History 400 in the AGSL: Primary Sources & Border Disputes

Posted on January 7, 2025

UWM’s History 400 class was embedded in the AGSL for the Fall 2024 semester. HIST 400: Topics in Latin American and Caribbean History: Digital Humanities, Memory, and Visual Culture used primary sources from the AGSL’s map collection and the archives of the American Geographical Society (AGS) of New York to create online public history projects.  

The class topic lends itself well to the AGSL’s holdings, as the AGS produced the Millionth map of Hispanic America, mapping Mexico, Central America, and South America for the larger International Map of the World project.  

The class divided into three groups, and each studied a different border dispute from the early 20^th century: Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala; Bolivia and Paraguay; and Ecuador and Peru. The class’s work culminated in three StoryMaps about these border disputes.