forwarded from MapHist

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        [MapHist] historic gis project
Date:   Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:54:28 -0400
From:   Lauren Coats <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To:       Maps-L
To:


Dear Map-Histers,

I thought you all might be interested in a historic GIS project that
was recently launched by Lehigh (description below).

-Lauren Coats



*Historical GIS Site Launched by Lehigh University//*

The S. Murray Rust, Jr. Digital Scholarship Center at Lehigh University
recently launched a geographical information system (GIS) project that
maps the townscape of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the early twentieth
century (http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/beyondsteel/gis/). This
interactive, historical GIS tool enables site visitors to map and to
investigate spatially the lives of turn-of-the-century Bethlehem
residents and Bethlehem Steel Company employees. Active from 1857-2003,
“the Steel,” as locals call the company, was the area’s major employer
at the opening of the twentieth century. The Steel is a major figure in
the story of industrial growth, dominance, and decline both regionally
and nationally.

Using demographic, housing, and employment data, this GIS tool provides
information about those who lived in Bethlehem, especially Bethlehem
Steel workers. The data, gleaned from the /Sholes’ Directory of the
Bethlehems /from 1900-1901, Bethlehem Steel employee lists from
1900-1902, and select 1900 census data for Lehigh and Northampton
Counties. Visitors can visualize this data geographically, as the site
plots the information on a composite of historical Sanborn fire
insurance maps from 1912-1935. Data sets can also be searched textually.

The local /Sholes’ Directory/ provides Bethlehem residents’ names,
addresses, occupations and employers, marital status, and whether they
owned or rented. Finer-grained data and spatial information is available
for Bethlehem Steel Company employees. The company’s employee lists
provide employee names, salaries, and where they worked within Bethlehem
Steel. By searching the 1900 Census for these 1,200 steel workers, the
site supplements the employee list information with details about the
workers' age, race, place of birth, education, paternal and maternal
country of origin, and other census information. By cross-referencing
the employee lists, the /Sholes’ Directory/, and the census data, the
site allows visitors to see where these workers lived, their proximity
to work, and how their job status, pay, ethnicity, and education
affected housing patterns. The site is being expanded and enhanced so
visitors will be able to see the location of other businesses and
industries (and the residences’ of their workers) in addition to the
Steel. Coming in August 2008, data on the location of the area’s textile
mills and their employees’ residences will be made available.

This GIS component is the most recent addition to Lehigh University’s
digital library project dedicated to illustrating the region’s
industrial history, /Beyond Steel: An Archive of Lehigh Valley Industry
and Culture/ (http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/beyondsteel/). This project
chronicles the nineteenth-century industrial boom and twentieth-century
industrial decline in the Lehigh Valley through a large set of digitized
materials including letters, books, newspaper articles, maps,
photographs, pamphlets, and oral histories. The site continues to grow
as materials are added that tell the story of how coal, canals,
railroads, iron and steel converged in the making of an industrial
community. /Beyond Steel/, especially with the addition of the GIS
component, enables researchers and students to study not only the lives
of railroad barons and steel titans, but also the everyday experiences
of people who worked and lived in the community.

This project was partially funded with federal Library Services and
Technology Act (LSTA) funds administered by the Office of Commonwealth
Libraries.

For more information about the GIS project of /Beyond Steel/, contact
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>.