A HISTORICAL ATLAS by Zoltán Grossman Master's Thesis In
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Reflections on the Development of Wisconsin’s PAST AND PRESENT: A HISTORICAL ATLAS By Zoltán Grossman Master’s Thesis in Geography, June 1998 (pages based on double-spaced text) INTRODUCTION History and purpose 1 Key questions 1 Audience 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Wisconsin sources 4 Previous North American historical atlases 6 Reference and thematic atlases 11 ATLAS ORGANIZATION Format decisions 15 Work process 17 THEMATIC DECISIONS Time, space, and place 22 Overall theme 24 Chronology 25 Sections 28 Comprehensiveness 30 Balance 31 V. SPREAD CHOICES Peoples and Cultures Section Indigenous subsection 34 Immigrants subsection 39 Cultural Legacies subsection 45 Land and Economy Section Natural Resources subsection 46 Agriculture subsection 49 Industries subsection 52 Society and Politics Section Boundaries subsection 56 Movements subsection 59 Government subsection 62 Lessons Learned Context of time and place 66 Work process 69 Atlas format 73 Conclusion 76 BIBLIOGRAPHY 78 INTRODUCTION History and purpose. In July 1996, six Madison-area cartographers began discussing a proposal for a historical atlas of Wisconsin. The mapmakers were part of the newly formed Wisconsin Cartographers’ Guild, and had spent much of their professional careers developing historical maps for encyclopedias and educational curriculum. For years, Wisconsin cartographers, geographers and historians had discussed the possibility of developing such an atlas, which had not been produced in Wisconsin since 1878. Guild members saw the state’s approaching 1998 Sesquicentennial celebration as an ideal opportunity to make the longstanding dream a reality. In 1997, the Guild secured The University of Wisconsin Press as the book’s publisher, and won a grant from the Wisconsin Sesquicentennial Commission to cover half of the Guild’s development costs. Guild members Marily Crews-Nelson, Laura Exner, Michael Gallagher, Zoltán Grossman, Amelia Janes and Jeffry Maas undertook the project on separate Macintosh computers. They met weekly to make decisions, and carried out the research, text writing, map production, and layout as a team. The Guild set up a group of outside experts to guide the work, and consulting editors to review every aspect of the work. The Guild promoted its Atlas as an educational resource that would last beyond the celebration of the state’s 150th birthday, and interest students and the general public in further studying Wisconsin history. In the process of developing the proposal and starting the project, Guild members faced a myriad of questions that any project team would face in producing a historical atlas of a state or province. They also faced a variety of dilemmas specific to the portrayal of Wisconsin’s rich and diverse history. Questions. First, as in any publishing project, Guild members had to specify the audience of the book. What were previous works on Wisconsin history, and how would the Guild distinguish its project from these works in both form and substance? They also had to study other examples of historical atlases on North American history, and draw lessons from the strengths and shortcomings of previous works. How could a new historical atlas could both make history come alive for the audience, and yet provide an accurate reference tool for students and teachers? How could the non-academic project team strike a balance between public accessibility and scholarly approval? Second, the cartographers had to make decisions on the format of the presentation and the work process to develop the atlas. How would the cartographers balance graphic and textual elements necessary to communicate historical information, and submit them for editorial examination—all within a time span necessary to publish the book in the Sesquicentennial year? How would they cooperate amongst each other in sharing the skills, resources and technology necessary to complete the project, and navigate the wide variety of historical resources available to them? Third, the project team needed to make critical decisions about the thematic content of the book—what they felt could be expressed by a historical atlas that other historical publications could not adequately express. These decisions included identifying an overall theme in the history of an arbitrarily formed political region in the western Great Lakes. Would the history of Wisconsin be best expressed in a traditional chronological presentation, or a presentation organized around major themes that recur throughout the state’s history? How would Guild members selectively pare down the tremendous amount of historical data into manageable sections, and decide when to stop adding data to maps? Fourth, since no work of historical research can pretend to be comprehensive, the cartographers/authors had to capture at least the basic themes in Wisconsin history. On a case-by-case basis, which ideas would be best expressed through text narratives, spatial representations on maps, or illustrations? How would they develop the maps to carry the requisite data, yet keep in mind the maps’ aesthetic quality and readability? How would they cross-reference interrelated historical themes, and draw parallels between different periods of history? The central goal of the project was to produce a historical atlas that was distinct both from previous works of Wisconsin history, and from previous state historical atlases. The distinctiveness was based on the general readership for the publication, the integration of colorful maps with accessible text in a single engaging format, and an emphasis on history from the “bottom up.” The Atlas was formulated to present Wisconsin as a story of peoples and landscapes, rather than simply of dates and names. Guild members were at times conscious that their choices might point new directions not only for cartographers, geographers, and historians in Wisconsin, but for those contemplating historical atlases elsewhere in North America. Audience. The ambition of Guild members was to see the Atlas adopted as an educational resource in Wisconsin schools, as well as on the bookshelves of libraries and homes. The target audience for the Atlas was the general population of Wisconsin, including former Wisconsin residents. The emphasis, however, was quickly placed on high school students and college freshmen/sophomores, for several reasons. First, Guild members wanted the Atlas adopted as an educational resource in the schools. At present, Wisconsin history coursework is not required in Wisconsin beyond the 4th grade. History and social studies instructors in higher grades have long needed a concise and visual Wisconsin history publication that can heighten students’ interest in the subject, and inspire the students to research further. Students can use the maps as a starting point for gaining an overview of a topic, then turn to the atlas bibliography as a source for continued reading and study. The goal of the Atlas is to make history more accessible to the public, and enable students to visualize historical changes in Wisconsin. Second, state history—the stories of people at the local level—can clarify and deepen students’ understanding of U.S. and world history. Few compelling tools on state history, however, are available for instructors. Instructors in high schools and colleges could incorporate the Atlas into their U.S. history curriculum, to provide a local angle on larger events at the national level. The history of one’s own backyard can help illuminate and personalize the history of our country and world. Maps help to bring this history alive, and locate it in particular places, in ways that text alone cannot. Third, because the Atlas was aimed at a young readership that has not yet graduated from college, the language and graphics were developed at a level that would also be accessible to a general public that has also not graduated from college. Guild members wrote the text with straightforward laymen’s language, defining historic terms when needed, without using overly academic language. They designed the maps to be detailed without being overly complex, so that the readership would be intrigued without being overwhelmed. Striking a balance between academic language and laymen’s language, and between overly complex and overly simplistic maps, was the key challenge of the project. The process often involved “translating” dense text sources and images into a form that would be understandable to non-college graduates. It also required a name change, from the original Historical Atlas of Wisconsin to Wisconsin’s Past and Present: A Historical Atlas. Observing that historical atlases are often perceived as dry reference materials, University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Emeritus of Cartography Arthur H. Robinson suggested the name change to improve book sales. Fourth, the schools were emphasized in the project because educational institutions are increasingly interested in new and innovative ways of teaching history. In particular, teachers are increasingly interested in multicultural approaches that do not segment off ethnic groups, or treat certain groups as afterthoughts, but incorporate them thoroughly into the history of the whole. The “bottom-up” approach to history, or an approach that focuses on social history, can perhaps also engage students in a way that histories of institutions and important individuals cannot. LITERATURE REVIEW Wisconsin history sources. One intention of the Atlas was to fill a gap in state history publications. As former Senator and Governor Gaylord Nelson wrote