Laura Eckstein '16 is in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives mapping Jewish networks along the Mississippi River Delta region prior to the Civil War.
Laura Eckstein '16 is in Cincinnati, Ohio, this summer at the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives attempting to map Jewish networks along the Mississippi River Delta region prior to the Civil War. Eckstein started with a map made by James Lloyd in 1863 that details the river from St. Louis, Mo., to New Orleans, La., and is now updating it with modern maps using a Geographic Information System (GIS).
“I love combing through the archive,” she says.“I also love touching the old letters, journals, and documents from the Civil War. I really feel like they are so much a part of history and feel so lucky to have this opportunity examine and explore these documents.”
Eckstein is using newspapers, censuses, and other sources of information to map the Jewish communities along the Mississippi and the networks between them. Using that information, she then hopes to be able to answer questions about how the Mississippi River influenced Southern Jewish identity and assimilation into the larger Southern society.
“I think that this is valuable work because people often think of this type of work as one dimensional,” she says,“[But] creating interactive maps of historical periods, such as this one, allows one to see connections and a larger, more comprehensive picture of events and connections.”
Eckstein, a religion major whose summer work is being funded by the John B. Hurford '60 Center for the Arts and Humanities, was inspired to pursue this project by a number of Haverford professors, particularly Professors Kenneth and Naomi Koltun-Fromm. Visiting Assistant Professor Megan Heckert introduced Eckstein to GIS in the spring of her sophomore year, and Visiting Assistant Professor Kate Mulry's “Water and World History Class” inspired her to think about the Mississippi.
“Professor Mulry changed the way I think about water,” says Eckstein,“examining how it isn't solely a physical feature, but how it can be a representation of cultural, social, and political trends.”
—Jack Hasler '15
"Summer Centered" is a series exploring our students' Center-funded summer work.
