Platform and Audience

Our project uses two interactive tools—StoryMap (ArcGIS Online) and TimelineJS—to present Haldore Hanson’s experiences in China during 1937–1938. The StoryMap visualizes Hanson’s route across major cities , allowing viewers to explore locations alongside archival photographs. We pair this with two TimelineJS displays: one that outlines key events of the Sino-Japanese War, and another that highlights milestones in Hanson’s own trip. Together, these tools help contextualize his movements within both personal history and broader geopolitical developments.

This project is designed for students, educators, and general audiences interested in East Asian history, wartime journalism, and digital storytelling. By combining maps and timelines, we make the archival materials more accessible, engaging, and informative for teaching, research, and public exploration.

Motivations

Richy Jing: As a student from China, I’m personally drawn to this project because it explores a pivotal period in my country’s history. Haldore Hanson’s journey offers a fascinating outsider’s view of China during World War II, a time of political upheaval and transformation. By mapping his travels and experiences, I hope to better understand how international perspectives intersect with China’s internal struggles and to share that history with a wider audience through an engaging digital format. 

Evelyn Xie: As a Chinese international student, I’m interested in China’s history during WWII and hope to visualize Haldore Hanson’s journey to make the connections between time, place, and narrative more tangible for the audience. I’m also interested in learning more about digital mapping tools like ArcGIS and applying them in new ways beyond what we’ve explored in class.

Rui Shen: Haldore Hanson’s journey captures a unique foreign perspective during a critical moment in China’s wartime experience, and I want to help make that story more accessible through interactive mapping as a student from China. By combining archival research with digital tools, I hope to both deepen my own understanding of this period and share it with others in a way that feels personal and engaging.

Aiden Guan: Before exploring the Carleton digital archive, I didn’t know about Haldore Hanson’s trip to China during World War II. As I read through his collections and viewed his photographs, I was struck by his firsthand documentation of 1930s China and by his accounts of the leadership of Communist guerrilla fighters. To broaden access to his work, I want to create an interactive digital mapping project that invites a wide audience to engage with his experiences in an engaging, accessible way.