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Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 14:30:18
From: John Long <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Atlas Indexing
 
 
Johnny:
 
Tim Ross's message holds out the promise of a crucial finding aid.  It is
extremely difficult to use the original, three-volume Historical Atlas of
Canada because it lacks an index, and the prospect of someone creating one
for the "concise" version (which I have not seen) is very attractive.
 
The following suggestions are based upon participation in the indexing of
the Atlas of Early American History and some other atlases and having used
many historical atlases.  Most of the topical indexing is just about the
same as indexing a book of text.  The greatest difference probably is in
telling the reader whether a reference in the index is to text or to a map,
a distinction that can be handled several ways, including using different
type for maps and text pages.  For any given topic, the words used to make
references to text should be the same words used to make references to the
maps, and cross-references between possible topical words are always a
help.  In a reference work like a historical atlas, it can be very
important not to give more than three, four, or five references to an entry
without dividing that entry into sub-topics.
 
The page-size of some atlases is so large that a reference to a single page
may be barely sufficient.  In the Atlas of Early American History, which
measures approximately 13 inches by 18 inches, we found that an atlas page
could hold the equivalent of about six to eight pages in a conventionally
sized book.  To help readers find topics and names on such a large sheet of
paper, we created a grid of nine equal-sized areas, three across and three
down.  We numbered the columns and used letters to identify the rows.  The
upper left corner was a1, the lower right corner was c3.  (Most maps had
their own letter-number grids to locate places, features, etc.)  This
reference grid was depicted only on page xiv in the front matter with other
information that would help readers with the maps and text, and no grid
lines actually appeared on the pages of the atlas.  Indexers, and readers
after them, had to visualize the grid when making or using index
references.  Nobody connected with the atlas was especially fond of this
device, but in all our informal tests with friends and associates, we found
it worked better than a plain reference to a page alone and better than
other schemes that were proposed.  If the pages in the Concise Historical
Atlas of Canada are 8.5 x 11 inches or smaller, it may be possible to get
away with simple references to pages, but anything larger might invite a
more creative solution.
 
Third, while index references to names on maps usually make up all of the
index entries in conventional reference atlases, places and natural
features that appear on many maps are often ignored in a topical atlas like
a historical atlas.  If there is a "reference" map (or a set of them), that
is where references to common places and features should point, assuming
that they are indexed at all.  Places and features that are important to a
particular topic need indexing, of course.
 
Most atlas maps are designed with a locator grid (e.g., numbers for the
columns and letters for the rows or vice versa), and index entries to names
on the maps usually consist of a reference to the appropriate map (e.g.,
page or map number) and then the letter-number coordinates of the place or
feature.  Sometimes topical references can be to the map as a whole.  If
there is no reference grid for locating names on maps (as is the case for
the maps in the full-length Historical Atlas of Canada), references to
information on the maps may have to take some novel form:  perhaps an
imaginary grid, such as the Atlas of Early American History adopted, or
perhaps references to the names of maps (especially if the maps are small),
or perhaps some other scheme.  For each state volume in the Atlas of
Historical County Boundaries we have two indexes: in the table of contents
there is an index to counties (which provides cross-references between
different names for the same county and gives the page numbers where each
county's section begins) and at the back of the book there is an index to
places (which refers readers to the name of the county in which the place
is located today).  I am sure others have devised still more systems that
efficiently direct readers to the information they seek.
 
John Long
John H. Long
Editor, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries
The Newberry Library
60 W. Walton St.
Chicago, IL 60610
312/255-3602
FAX 312/255-3513
e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
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