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RESEARCH ON THE SOUTHEAST BY GEOGRAPHERS, 1946-1967 Allen D. Bushong° Studies summarizing research completed by geographers provide a factual basis for reflecting upon the status and trends of their discipline. Few would deny the value of such appraisals at periodic intervals. Publica­ tions of this kind are not new to geography, but they sometimes differ markedly from one another in the area and time span considered and the scope of research materials examined. Some post-World War II studies are cases in point. The work of Browning, Kelso, and Steiner covers a period of almost 50 years (1906-1953) but restricts its analysis to doctoral dissertations submitted to United States and Canadian universities. (1 ) Raup’s assessment spans 35 years (1920-1954) for the United States. Four major geography periodicals (the Annals, Eco­ nomic Geography, Geographical Review, and Journal of Geography), doc­ toral dissertations (but not masters theses ), and 28 other publications (mostly unidentified) are the basis of his study. (2) Raup’s work served as a point of departure for Doerr, who followed the same procedure for the next eightyear period (1955-1962) but did not involve himself with “other publica­ tions.” (3) This study reflects upon the nearly five hundred items of research which geographers have completed on the Southeastern United States in the 22 years following World War II, beginning in 1946 and extending through 1967. There is some time overlap of varying degree with each of the three studies mentioned above. However, this work employs a greater range of source materials and is the first comprehensive assessment of post-war research by geographers that focuses on a single—and rapidly changing— region of the United States. CRITERIA. The Southeastern United States as used in this study is the same area encompassed by the Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers. This includes all of the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Ten­ nessee, and most of Virginia except for approximately the northern quarter of the state. The Virginia portion of the Delmarva peninsula is also excluded. (4) *Dr. B u shong is asso ciate professor of geography a t th e U n iv e rsity of S outh C aro lin a, C olu m b ia. The paper w as accepted fo r p u b lic a tio n in Ja n u ary 1969. V o l . IX, No. 1, 1969 49 The decision to include or exclude some research items from this study has been difficult, even agonizing. The difficulty arises with works whose titles do not reflect their content or regional limits. Such decisions to embrace or reject have been rendered subjectively on the basis of the work’s major relevance to the Southeast as that area is delimited for this study. The major objective of this study is to show the research which geogra­ phers have completed on the Southeast regardless of where or in what form it has appeared. Therefore, only works written by trained geographers are included except for those rare instances where non-geographers have published an article in a professional geography journal. For such rarities the professional label has been overlooked. These criteria need to be kept in mind; otherwise the reader may be startled to find certain works omitted which he feels should be included, or vice versa. A case in point is William P. Cumming’s admirable and valuable book, The Southeast in Early Maps, published in 1962. Only Dr. Cumming’s professorship of English at Davidson College excludes this work from consideration. On the other hand, Dr. Cumming is represented in this study because of an article he wrote which was published in the Southeastern Geographer [75]. (5) In this and in similar instances no disciplinary chauvinism is intended or implied. Masters theses and doctoral dissertations are included, even though most are unpublished, in the firm belief that they represent substantive scholarly effort and are available to interested individuals. Extensive though by no means total reliance was placed on Current Geographical Publications for determining published materials. In addition, history journals and academy of science journals of the Southeastern States were examined on the assumption...

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