and Three.
Figure 33: Sculpture One.
Figure 34: Sculpture Two: View with Sculpture One facing northwest on French Street.
Figure 35: Sculpture Three.
Figure 36: Concert Stage in Boardinghouse Park: Front view.
Figure 37: Concert Stage in Boardinghouse Park: Inside view.
Figure 38: Homage to Women.
Figure 39: Homage to Women: View of surrounding green space.
Figure 40: Homage to Women: Looking up.
Figure 41: Homage to Women: Close-up 1.
Figure 42: Homage to Women: Close-up 2.
Figure 43: Homage to Women: Close-up 3.
Figure 44: Homage to Women: Close-up 4.
Figure 45: Mercator Projection. Paul B. Anderson, 2002.
Figure 46: Authorized Deployment of LFA: 2002–2003.
Figure 47: Behrmann Projection. Paul B. Anderson, 2002.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the many people who have provided me with support, assistance, and guidance during the writing of this book, starting with my new friends and colleagues at the Lowell Mills National Historical Park. Tess Shatzer was hugely helpful and patient in providing detailed information about the history of both the park and the Mill Girls. Andy Pearson’s insightful and detailed boat tour of the Lowell canal system informed my understanding of Lowell’s geographic history and its relationship to the city’s industrial heritage. Thanks to Jack Herlihy at the Division of Cultural Resources for his prompt responses to my abundant inquires about documenting park resources and artifacts. Thanks also to Martha Mayo at the Center for Lowell History for helping to clarify information about some of the early writings of the Mill Girls. The assistance and guidance of these individuals informed my understanding of the mills and my writing of chapter three.
I also wish to thank Martin Dodge, whose helpful suggestions related to the study of GPS use pointed me in some fruitful directions that eventually led to the research and writing of chapter four. My engaging conversations with Krista Kennedy about the interactiveness of agency also informed my rhetorical analyses of GPS use. And of course, I am most grateful to the twenty-two people who shared with me their GPS stories. They spoke with great seriousness, candor, and often good humor about their interactions with the GPS, and I have done my best to preserve and convey their stories here. This book would not be possible without them.
Thank you to Joel Reynolds at the Natural Resources Defense Council for permission to reprint the map in Figure 46, and to Joep Luijten for his input, expertise, and feedback during the early writing and revisions of chapter five. Francis Harvey also helped me understand the societal dimensions of cartographic practice in more nuanced ways that helped shape the early writing and subsequent revisions of chapter five.
Portions of this book have appeared in previous form and are reprinted with permission. Chapter five was reprinted with modification from “Visual Communication and the Map: How Maps as Visual Objects Convey Meaning in Specific Contexts,” published in Technical Communication Quarterly 16.2 (2007). Portions of chapter one were reprinted with modification from “Cartographic Representation and the Construction of Lived Worlds: Understanding Cartographic Practice as Embodied Knowledge,” which originally appeared in Rethinking Maps: New Frontiers in Cartographic Theory, edited by Martin Dodge, Rob Kitchin, and Chris Perkins (New York: Routledge Studies in Human Geography, 2009). I gratefully acknowledge permission from the Taylor and Francis Group to reproduce modified versions of both of these works here.
Sections of this book are also based on what was originally my dissertation project. Thus this book would not have come to fruition without the support of my committee at the University of Minnesota. In particular, this project would not have been possible, in any of its iterations, without the unwavering support and direction of Mary Lay Schuster. It was Mary who first introduced me to the writings of the Mill Girls and encouraged me to tell their story. Her insights and perspective allowed me to understand material rhetorics in ways that I would not have otherwise considered and helped move my thinking in new directions. I owe her much gratitude, not only as a dissertation director and mentor but as a friend and colleague. Richard Graff’s insights, particularly related to the presence of rhetorical figures in the Lowell park artifacts, helped further my analysis in chapter three. Laura Gurak continues to provide invaluable suggestions and resources related to digital rhetorics, not to mention good advice related to the sport of kayaking. Art Walzer provided valuable opportunities for the discussion of Foucault’s theory of discourse and continues to be a multimodal source of support and encouragement. Michael Salvo and Elizabeth Shea also helped guide my initial thinking on the intersections of visual rhetoric and critical cartography. I would also like to thank Beth Britt at Northeastern University, not only for first introducing me to material rhetorics and the work of Carole Blair but also for her continued support and mentoring over the years.
I will always recall with fondness and perhaps a dangerous nostalgia the many conversations and memorable experiences fostered through the supportive environment of the Rhetoric Department on the St. Paul campus. Friends and colleagues too numerous to name contribute to these memories, though I would especially like to thank Paul Anheier, Kenny Fountain, Cristina Hanganu-Bresch, Clancy Ratliff, and Greg Schneider both for those memorable moments and for the sustained connections. Thanks also to Jessica Reyman who, on more than one occasion, talked me through my writing angst, long distance, from Illinois to Pennsylvania.
A summer research grant and subsequent fall course release provided by York College of Pennsylvania greatly facilitated the writing of this book. In addition, I would like to thank my colleagues in the Department of English and Humanities for their support, ideas, and encouragement, including Gabriel Abudu, Dominic DelliCarpini, Madeline Yonker, and Mike Zerbe.
Several colleagues provided valuable insights and ideas in the shaping of this project. Mary Lay Schuster kindly provided early feedback on the proposal for this book. Dave Blakesley at Parlor Press and series editor Marguerite Helmers reviewed the proposal with enthusiasm and offered guidance and important suggestions. Marguerite graciously provided an early manuscript review that helped me to further conceptualize the book’s theoretical work. Both Dave and Marguerite provided great support in preparation and revision of the manuscript and answered my many questions along the way. Madeleine Sorapure at the University of California Santa Barbara provided a highly useful manuscript review; her suggestions allowed me to better contextualize my analyses and forge a clear path for the reader. I am also very grateful for the careful and constructive copyediting performed by Kristen Seas Trader.
I would like to thank my family: Beverly, Michael, Mindy, and David Propen, for their continued support throughout the years. My grandfather, Fred Schoen, and my aunt, Doris Pritt, are not here to see this project completed, but their generosity and unconditional support continue to be a source of motivation and inspiration for me.
Finally, I thank my partner, Karen Dias, whose perspective, encouragement, and unique capacity for patience ultimately made this book possible.
Introduction
Every year, nearly 700,000 people visit the Lowell Mills National Historical Park in Lowell, Massachusetts. Home to the historic mills of the early New England textile industry, the park tells the story of the industrial revolution through its restored mills and boarding houses, exhibits, parks, green spaces, and public art installations (Lowell National Historical Park). When describing visitors’ first reactions upon entering the park and seeing the historic textile mills where female workers labored in the 1800s, a long-time park ranger there notes without hesitation that visitors “are struck by the size of the buildings.” Even those visitors who come to the park with knowledge of the textile industry in early New England, or who have ancestors who worked at the Lowell Mills, the ranger says, “see the high ceilings [. . .] they see the brick [. . .] the physicality of the buildings,” and experience the site differently than they have through texts.