What topic did you settle on?

I haven’t settled on an exact topic as of right now, however, I do have a theme which is John Bigelow’s Communication During the Civil War. I have a substantial amount of data and some really cool visualizations that are progressing nicely, therefore, I believe my project is advancing in a directional manner. I think this weekend will consist of a lot of organizing and tweaking my visualizations to be used as a format to tell the story of his correspondence.

What is your data?

My data consists of John Bigelow’s correspondence from 1860-1867.

What considerations are you making as you select your data sets?

Unfortunately, there is not enough time to fully analyze the extent of John Bigelow’s correspondence between the years of 1860-67. Therefore, I decided to only analyze the text of the letters sent from John Bigelow as his handwriting will remain mostly the same. I will continue to do different data visualizations as I gather more information on who he was corresponding with, their relationship, and the amount of correspondence shared between them.

What is your data and your visualizations telling you at this point?

My data and visualizations mainly are descriptions of the civil war and the influence and position that John Bigelow held during this time as well as through his communications. Bigelow spoke with an authority which influenced opinions on potential Presidents as well as political positions. Due to his social circle consisting of such politically influential and important people, Bigelow’s political stances, opinions, and positions held a great deal of importance throughout his life, and especially during the Civil War.

What opportunities and challenges are you facing as you wrap up your research?

I think the biggest challenge I am facing is time management. I have been working extra jobs as well as researching, and with the amount of data that I am analyzing, I have my plate more than full. The opportunities with the Bigelow Collection are absolutely endless. Studying this particular time period has opened my eyes to how few people were and are involved in America’s major historical events. Although it can not be expected that politicians communicate with every citizen, it is incredible to see how few people they communicate with outside of their social circle which is mainly composed of fellow politicians. I think this realization could be helpful for many people in the modern world for whom we the people put our trust into as we head into another presidential election.