map

Maps

How to use this map:

  • The green dots show how many correspondents wrote to Tingle from each city, the size of the dot depends on the number of correspondents.
  • Hover over the green dots to see a tooltip that will tell you the name of the city and how many correspondents the dot represents. 
  • On the “correspondents by year” tab use the arrow, slider, or drop down menu to switch between years. 
  • When you click on the map, the plus and minus buttons will show up, use them to zoom, and drag the map with your cursor to pan to different areas.
  • In the top left corner you can switch tabs. The “All years” tab allows you to see data from every year at once, by checking or unchecking the year boxes in the right hand menu, you can include or exclude years to do more complicated comparisons.
  • The “chart: cities by frequency” tab allows you to view the city data in the form of a table rather than a map. To sort by date, check or uncheck the year boxes on the right. 
  • To access the raw data, click the download button and select “data”, you will be able to download a spreadsheet containing the data represented on the map.

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About the Data

  • This data comes from Tingle’s columns from 1910, 1912, 1914, 1916, 1918, 1920, 1922, 1924 and 1925. When I created this data I recorded every question that every correspondent asked in each column I read. This map represents correspondents not questions. Many correspondents asked more than one question, which means there are multiple data points associated with that correspondent. For this map I chose to count by correspondent not question because I think a person-centered approach makes a lot more sense for this type of map. This way you see the network of people who read and responded to her column, and people who asked more questions aren’t over-represented. 
  • While I tried to be as complete as possible when gathering my data, it is very possible that I missed a few columns each year. I found the columns by using specific keyword and date search because issues of the Sunday Oregonian are often over 100 pages and it was very difficult to find the columns without keyword searching given the time frame of my research.
  • One of the most noticeable things about the map is that some years have more data than other years. That’s because the column was inconsistent. During WWI Tingle’s responsibilities increased and she had less time for the column, in 1920 she was abroad or ill for most of the year. This also represents the increased popularity of the column, as the years went on more the column expanded to take up nearly a full page, and more people wrote in each year. To help compensate for these variations I included two charts as part of the map. You can access these charts by switching tabs at the top of the map. The “chart: cities by frequency” tab allows you to view the city data in the form of a table rather than a map. To sort by date, check or uncheck the year boxes on the right. The “chart: correspondents per year” helps contextualize how many individual correspondents Tingle responded to each year, and how many times her column ran in the Sunday Oregonian. The “count of correspondents” column indicates how many distinct correspondents I recorded that year, and the “distinct count of columns” column indicates how many times the column ran. For example in 1922 Tingle responded to letters from 314 correspondents over 45 weekly columns meaning that she responded to an average of 7 correspondents per week for most of the year. By comparison in 1912 she responded to 130 columns over 32 weeks, an average of 4 correspondents per week. This chart also shows us that in 1916, 1918 and 1920 Tingle published significantly fewer columns. This was because of a combination of WWI, Tingle’s health, and schedule. By comparing 1910 and 1912 to 1922 and 1924 I think you get the most accurate look at the increased volume of correspondents, and the increased geographic diversity associated. That indicates that it could be helpful to look at the “all years” map tab and compare only those years. 
  • Even with these variations you can still see how Tingle’s correspondents changed. As the reach of the Sunday Oregonian grew, so did the diversity of her correspondents. The map also allows you to see just how geographically diverse her base was. Portland represents about 50% of the correspondents, but the rest are scattered among 214 cities across the west. What that tells me is that Tingle’s appeal, and the appeal of domestic science wasn’t just for city women. 
  • Null data: you’ll notice on the chart that there are 82 correspondents from unknown cities, a small number of correspondents didn’t include an address. I included them for accuracy but you can exclude them by selecting them in the chart and clicking exclude. There are also some rows with a null city for state. That is because some correspondents only included their region or country. 

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