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Where’s James Merill Linn? Mapping Linn in New Bern, NC

December 9, 2016 by Maureen Maclean

My role in this project was to spatially markup James Merill Linn’s journal entries from March 23- April 19, 1862, using ArcGIS online. Using the transcribed journal entries and historical research, I plotted, on various maps from the Civil War era, points where Linn mentioned he had gone for each of his journal entries (one point= one journal entry). Most of the points are around the New Bern area in North Carolina, where Linn spent most of his time (March 23- April 9, April 12-16, 1862) as part of the Union occupation of the town under General Burnside. On April 17, 1862, Linn and other Union troops left New Bern for South Mills in a (failed) effort to undermine Confederate transportation schemes by destroying the Dismal Swamp Canal locks. The Battle of South Mills (April 19, 1862) was one of only a few Union defeats as part of Burnside’s Expedition.

Screenshot of my work on ArcGIS
Screenshot of my work on ArcGIS

One of the hardest parts of mapping Linn was the fact that Linn rarely named the places he visited or the streets that they are on. For example, he mentions General Burnside’s headquarters as a white house in New Bern but doesn’t explain where it is or what the house was called. To find out what house it was so I could map it I had to do some research online. I figured out that the house was the Stanly House. However, the house was moved from its original location in the 1960’s and I couldn’t figure out where the house was originally located. I eventually found the general area where the house first was located after going through old land deeds but I hit another pitfall because the Stanly House isn’t listed on the map I was plotting the points on from 1866. The only building mentioned where the house was first located was listed as the Washington Hotel on the map. After even more research, I discovered that George Washington stayed at the Stanly house in 1770 and surmised that the map maker was referring to this moment in time when labeling the map.

General Burnside's headquarters at Stanly House.
General Burnside’s headquarters at Stanly House.

My struggle to find Gen. Burnside’s headquarters was probably one of my easier efforts to find a location Linn talks about because at least it is a physical landmark. For a lot of the journal entries, Linn just talks about his time at camp yet he doesn’t give the name of the camp he stays at and only offers hints of the general location. I used his hints, research, and the maps (both the 1866 and 1864 maps) to try to locate the camps he stayed at to the best of my ability. For example, on April 3, 1862 Linn mentions moving camp to be on the other side of the river (the two previous camps were on the south bank of the Trent) on the west side of town. Using a map from a newspaper article from that time, I surmised that the camp was located north of the Railroad Depot. Unfortunately, I cannot be entirely sure that the locations I plotted for Linn’s time at the camps, or for any of the points for that matter, are correct. That being said, my spatial analysis is more of a communication device than a historical record of Linn’s location; the purpose of mapping Linn’s entries is to provide an engaging interface for readers to contextualize Linn’s situation. A large part of this goal is aesthetics and accessibility, two key elements of effective communication. To make the analysis clear and good looking, I colored coded elements as well as labeled them. For example, instead of tracking Linn’s travels within New Bern, I instead just used a blue circle to indicate the general area he traversed during the majority of this time and labeled it as so. I figured that if I tried to track his moves around the city, like I did with his journey to South Mills and Pollocksville, it would be too cluttered and visually overwhelming. Additionally, instead of including the whole transcribed entry for each point, I instead only included a quote from the entry that related to the location of the pin. I did this because 1) it is more clean and concise and 2) it makes the reader want to find out more and thus click the link to read the full entry.

Newspaper map I used to help determine where on of the camps Linn stayed at was located. The red circle marks the label of a camp according to the map maker.
Newspaper map I used to help determine where on of the camps Linn stayed at was located. The red circle marks the label of a camp according to the map maker.
Entry that Linn talks about the camp. I used the context that Linn supplied with additional research (like the newspaper map) to determine the location of the camp.
Entry that Linn talks about the camp. I used the context that Linn supplied with additional research (like the newspaper map) to determine the location of the camp.

Overall, I am satisfied with the work I did and I think that I was effective in achieving my goals. In terms of relating the process to the other work we did, I think spatial analysis can be considered another form of transcription since I had to transcribe his words in a spacial fashion. Just like with the actual transcription of Linn’s writings, I had to negotiate Linn’s actual words with what I thought Linn meant, or in my case, where Linn meant he was. I had to question Linn’s own accuracy of his locations and use historical research to try to determine where he was. As I mentioned previously, my spatial interpretation of Linn’s entries is just that- an interpretation. This relates back to what Pierazzo says about digital editions:

“We should simply say that the notion of objectivity is not very productive or helpful in the case of transcription and subsequently of diplomatic editions and that we should instead make peace with the fact that we are simply doing our works as scholars when transcribing and preparing a diplomatic edition.” (Pierazzo 466).

Just as I choose what to markup for the various transcription/ TEI work we did this semester, I decided what places I thought were the most important to my edition and used research as well as Linn’s words to spatially markup the entries. As Pierazzo says, we have to distance ourselves from the notion of objective truth- our editions will be inherently subjective and we can’t be stuck on trying to make it “correct.” This is exactly what I did- I adjusted my knowledge and did the best that I could to make a scholarly edition of Linn’s journal entries.

Filed Under: Reflections Tagged With: 1862, arcGIS, burnside, final, Linn, map, maureen, new bern

James Merill Linn: the No-Nonsense Weatherman

November 17, 2016 by Maureen Maclean

I have had experience with transcription before but the Linn letters proved to be quite a challenge for me. I had worked on transcription of print material but I did not expect handwriting would be so hard to transcribe. I referred to the transcribed letters we worked on in class in our groups when I was transcribing my letter. I asked people around me what they thought a word was and Prof. Jakacki helped a lot. To make sure I got the spelling of a person’s name right, I looked at the journal and checked. I found that it was easier for me to transcribe if I didn’t look so close up at a word. I actually found that the shorter the word, the harder it was for me to understand/transcribe it. For example, I had that “over” was actually “own” until Prof. Jakacki helped me. However, I had no problem recognizing “acknowledge.”

Side by side comparison of digital version and my xml markup
Side by side comparison of digital version and my xml markup

My first thought when I saw the real life letter was how small the handwriting/letter was. In retrospect, it makes sense as he had to save paper and ink. I didn’t find the real life document to be easier or harder to read than the digital facsimile. There are trade-offs of working with a digital facsimile instead of a real relic. One being that you lose a certain context of the writing. For example, you also lose a certain perspective or sympathy of the author when using a digital copy. With a real life document you get to hold, touch, smell, and etc. as the author would. When holding the Linn letter I kept on imagining myself as Linn writing amidst soldiers at New Bern and looking out at the sunset. With a digital copy, you lose that rich experience. Another reason why its important to have access to the original material is if the digital reproduction is poor. Luckily mine was okay but I know a couple of students had trouble with their digital copies.

Digital vs. photo of actual letter
Digital vs. photo of actual letter

That being said, digital facsimiles are helpful because you can resize them, take notes, print them out- where ever and when ever you want. However, using both a digital and original copy are ideal because it provides a rich context (original) while allowing a manipulation of the text (digital). If you only have access to a digital copy you can call the university or organization that has the original and discuss viewing options or access to their mark up or transcriptions. You could talk with an archivist who specializes in the Linn letters or in a particular letter and ask them your questions. You could also research about publications, papers, and projects that have involved the letters and refer to them for transcription help and see if they have good photos of the letter.

Can you find a pattern of expression, emotion, or experience that is the same or different (remember audience – when Linn writes for himself, does he reveal things that are different from when he writes to someone?)

My letter was interesting because in most of James Merill Linn’s letters he does not talk directly to his audience. In terms of content, my letter was straightforward: James wanted John to give money to the listed people, many of whom appear in other letters, such as Beaver. He doesn’t talk about his day at all and just gives John directions to hand out the money he sent with the letter and he asks John to send him back a receipt of the transactions. In Linn’s diary before my letter was dated, he was similarly straightforward but did not address an audience and just talks about the events in his day. He talks about mundane things in his day like the weather or receiving mail- there is not a lot of emotion in the immediate diary entries before the letter. However, farther back (around April 3-6th) Linn wrote in great detail. For example, on April 6th he wrote a lot about the beauty of the town and the surroundings. For example he remarks “There are many fine houses, but the beauty of them is in the large grounds around them and the shrubbery. Roses are blooming, & the lilac & locust are out.” He also laments, throughout his time at New Bern, about how nice the town must have been in the past. He seems generally interested in the history of the place throughout his diaries. Regardless of the unfortunate events around him, he seems to find solace in the beauty of his surroundings and the little things in life (he REALLY likes the weather) and seems to be optimistic. In terms of context, my letter fits into the previous diary entries because James talks about the paymaster- which James wrote about in his diary a couple days before. It also seems as if he had a fair amount of down time at Camp Franklin.

For a short time after my letter, he continues to write sparingly and in a cut and dry manner. He writes about troop movements and his daily military interactions. He also talks about getting sick and is relieved to find out that it isn’t small pox. It is strange that James did not talk about his letter to John in his April 13th entry, since he seems to recount his day so meticulously in his diary. Compared to the diary entries before the letter, the diary entries after have a more sober and anxious tone. This is probably because his unit had learned about the Battle of Corinth and because James was sick and thought he might have small pox. Linn writes less about nice strolls or the beautiful sunset. This makes sense as he was sick and the Union Army had to regroup and reorganize after Corinth.

The general difference between the Linn letter and his diary entries are that in the letter Linn doesn’t waste any time talking about himself or his day- he instead just asks his brother to give money to these people without explaining why. I don’t think he was so frank because he was busy or in a hurry because his hand writing was neat and according to his diary, he had some down time. It’s interesting that he doesn’t share much with his brother while he does go into detail in his diary. Perhaps this is because what Linn was saying is classified information or because the brothers’ relationship wasn’t super warm/close , or maybe they were in contact all the time and would talk about the stuff in the diaries in a different letter. In terms of my own relationship with my sisters, I often find myself only texting them when I have a specific question or thing for them to do for me. In that aspect I can relate to the straight forward letter to John. However, I can also see how it might be dangerous to write about how Gen. Burnside was anxious or the movement of Union troops over the mail.

Filed Under: Reflection #3, Reflections Tagged With: 1862, Linn, maureen, module3, new bern, TEI, transcription

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