Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/733
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Item Geographic perspectives on state-directed heritage production in Twentieth-Century Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Briwa, Robert Merrill; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: William Wyckoff; William Wyckoff was a co-author of the article, 'Making heritage through Montana's official state highway maps, 1914-2000' in the journal 'Geographical review' which is contained within this thesis.Heritage produces deeply entrenched understandings about places across a range of geographic scales. Heritage is a deliberate framing of identity, actively constructed to promote ties binding history to place. This research interrogates the intersections of heritage, landscape, and state government in twentieth-century Montana. It examines how selected Montana state institutions produced heritage. The Montana Department of Transportation (MDoT), Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (FWP), and the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) direct heritage production through numerous practices, including cartography (MDoT), state park management (FWP), and historic preservation (SHPO). This dissertation draws from conceptual frameworks of place identity and heritage and employs qualitative methods--principally archival research and document analysis--to examine how these state institutions produce Montana heritage. Between 1914 and 2000, the MDoT used its highway map program to anchor Montana heritage around five themes: territorial identity, mythic west, natural wealth, outdoor recreation, and hospitality. Montana's state park system, particularly Bannack State Park, demonstrates federal and local influences in evolving state visions of heritage at a Montana ghost town. National narratives centered on Euro-American westering experiences evolved to a more culturally inclusive heritage at Bannack. Montana's historic preservation movement under the direction of the SHPO shows a trend towards a decentralized planning model that increasingly emphasizes preservation outcomes grounded in regional and more inclusive perspectives. In Montana's urban landscapes, however, local contexts and generative forces weaken state-directed preservation. These case studies offer six common characteristics of state-directed heritage production in the American West. 1) States shape heritage production in a variety of ways and these diverse institutional drivers evolve over time. 2) State-directed heritage production reflects an evolving dynamic existing across institutional and geographic scales. 3) Key individuals matter in heritage production and they have the ability to shape long-term narratives of state-produced heritage. 4) Sufficient funding from state and federal sources consolidates states' abilities to produce heritage, while insufficient funding from state and federal sources weakens states' abilities to produce heritage. 5) The evolving content of heritage production reflects changing cultural values and related political mandates. 6) State-directed heritage in Montana relies on dispersed heritage governance.Item Sheep country in three western American localities: place identity, landscape, community, and family(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2018) Sando, Linnea Christiana; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: William WyckoffSheep ranching in the American West is a vanishing way of life, but one that has for generations shaped many of the region's communities and their cultural landscapes. This research explores how powerful and enduring place identities associated with sheep ranching and the wool industry have transformed communities in Sweet Grass County, Montana, Elko County, Nevada and Umatilla County, Oregon. To assess the evolving roles sheep ranching and the wool industry have played in cultivating place identity, I used interviews and conversations, 'stories,' landscape observation and analysis, an analysis of past and contemporary creative endeavors, and archival works, such as government documents, local histories, newspaper articles, and promotional literature and imagery. I also explored the concept of place identity from varied perspectives, including from a community standpoint and a more in-depth family perspective. The sheep and wool industries did not unfold and impact the places and people in identical ways. Factors including the physical environment, local economies, key players and image makers, cultural backgrounds, and defining institutions of communities all played a role in shaping place identities. This research also shows the myriad ways communities and their residents incorporate the heritage of raising sheep into their daily lives, such as through festivals, community events, the sharing of social memories, and through creative works. The urban and rural landscapes in each case study also reflect the wool and sheep legacies, but this legacy is displayed differently based on distinctive environmental settings and unique settlement histories. By assessing the concept of place identity from varied perspectives and varied sources in three different localities, this dissertation provides a meaningful methodology for examining the ways place identities are created, nurtured, and reflected at multiple scales and in a diversity of communities.Item The emerging Hispanic homeland of the Pacific Northwest : a case study of Yakima Valley, Washington(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2006) Darian, Laurie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jian-yi LiuThe transition of spaces and places by the increasing number of Hispanics in the United States is a topic of growing importance in cultural geography. The degree to which Hispanics integrate, or assimilate, into Anglo culture plays a vital role in such transformations. This research examines the different avenues of Hispanic assimilation and non-assimilation in the Lower Yakima Valley in Washington State. These avenues consist of economic, structural, cultural, and spatial assimilation, as well as the Hispanic representation in the cultural landscape. Fieldwork in the Valley, combined with census data from the last two decades suggests that Hispanics are assimilating into Anglo culture structurally, spatially, and economically, but not culturally. Due to the fact that this area is majority Hispanic, the maintenance of this culture has a distinct impact on the cultural landscape, as well as the Anglo population. By defying the traditional model of assimilation, a new Hispanic homeland is emerging in the Pacific Northwest. Mexicans in the Valley have created a place that, in their own words, "feels like home." The schools and businesses in these communities are faced with unique challenges, the solutions to which differ greatly from places where Hispanics are a minority. As the geographic distribution of Hispanics continues to change, it is likely that other communities will experience transformations similar to those in the Yakima Valley. This research serves to add to the growing literature aimed at benefiting such places.Item Landscape and place-identity in a Great Plains Reservation community : a historical geography of Poplar, Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2008) Warren, Scott Daniel; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: William WyckoffThis study constructs a historical-geographical narrative of Poplar, Montana and explores residents' place-identity in the context of economic restructuring. Located on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana, Poplar offers an ideal setting to better understand how economic restructuring affects the lives of residents in northern Plains reservation communities. Loss of businesses, consolidation of services, and general economic restructuring continue to challenge communities on the Great Plains. For Great Plains Indian reservations, however, these problems are compounded by additional variables such as persistently high poverty rates, a dynamic relationship with the federal government, and increasing populations. Archival research, landscape analysis, and interview data are all used to better understand the influence of economic restructuring in shaping Poplar. This study demonstrates the value of historical and cultural geographic approaches in understanding the past evolution as well as the contemporary challenges of reservation communities in the American West.Item Creating the Old and New Wests : landscape and identity in Anaconda and Hamilton, Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2006) Bryson, Jeremy Glen; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: William WyckoffThis research employs case studies of Anaconda and Hamilton, Montana to explore the creation of the Old and New Wests. For nearly a century, Anaconda functioned as a copper smelting city. However, since the smelter closed the community has witnessed withering population losses, economic contraction, and investment withdrawal. Alternatively, Hamilton has a long history of recreational and leisure amenity investment. Recently, Hamilton's rapid population growth, economic expansion and considerable investment have transformed the community. This research seeks to understand and interpret the changes occurring in the contemporary Old and New Wests as well as to understand and interpret their historical geographic roots. By using the tools of cultural landscape analysis combined with the concept of place identity, this research argues that the shifting imprint of capital and the industrial and middle landscape ideals have been central forces in the creation of these distinctive modern regions.