The senior thesis is the culmination of four years of work within a given discipline, giving students the opportunity to apply the skills they have learned in unique, personal ways. The thesis process will inevitably vary from student to student, but at its best it will embody a student’s passion and creativity. For senior Caitlin Rossiter, this is definitely the case.
Rossiter’s thesis entailed the archiving, digitizing and analysis of the Cunningham Papers. This project will count towards both her History major and her Honors in the Discipline.
“[The Cunningham Papers] are an 860 piece collection, mostly of letters, newspaper articles, some articles from the Gospel Messenger… and some other miscellaneous objects, photographs,” said Rossiter.
These papers follow the lives of Lloyd and Ellen Cunningham, two Brethren missionaries from California who did missionary work in China in 1938. The Cunningham papers were donated to the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies by the late Marlin Heckman, nephew of the Cunninghams.
Lloyd Cunningham’s missionary work was medical in nature, offering assistance where necessary. Ellen Cunningham would occasionally be involved in educational work.
At the start of the second Sino-Japanese war, the two left China and went to continue their work in the Philippines. However, the Japanese would invade the Philippines as well. The Cunninghams were then taken as prisoners of war for four years before returning to the United States. They would later return to do missionary work in China in 1947 before being kicked out in 1949, at which point they took their work to India.
“Their correspondence and the story surrounding their work is really fascinating and it’s a really interesting glimpse into world history,” said Rossiter. “I’m not just reading the letters as an interested individual, I’m reading them as a historian.”
A significant part of Rossiter’s research had to do with putting the Cunningham papers into context through historiography, using these documents as an example of “microhistory.”
“I’ve always been a big believer in [microhistory], [the idea] that history is best learnt and taught through the eyes of individuals and not through the bird’s eye view of political history or military history,” said Rossiter. “This collection could absolutely be the poster child for microhistory.”
Rossiter has been working with the Cunningham papers since 2016 when she was working at the Young Center. She had been tasked with inventorying the documents and ended up finding herself intrigued.
In pursuing her desire to work further with the Cunningham papers, Rossiter completed an internship in religious studies along with Former Director of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Religious Studies and associate professor of religious studies Dr. Jeff Bach. Over the course of this internship, she produced a paper that would later serve as the basis for her thesis project. Being able to work with the Cunningham papers longterm gave Rossiter a strong feeling of intimacy and familiarity.
“I feel like I know the Cunninghams personally. I don’t, I never met them. They died before I even started working with this collection. But, in a weird way, I feel like I’m part of their family,” she said.
As Rossiter continued to work with the Cunningham papers and expand her essay, she worked alongside a wide variety of faculty members that helped her closely with her work. These individuals include: Director of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies and associate professor of history Dr. Stephen Nolt, associate professor of history Dr. David Brown, Archivist Rachel Grove Rorbach, Former Director of the Center for Global Understanding and Peacemaking and associate professor of history Dr. David Kenley, and Bach.
While Rossiter is grateful for all of the support she has received over the course of her research, she notes, “I wish there had been more institutional support [for my research.]”
“I’ve found that I need to vouch for myself and be the voice for my own project,” said Rossiter, expressing concern that not all students are able to fight for their scholarship in the way that she has.
“I cannot count how many hours I spent in the Archives — and I was happy to do it because I care about this collection,” said Rossiter. “But, I’m just thinking about how many students can’t sacrifice that amount of time without being paid, students who need to be working to pay for their tuition… they would not be able to do this type of work… I had to drop one of my campus jobs to be able to do this.”
Rossiter hopes that in the future students in the arts and humanities will be able to continue the work she has done or engage in similar work.
“I really hope that in the future there is an ambitious history student who wants to take up this project, who wants to finish digitizing it or re-research it from a completely different lens. There is nothing I would love more than to see them pick apart my research and disagree with me… that would bring me so much joy,” said Rossiter. “But, again, that student needs to have the financial support to not work. That student needs to have the time and energy… and I hope… the College has resources for them.”
