Elizabeth Grundy traveled throughout Northern England during her lifetime. When transcribing the memoir, I was able to read all of the places she visited, but did not realize the extent at which her and her son traveled. By creating a map of these specific places, I was able to match places with important events and determine which towns were important in her life. I had never really thought about which events took place where and the fact that not all of the important parts of her life took place in one town. They were scattered throughout Northern England but specifically close to Lancashire and Yorkshire. When reading the transcribed memoir, I was unaware that Elizabeth Grundy moved around as often as she did.
In a more general sense, mapping can be used to link together different pieces of history. “But what we can do is inform the present more fully with the artifacts of social memory, the evidence of recall from various times and various perspectives,” (Bodenhamer 26). Sometimes, historians have information about a specific event and where it took place but are unsure about the timing. If they find another event that is related to the first, and it occurred in a place nearby, they can link these two events together and estimate a date as to when it occurred. They can also link together different towns across the globe if they plot the linked events. “We select and interpret these cultural artifacts to frame our understanding of the past and present,” (Bodenhamer 25). Historians are able to come up with lists of important events that occurred in several different places and realize how complex each event was and the effort that was involved in each one. “We must direct technology if it is to help us open the past to the multiple perspectives and contingencies we know existed in the past,” (Bodenhamer 26). Mapping allows us to explore these perspectives and allows historians to draw conclusions that they are unsure of.
Some important story points in my map that I included were the places where she was born and passed away. I added the town in which she started her School for Girls because this was an important point in her memoir. I also added some background knowledge about her son and his wife that may be missed when reading the memoir because it is mentioned briefly. The reason I added a slide for this was because Grundy’s son was very important to her and this was something important from his life. I also added a slide of a town that related back to her parents and life when she was younger. It provided readers with a sense of how religion became such a large part of her life. Readers are able to gain a sense of how each of these English towns influenced Elizabeth Grundy and her family throughout her life.
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Megan Koczur is a sophomore student at Bucknell University. She is a member of the Bucknell Swim and Dive team and intends on majoring in Computer Science and Engineering. She resides in West Chester, Pennsylvania with her her father, mother, sister, Erin, and two black labs, Brandy and Max.