The Early California Cultural Atlas (ECCA) is developing a digital atlas to integrate and manage historical resources and enable analysis of historical data related to the colonization and settlement of early California.  Through development of various educational tools the atlas will contribute to the education of students from elementary school to the university classroom.

ECCA is interdisciplinary and collaborative; it draws upon the expertise of research scholars, librarians, archivists, software engineers, technical experts, California Indians, and primary school teachers. Fundamentally, the project represents a new partnership between existing programs. It combines the extensive and unique database of the Early California Population Project (ECPP) with the technical expertise of the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI) to enable new understandings of California and its peoples between the founding of California’s first mission in 1769 and the admission of California into the Union in 1850.

Our intent is to create an innovative website that will not only improve how we understand a pivotal epoch in California history but one that will demonstrate to humanists how emergent technologies can deepen and foster humanistic inquiry.

The ECCA began as a pilot project to map the Baptisms of California Indians and the changes in community and land use in early California history. It is based on a database developed for the Early California Population Project (ECPP).

The ECPP originated in 1998 when Steven W. Hackel, associate professor of history at Oregon State University, envisioned a comprehensive relational database for early California.

An initial Website and GoogleEarth prototypes have been developed in collaboration with Jeanette Zerneke, Technical Director of ECAI (Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative).

Initial NEH Start-Up Award 2008: Development of an interactive website that would use maps and other tools to examine the historical development of colonial California from 1769 to 1850.

NEH Start-Up Level II award 2010: Development of a digital atlas to integrate and manage historical resources and enable analysis of historical data related to the colonization and settlement of early California.

SSHA Panel Presentations November 2009

• Panel Presentation and Project Overview by Steven Hackel
• Native Ethnographies by Nat Zappia
• Power Point demo by Jeanette Zerneke
• Panel comments by Janet Fireman

Presentations and Documentation 2010

• Quick Poster
• NEH Start-UP 2010 Directors Meeting Project Summary
• NEH Start-Up 2010 Directors Meeting - Lightening Rod Power Point
• iSchool Friday Seminar Abstract