Anatomical Reading of Correspondence: A Case Study of Epistolary Analysis Networks

The recent transition from paper to electronic form as the standard means of communication has shifted not only the medium of epistolary expression, but also the networking potential of scholars and historians. Visualizations of networks can no longer rely solely on humanistic expectations of time, space, direction, and location with regards to communication, even when reading and studying text from pre-digital times. As personal print text becomes more and more indistinguishable from public digital communication, we find ourselves at a crossroads in finding appropriate venues for representing words that relate “a momentary experience which incorporates but stands outside orthodox conceptions of material and immaterial existence.”1 How do we, as current correspondents, scholars, and researchers, imbed standardized networking frameworks, such as traditional mapping, into current and future networking needs and applications? How can data-driven networks help to increase accessibility and knowledge of past figures and texts while simultaneously sustaining humanistic foundations, ethics, and aims? The Viral Networks workshop provided the time, physical and virtual space, guidance, and digital resources for me to explore these questions through networking applications of a recently discovered archive of personal correspondence, “The Esther Richards Letters, 1915–1932,” included within my forthcoming book, The Hidden Heart of Charm City: Baltimore Letters and Lives (AH/ Loyola University Maryland).