Assignment 2:
Practical List:
Background/Secondary Sources Print:
I was able to check out all of the following books through the interlibrary exchange from UC Berkley and on-campus shelving at Stanford.
1) DeConde, Alexander. 2001. Gun violence in America: the struggle for control. Boston: Northeastern University Press.
In this book, DeConde attempts to craft a new narrative about gun ownership and gun control in America. He argues that the right to gun ownership and the creation of gun laws share a similar history dating back to the birth of the nation. I plan on using this text to help inform my understanding of the history of gun ownership and rights in America.
2) Duwe, Grant. 2007. Mass murder in the United States: a history. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland.
This source, written by criminology scholar Grand Duwe, examines American mass murder dating back to 1900. Duwe establishes a definition for “mass murder,” integral to my understanding and decision concerning how to label these atrocities. The appendix explains his methods overall and goes in depth into his analyses of newspapers and magazines.
3) Spitzer, Rober. 2015. Guns Across America. New York: Oxford University Press.
Spitzer’s account builds off of DeConde’s work (he even wrote a very positive review of Gun Violence in America), going more in depth into the earlier gun legislation. I am hoping to use this source to help give me a sense of the gun laws in place in 1903.
4) Grob, Gerald. 1983. Mental Illness and American Society, 1875-1940. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
This sources will give me background on the perception of mental illness around the time of the Twigg shooting, as well as, how this perception may have changed over the course of his life. I am hoping that this book will help determine whether I pursue my exploration of the 1903 incident through the lens mental illness.
5) McCaffrey, James M. 2009. Inside the Spanish-American War: a history based on first person Accounts. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland.
This collection of first person accounts of the Spanish-American war will help me place Twigg within the context of his military experiences. While this source may seem slightly out of context, I have a hypothesis that Twigg’s involvement in the war may have contributed to his decision to commit the massacre.
Archival Newspaper Collections/Primary Sources:
The following sources are available online or to download.
6)
“Crazy Man Shoots Into Crow of 5,000, Killing 3.” The Day Newspaper, Friday Afternoon August 14, 1903.
“Insane Man Fires a Gun Into a Crowd.”San Francisco Call, Volume 94, Number 75, 14 August 1903.
“Lunatic Fires Into a Crowd Four Dead.” Los Angeles Herald, Number 311, 14 August 1903.
“Mad Man Caused Horror at Band Concert.” The Reading Eagle, 14 August 1903.
“Fires Shotgun Into Big Crowd.” The Chicago Tribune, 14 August 1903.
Each of these articles were on the front page of their respective newspapers the day after the Winfield shooting. This shows the national scale and implications of the shooting. While the articles are essentially the same, the differences among them may reveal something about the attitudes towards such atrocities at the time.
7) “Insane Man’s Awful Deed!” The Wellington Daily News, 14 August, 1903.
This is the only newspaper article that I have found from Kansas around the date of the shooting. It is by far the most in depth, getting into Twigg's personal history as well as a recounting the shooting in great detail.
8) “Maniac Twigg Planned His Act — Victims Number 7.” The Day Newspaper, Saturday Afternoon, 15 August, 1903.
This article, published three days after the shooting, follows up the Day's previous article recounting the shooting. I hope to find more examples of follow-up articles, so I can track the change in rhetoric over time.
9) “Twigg Killed Six Men.” New York Times, 16, August, 1903.
This article were published three days after the massacre. After reading it over once, it is clear that the rhetoric of the shooting changed dramatically after the townspeople found Twigg’s letters.
10) “Camden Slaying Stirs Old Memory.” The Desert News, Thursday Evening, 6 September, 1949.
This article briefly summarizes the 1903 shooting in light of the Camden massacre that killed thirteen earlier that day. I am intrigued by the article, because it exhibits the way in which one atrocity can recall the memories of those previous.
Wish List:
1. Frankie Cullison Research Collection at the Cowley County Historical Society Museum. According to the Museum website the collection “contains a variety of genealogical and historical records, including Winfield city directories, high school annuals and yearbooks from Southwestern College and St. Johns College, County cemetery records, files on individuals, events, and government operations and activities, oral histories, personal scrapbooks, maps and other cartographic materials, a large picture and poster collection with some videos, and much more.” These sources would all be helpful in crafting a picture of the town before and after the shooting. http://www.cchsm.com/resources/index.html
2. Winfield realtors discovered a trunk containing the records and memorabilia from the town’s black Masonic lodge. One of the men who confronted Twigg that night - George Nichols - was one of the founding members of the loge. Being able to access those records might help me understand Nichols and his reactions to the incident - perhaps something he discussed at the meetings. The trunk was donated to the Cowley County Historical Society museum. http://www.winfieldcourier.com/news/article_7447f4e8-08aa-11e4-b3b0-001a4bcf887a.html
3.The records at the Winfield Municipal Band headquarters. The band, briefly renamed the Camon Military Band Association, at the time, appeared to be Twigg’s target. I would love to be able to look at the band’s historical archives to better understand how both the town reacted to their music and they felt about performing following the shooting.
4. A copy of Twigg’s final letters.
5. Winfield Courier Archives. So far, I only have only found on account of the shooting from Kansas. Accessing the Winfield Courier archives would greatly enhance my understanding of the shooting.
Assignment 3:
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