Meliora Scholars Illuminate Social Identity and History Through Original Research
Spencer Dittelman and James Kinde explore literary responses to modernity and transgender experiences in 20th-century America at the Rosenberger Work-in-Progress seminar.
Last month, we featured two of our undergraduate Meliora Scholars at our Rosenberger Work-in-Progress seminar. Spencer Dittelman and James Kinde each pursued unique research projects exploring social identity and historical narrative. Dittelman examined how 19th-century authors Nathaniel Hawthorne and Anthony Trollope responded to rapid societal change through contrasting literary forms—romance and realism—while ultimately expressing shared skepticism toward modernity. Meanwhile, Kinde conducted archival research at the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco and attended the American Historical Association, laying the foundation for a senior honors thesis on the experiences of transgender men in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. We were blown away by their presentations!