GIS
Client
Jennifer Dorsey, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History
Siena College
Kiernan Hall 229
jdorsey@siena.edu
Introduction
Free African Americans in post-Revolutionary Maryland were in a significant abundance for Talbot and Queen Anne Counties during the 16th/17th century. These counties are located on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and it seems that these findings are consistent for three generations of manumitted and free born African Americans.
Trappe and the city of Easter (as well as Hole-in-Wall) are the municipal capital of Talbot County and the Eastern shore; villages that were identified as a growing one for African American populations. This background information is not only helpful but imperative to have, especially considering these villages have/had major roads located by it as well as ports.
Objectives
This project will show, with the help of a GIS model, the geographic implications for these counties. The GIS application will be important in forming conclusions based on physical properties of the areas. The geographic implications of the area will be able to give the client a firm idea why these groups of people settled in this area compared to other counties. With aspects such as easy accessibility from roads and easy availability for ships (from the ports), one will see why Talbot and Queen Anne Counties were in such demand. Additionally, it will be important to look at Ivy Town and Easton (the counties capitol) to make any other deductions in population shifts.
Primary Objectives Secondary Objectives Third (Ambitious) Objectives
1. With the help of the Maryland State Archives, I want to see what the area looks like during this period (1800-1900). What types of rivers are there? Are there ports (besides Oxford) evident in these maps?
2. With the help of the Maryland Room and the Library of Congress, I would like to map all the streams, large rivers, and wetlands of the area.
3. With the help of the Maryland Room and Maryland State Archives, I want to document changes of an agricultural society to a more industrialized one (this includes identifying the areas that are “truck & grain agriculture”.
a. Map the possible plantations that existed from 1800-1900.
4. Map the changes of a grain-growing society to a possible “truck agriculture”.
5. Use ArcGIS to map the absence or lack of roads in the 1800’s and show how they develop (as well as the railroads), from 1800-1900.
a. The primary objective here is to map the evolution of transportation 6. A secondary objective would be, with the help of the Hammond Harwood House Atlas of Historical Maps, to map the same type of geospatial data but to the counties north, south, east, and west of Queen/Talbot Counties.
a. This would be for comparison purposes, so deductions could be made.
7. Placemarks’ on the increasing number of roads, paths, ports that made migration to this area easier.
8. Map the type of land that was present in this specific area. I am interested, specifically, in the elevation levels.
a. To complete this secondary objective, a layered map of Queen and Talbot County would be imperative.
9. Placemarks’ on areas of occupation for the free African-Americans from 1800-1900. What types of work was given to African Americans to entice migration over the three generations?
a. The census of Maryland did not start recording this type of information to the 50’s, so it might be hard on know how to exactly map this data.
10. With the help of the Maryland State Archives, I want to document the African-American churches in the given area (African Methodist churches).
a. During this time period, churches were segregated so a high frequency of African-American only churches can give insights into why population shifts were so dramatic for these counties.
Methodology
GIS analysis will use the GeoDesign technique to see the physical properties of the region to make inferences in why population increase was significant. This allows for geographic planning to be made accurately and with great precision so that conclusions can be made. The task at hand will be a project-orientated GIS project, in which the scale and time frame is given; this semester. In other words, the project life is finite. Identifying the data collection and analysis of Talbot and Queen Anne Counties as a short term project allows one to know the time boundaries of the objectives.
Data Sources
1) Maryland State Archives (Hall of Records)
a. This data source will document the changes in the territory of the specific area from 1800-1900. In addition, the changes in the map will naturally document the evolution of roads. This source can also let one know the types of churches that were present in the Queen Anne/Talbot County area, to entice migration patterns.
2) The Hammond Harwood House Atlas of Historical Maps of Maryland.
a. A secondary source to any maps that the Archives might not be able to produce. Specifically, I will use this secondary source to see the changes of the Chesapeake Bay area during the 100 year time period.
3) Maryland Geography from NETSTATE
a. A secondary source to see the evolution of transportation and roads from 1800-1900.
4) Worldview Antique Maps and Books
a. Maryland base and elevation maps, as well as additional geography, topography, and climate.
5) The Maryland Room.
a. Maps will be from this historical website on Talbot County. I want to use this source to see the type of industry that was present and document those changes. Due to the abundance of maps of this specific area as well as other states (and counties), I will use these maps as my comparison piece. The Maryland Room also has changes in transportation during this time period, which I hope to document, also.
6) Library of Congress, Frederick Douglass Paper
a. This map is a secondary reference to the Maryland Room. This data source has a general geographic layout of the region. Since Talbot County is not geographically spacious, I need this source to document the overall layout of the region and how it changes (if a “Maryland Room” map is hazy).
7) * I am still trying to find a source that will identify occupations available in this time period for the given counties, as well as surrounding counties*.
Work Plan
March-May 2009
Meet with Professor Meierdiercks to review draft and make suggestions/modifications.
Meet with client, Dr. Dorsey , and discuss the preliminary ideas as well as identifying new and potential useful sources for this project.
Implement these sources and with the help of the ArcGIS technology, make conclusions about the given areas regarding the spatial analysis of the maps.
If all goes as planned, Dr. Dorsey and I can collaborate in making accurate findings that are precise so that the overall objective can be completed.
Budget
N/A
Bibliography
1. ArcGIS-wikipedia, the Free Encylopedia. Web.
2. ESRI Technology Topics. Web.
3. Mastering ArcGIS. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2010. Print.
4. All additional data sources have been supplied by Dr. Jenn Dorsey, from our meeting on 3/08/10.
