The National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United States

This article examines the first decades of the field of ethnohistory as it developed in the United States. It participated in the general rapprochement between history and anthropology of mid-twentieth-century social science. However, unlike parallel developments in Europe and in other research areas, ethnohistory specifically arose out of the study of American Indian communities in the era of the Indian Claims Commission. Thus ethnohistory developed from a pragmatic rather than a theoretical orientation, with practitioners testifying both in favor of and against claims. Methodology was flexible, with both documentary sources and ethnographic methods employed to the degree that each was feasible. One way that ethnohistory was innovative was the degree to which women played prominent roles in its development. By the end of the first decade, the field was becoming broader and more willing to engage both theoretical and ethical issues raised by the foundational work. In particular, the geographic scope began to reach well beyond North America, especially to Latin America, where archival resources and the opportunities for ethnographic research were plentiful, but also to areas such as Melanesia, where recent European contact allowed researchers to observe the early postcontact period directly and to address the associated theoretical questions with greater authority. Ethnohistory is thus an important example of a field of study that grew organically without an overarching figure or conscious plan but that nevertheless came to engage central issues in cultural and historical analysis.

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Documentary Sources in the United States for Foreign Missions Research: A Select Bibliography and Checklist

International Bulletin of Missionary Research ◽

10.1177/239693938500900107 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 19-29

Author(s):

Robert Shuster

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

The United States ◽

Foreign Missions ◽

Documentary Sources ◽

Select Bibliography

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Risk and Impact Assessment of Dams in the Contiguous United States Using the 2018 National Inventory of Dams Database

Water ◽

10.3390/w13081066 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 1066

Author(s):

Junho Song ◽

Madden Sciubba ◽

Jonghun Kam

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Storage Capacity ◽

The United States ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

Spatiotemporal Patterns ◽

Dam Failure ◽

Environmental Damage ◽

Hazard Potential ◽

Significant Potential ◽

National Inventory

Aging water infrastructure in the United States (U.S.) is a growing concern. In the U.S., over 90,000 dams were registered in the 2018 National Inventory of Dams (NID) database, and their average age was 57 years old. Here, we aim to assess spatiotemporal patterns of the growth of artificial water storage of the existing dams and their hazard potential and potential economic benefit. In this study, we use more than 70,000 NID-registered dams to assess the cumulative hazard potential of dam failure in terms of the total number and the cumulative maximum storage of dams over the 12 National Weather Service River Forecast Center (RFC) regions. In addition, we also estimate potential economic benefits of the existing dams based on their cumulative storage capacity. Results show that the ratios of the cumulative storage capacity to the long-term averaged precipitation range from 8% (Mid-Atlantic) to 50% (Colorado), indicating the significant anthropogenic contribution to the land surface water budget. We also find that the cumulative storage capacity of the dams with high (probable loss of human life is if the dam fails) and significant (potential economic loss and environmental damage with no probable casualty) hazard potential ranges from 50% (North Central) to 98% (Missouri and Colorado) of the total storage capacity within the corresponding region. Surprisingly, 43% of the dams with either high or significant potential hazards have no Emergency Action Plan. Potential economic benefits from the existing dams range from $0.7 billion (Mid Atlantic) to $15.4 billion (West Gulf). Spatiotemporal patterns of hazard potential and economic benefits from the NID-registered dams indicate a need for the development of region-specific preparation, emergency, and recovery plans for dam failure. This study provides an insight about how big data, such as the NID database, can provide actionable information for community resilience toward a safer and more sustainable environment.

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Documenting Earthquakes in the United States of the Ionian Islands, 1815–1864

Seismological Research Letters ◽

10.1785/0220200056 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 91 (5) ◽

pp. 2554-2562 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Paola Albini

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Ad Hoc ◽

The United States ◽

Ionian Islands ◽

Documentary Sources ◽

Seismic Scenarios ◽

Few Data ◽

Earthquake Effects ◽

High Level

Abstract The seven islands of Corfu, Paxoi, Kephalonia, Ithaca, Lefkada, Zakynthos, and Cythera (Ionian Sea, offshore western Greece) were a British protectorate with the name of “United States of the Ionian Islands” between 1815 and 1864. Although many earthquake studies have already examined the past seismicity of this area, they contain only a few data for a handful of earthquakes, for an area known to be characterized by a high level of seismicity. Against this fragmentary seismological knowledge stands a 50 yr abundant production of local documentary sources of different types and in diverse languages. For this reason and because most of the available sources had not been yet nor systematically looked into in the search for testimonies of earthquake effects, an ad hoc and comprehensive investigation was carried out. The number of records on earthquake effects is huge as well as unexpected, and the quality of the collected records is high. The 147 new macroseismic European Macroseismic Scale 1998 intensity values, accurately assigned on the basis of independent contemporary records only, are presented in the form of timelines of earthquake effects for the main towns of the four islands of Corfu, Kephalonia, Lefkada, and Zakynthos. Besides partially amending the gaps of the knowledge of these 50 yr of seismicity in the Ionian Islands, the great amount of freshly collected data suggests that historical seismological research may effectively contribute to improving the seismic scenarios of past earthquakes in many areas of the world.

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Negotiating an Unequal Partnership: The Korean Children’s Choir 1954 U.S. Tour and Syngman Rhee’s Diplomacy

Journal of American-East Asian Relations ◽

10.1163/18765610-28030002 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 218-246

Author(s):

Hye-jung Park

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Korean War ◽

Cultural Diplomacy ◽

The United States ◽

Diplomatic Relations ◽

High Profile ◽

Documentary Sources ◽

Children's Choir ◽

Personal Connections ◽

The Korean War

Abstract Most studies of U.S. cultural diplomacy focus on the ways that the United States has leveraged cultural events to achieve its own political ends. The present article takes a slightly different approach in its analysis of the 1954 Korean Children’s Choir (kcc) tour of the United States. Using copious documentary sources and interviews the author has conducted with former child choristers, it traces how Republic of Korea (rok) President Syngman Rhee used this high-profile cultural event to create a new opening to advance his goals in his complicated diplomatic relations with the United States. At the close of the Korean War, the rok was a war-ravaged nation with little power in dealing with its patron superpower. Deploying personal connections and propaganda skills that he had cultivated during decades of living in exile in the United States, Rhee orchestrated the kcc’s tour of the United States, and the visit helped Rhee gain new footing in negotiating the rok’s unequal partnership with the United States. This detailed socio-historical and musicological account shows how both President Rhee and the choristers were active and effective agents in striving to put the rok front and center in the imaginations of Americans and impress upon them its cultural gravitas and strategic importance.

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