Defining Crochet

Textile classification systems differentiate between the looped structures that characterise the present-day crafts of knitting and crochet. Printed sources prior to the early nineteenth century do not make this distinction, labelling fabric of either structure as knitting, thereby obscuring references to what would now be termed crochet. These can be identified in published instructions, nonetheless, with the prescribed use of a single hook being a ready indicator. Although looping does not inherently require tools and some structures can be made with alternative techniques, certain forms of crochet-type looping depend on the design of the hooks used to produce them. The typology of such implements provides a framework for tracing the convergence of the precursors of modern crochet into that craft.     

A cartographic fade to black: mapping the destruction of urban Japan during World War II

In this paper we examine the history, production, and use – practical and rhetorical – of maps created by the United States government during World War II as related to the development and execution of aerial bombing policies against Japan. Drawing from a range of maps and primary documents culled from libraries and archives in the United States, we argue that maps provide an important, and hitherto neglected, means through which to trace the exploration and eventual embrace of the incendiary bombing of Japan’s cities. In particular, our aim is to show how maps, along with the men who made and used them, played a central role in the planning and prosecution of air raids on urban Japan. We also address the mobilization of American geographers into the war effort, the re-configuration of America’s spatial intelligence community during World War II, and the ways in which maps were constructed in the context of total war.