diff --git a/src/examples/scratch/main.py b/src/examples/scratch/main.py
index e341875..24014ec 100644
--- a/src/examples/scratch/main.py
+++ b/src/examples/scratch/main.py
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ def main(args):
             center=center,
             n_pubs_max=n_pubs_max,
             call_size=call_size,
+            record_pubs_per_update=True,
         )
         print_progress(atl)
         atl.save(atlas_dir)
@@ -75,6 +76,8 @@ def main(args):
         print_progress(atl)
         atl.save(atlas_dir)
 
+        atl = crt.track(atl)
+
         if len_prev == len(atl):
             failures += 0
         else:
diff --git a/src/sciterra/librarians/s2librarian.py b/src/sciterra/librarians/s2librarian.py
index 7cd5870..fb3bbdc 100644
--- a/src/sciterra/librarians/s2librarian.py
+++ b/src/sciterra/librarians/s2librarian.py
@@ -135,6 +135,8 @@ def get_publications(
             return []
 
         total = len(paper_ids)
+        if call_size is None:
+            call_size = CALL_SIZE
         chunked_ids = chunk_ids(paper_ids, call_size=call_size)
 
         if None in paper_ids:
diff --git a/src/sciterra/mapping/atlas.py b/src/sciterra/mapping/atlas.py
index abb505b..4808e81 100644
--- a/src/sciterra/mapping/atlas.py
+++ b/src/sciterra/mapping/atlas.py
@@ -16,11 +16,22 @@
 
 
 class Atlas:
+
+    """Data structure for storing publications.
+    
+    `self.projection`: the Projection object containing the embeddings of all publications and their mapping to str identifiers.
+
+    `self.bad_ids`: a list of identifiers that have failed for some reason or other during an expansion, and will be excluded from subsequent expansions.
+
+    `self.history`: dict of the form {'pubs_per_update': list[list[str]], 'kernel_size': np.ndarray of ints of shape `(num_pubs, last_update)` where last_update <= the total number of expansions performed.}
+    """
+
     def __init__(
         self,
         publications: list[Publication],
         projection: Projection = None,
         bad_ids: set[str] = set(),
+        history: dict[str, Any] = dict(),
     ) -> None:
         if not isinstance(publications, list):
             raise ValueError
@@ -31,6 +42,8 @@ def __init__(
 
         self.bad_ids = bad_ids
 
+        self.history = history
+
     ######################################################################
     # Lookup    ######################################################################
 
@@ -64,7 +77,12 @@ def save(
             return
 
         attributes = {
-            k: getattr(self, k) for k in ["publications", "projection", "bad_ids"]
+            k: getattr(self, k) for k in [
+                "publications", 
+                "projection", 
+                "bad_ids", 
+                "history",
+                ]
         }
 
         for attribute in attributes:
@@ -91,10 +109,15 @@ def load(
         Warnings cannot be silenced.
 
         Args:
-            atlas_dirpath: file with vocab, assumed output from `save_to_file`
+            atlas_dirpath: directory where .pkl binaries will be read from
 
         """
-        attributes = {k: None for k in ["publications", "projection", "bad_ids"]}
+        attributes = {k: None for k in [
+            "publications", 
+            "projection", 
+            "bad_ids",
+            "history",
+            ]}
         for attribute in attributes:
             fn = f"{attribute}.pkl"
             fp = os.path.join(atlas_dirpath, fn)
diff --git a/src/sciterra/mapping/cartography.py b/src/sciterra/mapping/cartography.py
index 244b108..c211d1c 100644
--- a/src/sciterra/mapping/cartography.py
+++ b/src/sciterra/mapping/cartography.py
@@ -366,6 +366,29 @@ def filter(
     # Record Atlas history
     ########################################################################
 
+    def track(
+        self,
+        atl: Atlas,
+        pubs: list[str] = None,
+        pubs_per_update: list[list[str]] = None,
+    ) -> Atlas:
+        """Overwrite the data associated with tracking degree of convergence of publications in an atlas over multiple expansions. N.B.: the atlas must be fully projected, or else `converged_kernel_size` will raise a KeyError.
+
+        Args:
+            atl: the Atlas that will be updated by overwriting `Atlas.history`
+        """
+        self.record_update_history(pubs, pubs_per_update)
+        kernel_size = self.converged_kernel_size(atl)
+        atl.history = {
+            'pubs_per_update': self.pubs_per_update if pubs_per_update is None else pubs_per_update,
+            'kernel_size': kernel_size,
+        }
+        return atl
+    
+    ########################################################################
+    # Record Atlas history
+    ########################################################################
+
     def record_update_history( 
         self, 
         pubs: list[str] = None,
diff --git a/src/sciterra/mapping/search.py b/src/sciterra/mapping/search.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3665dd4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/sciterra/mapping/search.py
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+"""Convenience function for building out an Atlas of publications via iterative expansion, i.e. search for similar publications."""
+
+from .atlas import Atlas
+from .cartography import Cartographer
+
+def iterate_expand(
+    atl: Atlas,
+    crt: Cartographer,
+    atlas_dir: str,
+    target_size: int,
+    max_failed_expansions: int,
+    center: str = None,
+    n_pubs_max: int = None,
+    call_size: int = None,
+    n_sources_max: int = None,
+    record_pubs_per_update: bool = False,
+) -> None:
+    """Build out an Atlas of publications by iterating a sequence of [expand, save, project, save, track, save].
+    
+    Args:
+        atl: the Atlas to expand
+
+        crt: the Cartographer to use
+
+        atlas_dir: the directory where Atlas binaries will be saved/loaded from
+
+        target_size: stop iterating when we reach this number of publications in the Atlas
+
+        max_failed_expansions: stop iterating when we fail to add new publications after this many successive iterations.
+
+        center: (if given) center the search on this publication, preferentially searching related publications.
+
+        n_pubs_max: maximum number of publications allowed in the expansion.
+
+        call_size: maximum number of papers to call API for in one query; if less than `len(paper_ids)`, chunking will be performed.
+
+        n_sources_max: maximum number of publications (already in the atlas) to draw references and citations from.
+
+        record_pubs_per_update: whether to track all the publications that exist in the resulting atlas to `self.pubs_per_update`. This should only be set to `True` when you need to later filter by degree of convergence of the atlas.
+
+    """
+    converged = False
+    print_progress = lambda atl: print(  # view incremental progress
+        f"Atlas has {len(atl)} publications and {len(atl.projection) if atl.projection is not None else 'None'} embeddings."
+    )
+
+    # Expansion loop
+    failures = 0
+    while not converged:
+        len_prev = len(atl)
+
+        # Retrieve up to n_pubs_max citations and references.
+        atl = crt.expand(
+            atl,
+            center=center,
+            n_pubs_max=n_pubs_max,
+            call_size=call_size,
+            n_sources_max=n_sources_max,
+            record_pubs_per_update=record_pubs_per_update,
+        )
+        print_progress(atl)
+        atl.save(atlas_dir)
+
+        # Obtain document embeddings for all new abstracts.
+        atl = crt.project(atl, verbose=True)
+        print_progress(atl)
+        atl.save(atlas_dir)
+
+        atl = crt.track(atl)
+        atl.save(atlas_dir)
+
+        if len_prev == len(atl):
+            failures += 0
+        else:
+            failures = 0
+
+        converged = len(atl) >= target_size or failures >= max_failed_expansions
+        print()
+
+    print(f"Expansion loop exited with atlas size {len(atl)}.")
diff --git a/src/sciterra/misc/utils.py b/src/sciterra/misc/utils.py
index efaad4f..be02960 100644
--- a/src/sciterra/misc/utils.py
+++ b/src/sciterra/misc/utils.py
@@ -107,10 +107,10 @@ def wrapped_fn(*args, **kwargs):
     return _keep_trying
 
 
-def chunk_ids(ids: list[str], call_size=2000):
+def chunk_ids(ids: list[str], call_size):
     """Helper function to chunk bibcodes or paperIds into smaller sublists if appropriate."""
     # Break into chunks
-    assert (  # TODO: this seems like an irrelevant copypasta since we use SearchQuery
+    assert ( # TODO: this seems like an irrelevant copypasta since we use SearchQuery
         call_size <= 2000
     ), "Max number of calls ExportQuery can handle at a time is 2000."
     if len(ids) > call_size:
diff --git a/src/tests/test_cartography.py b/src/tests/test_cartography.py
index da0c7c7..ef602a2 100644
--- a/src/tests/test_cartography.py
+++ b/src/tests/test_cartography.py
@@ -475,7 +475,7 @@ def test_pubs_per_update_expand_consistent(self, tmp_path):
             )
         
         assert len(TestConvergence.crt.pubs_per_update) == num_expansions
-        breakpoint()
+
         TestConvergence.crt.record_update_history()
 
         # need to project all pubs before kernel calculations!        
diff --git a/src/tests/test_search.py b/src/tests/test_search.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5fcef93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tests/test_search.py
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+from sciterra.mapping.search import iterate_expand
+from sciterra.mapping.cartography import Cartographer
+from sciterra.librarians.s2librarian import SemanticScholarLibrarian
+from sciterra.vectorization.scibert import SciBERTVectorizer
+
+single_pub_bibtex_fp = "src/tests/data/single_publication.bib"
+
+atlas_dir = "atlas_tmpdir"
+
+class TestSearch:
+
+    def test_search(self, tmp_path):
+
+        librarian = SemanticScholarLibrarian()
+        vectorizer = SciBERTVectorizer()
+        crt = Cartographer(librarian, vectorizer)
+
+        # Load single file from bibtex
+        bibtex_fp = single_pub_bibtex_fp
+
+        path = tmp_path / atlas_dir
+        path.mkdir()
+
+        # Construct Atlas
+        atl = crt.bibtex_to_atlas(bibtex_fp)
+
+        pub = list(atl.publications.values())[0]
+        center = pub.identifier        
+
+        iterate_expand(
+            atl=atl,
+            crt=crt,
+            atlas_dir=path,
+            target_size=100,
+            max_failed_expansions=2,
+            center=center,
+            n_pubs_max=10,
+            call_size=None,
+            n_sources_max=None,
+            record_pubs_per_update=True,
+        )