Haley George

Encyclopedia Entry (Forthcoming)

Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)

This encyclopedia entry examines Neques, an eighteenth-century chief of the Tonkawa people, and his role as a diplomatic leader during a period of Spanish expansion and colonial negotiation in Texas. Drawing on Spanish colonial correspondence and treaty records, the article situates Neques’s pro-peace stance—particularly his indirect participation in the 1771 peace council organized by Athanase de Mézières—within broader Indigenous strategies of survival, autonomy, and diplomacy. The entry also addresses the impact of epidemic disease and colonial pressure on Tonkawa leadership and community continuity in the late eighteenth century.

Rats, Respectability, and Social Anxiety in Nineteenth-Century Britain

Historical Methods Research Paper · Fall 2025

This paper examines the symbolic role of rats in nineteenth-century Britain as a reflection of broader anxieties surrounding disease, class, and social disorder during the Industrial Era. Drawing on sanitary reports, medical literature, journalism, and Victorian fiction, the study argues that rat imagery functioned as both a response to real public health concerns and a cultural tool used to moralize poverty and reinforce class boundaries. By tracing moments of resistance and reinterpretation, the paper demonstrates how fears of rats reveal deeper concerns about respectability, social order, and the instability of industrial life.

PDF available upon request