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By Kurt Vidmer

For my research project, I will be exploring the roll of trading posts in communication in the Antebellum Southern United States. Doing this, I will pay particular attention to the location of trading posts along trading routes and waterways throughout the South. It is my assumption that these trading posts served as a strong communication network during this time periods, and this is a topic that I wish to further research and analyze. Throughout my research process, I will be looking to answer the following questions. What can the various products moving through these trading posts tell us about Antebellum communication? What role did the merchants and trading post workers play in the this communication exchange? Aside from economic and trading related information, what other areas of communication were spread throughout these trading posts and routes? Did Native Americans play a role in this communication network? What technological advances had to greatest impact on this communication network? What influence did trading post communication have on future communication developments in the United States?

A main source of primary sources that I will utilize will be maps of various trading routes throughout the Southern United States. I will analyze the location of these maps, and look to identify trends that exist in these maps, and particularly to the trends that impact the locations of trading posts along these routes. Maps will be very important and vital to locating the trading posts and supply centers that I will be analyzing throughout my research. Another form of primary sources that I will explore are records of products, materials, and supplies that passed through the various trading routes. I will will look to identify similarities and differences in the types of products that move through the different trading posts. Through these observations, I will look to identify impacts that the products had on the trading post based communication network. I will also use letters as a source for analysis of the possibilities of trading routed serving as a “Postal System” of sorts. These letters would give first hand insight into the process of which these trading posts facilitated communication.

My project will take the form as a collection of maps, inventory records, and letters that I will acquire through various sources, including the Davidson Archive and the library research resources. I will analyze these sources, and look to make connections between the various sources as they relate to communication exchange.