Readers may want to explore the historiography and theoretical groundings within which I place my project. However, the reader may approach the project however they wish. The pop-out network button on the left side of the screen serves as a guide to the network and enables the user to understand each portion’s connection to the larger argument, as well as the primary and secondary sources upon which it has been constructed.
With this project, I’m seeking to establish an archive embedded within a nonlinear scholarly argument. Rather than dictate a linear progression, I hope to create a network of scholarship and sources the reader can explore and examine as he or she wishes. Here I have attempted to be as hands-off as possible with the ordering of the argument, though I have sought to place enough direction that my argument is coherent. I was thoroughly impressed with and influenced by early previews of the Scalar platform, and the way in which it facilitated different intersecting and conversational themes readers could follow. I wanted to create my own project in a similar vein, but in an even more open and free form.
The standard top navigation provides a familiar backbone, from which every page extends. From there, I employed a hierarchical structure adapted from Robert Darnton’s 1999 “layered pyramid” piece concept. This gives logic and organization to the project, and allows readers to grasp my argument quickly, but allows for deeper reading and examination. The addition of a pop-out panel of resources and additional reading provides a network of scholarship that places my argument in its full context, and adds a network dynamic to the otherwise hierarchical structure. This came largely from meditating on Vannevar Bush’s famous piece, “As We May Think”, which challenged me to think more deeply about the connections between scholarship and sources, and the opportunity to embed useful links between them.
My thinking on the structure and aesthetics been influenced by a great number of readings, projects, lectures and discussions with graduate students and mentors. A larger list of useful and influential sources is available in the Sources section.
This is just a small sampling of the documents produced by the War Department, Department of the Navy, and the Department of Defense in the period between 1940 and 1963. The documents I present here were selected because they were the most indicative of this hegemonic archetype of masculinity put forth by the military. I have also made an effort to include every example which conflicts hegemonic principles.
I would like to extend my gratitude to my advisor, Patrick D. Jones, my committee members, William G. Thomas III and Jeannette Eileen Jones, and Douglas Seefeldt, for their guidance, advice, expertise, support, and their willingness to allow me to explore new methods of scholarship. The completion of this thesis would not have been possible without their contributions, suggestions, and patience.
To my family and friends, thank you for your support throughout the writing of this thesis, and for helping me relax when the project seemed too daunting. I also want to specifically thank Jason Heppler, Jacob Friefeld, Rebecca Wingo, Brian Sarnacki, and Andy Wilson for their willingness to provide feedback, Dustin Lipskey and Dylan Baumann for helping me with HTML and Javascript issues, and Erika Paschold and Jordan Mapes for helping me with structure, grammar and writing style.
I would also like to thank Richard Graham at University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. This project would not have been possible without his work on the Government Comics collection and his willingness to share his knowledge and his resources with me.
Brandon T. Locke | MA Student | University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of History
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.