Why does it matter?
Simple letters such as this one can seem to be not influential or meaningful. On its own, it might not be, in the same way that the collection by itself may not seem influential. Studies of the concepts of what's called "microcosms" reveals that trends located in the smaller level can be extrapolated into the larger "macrocosm." Don Parry Norford, a writer for A Journal of the History of Ideas, discusses this concept in the context of literature. He said: "The individual, as Cassirere explains, has a paradoxical relationship to the world: one's will and knowledge are completely turned toward the world and yet at the same time completely distinguished from it."
Extrapolating this knowledge of micro-society and macro-society, this exhibit intends to use the concept of distant reading to provide a larger context to this rather specific collection. Through the use of distant reading, however, the letter shown above, for example, combined with others provides access to patterns and trends. This exhibit utilizes the Voyant website and its text analysis tools, along with academic journals and organization themed websites in order to maintain its research.
First, we begin with the basic text analysis of the collection.
