Preserving history: digitising WWII terrain studies of the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA)

In 1942, after a series of directives from General MacArthur’s Headquarters, the Allied Geographical Section (AGS) was formed with the task of compiling all the available geographical intelligence on the largely unmapped and underexplored south-west Pacific area. During its lifespan (1942-45), the AGS produced 3 major types of publications: Terrain Studies; Special Reports; and Terrain Handbooks. The Terrain Studies were the most important and complex works, designed to give the most comprehensive information. Thus, they contained text, diagrams, photographs and various sized and coloured maps. In 2012, Monash University Library initiated a project to digitise its substantial collection of Terrain Studies and make them available via the Monash University Research Repository (http://arrow.monash.edu) to complement its online collections for the ANZAC Centenary. This paper explores a number of aspects of the project: its genesis; challenges, given the format of the material; the scanning process; metadata creation and changing geography (role of gazetteers); how it complements existing WWI exhibits; and methods of access.

2015

The Globe, vol. 78, p. 43-50

Australian and New Zealand  Map Society

0311-3930

handle 1959.1/1225865

pid monash:163630