One of the strengths of the program at the Michigan Tech Archives is the close collaboration with the University’s Social Sciences Department. In addition to support for coursework and the use of historical collections by the department’s faculty, significant research is completed by students in the Social Sciences graduate programs.
The Social Sciences Department now offers four graduate degrees: master’s degrees in both Industrial Archaeology and Environmental Policy, and doctoral programs in Environmental and Energy Policy as well as Industrial Heritage in Archaeology. Across these 4 programs, the department supports more than 20 graduate students.
Many of these students undertake thesis or dissertation projects on local topics – and use the collections of the Michigan Tech Archives in their research. Print copies of their graduate products are kept permanently in the Archives and most of these are also available as downloadable .pdf files through the online catalogof the J.R. Van Pelt and John and Ruann Opie Library (access to some of these document may be limited to on-campus researchers).
Here are a selection of some recent projects that have drawn from our collections. Links are given to the catalog records.
Preserving and interpreting the mining company office: landscape, space and technological change in the management of the copper industry / by Renee M. Blackburn. Thesis, 2011 . Click here for catalog record.
Quincy and Torch Lake Railroad engine house facility management and interpretive plan / by Dennis H. Leopold. Thesis, 2011. Click here for catalog record.
Fish contaminants through the tribal perspective: an ethnography of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community’s tribal fish market / by Valoree Sherick Gagnon. Thesis, 2011 . Click here for catalog record.
Lighthouses as an overlapping boundary between maritime and terrestrial landscapes: how lighthouses served to connect the growing industries of the Keweenaw Peninsula with the world market / by Lisa M. Gillis. Thesis, 2011. Click here for catalog record.
From ruin to museum: preserving and interpreting the Quincy and Torch Lake railroad engine house / by Craig P. Wilson. Thesis, 2010. Click here for catalog record.
More favorable combination of circumstances could hardly have been desired: a bottom to top examination of the Pittsburgh and Boston Mining Company’s Cliff Mine / by Sean M. Gohman. Thesis, 2010. Click here for catalog record.
Reflection, refraction, and rejection: copper smelting heritage and the execution of environmental policy / by Bode J. Morin. Dissertation, 2009. Click here for catalog record.
Arctic network builders : the Arctic Coal Company’s operations on Spitsbergen and its relationship with the environment / by Cameron C. Hartnell (used photographs from Michigan Tech mining engineering alumni who worked for Arctic Coal). Dissertation, 2009. Click here for catalog record.