Mapping Chicago Schools

The idea of the “Chicago school” is first attested as early as 1850, in medicine. It symbolized a way of thinking that united theory and practice. This way of thinking was later adapted to other fields of study, including architecture, design, social science, economics, theology, literature, and beyond. As a result of such adaptation, various “Chicago schools” emerged in these different fields of study. Most of these Chicago schools were seen as attempts to unite theory and practice. The HathiTrust holds a broad range of books and periodicals that mention one or another “Chicago school.” Here, I create maps for a selection of Chicago schools. The maps show in which contexts the Chicago schools have been mentioned. All information is considered that is published on the same page as the mention of the “Chicago school”. The visual interface shown on the next slides can be found online. The graphical interface and the method of geographical information retrieval that I employ are my and my collaborators’ work, initially started as part of my ACS project with the HathiTrust Research Center (2016).