![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
Abstract
Making effective use of digital texts is one of the major challenges facing the humanities. This article explores a novel method of using a large corpus of British newspapers to help explain why three neighboring rural districts in England showed very different patterns of infant mortality decline in the second half of the nineteenth century. Quantitative analysis does not reveal any major differences between these districts that might explain this. Repeatedly querying the corpus using different combinations of search terms and place-names, the authors show significant differences in the quality of local government between these districts. They argue that place-centered reading, as they term this approach, can be used to help explain patterns found using conventional quantitative geographical information systems (GIS) approaches.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Miller Worley Center for Environment of Mt Holyoke College for funding Hasting's internship (see below), as well as Prof. Robert Schwartz and the Department of History, Lancaster University for their assistance with this.
Funding
The research leading to these results received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), ERC grant “Spatial Humanities: Texts, GIS, places” (agreement number 283850). The research took place when Sarah Hastings was an intern in the Department of History at Lancaster University.
Notes
1 http://gale.cengage.co.uk/product-highlights/history/19th-century-british-library-newspapers.aspx (accessed September 12, 2014)
2 http://www.histpop.org (accessed September 12, 2014)
3 http://eebo.chadwyck.com/home (accessed September 12, 2014)
4 Much of these data are available from the UK Data Archive (UKDA) (http://www.data-archive.ac.uk) as part of the Great Britain Historical Database.
5 http://find.galegroup.com/bncn/ (accessed September 12, 2014)
6 http://find.galegroup.com/bncn/publicationSearch.do?serQuery=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28jx%2CNone%2C23%29%22Bury+and+Norwich+Post%22%3AAnd%3ALQE%3D%28MB%2CNone%2C16%29%22BLN1%22+OR+%22BLN2%22%24&searchTerm=bury+and+norw&inPS=true&prodId=BNCN&userGroupName=unilanc¤tPosition=0&type=getIssues (accessed September 12, 2014)
7 http://find.galegroup.com/bncn/publicationSearch.do?serQuery=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28jx%2CNone%2C17%29%22Ipswich+Journal%22%3AAnd%3ALQE%3D%28MB%2CNone%2C26%29%22BLN1%22+OR+%22BLN2%22+OR+%2BRNY%22%24&searchTerm=ipswich+journal&inPS=true&prodId=BNWS&userGroupName=unilanc¤tPosition=0&type=getIssues (accessed September 12, 2014)
8 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, September 12, 1865; p. 7; Issue 4342.
9 The Essex Standard, and General Advertiser for the Eastern Counties (Colchester, England), Friday, July 25, 1856; Issue 1336.
10 The Ipswich Journal (Ipswich, England), Saturday, June 23, 1900; Issue 9756.
11 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, August 28, 1877; p. 6; Issue 4966.
12 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, September 12, 1865; p. 7; Issue 4342.
13 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, August 28, 1877; p. 6; Issue 4966.
14 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, August 28, 1877; p. 6; Issue 4966.
15 Return of Appointments of Medical Officers of Health and Inspectors of Nuisances under General Sanitary Acts or Local Act, Parliamentary Papers (1873), LV, pp. 96 and 107
16 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Standard (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, June 3, 1884; p. 8; Issue 5318.
17 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Standard (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, November 8, 1887; p. 6; Issue 5485.
18 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, August 7, 1866; p. 8; Issue 4389.
19 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, September 1, 1868; p. 8; Issue 4497.
20 The Ipswich Journal (Ipswich, England), Saturday, May 8, 1880; Issue 7842.
21 The Essex Standard, and General Advertiser for the Eastern Counties (Colchester, England), Wednesday, November 9, 1864; Issue 1769.
22 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, September 12, 1865; p. 7; Issue 4342.
23 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, August 28, 1877; p. 6; Issue 4966.
24 The Ipswich Journal (Ipswich, England), Saturday, May 8, 1880; Issue 7842.
25 The Ipswich Journal (Ipswich, England), Saturday, June 14, 1879; Issue 7744.
26 The Ipswich Journal (Ipswich, England), Saturday, March 24, 1883; Issue 8079.
27 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Wednesday, November 7, 1855; Issue 3828.
28 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Standard (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, February 21, 1888; p. 7; Issue 5500.
29 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, December 5, 1865; p. 8; Issue 4354.
30 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, August 28, 1877; p. 6; Issue 4966.
31 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, September 12, 1865; p. 7; Issue 4342.
32 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Standard (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, October 18, 1887; p. 7; Issue 5482.
33 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, September 12, 1865; p. 7; Issue 4342.
34 The Ipswich Journal (Ipswich, England), Friday, April 1, 1898; Issue 9647.
35 The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, October 18, 185.
36 The Ipswich Journal (Ipswich, England), Saturday, October 31, 1868; Issue 6757.