: Poster
Pittsburgh and Communism in the 50's: The Firing of Dorothy Albert
Tyler Hensley
About the project: Tyler consulted the American Left Ephemera Collection to study the rise of United States Communist movements, including but not only the Communist Party of the United States. His research focused on the firing of Dorothy Albert.
Year: 2018
Faculty Mentor: Gayle Rogers
Faculty Department: English
Librarian / Archivist: David Grinnell, Jennifer Needham
Deliverables: Poster
An In-Depth Analysis of a 15th-Century French Book of Hours
Claudia Haines
About the project: Claudia conducted an in-depth analysis of the 15th-century Book of Hours to gain a better understanding of the book’s artistic imagery, devotional features, and provenance by comparing it with manuscript facsimiles and authentic medieval manuscripts.
Year: 2018
Faculty Mentor: Elizabeth Archibald
Faculty Department: History
Librarian / Archivist: Kiana Jones, Jim Cassaro, Jeanann Haas
Deliverables: PDF and Poster
Freedom House Ambulance Service: The Origins of the Modern Paramedic
Gabriela Galli
About the project: Gabriela researched the Freedom House Ambulance Service’s inception to modern EMS in Pittsburgh to discussed the impact that the ambulance service had on EMS development in city and how it was so different from other services.
Year: 2018
Faculty Mentor: Carolyn Carson
Faculty Department: Urban Studies
Librarian / Archivist: David Grinnell, Zach Brodt
Deliverables: Poster
Forming a Eurocentric Children's Literary Canon: A Case Study of Clifton Fadiman's Reception to the Black Arts Movement in Children's Literature
Katherine Eldridge
About the project: Katherine worked with the Fadiman Collection, studying how Clifton Fadiman created his literary canon “The World Treasuring of Children’s Literature.” She focused on his annotations and notes about African Americans and other non-White people to understand how Fadiman’s work represents these communities.
Year: 2018
Faculty Mentor: Julian Gill-Peterson
Faculty Department: English
Librarian / Archivist: Clare Withers, Jennifer Needham
Deliverables: Poster
Trans: Gay or Het?
Brooke Adkin
About the project: Brooke explored how attitudes have changed towards gender identity and expression in the public discourse from the 1970’s to the present day. She consulted the gender and sexuality periodicals to examine public attitudes over time.
Year: 2018
Faculty Mentor: Jessica FitzPatrick
Faculty Department: English
Librarian / Archivist: Jennifer Needham, Robin Kear
Deliverables:
