The Great Depression
At M.S.C.W.
About Me
My name is Candice Walls. During this project I'm currently a senior at the Mississippi University for Women. It is my goal to graduate with a B.A. in History and a minor in Religious Studies.
For my history Capstone course, I've chosen to investigate the ways in which the Great Depression grew on this campus (named Mississippi State College for Women from 1920-1971) and whatever actions were taken to preserve the institution.
After graduation, I hope to begin a career in archives. By doing this, I will dedicate my efforts to the preservation and organization of primary sources for future research.
The Project
For this course, each student is given a semester to conduct their own independant research based on the topic of their choice. For the final submission, there is the option of submitting a digital exhibit, a formal research essay, or a teaching session.
For this project, all primary sources were taken from the MUW Archives, from personal coorespondences, meeting and financial reports, and instutution publications. The search for secondary sources yielded little information on higher education and the Great Depression, which encouraged this project even further. While the primary focus of this project is to explore the actions taken to combat the Depression, the unfortunate controversy involving the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and Mississippi governor Theodore Bilbo also play a crucial role in the state of the College.
Throughout history, disaster has invoked change that shape the modern world. It was my intention to study how this particularly dark time in America's history came to effect the M.S.C.W. and shape it into what eventually became the Mississippi University for Women.
