The timeline launched explorations into how to better see, analyze, and manage the fourth dimension. Experiments with annotation, perspective, and warping space produced unique time graphics. Linear time was extended from history into statecraft, business, and education. Small multiple sequences revealed time spans ranging from thousand-year empires to the quick gallop of the horse. A universal and more precise conception of time took hold of industrialized society with the proliferation of clocks, railroad schedules, and timelines.

Packet Boat and Steamship Connections between Europe and Overseas Ports

Übersicht der Packetboot- und Dampfschiff-Fahrt-Verbindungen des Europäischen Continentes

Franz Raffelsperger

1829, Vienna

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Geography is not abandoned but made subservient to time in this creative time-map by Franz Raffelsperger, an Austrian postal official. This time-map was created in an age when steam was making global packet boats faster and more reliable. The coasts of six continents are warped beyond recognition into concentric rings to display the shipping time between world ports and Europe. Line labels give the expected shipping time in days (Tagen) or hours (Stunden), when the weather is favorable. Line styles indicate routes by sail (solid line) or steam (wavy line). Opportunities for new routes are represented with dotted lines. Inset diagrams at the center and corners of the composition detail important shipping corridors. ❧

A General View of Universal History

In A Series Of Maps Of The World As Known At Different Periods; Constructed Upon An Uniform Scale, And Coloured According To The Political Changes Of Each Period

Edward Quin

1830, London

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Across twenty successive frames, geographic knowledge of the world cuts through the darkness of the unknown. The history of colorful empires unfolds from a narrow map of the fertile crescent (B.C. 2348. The Deluge) to the then present day (A.D. 1828. End Of The General Peace). Chinese and American empires are shrouded to reinforce what the depicted European ancients would have known in their own time. Quin’s goal was to present a unified progression of history with a consistent geographic language. He particularly wanted to show students what else was happening simultaneous to the fragments of history they were already familiar with. The receding clouds evoke the “fog of war” of strategic games. The effect of turning each page is almost cinematic. ❧

The Temple of Time

Emma Willard

1846, New York

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Emma Willard gives us her perspective on “universal history” that mimics our personal recency bias: The past recedes into a cloudy background, while the present moment is most clear. The half-finished columns representing the 19th century shows us that The Temple of Time’s construction continues, out of the page and toward the reader. As educator, activist, and entrepreneur, Willard’s many information graphics were a product of both real classroom testing and the need to stay relevant in a competitive textbook market. The Temple of Time is the culmination of many design iterations on the theme of showing history. The flow of empires, earlier published as a stand-alone graphic, is projected on the floor. Two colonnades mark the centuries and display significant old world rulers and new world milestones. The columns support a coffered ceiling that celebrates statesmen, scientists, theologians, artists, and warriors. ❧

The Horse in Motion

and Sallie Gardner Diagram of Foot Movements

Eadweard Muybridge

1879, San Francisco

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An arrangement of eleven "electro-photographs" captures jockey G. Domm as he gallops famous racehorse Sallie Gardner through a series of camera tripwires. The sequence reveals that there is indeed a moment when all four hooves are off the ground. Eadweard Muybridge ingeniously captured this photographic evidence on today's Stanford University campus. Muybridge shot the film and developed the negatives live in front of a panel of journalists to prove the project's authenticity.

The famous tableau was first published in a series of "cabinet cards," a format popular for portrait photography. One of these cards abstracted the sequence into an annotated Diagram of Foot Movements that connected the first and final silhouettes of the sequence with traced paths of all four hooves.

For data visualization, The Horse in Motion is the pioneering example of the use of small multiple photography as evidence. For the rest of the world, it is the pioneering example of the motion picture camera, making its jockey and horse the first film stars. ❧

Diagram of the Rise and Fall of American Political Parties

from 1789 to 1880, inclusive

Walter R. Houghton

1880, Bloomington/Indianapolis

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The first century of United States political parties is illustrated with a river metaphor. Color helps distinguish each party. Flow widths display relative party strength, with leading parties on top. Offshoots spring from the main flows into splinter parties. The decades leading up to the Civil War evoke writhing snakes. Annotations abound, noting historic events and legislative accomplishments, but they never distract from the colorful flows. A parallel congressional timeline, on the bottom, uses the same color palette to indicate which party has power over each house. The upper chamber of the Senate is on top. The head of state occupies the highest row of the composition. ❧

Increase of the Popular Vote

Henry Gannett, Fletcher Hewes, United States Census Office

1883, New York

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A wide timeline of the American popular vote for president is broken across multiple sections. You can see it summarized in miniature at the bottom right. A narrow stacked bar represents each presidential election popular vote, with the winning party on top. The tops of these stacks connect to create areas filled with color to indicate the elected presidential party. Black networks within the color belt detail the rise and fall of party factions. By the end of the timeline, the increase in the popular vote is dramatic, completely swallowing all text annotation. ❧