Women and Cartography in the Progressive Era

Capturing the untold and numerous ways in which women and maps interacted during the Progressive Era (1890-1930), this book uses three historical examples from North America to argue that maps were essential for women not only to find their way in the world but also to construct and communicate their own world views. As women took up bicycling and moved out in the world, they needed maps and used maps to navigate their worlds. As women became political players in their communities, working on municipal housekeeping, they turned to maps to help communicate their findings, distributing their maps through a variety of publications. Finally, as women fought to get the vote, maps became essential components of the suffrage campaign, distributed nationwide, widely visible at meetings, parades, and rallies, and an essential element of their rhetoric. Long overlooked, this women’s work represents maps and mapping that today we would term community or participatory mapping, critical cartography and public geography. These historic examples of women-generated mapping represent the adoption of cartography and geography as part of women’s work. While cartography and map use are not new, the adoption and application of this technology and form of communication in women’s work and in multiple examples in the context of their social work, is unprecedented. This study explores the implications of women’s use of this technology in creating and presenting information and knowledge and wielding it to their own ends.

Christina E. Dando is associate professor of geography at the University of Nebraska Omaha, USA.