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Abstract
As Fred Kniffen observed, vernacular buildings identify culture and record our relationships with physical and social environment. Influenced by Kniffen, twentieth‐century cultural geographers used spatially correlated log homebuilding attributes as diagnostics. The present study used a qualitative meta‐study approach to evaluate studies citing such correlations in the eastern temperate forests of North America. Forty‐two studies involving sixty‐three geographic entities and twenty‐two attribute types were evaluated. The meta‐study's findings were consistent with an Eastern Woodlands regional model described by Kniffen, Terry Jordan, and Wilbur Zelinsky. A majority of the spatially correlated attributes involved building materials, cited cultural and/or environmental influences to explain their findings, and cited correlations at state/province or county scales. Today, identification of building culture undoubtedly continues to offer potential guidance to sustainability efforts, and, although untapped, vernacular building continues to offer potential as a key diagnostic.
Notes
1. Except in the context of bringing the concept of discussing actor‐network theory (ANT), the meaning of “culture” in this paper is the traditional one: culture as a thing, not a process. This is the meaning of “culture” as used in the works analyzed by the meta‐study.
2. Presumably, by failing to investigate the cultural and ecological contexts associated with building attributes.
3. See Davis (Citation1999) for a broad discussion of “building culture.”
4. Except in New England, areas settled by New Englanders, and the Southern Coastal Plain, log was the preferred early European homebuilding method. Even as late as the early twentieth century, log was the predominant homebuilding method in areas where sawmills had not been established.
5. Notable for the absence of log structures.
6. Keywords included meta‐analysis, meta‐study, research synthesis, systematic review, and literature review combined with geography and vernacular architecture. Databases included EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier, Google Scholar, Informaworld Taylor & Francis Group Current Collection, JSTOR, and Wiley Interscience. Individual publications included Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Area, The Geographical Journal, Historical Geography, Journal of Cultural Geography, Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, Professional Geographer, Progress in Human Geography, Progress in Physical Geography, and Vernacular Architecture.
7. Only one geographic application of the qualitative meta‐study method was identified (Glasmeier and Farrigan Citation2005).
8. Keywords included “log,” “log house,” “log cabin,” “log structure,” and “log building” combined with “geography,” “architecture,” “vernacular architecture,” and “folk architecture.” Databases included EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier, Google, Google Scholar, Informaworld Taylor & Francis Group Current Collection, JSTOR, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, USDA Forest Service publications and Wiley Interscience. Individual publications included Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Bulletin of the Association for Preservation Technology, Canadian Geographer, Canadian Geographical Journal, The Geographical Journal, Geographical Review, Historical Geography, Journal of Cultural Geography, The Journal of Geography, Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, Professional Geographer, Progress in Human Geography, Vernacular Architecture, and Winterthur Portfolio.
9. For detailed about data‐collection instrument and examples, please contact the first author.
10. For examinations of North American log‐building attributes and typologies, see Kniffen and Glassie (Citation1966), Jordan (Citation1985), and Wilson (Citation1984).
11. Native American log building has evolved both separately and within European traditions.
12. Interestingly, the referenced study of contemporary log‐home manufacturing also found that combinations of tree species, log type, log profile, corner notch, and log‐home production volume were shown to successfully predict manufacturer perspectives on their forest resources.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
James S. Peters
Dr. Peters recently completed his doctorate in forestry in the environmental conservation department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003; [[email protected]]
David T. Damery
Dr. Damery is an associate professor, [[email protected]].
Richard W. Wilkie
Dr. Wilkie is a professor emeritus in the department of geosciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003; [[email protected]].