Rosie Click on US.. Imperialism in Cuba and Puerto Rico during and after the Spanish-American War
With the support of the Georgetown Americas Institute, Rosie Click traveled to University of California Berkeley to visit the Bancroft Library's archival collections. Her visit served two purposes: collecting information on Mark Twain's writings about Cuba and imperialism for an article in progress, and conducting preliminary research for her dissertation project, which focuses on the post-1898 U.S. empire, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawai’i, and the Philippines.
The visit was incredibly fruitful and shaped the direction of both projects. As she had just completed my comprehensive exams in May 2024, she still only had a vague idea about the direction her dissertation would take. At the Bancroft Library, she consulted a large collection of materials related to U.S. imperial education policy. This piqued her interest, and now her dissertation will focus specifically on the ways that teachers and students navigated changes in education policy throughout the U.S. overseas empire.
This trip was an excellent opportunity to think through the comparative aspect of her dissertation as well; the diverse collections at UC Berkeley helped her understand the connections between the four places she studies.
At the Mark Twain Papers, she consulted many items not viewable online and spoke with expert archivists. Her favorite discovery was a diary entry written by Samuel Clemens’ (Twain’s actual name) daughter Jean describing a play she watched that was set in Cuba and featured Theodore Roosevelt. As she continues working on both projects, this research will remain invaluable for her understanding of U.S. imperialism and those who resisted it.