Monday, June 13, 2011

Mapping Class Gets Underway at Samford IGHR 2011




Monday finally arrived and after a hearty breakfast, a short bus ride to the campus, and finding my way to the right building, the Mapping Class got underway.

The class is taking place in the science center, and as students poured into the classroom, there was no 1uestion that mapping was the order of day as maps were placed on the walls of the room.

Maps lined the walls of the classroom where Class 8 is taking place.

We were all eager to get started and the atmosphere was friendly and warm.

Selma Stewart of Virginia awaits the beginning of the class.

Many who have attended IGHR in the past have very warm memories of a friend and colleague to many people, Birdie Holsclaw, who passed away last year. Although she is no longer with us, a moment was taken at the beginning of the session to remember her.

* * * * *   * * * * *    * * * * *

In Memory Birdie Holsclaw -  August 23, 1948 -  May 13, 2010

* * * * *   * * * * *   * * * * *

And so we got to work. After a brief introduction, Rick Sayre, the instructor set the tone for the day, sharing the goals and objectives of what we will be learning this week.

The Mapping Class Begins


There is no way a mapping class could get boring, as we had an excursion into the city of Birmingham to the Birmingham Public Library. 
Birmingham Public Library

Our destination was the Special Collections department where we were able to look at old maps and work in groups and to share what we learned from them.  


Working in Small Groups Each Group Got Busy

Through Observation, Speculation, Analysis, and Evaluation (OSAE) we studies the maps in small working group.  We studied the essential details---Date, Orientation, Grid, Scaled, Title, Author, Index, Legend, and Sources.


Studying maps at the Birmingham Public Library

Discussions seemed lively as the details were examined.

Another Group Discussion

One Group had 19th century geography textbooks to examine.


A special feature while at the Library was to have a chance to see some old maps and old books by map makers in the Special Collections. Some of the old volumes were beautiful and carefully being preserved by the archival staff.  I did get to film a few seconds of one of the rare books being explained to our group on the tour.

ATour of Special Collections


The evening was topped off after dinner with a wonderful presentation by Pam and Rick Sayre. They shared some of the special features that they had mastered on Google Earth. I was interested in this presentation, as I have, blogged about old communities on one of my other blogs. On one blog post I had student old and current maps to learn something about an old and no longer existing historical black settlement  in what is now Oklahoma. I have learned now some methods that I will be able to better tell the story.

Rick & Pam Sayre Presenting Google Earth

Well, it was a good ending to a good day, and tomorrow promises even more!

2 comments:

Terry LIGON said...

Thanx for sharing, that actually looked like an interesting class.

As you know, in examining former black communities in Indian Territory it becomes essential to know where they existed and having a knowledge of maps (geography) becomes vital to reconstructing them.

Ginger Smith said...

Thanks for sharing. I'm glad they showed you some elements of Google Earth in there too. Looks like you guys had a good time and really got down and dirty with the maps!