Date of Award

6-1-2013

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Organizational Unit

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences

First Advisor

Bonnie Clark, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Mike Daniels, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Lawrence Conyers

Keywords

Dearfield, Colorado, Magnetometery, Place theory

Abstract

This thesis explores the different meanings of Dearfield, an early 20th Century black farming colony in northeastern Colorado, from the way the settlers’ conceived of their community, to the way that it was portrayed by the founder, to the way that it is remembered today. Through analysis of archival data and government records I show that there were two sides of Dearfield, that remembered by most of the settlers, and that portrayed by the founder O.T. Jackson. A magnetometer survey shows that the townsite was not as densely occupied as the common narrative of Dearfield would suggest, indeed many homesteaders lived up to a few miles away from the town center. By using place theory I show that Dearfield was not the bounded town that it is often portrayed as, but instead can be thought of as having blurry boundaries. The people themselves knew they were from Dearfield, even if they were not living in the townsite. The standing buildings are still important, however, as they aid in our contemporary remembering of Dearfield.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Mary Connell

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

125 p.

Discipline

Archaeology, African American studies

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