Kevin Johnston

Dickinson College students in 1876.

Focus:

I am going to focus on the student body at Dickinson in 1876. What I am hoping to find is information about how reconciled the campus was 11 years after the Civil War,and the year before the Reconstruction Era ended in the Southern States.

Signifigince:

This group of student would have been too young to fight in the War between the States, but would have grown up in an atmosphere of victory and defeat depending on where they were from. The war (and reconstruction for any southerners), would have been influential in many of the political, religious, and social thoughts of their time. It will be interesting to see what happened when students from the North and the South met at Dickinson, and what their reactions to each other were. Was there a belligerent atmosphere on campus? were fraternities dominated by either northerners or southerners? was class year or home state more important? Were there any duels? OR by this time, had each side grown weary of the War’s effects and simply wanted to reunite the nation?

Context:

it was during the 100th anniversary of our nations birth, and only 11 years since the Civil War had ended. It was a time of national unity due to the end of Reconstruction and the centeniel, but also before the time when the South could forget the humiliation of the Civil War.

Methodology:

I want to see what states the students who came to dickinson were from, by looking through the matriculation records and the register. based on how many students were from north, south, or border states, I will be able to see if southern students are comfortable going to a northern state. Then i will look at fraternity records, memberships lists from clubs and other groups, and try to see how many people in these clubs were northern or southern. I am also going to try to find a list of student activities from throughout the year, and see what their interests were in. Something about states rights or African American rights would be most interesting, but I would also be looking for anything that had to do with sectional vs national pride, anything to do with the civil war, and debates between the students.

Timeline:

I will have all research done by the day it is due.

Bibliography: I do not have the correct citing right now. however, I will be using matriculation records, yearbooks, newspapers, and any and all media outlets that mention Dickinson in 1876