Using Metadata to Find Paul Revere

An interactive network analysis of colonial Boston's revolutionary organizations, revealing how simple membership data exposes the hidden structure of a revolution.

Inspired by Kieran Healy  ·  Original Wolfram Language code by Swede White

Membership Network

Colonists connected to the seven revolutionary organizations they belonged to. Hover to explore; click an organization to isolate its members.

Centrality Analysis

The person-to-person co-membership network, colored by centrality. Toggle between measures to see who the revolution's key brokers, connectors, and influencers were.

Low High

Centrality Rankings

The top colonial revolutionaries by each centrality measure. Paul Revere dominates across all three.

Organization Overlap

How many members did each pair of organizations share? The North Caucus and Tea Party were the most intertwined.

Structural Holes

What happens when you remove the top 5 brokers? The network fragments, revealing how a handful of colonists held the entire revolutionary infrastructure together.

Full Network
Without Key Brokers
Built with Python, NetworkX & D3.js  ·  Data from Kieran Healy's revere dataset