Introduction
In this module, we discuss spatial archives and build from the previous modules to broaden the ‘archival imagination’ to include spaces beyond more traditional GLAM institutions.
The previous module and lab discussed the wide variety of meanings of the term “archive”, which other scholars have extended into their understandings of the spatial humanities; indeed, in one of the readings for this module, Roberts (2015) reflects on the imprecision and fluidity of the term as it relates to spatial archives. Like other archives, there is no uniform or static definition of spatial archives. Generally speaking, however, spatial archives are those that manage locational or geospatial data, information, and materials, many of which now include digital geospatial data, “be this spatial coordinates, geographical metadata, an associated street address, or where the content of data events themselves make reference to a place in physical space” (Leszczynski and Crampton, 2016).
In some ways, adding the term “spatial” might help to narrow the parameters of such indistinct terms as “archive” and even “digital humanities” through a focus on place, space, and location. However, as we will show through examples of climate proxies and more-than-human storytelling, a geographical or spatial imagination might also lead to expanded interpretations of what constitutes an archive, thereby creating new complexities. These complexities are of increasing concern, particularly as spatial archives are becoming more common, partly due to the increasing digitization of archives and other collections. Digitization affords new opportunities to restructure and add context to archives, which in some cases includes turning previously generic archives into spatial archives through the attachment of geodata to historical materials.
The relational nature of geospatial information – with characteristics of interconnectivity, mobility, and multi-layering – makes spatial archives particularly useful resources for digital spatial humanities research and spatial storytelling (or storymapping) projects. Following the theme of the course, however, we must first ask: what are the histories of the spatial materials that are now so readily available online and through digitized collections? We will therefore begin this module by examining some of the historical geographies of spatial archives to better understand, and more carefully use, spatial archives in the digital context.