I have, for now, finished my Scalar project, which has been an interesting process. Starting with two presidential letters to two separate Nations, almost a century apart, if fleshed out this project would go into greater detail about the goal and the historical context of these two letters.  My real objective here was to take this opportunity to try out Scalar and get a sense of what you can do. I actually found it, on the surface, an easy interface, but with so many details and so many steps at each detail, the process became difficult without initial guidance (thanks, James!). It is definitely not always intuitive! But after a while of playing with it, I was able to navigate the different aspects of Scalar, only having scratched the surface, of course, of what it can do, compared to some of the beautiful examples we have seen. In my small example, I tried to choose different forms of media to see how Scalar dealt with those, as well as some narrative. I also wanted to better understand the idea of paths between pages and how that would work. I have begun each path with an image of the original letter, then a portrait of that president, then a map of the Native territory in question. I added a final interactive map to see how Scalar would deal with that. If this were a true site with the public in mind, there would be way more text and more explanation and smooth shift. I could never completely figure out how to set up a table of contents, but I’m sure it’s not hard if explained. As is the goal, I do feel now I have a sense of Scalar and what someone might try to do with it. I really like it a lot, actually, and if I were working with it more consistently those small details that irked me would become second nature.

 

Map of North American Colonies ca. 1770

For my project, I have chosen to look at two letters from Rauner’s collections. One is a letter from George Washington to the chief of the Iroquois Confederacy, encouraging them not to take sides in the Revolutionary War. The second letter is one from Andrew Jackson to the chief of the Sioux Nation, basically introducing himself and encouraging their fealty to the United States of American and its government. Both letters are interesting for their snapshot of American history in a myriad of ways. Washington’s letter reveals his recognition of the power of the Confederacy as a player on both sides of the war, and his appeal is couched in paternalistic and grandiose language. Andrew Jackson’s letter is very interesting to me, and one which I need to understand more fully. Even more paternalistic and condescending, Jackson’s appear to the Sioux nation while president seems to intimate forward thinking on Jackson’s part as the westward expansion began to encroach on Sioux territory. I will discover if this letter was written prior to the Cherokee’s Trail of Tears or after, but it certainly appears Jackson is moving beyond his removal of the local southeastern tribes. These two letters are so interesting in regard to their place in American history, and their illustration of the perspective of the American government towards the indigenous populations.

More to come! I am new at using digital tools in research and look forward to seeing how these narratives fit into online resources, and which tools are most effective. Feels good to be a total neophyte 🙂