George Eliot in Weimar, 1854
In 1854, George Eliot (then Marian Evans) traveled with George Henry Lewes to Weimar, Germany, ostensibly to support his biographical research on Goethe, one of Germany's greatest literary figures. This trip began the couple’s 24-year cohabitation.
The George Eliot Archive team has created two interactive map experiences that allow visitors to virtually explore the places in Weimar that influenced Eliot’s writing.
- The George Eliot in Weimar Geospatial Overview was created 2023-2024 and published to the George Eliot Archive in December, 2024, after the Geospatial Narrative was also completed. The Overview was created using QGIS, HTML, JavaScript, and Python.
- Below the Geospatial Overview, continue to scroll for the George Eliot in Weimar Geospatial Narrative, created and published to the George Eliot Archive in December, 2024. This project adds additional context and images to the Geospatial Overview. This second visualization was created using the open-source GeoStory software (hosted on GeoNode).
TO USE:
- Navigate through this interactive overview to find information about the stops Eliot made during her trip to Weimar.
- Use the scroll button on the right side of the frame if the GeoStory does not begin automatically. Please note that the GeoStory may not work using the Safari browser. This project works optimally with Chrome.
- Use the calendar filter at the top of the map to select specific dates or trace Eliot's steps monthly (August to November). This feature is useful for viewing journal entries and other supporting evidence from various dates in locations Eliot revisited multiple times.
Scroll through this interactive Geospatial Narrative to trace the specific steps Eliot made during her trip to Weimar.
George Eliot’s 1854 Trip to Weimar, Germany: A Geospatial Project (2024) was developed by Wesley Loman, with editorial assistance from Kaylen Michaelis and Dr. Beverley Park Rilett.
The George Eliot Archive acknowledges Bob Muscutt’s seminal digital project, George Eliot in Weimar (2019). We appreciate his invitation to repurpose his blog's images and recordings for our geospatial adaptation. The narratives and resources from Muscutt and his collaborators were invaluable in contextualizing the locations Eliot visited in Weimar. In addition to Muscutt's work, we have drawn from Gerlinde Roder-Bolton’s George Eliot in Germany, 1854–55 (2006). The essential primary sources are George Eliot’s essays, “Three Months in Weimar” (1855) and “Recollections of Weimar” (1854) and the searchable full texts of George Eliot’s Journals.