Tracing absence: enduring methods, empirical research and a quest for the first neon sign in the USA

Abstract

In this paper I review approaches to absence in geography to argue that, while apprehending absence requires creative and varied approaches, actually tracing absence may demand traditional, methodical and time-intensive empirical research. Without undermining the value of novel methods or expanded understandings of the empirical, I demonstrate how sometimes only exhaustive empirical research (archival in this case) can address our research questions -as much as we may favour the new, sometimes we must rely on the methods that endure. To make this point I present my quest for evidence of the much-lauded first neon sign in the USA. The story of the 1922-3 Earle C. Anthony 'Packard' sign had not been questioned by print or Internet source -but neither had any primary evidence (such as photographs or media coverage) been presented of its existence. That lack of evidence became a six-month quest to trace the sign's absence, one that reveals how exhaustive archival research, utilising sources previously not consulted (or perhaps even known), could upset previous histories of neon signs in the USA.

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