GIS in Pursuit of History Middlebury College Department of Geography Middlebury Vermont 05753 aknowles@middlebury.edu http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/ump/majors/geog/hours/aknowles.htm Abstract: Historical GIS is a promising yet problematic methodology that is beginning to influence many branches of history. This paper examines the conversion of historical sources into historical GIS as an act of translation that requires sensitivity to the original source and a grasp of the logical, essentially mathematical structure of GIS. Two examples from the author's research highlight what we gain and risk by such translations. An authoritative 1859 directory of the U.S. iron industry seems tailor-made for GIS, yet uncertainty and gaps in the source material raise serious questions for interpretation and the mapping of analytical results. Digitizing topographic information in a historical map of Gettysburg makes it possible to investigate the significance of terrain in command decisions, but how far can the analysis be trusted? The issues raised by historical GIS challenge GIS research in general. Applying good historical practice offers solutions that temper positivist hubris. Bio: Anne Kelly Knowles is Assistant Professor of Geography at Middlebury College. She has edited three volumes of essays on historical GIS and is currently editing a fourth with Amy Hillier titled Placing History: How Maps, Spatial Data, and GIS Are Changing Historical Scholarship, scheduled for publication by ESRI Press in 2007. Anne's research on the historical geography of 19th-century immigration and industrialization has been supported by fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She is currently writing a book titled Hard as Iron: Geography, Labor, and Technology in the Struggle to Modernize America's Iron Industry. |