Our Rare Books, Our SMC: An Exhibit of Items Held at Saint Mary's College

Feller, Colonialism Through Language and Maps

The Saint Mary’s College Rare Book Room provides a wide array of written, illustrated, and printed pieces. These works span centuries of time throughout the world all in various languages--some of which are dead languages. Sorting through the broad assortment of works requires meticulous analysis and appreciation, but the satisfactory outcome of such dedication makes it well worth the time. However, that is not to say that the research and analysis is not without its bumps, because there may be dead ends that are frustrating. During my own research, I ran into many difficulties in attempting to properly translate countless languages, but that frustration also offered me the opportunity to analyze why the book contained so many seemingly random languages. So, research in the Rare Book Room can time-consuming and incredibly frustrating at moments, but the uniqueness of each piece continually renews interest in research and analysis. 

My primary focus from the Rare Book Room was on “Part Second” of the 1925 edition of Stieler’s Atlas of Modern Geography which includes maps of Africa, Australia, and America. I was initially drawn to this atlas because of the intricate details of each map. I previously knew that some atlases are specialized in specific maps, such as star atlases or historical atlases. The pain-staking details of Stieler’s Atlas of Modern Geographyinitially caught my eye, but they were not what piqued my interest. The more I analyzed the atlas, the more I realized that the atlas likely specializes in linguistic colonial maps. The maps begin with an introductory page where the primary country is first written in German, followed by translations into French, English, Italian, and Spanish. However, the detailed maps label countries in German, the native language, or the language of the colonizers. I spent hours of research before I realized this intentional variation in languages, but once I did, the atlas became drastically more interesting and impactful for the Rare Book Room. 

Beyond analyzing the physical elements of the atlas, I analyzed the significance of the intentional choices in languages and names, as well as the political implications of a country’s borders. Linguistically, I studied the Western European history of colonialism, particularly in the time of the publication of Stieler’s Atlas of Modern Geography. I combined this research of colonialism in 1925 with analysis of why it was so important that colonized nations were titled in the language of their colonizer. Based on this analysis, I concluded that the German publisher of the atlas likely wanted to reinforce or normalize the idea that the colonized nations will always be a part of the colonizer-they are one in the same. 

I think the most unique aspect of the atlas that I discovered through this direction of colonial historical analysis was located in Map 85 of “German Southwest Africa.” German Southwest Africa was a German territory, but Germany was forced to remove themselves as colonizers in 1919 during the Treaty of Versailles; this atlas was printed six years later. There are many reasons as to why a German publisher would continue to label a freed territory in the language and title of its colonizer, but I think viewers of this digital project have the chance to come to their own conclusions. I especially hope that viewers learn not about what an individual map in the Rare Book Room might signify; rather, I hope viewers can learn how one map has endless possibilities and modes of analysis that open the door for intimately analyzing anything in the Rare Book Room. I was surprised by how I increasingly became more interested the more I researched something, and I hope that viewers of this project are inspired to find new topics of research for themselves.

Emma Feller
History Major
Class of 2024

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