A GRADUATE SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY1 A CASTLE IN THE AIR In spite of a wide-spread prejudice against building castles in the air, I propose this afternoon to consider a construction of that kind; for if castles are not to be built in the air, where in the world are they to be built; surely not underground or in the water! All the castles I have ever seen were built in the air; their foundations were in the ground, of course, but the castles themselves were in the air. My proposal therefore needs no defense. In view of the good number of castles already built, some of them very high in the air, even on mountain tops, for occupation by the defendants of various sciences, it is gratifying to learn that plans are advancing for the erection here in Worcester of a castle of the particular kind in which my own interest is most excited, a geographical castle. But it is on the other hand regrettable to find that the proposal to erect a castle, a stronghold, dedicated to geography alone seems, even in intellectual circles, to need explanation if not justification; so little is the vast and varied content of geography understood, so imperfectly is the great opportunity for original research in geography appreciated, so halting is the recognition of the importance that the results of such research will have in the conservation and consecration of the wide spaces of the earth to the better advantage of mankind. Let us try to rise to a realization of the geographical opportunity before us. THE EPOCH OF GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION We must remember that the geographical epoch, in which the first discovery of the gen 1 An address at the annual commencement of Clark University, Worcester, Mass., on June 12, 1922. eral outline of the lands and waters over the world was made, is now closed. The work that remains for the coming geographical epoch is not the discovery but the description of the earth's features; and their description can be properly prepared only by professional geographers, unlike in disposition and training to the bold pathfinders who made the first entry into remote and unknown regions. Moreover, the labor involved in the future preparation of such descriptions will be enormously greater than that already expended in the epoch of discovery. I fear that few persons have any idea of how much geographical work remains to be done or of the amount of labor demanded in doing it. Let me tell you that even most of our own states, for example, Tennessee or Montana, familiar by name to all of us and well known locally in an empirical way to many of their inhabitants, have not yet been described with professional thoroness. There are absolutely no treatises, not even handbooks in which the regional geography of most of our states is set forth in a thoroly competent and comprehensive manner. How vastly ignorant then must we be of South America, Africa and Asia! The geography of the world is really yet to be written, and in preparation for that writing the | world must be explored all over again, not by mere travellers, but by geographical experts. In order to carry on the re-exploration of the world and give adequate opportunity for the preparation of the many scholarly volumes in which a competent description of the re-explored world shall be contained, many institutions in all parts of the world must cooperate; and one of those institutions should be the geographical stronghold which we hope to see erected here. THE ESSENTIAL OBJECTS OF A GEOGRAPHICAL STRONGHOLD What is the essential object of such a stronghold? In the first place, the object of a geographical stronghold may be most advantageously reached if it is built up over a well planned lower story in which introductory collegiate instruction shall be offered in geography and other undergraduate subjects; but in the stronghold itself the object should be primarily geographical research and only secondarily geographical teaching. Let me at once make clear and insist upon this main reason for the construction of a geographical stronghold. It should not be planned primarily to provide either introductory or utilitarian instruction, altho such instruction should not be altogether excluded from it. The main reason for the construction and maintenance of the stronghold should be to add geographical contributions to the sum of human knowledge, without regard to what is called their practical value. Immediate usefulness, direct application of the knowledge gained should not be made a prime requisite in an institution of research; and particularly not in a geographical stronghold, because the higher branches of geography are as yet so little developed. The essential tasks of a geographical stronghold will therefore not be the imparting of geographical knowledge so that it may be imparted again elsewhere, as in teaching; or so that it may be applied elsewhere, as in geographical engineering-I will explain later what geographical engineering is. If the work be mainly of that utilitarian nature, the stronghold will be, from the point of view which I wish to insist upon, largely a failure. The first duty of a geographical strongholdor, to use its proper name, of a Graduate School of Geography-must be geographical research; and until such research has advanced well beyond its present limits the acquisition and not the dissemination of geographical knowledge must be the main object in view; the dissemination of the acquired knowledge will follow as a secondary duty. It may be well urged for many years to come that, even in the case of graduate students, the best way to prepare them for the higher reaches of geographical science will not be to impart to them the geographical knowledge already gained; teaching of that kind is properly the task of a college. The correspondingly proper task of a professional graduate school is the cultivation of proficiency in the pursuit of new knowledge; and such proficiency is best acquired not by direct instruction in formal lecture courses, but by placing those who wish to acquire it in close association with others who, already proficient, are using their proficiency in research. RESEARCH THE BEST PREPARATION FOR HIGH-GRADE PRACTICAL WORK Geography is not peculiar in that respect. I have it on good authority that even in chemistry, a science of enormous practical importance, the best training for a chemical engineer is not alone the study of those chemical processes which are already known to have practical value, but the investigation of new processes without regard to their application; and this for the good reason that the essential thing for the really proficient chemical engineer is not simply to know this or that treatment of a problem which has already been solved, but to know how best to attack and solve new problems. Knowledge of that sort comes best by attacking and trying to soive new problems, under the guidance of experts who are themselves chiefly engaged in solving new problems. So with the development of a really proficient geographer. It will not be enough to teach him a certain share of what is already known about geography; he must learn how to find out more than is already known; and the very best way for him to do that is to spend a few years in an institution primarily devoted to geographical research. A STAFF OF NINE PROFESSORS OF GEOGRAPHY Of what should such an institution consist? I have thus far described it as a castle, a stronghold; but I hardly need say that the most important elements of such a stronghold are not walls but men; geographers. They must of course have rooms to work in; and I hope that the Graduate School of Geography in Clark University will eventually occupy a large building, planned for and devoted to research; but the essential thing is the men. A strong staff of full professorial rank will be needed. There should be at least one professor for each grand division or continent, hence five in all; it would be much better to have two for each of the less known continents, South America, Africa and Asia, or eight professors in all; and another should be added for Australia, Polynesia and the oceans, thus making nine in all. Those nine geographers, or five if nine cannot be secured, would constitute the central and permanent staff of the institution. There should be a good number of others temporarily or peripherally attached, as I will explain later; and all of these should be in addition to and independent of the geographical staff for undergraduate instruction in the college. If you suggest that one or two geographers for a continent is a lavish provision, I must insist that it is a small provision. For each geographer must be responsible for the regional description of a large area, and that means that he must know the form of its surface, its climate, its more important vegetable and animal occupants, its human inhabitants, its political subdivisions, its products and industries, and its transportation and trade. And all these subjects must be known, not as made up of isolated items unrelated to each other, but as correlated items all in their natural and interdependent juxtaposition, thus constituting the landscapes and manifesting the activities of the region. To know so much as that about a continent is no small responsibility. But in addition to this continental responsibility in regional geography, each member of the staff should be a specialist in the subject of one of the eight larger systematic divisions of geography-land and water forms, climate, plant geography, animal geography, human geography, economic geography, historical geography, and history of geography; the difference between the regional and the systematic aspects of geography being this: In each division or special subject of systematic geography, such as land and water forms, climate, and the rest, all the classes of facts treated under that subject should be studied in whatever part of the world their examples are found; while in each large division of regional geography, such as North America or Africa, all kinds of facts to whatever special subject of systematic geography they belong must be studied in their natural associations. Surely when the work to be done in a geographical stronghold is thus envisaged a permanent staff of nine men will not seem too large. REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY THE CULMINATION OF GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE Let me make it clear why I lay so much emphasis on regional geography in contrast to systematic geography. However important the different divisions of systematic geography are, they yield only a discontinuous sort of knowledge. Under the division of land forms we may study about volcanoes, and learn as much as possible about all of them wherever they are; but the items of knowledge that we thus gain compel us to leap about all over the world in order to locate them. Similarly, we learn under human geography all about fishing villages wherever situated; but there again we must leap about to locate the items that we learn. On the other hand, the study of regional geography gives us a continuous or areal sort of knowledge. If we study the regional geography of Japan, for example, we shall learn not only the distribution of its many volcanoes and its many fishing villages, but of all its other geographical features; and it is this continuous or areal knowledge that is usually and properly implied when we speak of geography in a general way. The study of the various divisions of systematic geography has, indeed, its chief value as a preparation for the study of regional geography; hence no one should consider himself a geographer until he has become expert in the regional geography of at least one large area, preferably a continent. Moreover, not until such expertness is gained is a geographer's knowledge likely to be of practical application in such a profession as geographical engineering. A thoro representation of regional geography is therefore essential in a well developed Graduate School of Geography. RESEARCH BY EXPLORATION How will these nine geographers do their work? First and foremost, each one of them will be expected to take part from time to time in the actual exploration of the continent for which he is responsible, or in the investigation of his special subject in systematic geography; and between times he must make himself acquainted with the work of other explorers of his continent, and of other investigators in his special systematic subject. His own exploratory work, in which he should be accompanied by one or more advanced students, will require absence from Worcester for periods of half a year or a year every three, four or five years; and the digestion and publication of the results of his exploration will require, after he returns home, at least twice as much time as he spent in the field. The rest of his time at home should be given to the study of explorations and investigations by others, so that each one of the nine professors shall become a recognized center of absorption and radiation of regional and special knowledge. On this plan, two professors would ordinarily be absent every year; three or four others would be engrossed in preparing for publication the material they secured in the field during their absence one or two years before; and each of the remaining three or four professors would be very busy in reviewing and assimilating the work of other geographers in various parts of the world, as far as it referred to matters for which he is responsible. If under these conditions any professor finds that he has some free time left over, he might give it to the preparation and delivery of set courses of lectures. CURATORS AND MATERIAL EQUIPMENT You may have noticed that, apart from the staff of nine professors, nothing has yet been said about the rest of the School's establishment. While I still maintain that the essential feature of the School must be its corps of research professors, there are also other features of equipment which the professors will say are essential, even if I do not. There must be in the first place a comprehensive library of geography and allied subjects in charge of a scholarly librarian; not simply a man who will put books back in their places on the shelves, but a man well versed in geographical literature, an active collaborator with the professors in keeping the library up to date in all its departments, and perhaps having so great an interest in geographical production as to serve as editor of the School's publications. There must be in the second place a complete collection of modern, largescale topographical and hydrographical maps of all countries which publish such maps, and this collection should be in charge of a cartographer; not a mere draftsman, but an experienced craftsman with a real understanding of the outdoor things that maps represent and a dextrous hand for the construction of such new maps as are needed in the School work; instruction in so much of surveying and map making as young geographers need might be given by this member of the staff. In the third place there should be a large and growing collection of models, in charge of a trained and skilful model-maker; not a mere artificer but a geographer of artistic capacity and outdoor experience, competent to design and construct truthfully expressive models himself. There should be in the fourth place an extensive and ever-growing collection of geographical photographs, not in charge of a mere photographer, but of a geographer competent to make scientific selection of characteristic views for the illustration of geographical subjects and regions. And in the fifth place there should be a comprehensive collection of the products of all countries in charge of an experienced economic geographer, unless the School proposes to depend for such material on the great Commercial Museum in Philadelphia. The material equipment of a graduate school of geography is therefore a somewhat formidable matter. It must be vigorously looked after. A CENTRAL BUREAU FOR GEOGRAPHICAL Let me say a few words more about the collections of geographical photographs and models, in order to explain the manner in which such collections may be made useful not only in Clark University, but all over the country wherever geography has recognition. Every college where geography is taught needs a collection of lantern slides for the illustration of its lectures. At present each professor of geography in all those colleges has to build up his own collection as best he can; as a result such collections are very uneven and imperfect. There is no central bureau where well selected sets of lantern slides for the illustration of special subjects or of special regions can be obtained. What a boon it would be for professors of geography in every part of the United States if the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University would undertake to form a standard collection of photographs and lantern slides; not a finished collection, but a constantly growing collection, from which one could order, for example, an elementary set of 10 slides or an advanced set of 50 slides for the illustration of the physical geography of A coasts; or an elementary set of 15 slides or an advanced set of 100 slides for the illustration of the regional geography of Colorado. great amount of correspondence and travel, of reading and study would be required before such a collection was well developed; but when it came to be known that the sets made up from the collection were composed of pictures critically selected by a competent geographer, so that they would really accomplish their purpose, all geographical eyes would be often turned to Clark. A SERIES OF GEOGRAPHICAL MODELS A similarly beneficient work could be done by establishing a standard collection of geographical models, from which duplicates could be had at the cost of casting and coloring, without charge for the making. Like the lantern slides, these might illustrate both systematic and regional subjects. Thus there might be a set of five models to exhibit the successive changes of a volcanic mountain from its youth of eruptive construction to its old age of erosional degradation, and so on for other physical features. Similarly there might be models representing certain striking features of different countries. These, on account of their expense, would be less often sold to colleges than to museums where they would attract much attention; but the systematic series would surely become popular as well as serviceable in the geographical laboratories of colleges; for such models may serve not only in illustration of type forms, but as the basis for very disciplinary exercises in landscape description, a phase of geographical instruction which is too generally neglected. Such instruction may be advisedly begun in field excursions, where it can be grounded on the direct observation of nature; but the variety of landscape on which advantageous exercise may be had will be greatly extended if field excursions are supplemented by models. But I must turn away from this attractive topic, and consider again the Graduate School itself. AN ENCOURAGING ANALOGY FROM ASTRONOMY If we now return to consider the work of the research professor, perhaps you will ask: Is it really worth while to study the world in so much detail as has been thus far implied. Let |
