University of Wisconsin, Madison: Michael Lesy's thesis "Wisconsin Death Trip" (a study of 19th Century small town alcoholism, madness, witchcraft, and financial ruin) was rejected by the History Department because it consisted entirely of archival photographs arranged with snippets of news stories.  Lesy claimed he was making a "visual argument" that did not require original text to be written by him.  It was subsequently published to great acclaim.  Academic reviewers called it "shocking," "the most revolutionary work of history to emerge in recent years," and "the only Ph.D. thesis with a cult following."  Lesy later received a Rutgers Ph.D. in American Cultural History for this work, and the thesis was made into a film.  It is considered a classic work in some areas of Art History and Visual Culture, and is still in print.