Honors in the Major: An Interview with Kayla Reeves

History major Kayla Reeves graduated with honors from Florida State University in Spring 2024.

She originally enjoyed studying British history but now focuses on American history with an emphasis on the Southern United States, religious history, and social movements. This summer, Reeves will participate in the Historic Deerfield Fellowship program in Massachusetts. She plans on taking a gap year before attending graduate school to further her study of history.  

What was your Honors in the Major topic?  

My project is titled “Women, Southerners, Americans: an analysis of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Thomasville, Ga.” I'm looking at these two organizations in the early 20th century through the case study of one town. The way the DAR and UDS are structured is as national organizations with local chapters in many towns and cities. Through my case study of Thomasville, I am doing a bottom-up analysis of these groups and tying them into their regional and national contexts.  

What made you choose this topic? 

I did not start out with a firm idea of what I wanted to work on. I knew that I was interested in looking at the social and cultural history of the American South, and that I liked the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I also knew that I was interested in women's history and especially those women's clubs and organizations that were forming and becoming prominent in this time period. 

My advisor, Dr. Kurt Piehler, is the one who really helped me narrow down my topic. He suggested I use Thomasville as a case study, because I could get experience researching in their physical archives and because the town has an interesting past. After spending time in the archives at the Thomasville History Center, I became very interested in their UDC and DAR collections and decided to make those two groups the focus of my project.  

What specifically interests you about your topic? 

One of the main things that I'm interested in is how gender played into these two groups. Because both of these organizations were generally promoting the rhetoric of traditional womanhood and the idea of separate spheres for men and women. But at the same time, they were part of this larger societal trend of increased female participation in the public sphere. These groups held large fundraisers, petitioned legislators, and put on lots of community events. It's interesting to see how these activities are contradictory to their rhetoric. 

The UDC had a very large impact on the American South. For example, a lot of confederate statues were either put up by the UDC on their own or were partly funded by the UDC. The statues are a very visual example of the UDC’s impact because they are a physical item that you can go and see. But they've also had a long-lasting impact on the mentality that we have in the American South. It's been very interesting to see those connections to the present day, especially given the recent protests. 

I think the DAR also had a big impact. It’s a little bit harder to see as directly as the UDC. But they were an important aspect of America's nation building process in the early 20th century, when we were deciding what it meant to be an American.  

What kind of surprised you at the beginning of the process?  

I would definitely say how long the research process takes. Especially when you're in a physical archive—as opposed to using online databases—it is just very time consuming. You will probably find fifty dead-ends before you find something useful! But I did enjoy it. It was very interesting. 

I'm so grateful for the experience. But I would definitely say, to any prospective students that want to do an Honors in the Major project, set aside a lot of time for research in the beginning, because that will really help you out so much later on. And don’t be discouraged easily, because you are going to find lots of dead ends before you find anything super useful for your project.  

How did you interact with your mentor?  

My mentor, Dr. Piehler, has been so helpful throughout this process. We had tons of meetings all the time. Especially early in the project when I was still trying to narrow down my topic, it was really helpful to talk through things with him and get advice. 

I found his suggestions to be very valuable. He also has given me some different opportunities to do some cool things, like give a presentation on my research in one of his classes. The students asked me questions about my work and also about doing this project in general. That was a nice way to prepare for the defense! 

What were the major milestones in writing your paper?  

I would say that one of the biggest milestones was getting started. I had been thinking about doing a project for a while, but I had been putting it off. Finding my advisor and just getting started in the research process, even when I wasn't totally sure about my topic, was the big event that helped me get going.  

Another milestone was turning in the prospectus—that's the first big assignment you have to do for the project. Finally, obviously, my defense with a very big milestone. I was very nervous about it. But it was really great to get that experience.  

How would you say your experience as a History major helped prepare you for your project?  

There were two classes that really stuck out as preparing me for the HITM project. I took a graduate course on U.S. military history with Dr. Piehler. I also took a course called History of Catholicism with Dr. Maximilian Scholz. Dr. Scholz ended up becoming one of my members on my committee for my honors thesis. Those two classes had very lengthy final capstone papers, that I think helped prepare me for undertaking a project of this size.  

What was the most fun or surprising thing from the process?  

The most fun part has been anytime I got the chance to talk with someone about my research. People have been a lot more interested in the topic than I had originally thought they were going to be, and so I find that to be really rewarding to get to share this piece of history with people who aren’t familiar with it. 

What was the defense like?  

The defense was interesting. I really didn't know what to expect, and I was quite nervous.  

In the beginning, I gave a brief overview of the project, and then my committee kept asking me questions. They prompted me to elaborate on certain things and gave suggestions about ways in which I could alter the project.  

I realized that I had spent a very long time researching my topic. When a committee member asked me a question, I would say, oh, yeah, actually, I’d love to elaborate on that. So, the defense was a much more positive experience than I expected. Overall, my committee was pleased with the project. I was really happy to hear that.  

How do you feel about your paper now that you have had time to reflect? 

I feel very proud to have finished it. I also feel better prepared for graduate school. My plan is to take a gap year, but then head to graduate school and eventually get my doctorate. That's my ultimate goal. I definitely feel better prepared to go further in the field of history now that I've done a project like this.  

Is there anything else that you want to share that you'd want to be included?  

I want to give a shout out to the people who've helped me at the Thomas History Center—Anne McCudden, Ephraim Rodder, Amelia Gallo and Mimi Hand. They have been so helpful in this process and so nice in letting me use their archive. And I would also tell students to visit the Thomasville History Center if they haven't. They may find it as interesting as I did.