Week 8 Blog Post: Source Documentation

Mapping Layers (Nina,Ziqing,Huizi)

As part of our final project, Mapping Layers, we are working with Carleton College’s Special Collections to digitize, translate, and analyze two Japanese military maps from World War II. These maps offer insight into military strategy, colonial ideologies, and the historical context of cartographic knowledge. Below, we document the sources we will be using, along with considerations for their format, rights, and ethical implications.

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Why Does Carleton College Have These Maps?

Carleton College’s Laurence McKinley Gould Library houses a collection of Japanese military maps that were originally produced during World War II. These maps, created by Imperial Japan and later captured by Allied forces, became part of a broader effort to collect and analyze enemy intelligence. After the war, the U.S. military and intelligence agencies, including the Office of Strategic Services (OSS)—the predecessor to the CIA—disseminated captured materials to academic institutions and research libraries across the country. Carleton College was one of the institutions that received these materials, preserving them as valuable historical documents.

The maps are significant not only for their military and strategic content but also for the insights they provide into Japanese cartographic methods, colonial ambitions, and geopolitical knowledge during the early 20th century. Many of these maps were originally developed for use in wartime strategy, detailing everything from terrain analysis to infrastructure planning for military operations. Our project seeks to shed light on these historical layers by digitizing and contextualizing the materials, making them accessible for research and public engagement.

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Sources

Currently, we only have access to the following 2 maps as PNG image files provided by Carleton College’s Special Collections. Our goal is to process them into a more usable format by adding metadata, annotations, and translations to make them meaningful to researchers and the public.

1. Japanese Military Map: 満洲及西伯利十万分一圖佳木斯及ビロビッヂャン二十三號

• Format: A printed military topographic map, labeled as “Top Military Secret” (軍事極秘), with Japanese annotations. It needs to be digitized and translated into English.
• Rights: Captured by Allied forces and distributed to libraries, currently housed in Carleton’s Special Collections. We are confirming its public domain status.
• Privacy/Ethics: This map was used for military planning and contains detailed geographic and infrastructure data. Ethical considerations include how we frame this history and ensure responsible representation of its strategic purpose.
• Format: A printed military topographic map, labeled as “Top Military Secret” (軍事極秘), with Japanese annotations. It needs to be digitized and translated into English.
• Rights: Captured by Allied forces and distributed to libraries, currently housed in Carleton’s Special Collections. We are confirming its public domain status.
• Privacy/Ethics: This map was used for military planning and contains detailed geographic and infrastructure data. Ethical considerations include how we frame this history and ensure responsible representation of its strategic purpose.

2. Japanese Military Map: 満洲及西伯利十万分一圖佳木斯及ビロビッヂャン五號

• Format: Printed military map with detailed annotations in Japanese, indicating strategic points, infrastructure, and terrain features. Needs high-resolution scanning, georeferencing, and translation into English.
• Rights: Originally produced by the Japanese military, this map was likely seized by Allied forces during or after World War II and subsequently distributed to institutions like Carleton College.
• Privacy/Ethics: The map encompasses regions inhabited by diverse communities in Manchuria and Siberia. While primarily focused on geographic and strategic data, it may include locations of cultural or historical significance. Ethical considerations include ensuring the presentation acknowledges its historical wartime context without reinforcing imperialist narratives.
• Format: Another classified military map, featuring a combination of red and black text, grid lines, and topographic details used for military strategy. Needs high-resolution scanning, translation, and analysis.
• Rights: Originally classified as a military document; public domain status is under review.
• Privacy/Ethics: The map details specific locations with military significance, including routes, forest types, and elevation data. Considerations include how to present this information with historical accuracy while acknowledging its wartime context.

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Ethical Considerations and Data Cleaning

Working with historical maps requires careful handling of data. Here’s how we are addressing key issues:

• Format Transformation: We will scan the map by using printing services under the help of Katie Lewis and convert the png files into “IIIF” that can be further annotated by an online processing tool named Recogito. Then, we can incorporate it into our Omeka collection.
• Rights & Permissions: We are confirming copyright status with Carleton’s Special Collections and following best practices for archival materials.
• Privacy & Ethics: We will frame our analysis to highlight historical context rather than military strategy and ensure accurate translations without editorial bias.

This project aims to make these historically significant materials accessible while maintaining academic integrity and ethical responsibility. By layering translations, annotations, and interactive visualizations, Mapping Layers will provide a deeper understanding of how cartographic knowledge shaped military and colonial history.