Summer 1998 Volume 8, Number 1

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh

Oshkosh, WI 54901-8642

Telephone: (920) 424-7115 or (920) 424-4105

FAX: (920) 424-0292

E-mail: gulley@vaxa.cis.uwosh.edu

Hello! For those of you who haven’t yet heard, Craig Colten has stepped down after three years of hard work on behalf of the Historical Geography Specialty Group, and I have been tabbed as his replacement. I know many of you, of course, but, for others, a few words of introduction may be in order. I have small-town roots, for starters, coming from a Missouri community south of Kansas City. Geographical concerns are somehow inherent in my being, but the historical focus is largely a product of meeting John K. Wright when I was an undergraduate student, reading Carl Sauer as a welcome respite from some dull classes on location theory, and chancing upon Walter Kollmorgen and John Augelli as graduate mentors. Finally, you should know that I go by the name of Pete instead of James (a long story).

When I learned that I would become a spokesperson for the specialty group, my first reaction was a blend of anxiety and anticipation. Anticipation soon overcame the anxiety, I am happy to report, and then my thoughts began to turn to more fundamental questions. One of these concerns the nature of our membership. Who exactly makes up this group that I am supposed to be representing? To shed some light on the subject, I contacted Kevin Klug, the man with the data at the AAG central office. He supplied me with an interesting matrix from which I could calculate the percentage of members in any specialty group who also belonged to our historical one. The math is now done, but, before I share the results with you, take a few moments to formulate some personal thoughts on the subject. With what groups are we likely to share the most common ground? Where might our overlaps be minimal? Can you foresee any changes that could or should take place in the future?

Let me report first that historical people can be found in each of the other forty-three groups listed on Kevin’s 1996 sheet. We are not unique in this ecumenicalism, however, as twenty-four other specializations can make the same claim. The most obvious finding, perhaps, is that we historical folks do not overlap much with either the "techies" or the physical geographers. No more than five per cent of the members in any of "their" groups (GIS, math, microcomputers, remote sensing, biogeography, climatology, coastal, geomorphology, and water resources) also belong to ours. Cartography is a bit of an exception here, but a predictable one given the subdiscipline of historical cartography. The overlap here is eight per cent, or forty-eight individuals.

The biggest surprise (and disappointment) to me is what I consider a low correspondence between historical and area-studies enthusiasts. The Africa, Asia, and China groups fare especially poorly, at six, six, and seven per cent, respectively. Latin Americanists, reflecting the Sauer legacy, do a little better at eleven per cent. The Russian/East European contingent is also at eleven, but the leaders are the European specialists with sixteen percent and the Canadians with twenty-seven per cent. Do the latter two figures reflect the traditionally strong presence of historical geography in the British educational curriculum?

As for the systematic human specialties, the percentages seem to vary with the degrees to which these fields are policy and/or statistically oriented. Low percentages occur for energy (six), regional development (six), medical (seven), population (seven), rural development (seven), industrial (nine), and transportation (nine). The weak linkage between the historical and the number-crunching mindsets is perhaps best seen in the percentages associated with the various people-environment groups. These range from lows of two and six for the data-rich specializations of hazards and human dimensions of global change, upward to eleven and twelve for the relatively more humanistic endeavors of environmental perception and cultural ecology. Urban, with eleven per cent, is predictably lower than agriculture (CARLU), with eighteen, but I am pleased to see evidence that urban geographers are becoming much more historically sensitive than they were a generation ago.

The highest associations are on the traditionally "fuzzy," cultural side of geography, probably what most of you predicted. The political specialty group membership comes in at ten per cent (a lot of interest in policy and other current affairs here, I suppose), and next are the recreation and Bible people at fourteen apiece. Then we find the religionists at twenty-three per cent, the American Indian specialists at twenty-four, students of American ethnicity at thirty-six, and, finally, the undifferentiated culturalists at thirty-seven.

Having looked at all the numbers, I now find myself wondering about change. As cultural geographers become more involved in the construction of contemporary society, for example, will this thirty-seven per cent figure fall in updated matrices? The low percentages of historical geographers in the socialist (six), aging (nine), and perspectives on women (nine) groups suggest that this may be so. The process deserves monitoring. For now, though, the key question we need to ask Ron Abler in a loud and collective voice is why he continually upsets 156 people by scheduling the

AAG convention paper sessions for the cultural and historical specialty groups on top of one another!

EDITOR’S REMARKS

Many of the names are familiar to me, some are less so, and I have sometimes tried to match a name with that member’s work by topic or by published work. This form of amusement, or distraction, makes a rather mundane job pass by seemingly more quickly than it might otherwise, but it has also served as a learning tool. I have occasionally consulted the A.A.G.’s Guide to Programs in Geography to learn more about the interests and responsibilities of the HGSG’s members whose names pass by my desk twice a year. This exercise sometimes corrects a wrong impression I have had of a member’s interests or institutional affiliation.

Seeing the zip codes pass by as I work through the mailing labels has also made me well aware of the spatial distribution of the paying members of our specialty group. I compiled a map to share this information. Interested readers will find this snapshot on the last page of this issue of the newsletter.

What prompted me to consider this practice of considering members’ locations and interests was attending Donald Meinig’s special lecture at the A.A.G. annual meeting in Boston. That setting provided an occasion at which those attending could readily feel a sense of community among other historical geographers. Pete Shortridge’s discussion about HGSG members’ interests and affiliations with other specialty groups which are outlined above, as well as Dawn Bowen’s summary of the graduate student survey reported below, provided a logical context for my sharing these experiences from the perspective of newsletter editor.

The subject of Meinig’s lecture was an overview of the upcoming third volume of The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History. Not having heard Professor Meinig speak before, I was pleased to learn that his presentation was up to the high standards that he has established with his written work.

Despite the timing of the lecture during the lunch hour, I noticed that the event was well attended, with most seats occupied in a large, inconveniently situated hall. HGSG members and others turned out en masse for this event. While listening to Meinig discuss some of the many topics he has considered in preparing the upcoming volume, I began making connections between specific subjects he highlighted and previous work by other scholars in that room. Many of these of course were names on those mailing labels too. In his concluding remarks, Dr. Meinig noted that his current project was never intended to answer all pertinent questions about the historical geography of the U.S. between the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. To the contrary, he pointed out that it raises important questions that will require hundreds of dissertations and theses to begin to provide adequate answers. After decades of productive scholarship spanning area studies; cultural landscapes; economic, religious, and political systems; and ethnicity; Meinig humbled and challenged those of us present with his reminder that there are numerous unanswered questions awaiting our attention. Along with the sense of community which the event fostered, Meinig reminded us of a shared sense of purpose.

As I have considered the prospects of meeting that challenge, I have reviewed the summaries which Pete Shortridge and Dawn Bowen have prepared for this issue of Past Place. I have visited the HGSG website, and I have even looked over that map of members’ locations once or twice. Each of these sources has reminded me that historical geographers are working on a wide variety of projects within and beyond the academy and that they are applying many different methods and approaches to answering questions that they have chosen to address. I appreciate that my interests in Civil War cartography, railroads and economic development, toponyms, war memorials, and architecture are at once an unusual group of specific topics but also typical of the variety of subjects which historical geographers study.

I believe that both Meinig’s example and his challenge provide ample evidence that the formula of intellectual curiosity informed by interest in multiple topics and regions is likely to continue achieving substantial results. The diversity of interests that Bowen and Shortridge have identified among our group’s members should perhaps be considered as positive signs for future success. Actively participating in the search for plausible answers to questions that we and our peers raise is one reward of our profession. Reappraising existing interpretations of the past is another. In either case, opportunities for our involvement as individuals and as members of a scholarly community are plentiful.

Heidi Nast chaired the Historical Geography Specialty Group’s 1998 student paper competition committee, and she reports the following results of this year’s work. Blake Gumprecht, University of Oklahoma, won the Ph.D.-level Andrew H. Clark award ($250) for his paper, " Giants on the Plains: The Grain Elevators of Enid, Oklahoma." Second place awards in the Clark competition went to Kate Boyer, McGill University, and Peter S. Morris, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Boyer’s paper was titled "Neither Forget Nor Remember Your Sex: Identity Politics in the Early Twentieth Century Canadian Office." Morris’ entry was "A Special Kind of Comparative History: Envisioning the Borderlands of the Northwestern Canadian-American Grasslands."

Michael Mercier, McMaster University, won the master’s level Ralph Brown award ($250) for his paper, "Infant Mortality in Ottawa, 1901: An Historical Geographic Perspective." Debra Alfonso, Western Michigan University, garnered a second place award for her paper, titled "In Quest of the American Dream: Immigrant Advancement in a Nineteenth Century Company Town."

HGSG members appreciate the efforts of students who prepared papers for the competitions and of the judges who reviewed the submissions. (See the announcement below regarding the student paper competition to be held during 1999.)

A number of institutions, not all of them known for their historical emphases, are represented. The largest number of respondents (4) are pursuing graduate studies, at both the Master's and Doctoral levels, at the University of Maryland. The University of Oklahoma shared a second place ranking with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where three Ph.D. students from each department responded to the survey. Rounding out the top spots are Syracuse, Penn State, and Kentucky, each with two students specializing in historical geography. Canadian institutions are well-represented with Toronto, York, McMaster and Saskatchewan each having students pursuing historical geographic research.

Students were asked where they intended to seek employment upon receiving their degrees. Everyone working toward the Ph.D. will seek a position in academe. Only two students, both at the Master's level, expect to look for employment opportunities with government or private industry.

It is perhaps not surprising, but certainly revealing, that the overwhelming majority of students have a North American (principally United States) focus in their research. Fewer than ten percent of the respondents had regional interests in Europe, and just one expressed

interest in the "developing world." Only two students are conducting research outside of North America; one is working in Switzerland and the other in Mexico.

Within the broad category of historical geography, there is a clear pattern of students’ topical interests. More than half of them listed "social" geography as their main research focus. A significant number are working in urban and environmental areas, with a considerable overlap with the social group. Only a tiny fraction are exploring topics that might be classified as rural or economic.

Classifying the subjects that students are investigating was impossible, for the subject matter is simply too diverse. One student is writing on Chinatowns in rural Oregon, another is assessing the influence of religion on settlement patterns in New England, and still another is exploring spatial and social mobility among the Irish in Toronto and Buffalo. A significant number of students are examining topics that range from landscape perception to the inscription of ethnicity in the landscape, and from investigations into the politics of memory, identity and space to a study of how social groups use historical images to legitimize their vision of how places should change.

What do these survey results suggest? It appears that historical geography, particularly its urban social dimensions, has a bright future, that rural and economic studies are in decline, and that perception and representation are being incorporated into graduate students’ research with increasing frequency. Graduate work in historical geography remains on sound footing, and the number of practitioners appears to holding steady. Although there is no clear indication that historical geography is experiencing a renaissance, it is apparent that students recognize the value and significance of the historical perspective and use it in their work.

Contact: Dawn Bowen, Dept. of Geography, Mary Washington College, Fredericksburg, VA 22401

E-mail: dbowen@mwcgw.mwc.edu

October 22-25, 1998

The 1998 annual meeting of the Eastern Historical Geography Association will

convene in Charleston at the College of Charleston on Thursday, October 22, and end on Sunday, October 25. Hosted by John Radford, the 1998 EHGA meeting will focus on the themes of race, culture, and community life in the South, as well as the mercantile city. While papers related to these themes are encouraged, papers on any topic are welcome. The tentative program includes Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday paper sessions, along with a Friday walking tour of the historic district and a field trip to Middleton Plantation. Further information regarding accommodation, transportation, and graduate student support is available from Dr. Radford.

Contact: John Radford, Geography Dept., York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto (North York), Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3

E-mail: johnrad@yorku.ca

Graduate students who plan to present papers are encouraged to apply for HGSG travel funding as announced in the "news items" section below.

Historical Geography Specialty Group Student Paper Competition

The Historical Geography Specialty Group (HGSG) will sponsor three student

competitions this year, 1998-99: the Ralph Brown Award for papers written by Master’s level students; the Andrew Hill Clark Award for papers written at the Ph.D.-level; and the Applied Historical Geography Award for projects of an applied nature.

Eligibility for the first two awards is open to any graduate student who has or will present a paper at any professional conference beginning the day after the 1998 AAG Annual Meeting and ending the last day of the 1999 Annual Meeting. Students wishing to participate in the first two awards should send three (3) copies of a conference-length paper of no more than 11 double-spaced pages plus notes, figures, etc. to the person listed below. Students wishing to enter the Applied competition should submit three (3) copies of a project description of no more than 11 double-spaced pages plus supporting materials such as photographs, site plans, etc. to the same person listed below.

Each award carries with it a $250 First Prize. Second prizes of lesser amounts may be awarded at the discretion of the competition judges. Please note: Re- the Ralph Brown Award--If the paper you wish to enter is based upon research conducted while you were a Master’s student you are eligible to enter this competition, even if you are now a Ph.D. student. Regardless of the competition which you enter, please indicate in a cover letter to which one you are applying, and include your e-mail address, if you have one.

Deadline for receiving materials is February 15, 1999.

Contact: Lawrence McGlinn, HGSG Student Competition Coordinator, Dept. of Physics, Astronomy and Geosciences, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA 31698

Telephone: (912) 259-5119, Fax: (912) 333-7389, or E-mail: lmcglinn@valdosta.edu

Historical geography students traveling to Honolulu will be eligible for travel awards from the Historical Geography Specialty Group (separate from AAG travel awards). First priority for the awards will be students who are entering a paper in the HGSG student competition and who are presenting the paper in Honolulu. Any remaining funds will be randomly awarded to HGSG student members presenting at the meeting but not participating in the award competition.

The anticipated amount for each award is $200. To be eligible for the travel awards, send a 250-word abstract of the paper to the person listed below by July 17, 1998. Electronic submission of the abstract is encouraged, but hard copy will also be accepted. Awards will be made randomly from among the entries judged appropriate for presentation at the meeting. Awardees will be contacted by August 14, 1998.

Contact: Lawrence McGlinn, HGSG Student Competition Coordinator, Dept. of Physics, Astronomy and Geosciences, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA 31698

Telephone: (912) 259-5119, Fax: (912) 333-7389, or E-mail: lmcglinn@valdosta.edu

Congratulations to the three new members on the Historical Geography Specialty Group council. Members elected James Shortridge (University of Kansas) chair, Larry McGlinn (Valdosta State University) councilor responsible for the student paper competition, and Blake Gumprecht (University of Oklahoma) student councilor.

On behalf of HGSG members, Christopher Boone also wishes to thank Dawn Bowen, Craig Colten, and Heidi Nast for their excellent work as councilors over the past three years.

Contact: Christopher Boone, Dept. of Geography and Urban Analysis, California State University, Los Angeles, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032-8222

Telephone: (213) 343-2220, Fax: (213) 343-6494, or E-mail: cboone@CALSTATELA.EDU

Dr. Paul A. Groves, who had been a professor in the geography department at the University of Maryland College Park since 1965, died on January 18, 1998. A memorial service was held at St. Columba’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., on January 28. Born in Surrey, England, Groves earned degrees at the University of London (baccalaureate), the University of Maryland (master’s), and the University of California at Berkeley (Ph.D.). Among his scholarly publications, North America: The Historical Geography of a Changing Continent, the textbook which he co-edited with Robert D. Mitchell and to which he contributed a chapter, is perhaps most widely known to HGSG members. Survivors include his wife, Phyllis; two sons, David and Gareth; and a sister. For information on making donations to memorial funds, please contact Prof. Martha Geores at (301) 405-4064.

(Biographical details were gathered from the Washington Post obituary, published on January 21, 1998, page B06.)

The Forest History Society, a non-profit educational institution established to promote the study of human interaction with the natural environment from a historical perspective, invites readers to visit their new web pages. The site contains information on the society’s library, archives, photographic collection, oral history program, publications, awards and fellowships, and bibliography. The address is as follows:

http://www.lib.duke.edu/forest/

The University of Southern California is developing an information system for Los Angeles. One aspect of this project is results of a 1939 household survey of residents. Information is available at the address below.

http://www.usc.edu/Library/ISLA/

Please send the editor items that may be of interest to other readers of this newsletter. The deadline for submissions for the Winter 1999 issue is Monday, January 4, 1999. This date will allow publication in a timely manner, making available information about the Spring 1999 AAG meeting and other events during the first half of 1999. For all but the briefest announcements, please send a copy of the notice on diskette or by e-mail. (Contact the editor if you have questions about file formats.)

Contact: Harold E. Gulley (Addresses and numbers appear on page one of this issue.)