The goal of my project is to explore the use of text analysis tools on scanned primary source journals that have been processed with optical character recognition (OCR) to see what kind of useful information can be obtained through these methods and how helpful this process can be as a research tool. My research interest in conducting these investigations is to explore issues of health and safety in the stone industry between 1888 and 1922 as they were discussed in one of its primary industry journals, Stone: An Illustrated Magazine. Stone has been digitized and is available through the HathiTrust Digital Library. While my research focus has been on health and safety, I also used this project for some basic investigations around the language of environmental issues.
This project is driven by questions of how employers within the stone industry approached workplace safety, health, and environmental issues. Are changes visible within the written record of the stone industry's general publications? Was it a serious concern that was discussed between multiple employers within the industry or did these discussions not get a lot of attention in the general record?
There are two intended audiences for this project. First, researchers interested in historical developments in industrial health, safety, and environmental issues. Second, researchers who might be considering their own text analysis projects and are interested in the techniques and methods I used during my investigations. The site is designed as a series of stand-alone essays so that you can skip to your area of interest from the site menu index.
Image source: American Stereoscopic Company. Stone quarries, New Hampshire, U.S.A., ca. 1897. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2018650203/.