Peter Barber's 'Magnificent Maps' exhibit offers a challenge to those who have 'skewed' the
history of cartography
- March 20. <
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/the-truth-about-maps-how-
cartographers-distort-reality-1922806.html > 'The truth about maps: How cartographers
distort reality. As a fascinating new exhibition shows, it's not always what they put in that
matters - but what they leave out' (by Michael Church in the [London] Independent).
Peter Barber, head of Maps at the British Library and lead curator on the
forthcoming exhibition 'Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art' (opening on April 30), is
extensively quoted. He throws down the gauntlet to those who have 'skewed' the history of
cartography: 'by geographers whose approach is relentlessly scientific, by librarians whose
approach is bibliographical, and by cultural historians for whom maps are just utilitarian
tools'. His thought-provoking views are interwoven with Michael Church's general thoughts on
the subject. Given the rarity and splendour of the 'magnificent maps' the British Library will
be exhibiting next month, Barber's fresh perspectives ensure this will be a display not to be
missed on any account. [Via lismaps.]
Baton Rouge map museum opens
- 'March' [seen March 10]. <
http://www.countryroadsmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1889%3Acarte-
museum-of-maps&catid=36%3Aantiquarians&Itemid=54 > 'CARTE Museum of Maps' (by Ruth Laney for
Country Roads Magazine).
'Mapping the Mississippi: David Morgan’s
collection of rare maps is available for public viewing in his own museum. "I’ve got the
collecting gene. If you’ve got it, you’re a collector," says David Morgan, strolling through his
museum on Christian Street near the foot of the Perkins Road overpass. Morgan calls the museum
CARTE, the French word for map. The Cartographic Acquisition, Research, Teaching & Exhibition
Museum inhabits a clean, well-lighted space ...'
'“I really got into it when I did my thesis on historical changes in the
Mississippi River Delta,” says Morgan, who got his master’s degree at LSU in 1973. “I relied
heavily on maps.” In fact, the interest started earlier, when he was an undergraduate at LSU. “I worked for the
attorney general’s office on the Tidelands litigation. I was an expert witness before the Special
Master of the U. S. Supreme Court and helped write briefs. My dad was involved in the case, and
he dragged me into it. It was about whether the state or the federal government owned oil and gas
resources offshore. The court battle went from the 1950s through the 1970s. “My dad worked on determining the historic shoreline from 1812, when Louisiana became a state,”
says Morgan. “He did research at the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and even
archives in Spain. He put together a cartobibliography and determined which maps were most
accurate. He was immersed in maps, and I was hanging around.”
'The current exhibit will be up through the end of May. A second
exhibit will open this summer, tracing the development of the Mississippi Valley through the
British and Spanish periods.' The remainder of the article gives David Morgan's thoughts about
the exhibited maps.
Early maps of Yorkshire up for auction
- March 9. <
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Yorkshire-maps-set-to-.6134956.jp > 'Yorkshire maps set
to top charts at auction' (by Joe Shute in the Yorkshire Post).
'A vast collection of rare historical Yorkshire books, maps and prints is to go under
the hammer for the first time since the Victorian era. More than 300 pieces from a private
collection which dates back to renowned 19th century Yorkshire bibliographer William Boyne, is
to go on sale later in the month. Experts describe the collection as a rich tapestry of
Yorkshire's social history, and highlights include a £1,500 map of the region from 1772, and
an 1809 pamphlet written about the Knaresborough cave dwelling prophetess, Mother Shipton, of
which there are only five left in existence.
'Auctioneer Dominic Winter, who has been in the business for nearly
40 years, said: "This is a really splendid collection and it is very rare to have so many
pieces devoted to one area. A lot of these collectables have not been available for the public
to buy since Victorian times. It is a rich collection detailing the minutiae of Yorkshire
history and life." Mr Winter is holding a preview event for the sale at the Yorkshire Hotel,
Harrogate, on March 13, ahead of the auction in Gloucestershire on March 31'.
For descriptions of the maps see Dominic Winter's Online
Catalogue.
Cardiff Council's early book collection saved from sale
- March 4 [seen March
7]. < http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/8550408.stm > 'Thousands of
Cardiff's rare books are saved' (BBC News).
A happy follow-up to
a story from 2008 (see the Archive under September 2 and October 9). It was reported then that
'Cardiff Council could eventually sell up to 18,000 items dating from the 15th Century at
auction to raise money for improvements in library services'. Maps and atlases were
certainly involved, though few details were offered. Anyway, following vocal protests, it
has now been reported that Cardiff University Library is to take the collection, and that
'the university, Welsh Assembly Government and the Higher Education Funding Council for
Wales have donated £1.2m towards the transfer of the books'.
The Osher Map Library
- March 7 [seen March 6]. <
http://www.boston.com/travel/explorene/maine/articles/2010/03/07/thousands_of_maps_each_re
vealing_its_makers_worldview/ > 'Thousands of maps, each revealing its maker’s
worldview' (by Janet Mendelsohn for boston.com).
A friendly
look at the recently re-opened Osher Map Library at the University of Southern Maine,
focussing on its highly successful engagement with children and the exhibition programme.
Stanford's job announcement reaffirms importance of the curator
- March 3.
< http://www.higheredjobs.com/search/details.cfm?JobCode=175420817 > 'Rare Map
Curator, Stanford University Libraries' (announcement via HigheEdJobs).
Further to the entry for 23 February 2010, I am delighted to see some of the detail
for one of the new posts in the Branner Earth Sciences Library & Map Collections. Just
picking out a few elements from 'Duties':
'3) Serve as the subject specialist for historic maps making selection decisions for
materials to be acquired for the collection.
4) Provide outreach to the faculty and
students using the collections.
a. Provide reference services for all areas of the
collection, which incorporates both paper-based and digital materials.
b. Work
directly with faculty and students on integrating up-to-date geospatial technologies into
their teaching and/or their research.
c. Provide outreach to relevant departments
about the materials in the Map Room and the services offered.
d. Instruct classes,
groups, and individuals in the use of cartographic materials for research.
e. Collaborate
with the GIS & Map Librarian to promote the use of this collection and the Branner Library
Map Collection in digital humanities projects.'
Among the 'desired
qualifications' would be: 'Formal training in cartographic history and geography'. A
number of the other points reinforce the importance of curatorial experience and expertise in
the field of non-current paper maps, albeit in an environment of GIS and digitisation.
Might this be a constructive model for others?
Is Iran now supporting Korea's "East Sea" claims?
- March 3. <
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2917304 > 'Dokdo’s past' (in the
JoonAng daily).
'Chung Jae-jeong, head of the Northeast Asian
History Foundation, looks at an ancient map of the Dokdo islets in the East Sea {actually a
map of China, Korea and Japan} along with foreign diplomats including Morteza Soltanpoor,
chargé d’affaires for the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran ... yesterday during the
"Old Map Exhibition - East Sea and Dokdo" at the National Assembly Library in Seoul. Forty
ancient maps of Dokdo and the East Sea from countries including Germany, England and Russia
were featured for the first time ever. Sovereignty over the islets has been a continuous
subject of dispute between Korea and Japan. The exhibition, organized by the foundation, will
run until March 9.'
Interesting to note the invited presence of the Iranian diplomat.
Are we to look forward to the creation of a mutually-supportive international organisation of
those countries that use earlier maps to further present-day territorial claims?
For a fuller account, with illustrations, see 'Old maps point to
Dokdo and the East Sea', Korea Herald, 3 March 2010 <
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2010/03/03/201003030011.asp >.
Bulgarian mayor uses billboard map to assert claims to part of Greece
- February
26. < http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=113647 > 'Bulgaria Nationalists Stir
Greek Protest with Patriotic Billboards' (from novinite.com, Sofia News Agency).
I post, with some hesitation, another gratuitous example of the inappropriate use
of an earlier map for current political purposes. Assuming this is correctly reported - and it
comes from a news agency in the capital of the offending country - it concerns 'patriotic
billboards placed in the southern Bulgarian city of Plovdiv ... congratulating its residents
for Bulgaria’s upcoming national holiday - March 3, the day of Bulgaria’s National Liberation
from the Ottoman Turkish Empire ...' The billboards 'feature a map of Bulgaria at the time of
its liberation as stipulated by the San Stefano Treaty signed between the Russian Empire and
Ottoman Turkey on March 3, 1878. The map shows the so called "San Stefano Bulgaria" which
includes territories from the geographic regions of Macedonia and Thrace that are now outside
of Bulgaria, and much of them are located in most of today’s Northern Greece.'
The billboards
bear the name of the local mayor, a member of Bulgaria's nationalist party, VMRO, which
'considers itself of a descendant of the Internal Macedonia-Adrianople Revolutionary
Organization (VMRO) founded in 1893 to fight for the liberation of the regions of Macedonia and
Thrace from the Ottoman Turkish Empire.' The article comments that 'Bulgaria has formally renounced any
territorial claims for its neighbors' and the errant mayor has been slapped down by the
regional governor. It is hoped that, despite belicose noises from the VMRO, this will fizzle
out, rather than developing into another Balkan flash-point.
Stanford's Branner Library bucks the trend and expands
- February 23. < https://lib.stanford.edu/sulair-news/branner-library-reorganization
> 'Branner Library Reorganization' (Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources
(SULAIR) News).
A library announcement about staff changes would not generally
be of wider interest. In this case, however, the news that Stanford University's Branner Library is
expanding and raising the status of its head it as surprising as it is welcome in the present economic
climate. The library and its map curator Julie Sweetkind-Singer have been in the news in recent years as
recipients of major donations, most notably David Rumsey's 150,000 map collection (see Archive under 4 February
2009). The map dealer Barry Ruderman was also induced to donate the images of 2,500 maps he had sold so
that they could be offered for free viewing, at high resolution, on the Stanford site.
[Full text of the statement:]
'We are in the process of adding several new positions that will expand the scope of what SERG provides
to Stanford. A new "Map Curator" and "Map Technical Specialist" will be hired to staff a new facility
that will be developed in Green Library to provide physical and online access to maps and geospatial
data. The Map Curator will report to Julie Sweetkind-Singer. In addition, we are creating a new map
scanning station and hiring a two-year term position to do map digitization through the DLSS budget.
These resources will allow us to address a growing need by our faculty and students -- in numerous
disciplines -- to use cartographic and geospatial materials.
'In addition, we have recently advertised a new "Science Data Librarian" position to help expand our data
program in the sciences. This new position will build upon a very successful NDIIPP project, ongoing
work at the Hopkins Marine Biology Station and a Moore Foundation grant that will begin this March. This
position will also report to Julie.
'In order to recognize and accommodate these new responsibilities, we will be reorganizing the Branner
Library and promoting Julie to the position of "Assistant Director of Geospatial, Cartographic &
Scientific Data and Services." Julie will continue to work at the Branner Library and oversee the GIS
and cartographic collections and services there. However, we will be expanding the role of the Earth
Sciences Librarian to include management of the branch. Julie's new position and the reorganization will
be effective April 1, 2010.'
An informal interview with the head of Yale University's Map Department
- February 9 [seen February
19]. < http://www.midnightatyale.com/2010/02/virtual-library-tours-maps-collection.html > 'Virtual
Library Tours: The Maps Collection' (by Lauren Díaz Morgan on the Midnight at Yale blog).
An account of a
visit to the library at Yale University and undergraduate interview with the head of the map collection, Abraham
Parrish. First access. 'Yale is very protective of its maps. In fact, it is so protective that I must
admit, approaching Sterling’s Maps Collection was rather intimidating.' No mention is made of the Forbes
Smiley affair that caused that welcome tightening of security. The visitor learns that Abraham Parrish
was reponsible for setting up a GIS for Yale, and he talked about digital analysis, geo-coding and so on.
'But what about all the printed maps? How is the map collection coping with the
Digital Age? While Parrish did acknowledge the occasional art student who comes to the department wanting
to see the individual copper-plate imprints on original maps, feel the paper, and observe the coloring
(after all, each map had to be hand-colored by an artist), 90% of patrons request digital maps. and the
collection strives to provide a merger of both digital and print map services. For this reason, the map
collection owns a 54 inch scanner and is in the midst of converting all of their 255,000 sheet maps into
digital images. The collection now has 14,000 digital images of sheet maps, examples of which can be seen
on their website.'
There was also mention of the new project to catalogue the maps. 'Currently, all of
the 11,000 rare maps (categorized as "rare" because they are pre-1850) can be found on Orbis.' Again, no
mention that that is being done with a grant of $100,000 from William Reese,
in response to the Smiley depradations. There might be some alarm (or surprise) in other historical map
collections that only 10% of users were interested in seeing originals.
Reissue of Quirino's Philippine Cartography
- February 17 [seen 16th]. < http://www.malaya.com.ph/02172010/liv3.html > 'National
Artist Carlos Quirino celebrates birth centennial' (Business Insight Malaya Inc.).
'The birth centennial of Carlos Quirino (1900-1999), 1997 National Artist of the Philippines for
Historical Literature, will be observed this year with a series of events that highlights his prowess as
a writer, scholar, sportsman, bibliophile, and his invaluable contributions to the study of Philippine
history, starting with an exhibit at the Yuchengco Museum on Feb. 18 ...
'Alongside the exhibit, Vibal
Foundation (VFI) launches a coffee-table reprint of Quirino’s book "Philippine Cartography," a landmark
history of Philippine maps and their cartographers. In this book, Quirino recounts how the concept of the
Philippines emerged in the late 16th century as a nebulous speck in the vast Pacific ocean and evolved in
fits and starts over four centuries into its current iconography.
First published in a limited edition in 1959, and published a second time in Amsterdam, the third edition
of Philippine Cartography showcases more than 120 maps from the finest collections in the Philippines and
the most comprehensive bibliography of Philippine maps. This edition also contains a fresh and
authoritative introduction by map collector and scholar Dr. Leovino Ma. Garcia.'
The accuracy of the Madaba Map's Jerusalem plan confirmed by excavation
- February 11. <
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1149033.html > 'Dig uncovers ancient Jerusalem street depicted on
Byzantine map' (by Nir Hasson for Haaretz.com).
'Archaeologists in Jerusalem
have discovered an ancient street which confirms the accuracy of a 1,500-year-old map, the Antiquities
Authority said yesterday. The Madaba Map, depicted in a mosaic floor of a church in Madaba, Jordan, shows
Jerusalem as it was in the Byzantine period, between the 4th and the 7th centuries. According to the map,
the main entrance to the city was from the west, through a large gate at the start of a wide central
street. A number of finds backing up the map's accuracy have been unearthed before, but archaeologists
could never access the suspected area of the main gate because of heavy pedestrian traffic.
'However, infrastructure work that was begun recently by the Jerusalem Development Authority near the
Jaffa Gate finally allowed the archaeologists access under the road. At a depth of over four meters under the present street level they found a number of large paving stones,
which they say prove the existence of an important street. The archaeologists believe the thoroughfare's
route largely corresponds to the present day one, and say that the Jaffa Gate today stands near where the
gate was in Byzantine times.
"Jerusalem has been explored for 150 years but there have never been excavations in this particular
area," said site director Dr. Ofer Sion yesterday. "This is the first time we could start digging down.
We knew we needed to find the street, and we waited for the pick-axe to hit a stone. When we heard a
stony sound and uncovered half a pavement tile, we realized we were on an ancient street."
"It's nice to see that today's David Street, a bustling market route, pretty much preserves the route of
another bustling street, 1,500 years its senior," Sion said. David street is the main covered market
which descends from the Jaffa Gate square toward the Temple Mount. The cracked paving stones are about one meter long each, the archaeologists said. Next to them, the team
found the remains of a sidewalk and a row of columns, evidence of the street's prestige from the
prosperous days of Byzantine Jerusalem. The archaeologists believe the street was the main entrance to the city and linked various important
sites, like the Holy Sepulcher, the markets and residential areas. Despite the finds, the street will be covered up again once work on it is complete. [Full text]
A map of Yorktown claimed to be Washington's personal copy sold at auction
- February 9.
< http://antiquesandthearts.com/Antiques/AuctionWatch/2010-02-09__11-49-11.html > 'Million-Dollar
Map Tops Julia’s Winter Auction' (in Antiques and the Arts Online).
'"This is the most exciting thing I have ever handled," remarked Jim Julia as a rare and historically
important map was about to cross the auction block during Julia's Antiques and Fine Art auction [Springfield, Maine?] this past
week, February 4-5. And it was not just any old map that Julia was referring to; it was what he termed
the "most important map in American history," George Washington's personal copy of the Battle of
Yorktown. Executed by Jean Baptiste Gouvion on or about October 29, 1781, it was prepared ten days after
this victorious and pivotal battle that ultimately resulted in the surrender of the British forces.
'A larger copy of the map is in the collection of the National Archives and was, until now, believed to
have been Washington's personal copy. The discovery of the smaller version now indicates that that the
larger example was most likely created for the Continental Congress and that this smaller map was
actually Washington's personal copy. It had descended through the family of Tobias Lear, Washington's
aide-de-camp, who handled all of Washington's papers after his death...
'The final price, including premium, $1,150,000, has established a host of
records. It is a record price paid for any antique sold at auction in the state of Maine, a record price
for any item sold by James Julia, a record price paid at auction for an American map and believed to be a
record price paid for a map worldwide {which ignores, at least, the Waldseemüller and Ricci world maps!}.
The buyer was characterized as a "private individual with close ties with a museum."
[away from the Internet 23 January - 9 February 2010 - leading to delayed postings for that
period]
UTA's Transatlantic History program featured on video
- 'January' [seen February 11]. <
http://www.historianstv.com/conference/new_featured_films/transatlantic_history_in_texas/ >
'Transatlantic History in Texas'.
A video, prepared for the American Historical
Association's 'Historians TV', on the occasion of the 123rd Annual Meeting, about the University of Texas
at Arlington's Transatlantic History PhD program. This is the only one in the USA and is 'complimented by
an outstanding cartographic collection and a cartographic history emphasis'.
Forthcoming British Library exhibition spawns television and radio series
-
January 27 [seen 9 February]. 'British
Library to Hold Map Exhibition, BBC to Air Two Map Series' (a note on the MapRoom blog -
which see for links).
'This will be a busy spring for maps at the
BBC, which has announced that BBC Four will run two television series on maps: a three-part,
one-hour series called Mapping the World and a four-part, one-hour series called The Art of
Maps. This, on top of a BBC Radio 4 series coming in March.
'It turns out that the reason for all this Beebish map activity is an upcoming exhibition from the British
Library, which, among other things, will feature the enormous Klencke Atlas of 1660. Magnificent Maps:
Power, Propaganda and Art will run from April 30 to September 19, 2010 at the British Library’s PACCAR
Gallery, and it’ll be free. More about the exhibition from the Guardian.'
A book on the maps of Istanbul
- January 25 [seen February 11]. <
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-199573-110-centuries-old-maps-of-istanbul-compiled-in-
a-book.html > 'Centuries old maps of Istanbul compiled in a book' (in Today's
Zaman).
A useful summary of Istanbul Haritalari 1422-1922 [Istanbul Maps: 1422-1922], prepared by Ayse Yetiskin Kubilay, an art historian, in
consultation with Professor Ilber Ortayli, the head of the Topkapi Palace Museum (Istanbul:
Denizler Publishing House, 2009). ISBN:9789944264198. In a post from the Hurriyet Daily News
and Economic Review (24 January) it was reported that the book, and some of the original maps
it describes, would be exhibited at the Miami Map Fair, as well as those in Dublin (!),
London and Paris < http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=0123113509776-2010-01-24 >.
[Update: posters of some of the maps are available, see Francis Herbert's post to MapHist
3 March 2010].
How the Hotchkiss family fought over his maps, now in the Library of Congress
- January 9. <
http://www.newsleader.com/article/20100109/LIFESTYLE22/1090310 > 'Hotchkiss maps nearly escaped
preservation' (by Charles Culbertson in the [Central Shenandoah Valley] Newsleader.com).
'Today, it is possible to visit the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and explore one
of the greatest historical finds of the 20th century - the Civil War maps of Jedediah Hotchkiss, "Stonewall"
Jackson's cartographer. For years after Hotchkiss's death in Staunton in 1899, the maps that had helped
Jackson and Lee achieve some of their greatest battlefield victories languished in a vault in his East
Beverley Street home and very nearly escaped preservation. The story of how they made their way from The
Oaks to the Library of Congress is labyrinthine and centers largely on the efforts of a single man. Charles
Vernon Eddy (1877-1963), a Winchester librarian, historian and collector of rare books and manuscripts,
recognized the historical value of Hotchkiss's maps and papers and relentlessly pursued their donation to
the nation's library ...'
The tangled story of how the 'Library came into possession of 475 maps as well as
20,000 other items', which runs from 1920 to 1948 and involved several (often warring) members of the
Hotchkiss family, is well told here. It is fully chronicled in the '1989 Winchester- Frederick County
Historical Society "Journal," volume 4.' The maps are available online.
New Year's honour for Alan Godrey, publisher of Ordnance Survey facsimiles
-
January 7. < http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/4838017.Unsung_heroes_off_to_meet_the_Queen/ >
'David Thompson, governor of top security Frankland Jail and Alan Godfrey, publisher of old maps receive
honours' (by Bruce Unwin in the Northern Echo).
'Alan Godfrey, a successful
publisher of old maps, was made an MBE in last week’s Queen’s awards ... Mr Godfrey, a lifelong lover of
maps, made it his profession in 1981, when he began publishing old Ordnance Survey maps, no longer covered
by copyright. The Tyneside-born former actor and school peripatetic music and drama teacher, has now
researched and produced 2,300 maps, covering the UK, and begins preparation of his first German pre-war
maps, next week. He said more than 50 per cent of his business is down to the family history boom, with
London’s East End and parts of Liverpool the most popular. Mr Godfrey, 66, of Holmside, near Sacriston,
County Durham, moved the business to Leadgate in 2000.'
