The following American Studies Seminar research papers were written by students in the 1984 seminar, "The Lethal Imagination: Perceptions of Western Violence in American Thought, 1850-1900," under the supervision of Professor Robert R. Dykstra.

• "Images of the West in two Boston newspapers, 1871," by Donna Baron
• "The portrayal of western terrain and western violence in periodicals of the 1870s: a study of Scribner's monthly and the Galaxy, and their roles in embellishing the western myth," by Linda Blackmar
• "The formation of western violence in children's literature, 1850-1860: images of the Native Americans," by Mary Jane King
• "The Potawatomie massacre: newspaper reaction in Boston and Charleston," by Robert Mullaney
• "Eastern press and western violence: a study of eastern press coverage of Wild Bill Hickok's assassination," by James M. O'Neill
• "The Nez Perce Indian War and eastern railroad strike as reported in Massachusetts newspapers, 1877," by Rachel Ory
• "Perceptions of Western violence as seen in eastern newspaper accounts of the Northfield Bank robbery," by Holly M. Polglase
• "Eastern perceptions of violence and the "Cortina War"," by Philip J. Resca
• "The killing of Yellow Hand as reported in metropolitan eastern newspapers," by Elizabeth A. Smith
• "Custer's last stand in high school textbooks, 1948-1984," by Karen Zilversmit