University Archivist Receives Thesis Award

University Archivist Ruth Wachter-Nelson, who holds a Master of Arts in Library and Information Studies from UW-Madison, received her second degree, a Master of Arts in History from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire this past summer. Her thesis, Visions of Wilderness in the Works of Roderick Nash and William Cronon, 1965-2001, was recently awarded first place in UW-Eau Claire’s Distinguished Master’s Thesis Competition. As a result of this honor, her work will be submitted to the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools annual thesis competition. In nominating her thesis for the award, Dr. Robert J. Gough of UW-Eau Claire’s History Department, and Ruth’s thesis advisor, stated that Visions of Wilderness is “the most thorough master’s thesis written at UW-Eau Claire in the 24 years I have taught here.” He goes on to say that “we will see sections of the thesis, at least, appear in print over the next few years, in journals for both scholars and environmental activists.”  Ruth has already begun the process of sharing her research with the scholarly community, presenting a paper based on Visions at the 39th Annual Northern Great Plains History Conference in Bismarck, North Dakota in October.

Ruth's work is no stranger to national attention.  Her cooperation with national and statewide researchers and agencies has broadened the awareness of the holdings of UWSP’s Archives and the Area Research Center.  She contributed collection materials to one of the first projects of the nationally-renowned University of Wisconsin Digital Collections (UWDC), the Wisconsin Pioneer Experience, a digital collection of diaries, letters, reminiscences, speeches and other writings of people who settled and built Wisconsin during the 19th century. Ruth's recommendations resulted in the inclusion of materials from the UW-Stevens Point Area Research Center relating to the life of George "Daddy" Salter of Juneau County. Salter is said to have killed many Native Americans in retaliation for his wife's murder at their Town of Clearfield tavern (link to the Wisconsin Pioneer Experience at http://libtext.library.wisc.edu/wipionexp/).

Other notable collaborations include work with Public Broadcasting Service's History Detectives, A&E television network’s Biography, and Wisconsin Public Television’s Wisconsin Stories. A crew from the  (PBS) series History Detectives visited the UWSP Archives last spring to do research on an episode aimed at uncovering the history of a World War II-vintage Landing Craft Tank (LCT) rumored to have been part of the Normandy invasion fleet. The episode aired on PBS and Wisconsin Public Television stations on July 5th. In addition to assisting the film crew with their research, Ruth was among the local celebrities who were filmed and interviewed for the show (to read more about the episode, click here).

The University Library congratulates Ruth for her work! 

It is also interesting to note that the University Library has had a previous nominee and winner of the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools annual thesis competition. Tom Reich, a Library Services Assistant Advanced in Government Documents, won the "MAGS" award in 2004 for his UWSP graduate thesis about UWSP’s role in advising the South Vietnamese government on education.  This marked the first time a UWSP graduate student has received the award (for more information on Tom's award, click here).

Photo courtesy of UWSP News Services