James Schmitt

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I do not check this account anymore, as I have moved into a career in the federal government. Instead of deleting the account, I will leave it active, so others may utilize the papers. Also, thank you all for the kind messages. Maybe one day I will return to academia!

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Keith Pluymers

Illinois State University

Garabet K Moumdjian, Ph.D.

Vaughn Scribner

University of Central Arkansas

Michael Harkin

University of Wyoming

Andrew Kettler

University of South Carolina Union

Gary Fields

University of California, San Diego

Scott Tucker

University of Southampton

Francisco Borge

University of Oviedo / Universidad de Oviedo

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The University of Texas at Austin

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Papers by James Schmitt

The Postwar Wilderness Dilemma: the Relationship between Conservationists and the National Park Service from the Second World War to the Wilderness Act, 1941-1964 (Daniel B. Carroll Award)

In the summer of 1956, Edward Abbey, nature writer and park ranger, was relaxing on his 33,000-ac... more

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From the Frontlines to Silent Spring: DDT and America’s War on Insects, 1941-1962

Published in 2016 edition of CONCEPT.

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“Cold Steel and the Flashing Blade”: The Decline of Garrisonian Pacifism and the Rise of Antislavery Violence, 1830-1850

Ohio University Undergraduate Journal of History, 2013

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Drafts by James Schmitt

Averting an Environmental Crisis of a Different Kind: Women and American Environmentalism Historiography

The author of this work, Robert L. Dorman, sets out to uncover how these individuals helped defin... more The author of this work, Robert L. Dorman, sets out to uncover how these individuals helped define the issues that culminated in the American environmental movement that began in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. From the writings of Thoreau, which emphasized the spiritual effects of natural scenery, to John Muir's advocacy for wilderness conservation and his struggle against development in nature parks, these individuals, Dorman argues, each built upon the last, gradually setting the foundations for American environmentalism.

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Selling an Empire: Marketing North America as the Ideal British Landscape

On April 27, 1584, English explorer Arthur Barlowe sent a report to Queen Elizabeth I describing ... more On April 27, 1584, English explorer Arthur Barlowe sent a report to Queen Elizabeth I describing a newly discovered land off the coast of North America. "Virginia," as Barlowe christened it to honor the Virgin Queen, "smelt so sweet, and so strong a smel." Being in Virginia, he wrote, was like being "in the midst of some delicate garden abounding with all kinda of odoriferous floers." Aside from Virginia's wonderful smell, Barlowe was quick to point out that this new land had a limitless supply of natural resources. Commenting on the vast quantities of lumber, grapes, and wildlife, Barlowe remarked "I thinke in all the world the like abundance is not be found." Compared to the "barren and fruitles" European landscape, Barlowe argued, this new land had "the highest and reddest Cedars of the world" and abundance in "Deere, Conies, Hares, and Fowle" unrivaled throughout Europe and Asia. This new land was also a healthful environment. Unlike the West Indies, where the "unholesome" temperatures left most of his crew sick and "ill disposed," Virginia's air was "temperate and holesome," which revitalized Barlowe's men and allowed them to penetrate deeper into the mainland. This new land, with its delightful smells, limitless plenty, and perfect temperature, was the ideal British landscape; perfect for imperial expansion and settlement. 1 Barlowe's report, which inspired Queen Elizabeth I to charter the Roanoke Colony in 1585 and convinced one hundred and fifty Englishmen to settle in the New World, marked the 1 Arthur Barlowe, The first voyage made to the coasts of America, with two barks, where in were captains M. Philip Amadas, and M. Arthur Barlowe, who discovered part of the Country now called Virginia, 1584 (Blacksburg: beginning of a new type of literary form: colonial propaganda. Assisted by the spread of British print culture during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, colonial promoters like Barlowe, John Smith, and Walter Raleigh used these print materials to "sell" North America to potential colonists as a means to increase their own fame and fortune. 2 Works such as Smith's A Description of New England (1616), which went into three editions due to its popularity in England, were instrumental in the colonization of North America due to their wide readership and the writers' ability to target the hopes and aspirations of prospective colonists. When Smith wrote in 1616 that North America had "no hard Landlords to racke vs with high rents, or extorted fines to consume vs" and that colonists could reach their hands into a river and pull out hundreds of fish with little effort, he was describing a landscape in which poor Englishmen could become their own master. 3 In North America, Smith argued, Englishmen could forge their own destiny.

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The Postwar Wilderness Dilemma: the Relationship between Conservationists and the National Park Service from the Second World War to the Wilderness Act, 1941-1964 (Daniel B. Carroll Award)

In the summer of 1956, Edward Abbey, nature writer and park ranger, was relaxing on his 33,000-ac... more

Download

From the Frontlines to Silent Spring: DDT and America’s War on Insects, 1941-1962

Published in 2016 edition of CONCEPT.

Download

“Cold Steel and the Flashing Blade”: The Decline of Garrisonian Pacifism and the Rise of Antislavery Violence, 1830-1850

Ohio University Undergraduate Journal of History, 2013

Download

Averting an Environmental Crisis of a Different Kind: Women and American Environmentalism Historiography

Download