- Email: [email protected]
Historical Atlas of Maine
Journal of Historical Geography xxx (2015) 1e2
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Historical Geography journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jhg
Review Stephen J. Hornsby, Richard W. Judd (Eds.), Michael J. Hermann, Cartographer, Historical Atlas of Maine, University of Maine Press, Orono, 2015, 203, US$75 hardcover With the Historical Atlas of Maine, editors Stephen J. Hornsby and Richard W. Judd, as well as Michael J. Hermann, catographic designer, have provided a valuable research tool and an accessible introduction to the state that should be of interest to both scholars and the general public. The research it represents, as well as its appealing visual elements, will make it both an essential resource for serious historians and a fascinating read for Maine's residents and visitors. The list of contributors to the Historical Atlas of Maine runs to more than thirty names, many of whom are historians associated with the University of Maine, or scholars from other states who have had long-standing interests in Maine's history and who have contributed important work on the area. Among these is Emerson W. Baker, Salem State University, who is a wellknown authority on early Maine history and archaeology. The wide range of expertise on which the editors have drawn, as well as the carefully considered visual materials, combine to compellingly outline Maine's history from the Ice Age to the year 2000. The Historical Atlas of Maine is divided into three parts covering, respectively, the Ice age to Borderland or 13,000 B P to 1790; Shaping Maine, 1790e1850; and Maine in the Modern Era, 1910e2000. Each part begins with a relatively brief overview of the period and is followed by a number of ‘plates’: two-page spreads that comprise short essays on a particular topic, say, ‘Textiles’ (plate 48) or ‘Rural Decline’ (plate 56), and illustrations that support the generalizations made in the text. These visuals include maps, historic photographs and printed images, paintings, and graphs and charts. The materials realize the editors' intention, advanced in the introduction, to use ‘visual representations to tell as much of the story as possible’ (‘Introduction,’ n.p.). Many examples could be drawn from the Atlas to show how effectively illustrations are used to make historical arguments. Plate 24, for instance, ‘New England Migration,’ uses a map showing ‘Origin of Heads of Families to Penobscot Bay and Lower Penobscot Valley, 1800,’ pie charts illustrating the ‘Ethnic Origin of Maine Population, 1790’ and ‘Place of Birth of Maine Population, 1850,’ as well as other maps and charts to support the general claim that ‘Although populated by a large number of foreign immigrants before the Revolution, Maine took on an increasingly New England character between 1790 and 1850’ (plate 24, n.p.). As a whole, the Historical Atlas of Maine, by relying on both text and image draws in readers who might not wade through the lengthy tome that would be required to make all its arguments exclusively with words. While its combined visual and textual approach is somewhat http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2015.08.005 0305-7488
new, the scope of the Historical Atlas of Maine is typical of its genre. The book focuses on aspects of history that are susceptible to quantification and representation in graphs and charts: agricultural and industrial development, commerce, transportation, demography, land use, urbanism, and to a lesser extent, architecture. The overall historical development that emerges is not unfamiliar: from an area occupied by various Native American groups, Maine is transformed into a ‘District’ of Massachusetts which draws, in the early national period, increasing numbers of transplants from southern New England who are attracted by the prospects of vast natural resources. By the mid-nineteenth century, industrial centers emerge, only to decline a century later as a result of competition from the South and from other parts of the world. This economic loss is compensated for, to some degree, by Maine's tourist and other service industries. If these broad developments are relatively easy to depict in texts and images, other historical phenomena e some of equal importance e are harder to illustrate. In the category of realms of history that have lesser impact on the landscape e compared, for example, to economic history e are cultural, intellectual, women's, and social history. Under the rubric of ‘cultural history’ are several shadowy phenomena which are nonetheless highly significant to Maine, as they are elsewhere, including religious and art history. This is not to say that these histories are entirely neglected in the Historical Atlas of Maine: that is not the case, but they do not get the emphasis that other topics receive. For instance, the decline of the Congregational church and the rise of other Protestant denominations in Maine during the early national period is an important dimension of the District's population by southern New Englanders and could be shown graphically quite readily by mapping the construction of churches. Similarly, the growth of artist colonies across the state e from Ogunquit in the southwest to Deer Isle ‘downeast’ e could be shown on a map of the state. As the atlas suggests in its discussion of a handful of landscape painters, depictions of the state in various media had an important impact on how it was seen nationally. But artists also were e and are e important to a sector of the economy that comprises the production and sale of works of art and for that reason warrants further treatment. By the same token, intellectual history is not accorded much space in the atlas, although schools, academies, colleges, and universities have all been important in Maine. Their establishment (and, in some instances, demise) could also be mapped. Other aspects of Maine history e for example, women's outwork in the early nineteenth century, or tavern-keeping which women sometimes pursued in otherwise private homes e are nearly impossible to visualize on the landscape. They raise the question of how phenomena that had relatively little impact on the spaces of Maine's cities, towns, and rural areas can be represented in an historical atlas. These reservations aside, it is clear that Hornsby, Judd, and their
2
Review / Journal of Historical Geography xxx (2015) 1e2
team have assembled a formidable resource for Maine historians and an engaging primer on the state's fascinating development that deserves a wide popular readership.
Kevin D. Murphy Vanderbilt University, USA E-mail address: [email protected].
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Historical Geography journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jhg
Review Stephen J. Hornsby, Richard W. Judd (Eds.), Michael J. Hermann, Cartographer, Historical Atlas of Maine, University of Maine Press, Orono, 2015, 203, US$75 hardcover With the Historical Atlas of Maine, editors Stephen J. Hornsby and Richard W. Judd, as well as Michael J. Hermann, catographic designer, have provided a valuable research tool and an accessible introduction to the state that should be of interest to both scholars and the general public. The research it represents, as well as its appealing visual elements, will make it both an essential resource for serious historians and a fascinating read for Maine's residents and visitors. The list of contributors to the Historical Atlas of Maine runs to more than thirty names, many of whom are historians associated with the University of Maine, or scholars from other states who have had long-standing interests in Maine's history and who have contributed important work on the area. Among these is Emerson W. Baker, Salem State University, who is a wellknown authority on early Maine history and archaeology. The wide range of expertise on which the editors have drawn, as well as the carefully considered visual materials, combine to compellingly outline Maine's history from the Ice Age to the year 2000. The Historical Atlas of Maine is divided into three parts covering, respectively, the Ice age to Borderland or 13,000 B P to 1790; Shaping Maine, 1790e1850; and Maine in the Modern Era, 1910e2000. Each part begins with a relatively brief overview of the period and is followed by a number of ‘plates’: two-page spreads that comprise short essays on a particular topic, say, ‘Textiles’ (plate 48) or ‘Rural Decline’ (plate 56), and illustrations that support the generalizations made in the text. These visuals include maps, historic photographs and printed images, paintings, and graphs and charts. The materials realize the editors' intention, advanced in the introduction, to use ‘visual representations to tell as much of the story as possible’ (‘Introduction,’ n.p.). Many examples could be drawn from the Atlas to show how effectively illustrations are used to make historical arguments. Plate 24, for instance, ‘New England Migration,’ uses a map showing ‘Origin of Heads of Families to Penobscot Bay and Lower Penobscot Valley, 1800,’ pie charts illustrating the ‘Ethnic Origin of Maine Population, 1790’ and ‘Place of Birth of Maine Population, 1850,’ as well as other maps and charts to support the general claim that ‘Although populated by a large number of foreign immigrants before the Revolution, Maine took on an increasingly New England character between 1790 and 1850’ (plate 24, n.p.). As a whole, the Historical Atlas of Maine, by relying on both text and image draws in readers who might not wade through the lengthy tome that would be required to make all its arguments exclusively with words. While its combined visual and textual approach is somewhat http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2015.08.005 0305-7488
new, the scope of the Historical Atlas of Maine is typical of its genre. The book focuses on aspects of history that are susceptible to quantification and representation in graphs and charts: agricultural and industrial development, commerce, transportation, demography, land use, urbanism, and to a lesser extent, architecture. The overall historical development that emerges is not unfamiliar: from an area occupied by various Native American groups, Maine is transformed into a ‘District’ of Massachusetts which draws, in the early national period, increasing numbers of transplants from southern New England who are attracted by the prospects of vast natural resources. By the mid-nineteenth century, industrial centers emerge, only to decline a century later as a result of competition from the South and from other parts of the world. This economic loss is compensated for, to some degree, by Maine's tourist and other service industries. If these broad developments are relatively easy to depict in texts and images, other historical phenomena e some of equal importance e are harder to illustrate. In the category of realms of history that have lesser impact on the landscape e compared, for example, to economic history e are cultural, intellectual, women's, and social history. Under the rubric of ‘cultural history’ are several shadowy phenomena which are nonetheless highly significant to Maine, as they are elsewhere, including religious and art history. This is not to say that these histories are entirely neglected in the Historical Atlas of Maine: that is not the case, but they do not get the emphasis that other topics receive. For instance, the decline of the Congregational church and the rise of other Protestant denominations in Maine during the early national period is an important dimension of the District's population by southern New Englanders and could be shown graphically quite readily by mapping the construction of churches. Similarly, the growth of artist colonies across the state e from Ogunquit in the southwest to Deer Isle ‘downeast’ e could be shown on a map of the state. As the atlas suggests in its discussion of a handful of landscape painters, depictions of the state in various media had an important impact on how it was seen nationally. But artists also were e and are e important to a sector of the economy that comprises the production and sale of works of art and for that reason warrants further treatment. By the same token, intellectual history is not accorded much space in the atlas, although schools, academies, colleges, and universities have all been important in Maine. Their establishment (and, in some instances, demise) could also be mapped. Other aspects of Maine history e for example, women's outwork in the early nineteenth century, or tavern-keeping which women sometimes pursued in otherwise private homes e are nearly impossible to visualize on the landscape. They raise the question of how phenomena that had relatively little impact on the spaces of Maine's cities, towns, and rural areas can be represented in an historical atlas. These reservations aside, it is clear that Hornsby, Judd, and their
2
Review / Journal of Historical Geography xxx (2015) 1e2
team have assembled a formidable resource for Maine historians and an engaging primer on the state's fascinating development that deserves a wide popular readership.
Kevin D. Murphy Vanderbilt University, USA E-mail address: [email protected].