DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY Mapping the past


History major Edward Englestad uses his military experience to chart a historic journey


By TANNER WALTERS


Englestad listed a somewhat less typical one: “extensive military cartography experience.” Englestad, a history major, transferred to


T


Edward Englestad


Loyola last spring. He spent nine years on active duty in the Marines, including a six- month deployment to Iraq in 2007 as a Military Intelligence Chief for a Marine Wing Support Squadron Unit. “You have to understand


the topography,” says Englestad, who studied the Iraqi terrain to keep troops informed and prepared. “We had to be experts at maps, because they are the back- bone of what we do.” This experience, com-


bined with a passion for history, led Englestad to his internship with Stephen Schloesser, S.J., of the history department. Schloesser, a scholar of Jesuit history, is deeply involved in research for an upcoming conference commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Jesuit Restoration, and he was interested in a side project that would complement the conference. Schloess- er’s goal was to map the letter correspondenc- es of Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, a Belgian missionary and the first Jesuit to establish missions in the Midwest in the 1840s. The project expanded, however, when


Schloesser realized just what Englestad could do. Now, Englestad is working on creating a


here are certain skill sets it is considered typical to list on an internship application. Research experience. Writing ability. Loyola student Edward


modern map of Father De Smet’s entire journey across the Midwest, which covers over 4,000 miles. “By using digital technology and mapping


platforms, I’m trying to create the same kind of product that I would create for a command- ing officer, but here in academia,” explains Englestad. This modern map, based on Father De


Smet’s meticulous hand-drawn (and impres- sively accurate) original maps, is complicated by several factors. For example, the names of many locations in the area have changed (often several times)—and, in many cases, the land itself has evolved since De Smet’s original journeys. But this is nothing Englestad cannot overcome. ”I look for major things, like curves in


Read more about the Jesuit Restoration and conference in upcoming issues of Loyola magazine. Visit Englestad’s blog at jean-pierredesmet.blogspot.com.


rivers—that stuff isn’t going to change over a hundred years,” he says. “By looking for major evidence like that, I can look at today’s maps and figure out where these places exist today.” De Smet supervised the establishment of


the first five Catholic missions in the Midwest. Engelstad hopes that his map will be a testa- ment to De Smet’s accomplishments. “We want to show that this guy was able to


traverse mountains and rivers on horseback and on foot with thousands of pounds of sup- plies,” he says. He plans to travel the region in May and


hopes to photograph the area to create a Google Streetview display of the areas De Smet traveled. His map will be prominently featured at the conference, to be hosted by Loyola in 2014.


SPRING 2013


21


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44