Lesson plan

Chronographer

A chronographer was a graphical representation of historical information devised by American educator Emma Willard in the mid-19th century. The chronographers intended to show historical information in a geographic and chronological context. The first graphic was Picture of Nations, published in 1835, which showed civilizations as streams running through time, becoming wider and narrower as they gained or lost influence. She developed another chronographer, the Chronographer of American History, in 1844, showing the history of the United States as events marked on the branches of a tree. Later chronographers showed historical events within an imagined Ancient Greek temple; the Temple of Time (1846), American Temple of Time (late 1840s), English Chronographer (1849) and Chronographer of Ancient History (1851) are examples of this type. In these chronographers the floor was occupied with the streams of civilizations, as in the Picture of Nations; the walls (often colonnaded) denoted the passage of time and were marked with historical leaders and the roof was split into categories to list other historic persons. The back wall of the temple was often marked as the point of biblical creation, sometimes with the date of 4004 BC from the Ussher chronology, though in her American Temple of Time a map of the continent is used.…

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Article summary

A chronographer was a graphical representation of historical information devised by American educator Emma Willard in the mid-19th century. The chronographers intended to show historical information in a geographic and chronological context. The first graphic was Picture of Nations, published in 1835, which showed civilizations as streams running through time, becoming wider and narrower as they gained or lost influence. She developed another chronographer, the Chronographer of American History, in 1844, showing the history of the United States as events marked on the branches of a tree. Later chronographers showed historical events within an imagined Ancient Greek temple; the Temple of Time (1846), American Temple of Time (late 1840s), English Chronographer (1849) and Chronographer of Ancient History (1851) are examples of this type. In these chronographers the floor was occupied with the streams of civilizations, as in the Picture of Nations; the walls (often colonnaded) denoted the passage of time and were marked with historical leaders and the roof was split into categories to list other historic persons. The back wall of the temple was often marked as the point of biblical creation, sometimes with the date of 4004 BC from the Ussher chronology, though in her American Temple of Time a map of the continent is used.…

Key claims

  1. publication date: 1835 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the publication date is "1835". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1355799043

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.