Who Tells Your Story? Analyzing a Century of Utah History

Much of historical research relies on the close reading of diaries, letters, and other primary sources. But this is not the only way to approach historical materials. A different method that has gained popularity in recent years is known as “distant reading,” a computational approach to extracting broader generalizations from large corpora of texts. Distant reading can take many forms, such as text mining, network analysis, or mapping. These approaches, as Ted Underwood argues, can help us understand the “longer arcs of change [that] have been hidden from us by their sheer scale.” It can help us see the “curvature of the earth” beyond the “mountains and political boundaries” that often preoccupy our attention.¹ At times, distant reading can help confirm—perhaps with a greater degree of precision—what we have already inferred through more qualitative approaches to research. At other times, it can help uncover trends that we had not...