The Historical Landscapes of Missouri

FAIN: RZ-50262-04

Mizzou (Columbia, MO 65211-3020)
James Harlan (Project Director: November 2003 to June 2009)

Completion of a database summarizing and analyzing the contents of the General Land Office (GLO) survey of the early territory of Missouri; the database will be made available on the Internet and CD-ROM. The project will publish a volume containing narrative, analysis, and a collection of graphics, depicting the history of the Missouri landscape.

This project seeks to complete development of a simply-formatted, easily-accessible computer database of the field notes of Missouri's original land surveys (pre1800- 1853). Upon data-entry completion, this project will primarily have converted 680 volumes, or over 200,000 pages, of early 19th-century hand-written U.S. GLO survey notes and the even-older French/Spanish survey documents into one ready-access database. Additionally, the data from the old survey notes will be analyzed toward the construction of a historical model of the cultural and natural landscapes of Missouri. All of the resultant information will be disseminated to the public through CD production and MSDIS (Missouri Spatial Data Information Service - http://msdis.missouri.edu). Finally, and importantly, this project plans to publish these findings through the collaborative efforts of the University of Missouri Press, Dr. Walter A. Schroeder, Dr. Mark C. Cowell, and Mr. James D. Harlan. The prospective book title is THE HISTORICAL LANDSCAPES OF MISSOURI.