I had a high school history teacher that would every so often tell people what their history theses should focus on if we were to ever major in history at a university. I was wondering what topics history majors have chosen and completed for their study in either undergrad or graduate school.
I'm not sure if this question is proper but this subreddit is for historians so it seemed to fit. I'm sorry if it's not the correct place to post this question in which case I'll delete it.
EDIT: Also, what led you to your choice?
I did my undergraduate paper on the novelist Jack Kerouac. I am working on my master's program now, and am looking at doing something on either the Lincoln County War/Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch or something like that.
I did Jack Keroauc partly because I love literature and did a lot of research on the Beat Generation, and I love counter culture ideas, such as the post Civil War you have the Wild West, post WWI you have the lost generation, WW2 you have the Beats who paved the way for the hippie movements. Bonus! I just got to say Wild West and hippies in the same sentence. But, back to the original idea-I did it on Kerouac, a biography talking about partly him and those who did not fit into the 1950s society of rushing to the burbs and keeping up with the Jones's. It was fun research and led to a short biography for the research.
I wrote my thesis on the relationships between gay men and lesbians in the AIDS activist group ACT UP. More generally, I looked at how the AIDS crisis informed and influenced gay male and lesbian social, sexual, and activist cultures. It was a lot of fun to write, also very emotional.
I'm currently writing an undergrad thesis on the Paxton Boys and the Conestoga Massacre of 1763. So, pretty much Indian-white relations and how they were impacted by the French and Indian war.
I wrote my Honours Thesis on the campaign and fight against Tuberculosis in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and more specifically The Mountain Sanatorium located in that city.
I'm currently working on an undergrad thesis about a rather peculiar Armenian illuminated manuscript from 17th century Istanbul and what its illuminations say about the Armenian community of 17th century Istanbul.
The civilian perception of Revolutionary War veterans in the years leading up to the war of 1812.
BA: -The artistic intersection of countercultural American ideals and Hollywood economics-a case study on Russ Meyer's transition to mainstream American film.
Master's: -Minority appeal and superstition as public health control measure: specifically narrative films produced by government committee during the 1920s.
-also a weird 8-part collaborative internet writing experiment where my cohort and I attempted to situate Occupy with the heritage of popular resistance movements, cultural studies, and the Arab Spring.