Digesting the Donners: The Public's Consumption of American History
Location
Poster Session 1 (Henderson Library)
Session Format
Poster Presentation
Your Campus
Statesboro Campus- Henderson Library, April 20th
Academic Unit
Department of History
Research Area Topic:
Humanities & Social Sciences - History
Co-Presenters and Faculty Mentors or Advisors
Faculty Mentor- Dr.Robert Batchelor
Abstract
The Donner-Reed Party has fascinated the American public since their tragic misfortune in the winter of 1846-47. Clouded by misinformed sources and outright lies, the public came to their own conclusions of what they believed transpired> It would be years before clarity could ensue. Previous scholarship, such as Ethan Rarick's 2008 Desperate Passage, tends to focus on the event itself and determining exactly what happened, ignoring the numerous ways the media stretched the story and how it grew into one of the most infamous stories in American Western history. Using word searches on Google Ngram helps measure intensification of the public interest in the Donner-Reed story throughout the decades, highlighting the media's fascination with cannibalism. A comparison of the initial publications on the Donner-Reed party, publications from the 1880’s, and \ works from the 1940’s shows peak periods of the public/media's interest in the story and changing perceptions of the event. Overall, the paper will review some of the significant publications over these time periods to demonstrate their collective impact on society's acceptance of the Donner-Reed party’s experience and dive into the circumstances that could have affected/shaped these views.
Program Description
By reviewing some of the significant publications over time periods of heightened public interest, highlighted by Google Ngram, the poster demonstrates their collective impact on society's acceptance of the Donner-Reed party’s experience and dives into the circumstances that could have affected/shaped these views.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Presentation Type and Release Option
Presentation (Restricted to Georgia Southern)
Start Date
4-20-2022 10:00 AM
End Date
4-20-2022 11:30 AM
Recommended Citation
Rigdon, Sydney, "Digesting the Donners: The Public's Consumption of American History" (2022). GS4 Georgia Southern Student Scholars Symposium. 7.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/research_symposium/2022/2022/7
Digesting the Donners: The Public's Consumption of American History
Poster Session 1 (Henderson Library)
The Donner-Reed Party has fascinated the American public since their tragic misfortune in the winter of 1846-47. Clouded by misinformed sources and outright lies, the public came to their own conclusions of what they believed transpired> It would be years before clarity could ensue. Previous scholarship, such as Ethan Rarick's 2008 Desperate Passage, tends to focus on the event itself and determining exactly what happened, ignoring the numerous ways the media stretched the story and how it grew into one of the most infamous stories in American Western history. Using word searches on Google Ngram helps measure intensification of the public interest in the Donner-Reed story throughout the decades, highlighting the media's fascination with cannibalism. A comparison of the initial publications on the Donner-Reed party, publications from the 1880’s, and \ works from the 1940’s shows peak periods of the public/media's interest in the story and changing perceptions of the event. Overall, the paper will review some of the significant publications over these time periods to demonstrate their collective impact on society's acceptance of the Donner-Reed party’s experience and dive into the circumstances that could have affected/shaped these views.
