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1699 Thornton chart of Newfoundland discovered
The American cartographic planning for D-Day
Missouri seeks old coal-mining maps
The National Museum of Surveying - the 'only one of its kind' in the USA
Schwartz collection to be exhibited at Rochester University
Volunteers to map out paths on an English county
NOAA puts Civil War cartography online
The large Twichell collection of Texas surveys to be made available
Remezov's Siberian maps digitized by Harvard
A Berlin team claim to have identified Ptolemy's German names
Landmark releases Soviet mapping of British cities
Copies of 19th century indigenous maps returned to Alaska
Medieval Atlas launched online
Maps that refuse to be classified
What Ordnance Survey does with its 'old maps'
New Learning Centre at the British Library to open just in time for the map exhibition
Hitchcock's late 19th century geological relief map of New England restored
Stanford to appoint a photographer for web digitisation
A Bangkok seminar to discuss early maps of Thailand
Finding 19th century Pikes Peak boundary stones
A perceptive review of 'Magnificent Maps'
Back to the future?
Mapseller puts 100 Vermont maps online
Notable Tudor mapping exhibition in Portsmouth
Preparing to exhibit the Ricci map in Minneapolis in September
Boston Public Library gets grant to digitise 2,200 early maps
What missed the final cut for 'Magnificent Maps'?
Maps upside down in the 'Magnificent Maps' exhibition
Booth's poverty maps all round you
A note on John Hessler and his portolan chart conference
Maps from the early 20th century affected in Parks Canada flood
A new antique map price catalogue
Peter Barber chooses ten interesting maps
Websites inspired by 'Magnificent Maps'
The Times on 'Magnificent Maps'
Re-coloured facsimile of the Hereford Map
'Magnificent Maps' blog
An art critic's view of the forthcoming British Library exhibition
Guggenheim Fellowship for Susan Schulten
Seymour Schwartz donates maps to the University of Rochester
1894 map reveals Colorado's lost settlements
The Narborough journal has now been acquired by the British Library
The celebrated Lanhydrock Cornish estate atlas published
Maps to form part of UK's 'Connected History' search engine
Peter Barber's 'Magnificent Maps' exhibit offers a challenge to those who have 'skewed' the
history of cartography
Baton Rouge map museum opens
Early maps of Yorkshire up for auction
Cardiff Council's early book collection saved from sale
The Osher Map Library
Stanford's job announcement reaffirms importance of the curator
Is Iran now supporting Korea's "East Sea" claims?
Bulgarian mayor uses billboard map to assert claims to part of Greece
Stanford's Branner Library bucks the trend and expands
An informal interview with the head of Yale University's Map Department
Reissue of Quirino's Philippine Cartography
The accuracy of the Madaba Map's Jerusalem plan confirmed by excavation
A map of Yorktown claimed to be Washington's personal copy sold at auction
UTA's Transatlantic History program featured on video
Forthcoming British Library exhibition spawns television and radio series
A book on the maps of Istanbul
How the Hotchkiss family fought over his maps, now in the Library of Congress
New Year's honour for Alan Godrey, publisher of Ordnance Survey facsimiles
Minneapolis acquires the 13th example of Barbari's Venice view
'... Earlier this month
the Minneapolis Institute of Arts bought a copy of [Jacopo de'] Barbari's "View of Venice," a monumental black-and-white
image that's more than 9 feet wide [275 cm] and one of only 13 known to exist. For the past 200 years it belonged to
the dukes of Rivoli, an aristocratic French family that recently sold it to an English dealer from whom the
museum purchased it. The map will go on display in conjunction with the show "Titian and the Golden Age of
Venetian Painting," opening Feb. 6.'
'"It's an artistic and propagandistic tour de force that immediately becomes one of
the gems of our collection," said Tom Rassieur, the museum's curator of prints and drawings. "It's a
spectacular object because of its sheer scale, the magnificence of its craftsmanship, and the way it brings
together the intellectual, scientific and artistic ambitions of the Renaissance ..."
'By skillfully altering perspectives, Barbari further amplifies the city's symbolic grandeur. He offers a
profile view of the distant Dolomite mountains, reducing them to an undulating ribbon at the map's top, but
presents the city itself from the angled bird's-eye vantage that modern visitors experience when approaching
by plane. The city unfolds in a dynamic, bustling panorama more reminiscent of an imaginative painting than a
navigational map. With a bit of artistic license that doesn't much compromise accuracy, Barbari even gently
manipulated the city's outline to accentuate its "dolphin" shape.
'Barbari and probably some assistants worked on the project for at least three years. The map was so big it had
to be printed from six separate woodblocks on specially made paper that was twice the size of anything then
available. The map consists of six sheets of paper, carefully joined into a near-seamless whole. The
Minneapolis version is one of the best surviving examples, its lines still crisp and the edges of each sheet
unworn. All of the surviving maps are in museums, five in Venice, three in Germany, one each in Britain and
France, and two others of lesser quality in Boston and Cleveland.
'Best known as a printmaker and engraver, Barbari began his career in Venice but worked in Germany and the
Netherlands after 1500 and died around 1515 at an unknown age. His name doesn't appear on the map, but
scholars figure he was the creator because his emblem, a caduceus or staff wrapped with snakes, figures
prominently in the design. Also, Barbari worked closely with the map's publisher Anton Kolb, a Nuremberg
merchant who lived in Venice and persuaded the city's governors to grant him a three-year copyright on the
project and permission to sell it for three ducats. That was a huge sum at the time, equal to about two
months' salary for a teacher.
'"To my knowledge, it's the first image that was ever copyrighted," said Rassieur. "The Venetian senate granted
it because they were very aware of the map's value, and the copyright allowed Kolb to recoup his production
costs."'
'A rare 17th century map discovered in a dusty attic is expected to fetch up
to £80,000 when it goes under the hammer in Crewkerne, Somerset, on January 17. The manuscript map
drawn by London cartographer John Thornton in 1699, of North America and Canada, was discovered
following the death of its Scottish owner. It shows detail of small fishing settlements on the
Newfoundland coast. It may have been a special commission for a patron. due to the detail given to
small settlements on the Newfoundland coast, implying an interest in the local fishing business.
The meticulously coloured and well preserved map measures 68 x 80 cm (27 x 31.5in).
'A spokesman for South West auctioneers Lawrences said: “Its
surprising appearance in a Scottish country house is explained by the business interests of
the late vendor’s father, Harold Fortington, who had links with Canada and North America
before the Second World War. When his daughter died in 2010 the map was found in the course
of a valuation of the contents of The House of Glennie in Aberdeenshire undertaken by
Lawrences for probate purposes. “The map had lain on a shelf in the attics at The House of
Glennie beside some water tanks but its potential significance was recognised immediately.”'
[Page 2 repeats the text but does include a small, low resolution detail.] [Update 28 Nov:
'17th century map of Canada discovered on dusty Scottish shelf' by Randy Boswell in the
National Post - this includes a much larger detail of the chart. <
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/17th+century+Canada+discovered+dusty+Scottish+shelf/3896616
/story.html >.] [Update, 17 January 2011: Randy Boswell, Postmedia News reports on the
result of the sale, where it made nearly three times the estimate at $318,000 <
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Early+Canadian+fetches+unexpected+auction/4119648/story.html
>.] [Further update, 18 January: in message from Francis Herbert to the MapHist list <
http://mailman.geo.uu.nl/pipermail/maphist/2011-January/016251.html > it was pointed out, via the [London] Evening Standard, that the map had been bought for
just over £200,000 by Daniel Crouch Rare Books.]
'To navigate the dangers that lay ahead in this and other battles,
intelligence relied on specialized 'bigot' maps — bigot standing for the maps' secret classification.
Gathering the information for these critical maps was a responsibility of the Office of Strategic
Services (OSS), America's first centralized spy agency. From a network of secret agents, informants
and resistance fighters stationed in cities and villages across Europe — who often faced great risk,
even death, if apprehended by the Nazis — the OSS amassed the data they needed. Then, quietly, behind
closed doors in Washington, D.C., a group of men and women from academia helped win the war simply by
making sense of the data and putting it on maps that were easier to understand.
'For years, the stories of these geographers and cartographers remained in
the background, as most historians focused on the drama of OSS spies and informants on the front
lines. Now, Jeremy Crampton, an associate professor of geography, is using newly declassified archives
from OSS vaults to help tell the stories of those whose maps helped soldiers navigate the battlefields
and later helped policymakers draw up new boundaries for the post-war years. He has co-authored a
chapter of an upcoming book, 'Reconstructing Conflict: Integrating War and Post-War Geographies,'
about the geographers' and cartographers' work.
'The importance of the geographers' role in planning
can't be underestimated,' Crampton said. 'Not many people have looked at this period in geography. And
because there were so many people, not just geographers but academics working for this short, intense
period in government, I think it says a lot about the relationship between academia and intelligence,
and the policies of the war ...' [see remainder of the article]
'As part of a continuing effort to protect citizens and expand its existing database of
abandoned underground coal mines, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources is seeking help
from Missouri citizens and industry in locating historic maps of abandoned underground coal
mines. Recently, the program received funding from the Department of the Interior’s Office of
Surface Mining, to investigate, collect and scan maps of underground coal mines to make the
national inventory of Missouri mine lands as complete as possible.
'“Missouri was the first state west of the Mississippi to produce coal commercially, in 1840 and
it is important that we know as much as possible about past underground operations for the safe
development of our state,” said Joe Gillman, state geologist and Division of Geology and Land
Survey director. “We presently have approximately 1,000 coal mine maps in our database. However,
we believe maps may exist that would enable us to have a more robust database which would
greatly benefit the public. Thanks to this grant from the Office of Surface Mining, we are now
in a position to make a difference. So now, we’re asking for any information the public may have
to assist us in this effort ...”
'Donated or loaned maps are scanned at high resolution, color, archive quality images and entered
into the department’s archive. The electronic file is also sent to the Pennsylvania-based Office
of Surface Mining for inclusion in the National Mine Map Repository. Maps that are donated will
be scanned, cataloged and housed at the department’s Rolla facility. Those loaned for scanning
will be scanned, cataloged and returned to their owners ... '
A description, on the Museum's website,
explaining how it had been 'Launched in 1989 in Lansing, Michigan [and]... opened its doors in
downtown Springfield, Illinois in 2010 ... As you walk through the museum, you will learn the
story of land surveying and the profession that laid out the neighborhoods, communities, and
transportation systems of our nation. Another goal of the museum is to educate and inform the
public about land surveying and the profession that laid out their neighborhood, communities,
and transportation system ... The 10,000 square foot museum includes a permanent collection of
more than 2,000 pieces and features exhibits about Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Lewis and
Clark in addition to its most notable feature, Science On A Sphere.'
A collection of some of the earliest maps and drawings of Western New York are being
donated to the University of Rochester, which will feature the rare prints in a free
exhibition in Rush Rhees Library. The exhibit opens Nov. 11 with a dedication ceremony at
4 p.m. in Rare Books and Special Collections. The collection includes the first map
printed in the colony of New York, dated 1723, as well as the earliest known drawing of
the region, a circa 1768 etching of the Upper Falls of the Genesee River. The prints are
two of more than 40 rare maps, prints, books, and copper engravings recently donated to
the library's Rare Books and Special Collections Department by Dr. Seymour Schwartz. The
Distinguished Alumni Professor of Surgery in the University's School of Medicine and
Dentistry, Schwartz also is a renowned map historian. The collection charts the 18th- and
19th-century development of Western New York from its days as the home of Native American
tribes to its division into vast land tracks in the Phelps and Gorham Purchase to its
emergence as a commercial shipping artery along the newly constructed Erie Canal. Along
with Schwartz's maps, the donation includes rare drawings of the area collected by
Schwartz's late wife, Dr. Ruth Schwartz. An accomplished gynecologist and clinical
professor at Rochester, she was also listed among the "Best Women Doctors in America" by
Harper's Bazaar magazine.
"The collection is a landmark acquisition for the library," says
Nancy Martin, the John M. and Barbara Keil University Archivist. The prints will
compliment other important archives at the University, including collections focused on
Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, William Henry Seward, and Lewis Henry Morgan.
The oldest images in the Schwartz collection "show how people
saw the country, which was a virtual wilderness at that time," says Martin. Although these
maps and sketches were created for utilitarian purposes — for surveys, military
operations, and engineering projects — they are "almost accidentally, beautiful," Martin
says. Schwartz concurs. "Maps are a graphic representation of history," he says. "Many of
them are very elegant works of art. So the visual senses and the intellectual senses are
satisfied by a single document." Included in the exhibit is the book that launched
Schwartz's interest in maps, Maps and Map-Makers by R. V. Tooley, given to him by his wife
in 1963 as a present on his 35th birthday. At the time, Schwartz already was a
well-established surgeon and a newly tenured member of the Rochester School of Medicine and
Dentistry. He would soon go on to author the authoritative textbook, Principles of
Surgery, a standard in the field. Eventually, over his more than 50-year career at
Rochester, the educator and researcher would pen eight other medical texts, author some
300 scientific papers, and edit several of the most respected journals on surgery.
At this midpoint in his career, however, his wife
believed Schwartz needed a "hobby" — an interest that would engage his curiosity beyond
the operating room. Because of his love of history, she hit upon the idea of cartography –
a word he actually encountered for the first time when he opened the pages of her gift.
What began as a hobby quickly blossomed into a scholarly passion. With an initial purchase
of a 1795 map of the state of New York, Schwartz amassed over the next half century one of
the most acclaimed collections of rare maps of North America. His holdings focus on maps
of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, documenting Europe's earliest contact with and
understanding of the New World. In 2008, Schwartz bequeathed more than 200 of his rare
maps to the University of Virginia, many of which can be viewed < http://static.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/onthemap/> online. "The University of
Rochester library is delighted to be receiving that part of his collection which relates
to this region," says Martin. More than a collector, Schwartz has authored seven books on
cartography, including the definitive reference work, The Mapping of America (Wellfleet
Press, 2001). He also has served on the boards of the National Museum of American History
of the Smithsonian Institution and the Geography and Map Division of the Library of
Congress. [Full text of the announcement, illustrated with three zoomable maps.]
'A new project aims to use historical detective
work to help uncover rights of way in Hampshire's countryside. Providing Access To Hampshire's Heritage
(PATHH) is recruiting volunteers with an interest in history to scour old maps. They will
identify old pathways which may have fallen out of use, or simply been left out of later
maps. The information will help develop Hampshire County Council's new Countryside Access
Plans. The project aims to recruit over 100 volunteers in the next two years and teach
them to investigate details on maps up to 200 years old. It will provide the initial
background research before the council look into the feasibility of re-opening a route.
The whole process of opening a historical right of way, which could include a public
inquiry, could take several years. After a pilot covering 30 parishes in 2008, the new
PATHH project is being expanded across 274 parishes across the whole county (excluding the
cities of Portsmouth and Southampton) ...'
'In honor of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War in 2011, NOAA has assembled a special historical
collection of maps, charts, and documents prepared by the U.S. Coast Survey during the war years. The
collection, “Charting a More Perfect Union,” contains over 400 documents, available free from NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey website. “People
are planning now for their visits to Civil War sites next year, and we want to give them an opportunity
to visualize the terrain, ports, and coasts as they were from 1861 to 1865,” said Meredith Westington,
NOAA’s chief geographer. “Most people wouldn’t think of turning to NOAA for historical Civil War
documents, but the agency has an amazing legacy.”
'Coast Survey’s collection includes 394 Civil War-era maps, including
nautical charts used for naval campaigns, and maps of troop movements and battlefields. Rarely seen
publications include Notes on the Coast, prepared by Coast Survey to help Union forces plan naval
blockades against the Confederacy, and the annual report summaries by Superintendent Bache as he
detailed the trials and tribulations of producing the maps and charts needed to meet growing military
demands. In the nation's early years, the United States lost more ships to accidents than to war. In
1807, President Thomas Jefferson established the Survey of the Coast to produce the nautical charts
necessary for maritime safety, defense and the establishment of national boundaries. By 1861, Coast
Survey was the government’s leading scientific agency, charting coastlines and determining land
elevations for the nation. Today, the Office of Coast Survey still meets its maritime responsibilities
as a part of NOAA, surveying America’s coasts and producing the nation’s nautical charts.
'In his annual report on Dec. 15, 1861, Coast Survey Superintendent Alexander Bache wrote, “it has been
judged expedient during the past year to suspend usual foreign distribution” of reports on the progress
of maps and charts. Distribution of maps, charts, and sketches almost tripled in the 1861 “due to the
demands of the War and Navy Departments.” However, because the Coast Survey could not easily ascertain
the loyalties of private citizens, private distribution of maps was severely restricted among
“applicants who were not well known having been referred to the representative of the congressional
district from which the application had been mailed.” The Civil War special collection is accessible
through a searchable database ...'
'Legendary land surveying papers donated to Texas General Land Office
Land surveys unavailable for more than 50 years will soon be widely accessible
to the public.
'Beginning more than 120 years ago, Willis Day Twichell surveyed tens of millions of acres of public and
private lands in West Texas. He laid out more than 40 towns and provided surveying work in 165 of 254
counties in Texas. The lands he surveyed included the boundary between Texas and New Mexico, gave rise
to the legendary XIT Ranch, funded the building of the State Capitol, helped build railroads and fund
public education in Texas, and were integral to the exploration of oil and gas in West Texas throughout
the 20th century.
'The W.D. Twichell Survey Records were recently donated to the Texas General Land Office by a consortium
of four oil companies operating in the Midland area: Chevron U.S.A. Inc., Atlantic Richfield Company,
ConocoPhillips Company and ExxonMobil Corporation. The records consist of hundreds of field books,
working sketches, 200 finished maps, field notes, and about 50,000 pages of correspondence that
document surveying work performed in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona and northern Mexico. Land
Office Archives staff members are eager to provide full public access to the collection as soon as
possible. "Our goal is to have the Twichell Papers available to researchers by January 2011," said
Jerry Patterson, Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office. "Our Archives staff also hopes to have
all of the Twichell maps and selected documents scanned and available online by January 2012,"
Patterson said. "This shows the commitment of the Land Office and Save Texas History program to
preserve the records that document the history of this great state and make them widely available."
'Before Twichell's death in 1959, the Atlantic Refining Company, Continental Oil Company, Gulf Oil
Corporation, Humble Oil & Refining Company, Mobil Oil Company and the Sinclair Oil & Gas Company,
organized as the Twichell Survey Records Committee, bought the records and placed them in a private
storage facility in Midland. Few people besides oil company employees have had access to the records
until now. "The Twichell records document an important part of the history of West Texas and the
Panhandle," Patterson said. "We're excited about their addition to the most important collection of
maps and records documenting the history of Texas land."
'It will cost approximately $20,000 to preserve, properly house and digitally scan the Twichell records
so the public can have total access to them, and potentially $500,000 or more to conserve all of the
maps. If you are interested in donating to the preservation and conservation of the Twichell records
through the General Land Office's Save Texas History program, please call the Archives and Records
Program of the Texas General Land Office at 512-463-5277 or e-mail archives@glo.state.tx.us.'
A post
about the recent digitization of the collection of maps by Semyon Ul’yanovich Remezov in the Houghton
Library, Harvard University. They form part of the Leo Bagrow Collection, given to
Houghton Library by Curt H. Reisinger in 1956. The blog gives the background to Remezov's crowning
achievement, the
Khorograficheskaya Kniga, the cartographical sketch-book of Siberia (1696-7). The images are here.
'A 2nd
century map of Germania by the scholar Ptolemy has always stumped scholars, who were unable to relate
the places depicted to known settlements. Now a team of researchers have cracked the code, revealing
that half of Germany's cities are 1,000 years older than previously thought. The founding of Rome has
been pinpointed to the year 753. For the city of St. Petersburg, records even indicate the precise day
the first foundation stone was laid. Historians don't have access to this kind of precision when it
comes to German cities like Hanover, Kiel or Bad Driburg. The early histories of nearly all the German
cities east of the Rhine are obscure, and the places themselves are not mentioned in documents until
the Middle Ages. So far, no one has been able to date the founding of these cities ...
'That may now be changing. A group of classical philologists, mathematical historians and surveying
experts at Berlin Technical University's Department for < http://www.igg.tu-berlin.de/79/?L=1 > Geodesy and Geoinformation Science has produced
an astonishing map of central Europe as it was 2,000 years ago. The map shows that both the North and Baltic Seas were known as the "Germanic Ocean" and the Franconian
Forest in northern Bavaria was "Sudeti Montes." The map indicates three "Saxons' islands" off the
Frisian coast in northwestern Germany -- known today as Amrum, Föhr and Sylt. It also shows a large number of cities. The eastern German city that is now called Jena, for example,
was called "Bicurgium," while Essen was "Navalia." Even the town of Fürstenwalde in eastern Germany
appears to have existed 2,000 years ago. Its name then was "Susudata," a word derived from the Germanic
term "susutin," or "sow's wallow" -- suggesting that the city's skyline was perhaps less than imposing ...
'Access to Germany's prehistory was believed closed off forever. Now the
ancient map appears to be revealing its secrets at last. For the first time, a high-caliber team of
experts in the field of surveying and mapping came together in a bid to solve the map's perplexing
puzzle. The Berlin-based team pored over the recalcitrant data for six years, working together to
develop a so-called "geodetic deformation analysis" that would help to correct the map's mistakes. The
result is an index that pinpoints the hometowns of the legendary figures Siegfried and Arminius to
within 10 to 20 kilometers (6 to 12 miles). A new book, "Germania und die Insel Thule: [Die
Entschlüsselung von Ptolemaios]" ("Germania and the Island of Thule: [the Decoding of Ptolemy]"), has just been published about
the project. The publisher, Darmstadt-based WBG, calls it a "sensation" ...
'The essential question is whether the new data is accurate. Ptolemy's
"Geography" is preserved only in duplication. The copy so far considered the most authentic is an
edition produced around the year 1300 and kept by the Vatican. But the team of experts in Berlin had
the great fortune to be able to refer to a parchment tracked down at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul,
Turkey, the former residence of the Ottoman sultans. The document, consisting of unbound sheepskin
pages with writing in Roman capital letters, is the oldest edition of Ptolemy's work ever discovered. A
reproduction of this version is due to be published next year. Using the parchment as a reference and
drawing on their own geographical expertise, the academics from Berlin seem to have finally managed to
bridge the gap back to the realm of Odin and Valhalla.
'The new map suggests that minor German towns such as Salzkotten or Lalendorf
have existed for at least 2,000 years. "Treva," located at the confluence of the Elbe and Alster
Rivers, was the precursor to Hamburg; Leipzig was known as "Aregelia." All this offers up rather
exciting prospects, since it makes half the cities in Germany suddenly 1,000 years older than
previously believed. "Our atlas is a treasure map," team member Andreas Kleineberg says proudly, "and
the coordinates lead to lost places in our past."...' [Extracts from a much longer article.]
This is a newspaper piece rather than a scholarly article, and it invites a
number of questions. While the dating of surviving Ptolemaic MSS is an imprecise science, several have
already been placed in the 13th century if not earlier, including one (described many years ago) in the
Topkapi. Perhaps this is journalistic hyperbole, but it would be good to learn more about how the
Istanbul MS and 'their own geographical expertise' was sufficient to overcome all the difficulties
involved.
Another British city appreciates the extent of detailed Soviet mapping during the Cold War. But
this article carries an important announcement of wider interest:
'The maps are only seeing the light of day after recently being purchased by the Landmark Information
Group, who today launch a new < http://www.russianmaps.co.uk/ > website, where
visitors will be able to freely view their own street as seen by the Russians, with the option of
ordering special prints of the maps.
'Russell Morris, of Landmark, says the maps only came to the West by accident. "Following the collapse
of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russians retreated out of the Baltic states in great haste, and all
these intelligence maps were accidentally left behind in a railway carriage. "They were sold to an
American company, who kept them hidden away until this year when we purchased the rights to the maps.
"The maps range from the 1950s to the 1970s, and offer a fascinating insight into the Soviets' detailed
understanding of a number of British cities. "Some of the information for the Soviet cartographers came
from satellite pictures, but the intricate detail came from spies on the ground.' Note, though, that the
free preview is not at high resolution, understandably perhaps.
There is a similar piece from The Scotsman, <
http://news.scotsman.com/news/Psst-want-to-see-a.6559971.jp >, and one on Leeds from the Yorkshire
Evening Post, < http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Russians39-Cold-War-spies39-map.6560254.jp
>.
Providing interesting background to
copies of maps that John Cloud, historian at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Central
Library in Silver Spring, Maryland brought to the University of Alaska Southeast. The originals had been moved to
Washington, D.C. in 1899.
'One of the maps was drawn by the Tlingit leader Kohklux, along with his two
wives. Kohklux was a leader at Klukwan and drew out a set of maps around 1869 for scientist George Davidson
... The others he brought come from a five-piece set drawn by Inupiat Eskimo Joe Kakaryook sometime before
1898. They cover a wide range, from the Bering Sea coast to most of the Yukon River. The maps were drawn for
the benefit of the Coast Survey, which would eventually evolve into NOAA, the U.S. Fish Commission and the
Weather Bureau.
'Cloud said Kakaryook was from Port Clarence, which helped him
become familiar with these areas and others that he traveled. One of his maps covers almost 1,000 miles.
Cloud explained that the influence of these early Alaska charts was an important part of building frameworks
for future mapping. "The important thing is the Coast Survey incorporated this cartography into their own
charts," he said. But it wasn't the maps' past influences that persuaded Cloud to bring them back here. It
was what they meant to the observers today, particularly to those in Alaska who can identify with the names
that appear on them ...'
'The Digital Atlas of Roman and Medieval
Civilization (DARMC) makes freely available on the internet the best available materials for a
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) approach to mapping and spatial analysis of the Roman and medieval
worlds. DARMC allows innovative spatial and temporal analyses of all aspects of the civilizations of western
Eurasia in the first 1500 years of our era, as well as the generation of original maps illustrating
differing aspects of ancient and medieval civilization. A work in progress with no claim to definitiveness,
it has been built in less than three years by a dedicated team of Harvard undergraduates, graduate students,
research scholars and one professor, with some valuable contributions from younger and more senior scholars
at other institutions...
'The atlas ... maps subjects such as the Roman road network, the voyages of the Crusades, and
the path of the rats that spread the bubonic plague. In the 1990s, history professor Michael McCormick first conceived of the idea while working on a book on
communication and commerce. At one point, in order to understand the circuitous route the Vikings took in
their various explorations, McCormick wanted to see the world as it would have appeared to medieval
Norsemen. The only problem was that no such maps existed, with or without a Scandinavian focus.'
About an intriguing new exhibition at Harvard, running until 5
January 2011.
'When he set out to develop the first classification system for maps, Rev. Henry Clay Badger, Harvard Map
Collection curator from 1889-1892, used geographical categories--continents, nations, regions, cities, and
so on. Though the system worked well, challenges remained. How would maps of fictional or imaginary places
be classified? Where would maps of timelines and genealogical tables, puzzles or geographical parlor games
fit?
'A new exhibition, “Rev. Badger’s Misfits: Deviations and Diversions”, opening
September 8 at the Harvard Map Collection, asks viewers to consider some of these “cartographic
curiosities.” Among the exhibition highlights is a 1730 German map portraying human vices as separate
kingdoms, with Latin names like Magni Stomachi Imperium, or The Empire of the Big Stomachs, and Litigonia,
or Land of the Litigious. Town names are in idiomatic German. The land of the drunkards contains towns like
Stolpen (Stumble,) Schlampen (Guzzle,) Hundsrausch (Dog Drunk,) and Schickihnheim (Send Him Home.) in the
Harvard Map Collection in Pusey Library
'Other items included in the exhibition include a facsimile of Sebastian Adams’
“chronological chart of ancient, modern and biblical history” – a 24-foot long timeline depicting all of
human history, from 4004 B.C. until 1881 and an 1834 map satirizing Dutch university life, in which students
must pass through the Mountains of Mathematics before entering nations representing scholarly disciplines
like philosophy, medicine and literature.
'Many of the items might not even be called maps, strictly speaking. As an
example, research librarian Joseph Garver points to an early 18th century chart that depicts the rise and
fall of various empires as streams in a “river of time.” “Certainly, this is not a geographical map,”
Garver said. “It’s a chronological map. For cartographers, it was an interesting challenge to portray the
passage of time, because, in a way, it’s representing space as well. By tracing the various empires, they
were illustrating how long it lasted, and the territorial expanse it covered as well.”
'The idea for the exhibition was sparked, Garver said, by the requests he receives
for unusual items. “From time to time, patrons come in asking for items that don’t fit into the old Badger
system,” he said. “That prompts me to take out one of the folders to see what is in it, and it’s always
fascinating material.” '
' ... there are also thousands and thousands of old maps and map-related records. So, what do we do with them?
There are actually several routes we follow. Our Historic Map Archive has been used to complete collections
and libraries up and down the country for example. But that was quite an easy one. What would you do with a
large scale metric survey of Shetland? It was actually gratefully received by The Royal Commission on the
Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Even more unusual has been the discovery of a 30-foot aerial
photo covering the length of Britain. Dating from 1942, it was a training flight by the Spitfire Air
Reconnaissance based in Scotland. It has now been passed to The National Archives (TNA) at Kew.
'Aside from the unusual cases, the majority of our records are transferred to TNA as they are of historic
value. We have trig records (our surveyors used them to show where measuring points were) which often
include an old photo of a former surveyor pointing at some item on the ground! There are also flight plans being packaged up and transferred to TNA. Before 2000 all our aerial photography
involved photos and films, and the flight plans were used to show exactly how the images were captured along
a route. This helped our colleagues with their digital orthorectification. This involves removing any height
distortions in a flat photograph of the earth’s service so that the orthorectified image accurately reflects
the position of features on the ground.
'So, that’s what we do with our old maps. Before you know it, our old maps could be in deep store in a
redundant Cheshire salt mine under the safeguard of the TNA. Or they could be in your local library, waiting
to be used!'
'The Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, will be opening a new learning
centre at the British Library on 16 September, giving schools access to a large range of facilities and
delivering improved workshops for children, which will run alongside the library's exhibitions. One of the
exhibitions attracting children this summer is 'Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art', where children can explore 80 wall-maps which have never been
seen before. The 100 maps being showcased date from 200AD to the present day, and are drawn from the 4 and a
half million maps held in the British Library's collections. Children will get to see a collection of maps
on paper, wood, vellum, silver, silk and marble, including atlases, maps, globes and tapestries that were
intended for display side-by-side with the world's greatest paintings and sculptures.
'Peter Barber, Head of Map Collections at the British Library describes maps as "pictorial encyclopaedias
that are about far more than just geography." When children visit the exhibition, which opened on 30 April
and finishes on 19 September, they can take part in workshops which will encourage them to think about maps
in more depth ... Around 16,000 students and 3,000 teachers, adult learners and families take part in the British Library's
Learning Programme each year, which includes workshops, activities and resources ...'
'Thanks to
Wally Bothner, the top of Mount Washington has been replaced and the Northeast’s highest peak now reaches
its true height of 6,288 feet. Bothner, Professor Emeritus of geology at the University of New Hampshire,
did not wear hiking boots or carry a backpack to repair the fabled mountaintop; rather, he rebuilt it with
pine, glue and wood putty in a makeshift studio at the edge of campus.
'Mount Washington got its facelift, along with the rest of New Hampshire, Vermont and western Maine, when
Bothner undertook a painstaking restoration of a 12-by-16-foot wooden relief map created by state geologist
Charles Hitchcock in the late 1800s. The map, formerly muted, pocked, and occasionally “graffiti’d” by
students claiming their hometowns with x’s in ink, is now an eye-catching centerpiece of the recently
restored James Hall, home of UNH’s Earth sciences department.
'Far more than a pretty picture, the Hitchcock map has a curricular role, too. “It was a teaching tool for
Hitchcock, and it has been part of our teaching in this department since 1929,” says Bothner, who worked
with a team of undergraduate and graduate students for nearly a year on the restoration. “It can serve as an
instructional tool to see how geological thought has evolved over the last 140 years,” Bothner adds, noting
that modern geology changes little of Hitchcock’s basic map pattern but refines, reorders and subdivides
many of his original units.
'Charles Hitchcock spent a decade mapping New Hampshire, Vermont and eastern Maine by foot, horse and
railroad. Because the state at the time was largely unforested, Hitchcock’s surveys were remarkably
accurate. He was allocated $200 by the New Hampshire General Court to produce the relief map and worked on
it from 1871 to 1890 at Dartmouth College, where he was a professor. The map came to UNH’s Thompson Hall in
1894, moved to Conant Hall in 1933 where it was repainted by professor Ralph Meyers, and finally, in 1966,
to James Hall, where it suffered wear and neglect in the lower level until Bothner undertook its
restoration.
The Hitchcock map, which was the first of three relief maps of New Hampshire, is at a horizontal scale of
one inch to one mile, with its vertical scale exaggerated 500 percent. Constructed of laminated half-inch
thick boards cut and glued on top of each other, it weighs nearly 1.5 tons and was moved in three pieces. In
addition to 40 color-coded rock types, the map showcases bodies of water and mines that were active when the
map was created. Geographic features like the boundaries and names of nearly 570 towns and major roadways
reflect 1870s New England; the state’s largest lake is spelled “Winnipiseogee” and Interstates 89, 93 and 95
are noticeably absent. When Hitchcock completed his relief map, he reportedly declared the geology of New Hampshire a closed
subject of inquiry: “Now we know everything we need to know about New Hampshire... [first section of the article only]”
A welcome announcement promising further additions to an already impressive online map collection:
'Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (SULAIR) seeks a digital photographer to digitize
historic and antiquarian maps in its collections. The successful candidate’s primary function will be the digital
capture of historic maps and atlases using sophisticated color digital imaging equipment. He/she will serve as the
lead photographer on the digital camera system and will contribute to all other steps in the production workflow,
including materials preparation, metadata creation, quality control and preparation of files for online access...'
At a seminar on July
22-23, 'Siamese Archives: From Krung Thonburi to Chanthabun', 'map collector Thavatchai Tangsirivanich will share
his recent findings, which include the identification of more than 100 places along the river between Bangkok and
Ayuttaya that he deciphered from charts dating as far back as the late 15th century... during the Thonburi Period,
European mapmakers completely ignored Bangkok and the rest of the Chao Phraya basin. Only four maps of Siam were
printed in Amsterdam, and for the most part they recycled details from maps made during the Ayutthaya period,
Thavatchai says.'
'Historian Chanrvit Kasetsiri meanwhile came across a fascinating map of Siam and Burma at the Palace Museum in
Taipei. King Taksin sent it to the Chinese emperor, he says, and Chiang Kai-shek took it to Taiwan when he fled the
communist onslaught in 1949. Charnvit, president of the Association of Siam Archives, says he learned of the map from Japanese researcher Masuda
Erika, who worked at Taiwan's Academia Chinica. Erika believes the map was primarily created by Chinese serving in Taksin's court, and likely under the king's
supervision, since it shows a route from Thonburi to Ava...'
'After an
hour of finicky excavating, Wayne Hancock pries a granite slab from the tundra below Pikes Peak's lonely
South Slope. "Come on, give me an 'X'," he mutters. A few scrubs with a wire brush and Hancock, a U.S. Bureau
of Land Management surveyor, finds his X and more. Etched into the weathered granite slab is a clear "118."
That's enough to know he has found his treasure: a surveyors monument buried in 1897, marking the corner of a
property boundary. "It's a little bit of an art, finding these vague marks," he says, holding a mirror to the
granite to illuminate the etchings. "Sometimes the numbers just jump out at you."
'Hancock is one of a few hundred BLM surveyors scouring rugged, remote federal
lands as part of the Cadastral Survey, the most sweeping, longest-running land survey in history. Since 1785,
federal surveyors have overseen the establishment and confirmation of boundaries on 650 million acres of
public land that can anchor property lines miles away. For the past half-century, surveyors such as Hancock
have sifted through historic maps and documents to guide efforts in the field at re-establishing those often
antiquated lines that still - and always will - define ownership. "There is high demand for this," says Randy
Bloom, chief Cadastral surveyor for Colorado's BLM. He cites increasing stresses on the state's public lands,
including oil and gas development, recreation, mineral leases and expanding urban areas. "How can you manage
the land unless you know where the boundaries are?"
'Preserving and protecting public-land boundaries is the goal of the Cadastral
Survey. Even with today's space-based mapping technologies, the job requires digging through both archives
and dirt. Last week, Hancock packed a sleeve of hand-scrawled maps dating to the late 1800s along with his
satellite- supported navigation equipment and went hunting for property markers, some first set and last seen
more than 130 years ago. It's part of a several-year project on the southwest side of Pikes Peak, where
Forest Service land and Colorado Springs Utilities land intertwine between a network of reservoirs that store
the city's water supply.
'Hancock has studied the meticulously scripted notes from the original surveyor,
Edwin Kellogg, who in October 1874 described the former military reservation high on the south-facing slopes
of Pikes Peak as "by far the most rugged and difficult of my career." Back in Kellogg's day, survey teams
traveled for weeks, cutting lines across mountains and valleys. They measured distances with 66-foot chains;
40 lengths of that chain equal a half-mile. Using hatchets and solar compasses, surveyors such as Kellogg and
his more famous pioneering peer, Maj. D.C. Oakes, established the first-ever property boundaries and marked
them using primitive monuments such as etchings on trees and perfectly positioned, X-marked rocks. Their
field notes - seemingly always scribed in perfect, if not flowery, cursive - describe each monument and guide
to today's surveyors...' [The first half of the article only.]
A perceptive review by the journal's 'resident designer and art critic', skilfully
weaving together comments on a handful of the items in the 'Magnificent Maps' exhibition. Here is
his last paragraph:
'Paintings and
illustrated books usually have an optimum viewing distance; you may peer at details but most of
the time you choose a position that takes in the whole. With maps it is different. Walking round
the British Library galleries you are forever moving in and out, scanning the whole and reading
the detail. When you are reading the smallest lettering you are made aware both of how much there
is that you are not attending to, and how it relates to the whole map. The GPS satellites that
wrap the globe in space-defining signals have led to the development of maps that move along with
you and tell you only what you need to know to get where you are going. Maps shown on the
television news zoom in from a global view to the exact spot where the latest suicide bomber
struck, but show little else. The map you see on the cabin screen on a long-distance flight shows
direction, distance, speed and height, but only the most rudimentary geography. The maps in the
exhibition from a less accurate but richer cartographic culture hint at what we may be losing'.
'Distinctive and unusual
mapmaking styles can draw a map reader into spending more time immersing themselves into the data
and message of a given map. Historical, hand-made or "period" styles can be particularly
appropriate when mapping historical data or when a particular point-of-view can be communicated
by associating a map with a past time period. This colloquium will examine some historical map
styles, show modern examples that employ these styles and provide some tips on how to use modern
mapmaking tools in concert with graphics design software to create such effects.'
'If a
picture is worth a thousand words, David Allen believes a map can tell a million stories. Allen,
who lives in Chesterfield, N.H., is a connoisseur of old New England maps. He runs a business
selling book collections and CD-ROMs of detailed copies of old maps - many of them giving
forgotten history of the region.
'Now he has placed nearly 100 historical Vermont maps online for free. "My hope is that people
really take some time to look at these documents," Allen said in a phone interview last week.
"They've been sitting on various computers of mine for a few years now. There is a wealth of
fascinating information on these maps." Among the maps he has made available online is one from
1780 designed by Bernard Romans that for the first time used the name Vermont. "There was no such
thing as Vermont in 1780," Allen said. "The state was part of New York at the time. But there were
people, including Bernard, who drew the map, who believed that Vermont should be its own state."
...
'Most of Allen's maps are scans of originals. He'll travel to the Library of Congress or local
historical societies and use what he calls an upside-down scanner to scan in pieces of the maps -
many of the documents are much too large for traditional scanners - then digitally piece them back
together on his computer...'
'One of his favorite map stories is the developing name of Camel's Hump,
the well-known 4,000-foot peak in Huntington and Duxbury. Allen points to a 1789 map that gave
the first - and lesser-known-name for the peak: Camel's Rump. That identification persisted on
local maps for about 40 years, he said. Bawdy humor continued on other maps when some began
referring to Tickenecket Lake in Boltonville, on the east side of the state, as Ticklenaked Pond.'
The maps, which can be seen here are in good resolution.
'Could a 500 year old map have contained clues to where the wreck of the Mary Rose lay and could
this be the first time Portsmouth maps have returned to the city in over 400 years? All these
fascinating questions will be raised in a brand new temporary exhibition of international
cartographic importance, in the Mary Rose Museum at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard from 2nd July to
17th October 2010. Mapping Portsmouth's Tudor Past brings together, for the first time, several
important maps from The British Library, UK Hydrographic Office and the Admiralty Library. All but
one of these maps are hand-drawn and are works of art in their own right. Together they give us a
unique and fascinating insight into Tudor Portsmouth and the view of their world 500 years ago.'
The piece goes on to describe briefly a number of the items and
concludes with comments from Dr David Starkey, who inspired the exhibition. It is a pity that,
while 'entrance to the Historic Dockyard is free for those wishing to visit the retailers, cafes
and Antiques Storehouse', the visitor to the exhibition has first to pay £19.50 ($29) for a ticket to the Portsmouth
Historic Dockyard.
'On the afternoon of May 21st we walked to the James Ford Bell Library where curator
Marguerite Ragnow was waiting for us for a presentation of the Library’s world-known collection of
historical maps. The collection is arguably best known for being home to three rare portolan maps.
As Lloyd Brown explains in his 1949 "The Story of Maps", portolan charts "were much more than an
aid to navigation; they were, in effect, the key to empire, the way to wealth". This could well
explain the rarity of these maps. One other factor is that these maps were made of vellum, which
was expensive.
'Ragnow is now planning the exhibition that will display - starting Sept. 15 - the most recent
acquisition of the Library: the first map showing North America and China together on the same
map, by Matteo Ricci. The exhibition will be entitled "Matteo Ricci and the Jesuits in China" and
will likely generate a series of programs at [the University of Minnesota] UMN in relation to this piece. Still, and in the
midst of the preparation to receive this rarity, Ragnow found the time to offer us a very
informative tour of the Library’s historical maps...So you may want to plan a visit to UMN this
Fall as starting in September, the already impressive James Ford Bell library collection will have
Ricci’s new map, which may not be as valuable as the three portolan charts (valued at 3 to 10
million dollars, depending on the current market) but is unique in its meaning. Of the new
historical map, James Bell said: "There couldn’t be any more iconic purchase for the library than
the Ricci map"'.
'The
Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library was awarded a grant from the National
Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to catalog, conserve, and digitize 2,200 rare and historic maps
dating from 1500 to 1800. It will take three years to complete the project at which point there
will be more than 5,000 high-resolution digitized maps available worldwide on the Map Center’s
website. The Map Center’s highly regarded "zoomify" technology allows viewers to
magnify sections of maps and see them in intricate detail.
'The $275,367 grant will conserve maps that illustrate Europe’s discovery
of the New World and the colonization of the Americas. NEH Chairman James A. Leach designated this
a "We the People" project because "it explores significant themes and events in our nation’s
history and culture and advances knowledge of the principles that define America." "We are
thrilled to receive the support of the NEH in protecting some of the library’s genuine treasures,"
said Amy E. Ryan, President of the Boston Public Library. "This grant makes possible the
preservation of atlases and maps that are among only two or three of their kind available in the
United States."
'The Map Center has extensive educational programs that include using
maps in classrooms to teach history, geography, world cultures and other subject areas to more
than 1,000 students. The organization also offers training seminars that show teachers how to use
maps in the classroom. There are more than 90 lesson plans and 3,000 digitized maps on the website
that teachers can download for free. Jan Spitz, Executive Director of the Map Center, said, "When
these historic maps are once again available, we will use them to create curriculum units on World
Geography for K to 12 students. There are currently no other map collections in the U.S. that
present such a wide-range of digitized images spanning centuries and continents."
'The maps and atlases to be preserved and digitized document the Great Age of Discovery and the
achievements, failures, and nationalistic ambitions of the explorers themselves and the countries
that commissioned them. Each artifact is a window not only into the time and place of its
depiction, but also its creation by the cartographer, affording the viewer an interpretation of
the physical and cultural environment in which history was enacted.'
Tom Harper, co-curator of
the British Library's much-talked-about exhibition, has started a series discussing the
'Magnificent Maps' that didn't quite make the cut. William Smith's pioneering geological map, 'A
Delineation of the Strata of England and Wales' (1815) heads the list, as Tom explains, 'partly
in order to quell any unrest at its non-inclusion.' Being a map curator has its dangers, it
seems, with a threatened uprising of geologists wielding their hammers.
An interesting 'vox pop' about the Magnificent
Maps exhibition. It's one person's view but emphasises the impression that I have
had going round the display, that it can be appreciated on many different levels. In a sense you
can make your own parallel exhibition by what you read into the exhibits yourself. I simply
cannot imagine anybody finding it boring. As Anna Sayburn comments: 'Unlike most art exhibitions,
people were actually talking to one another in this exhibition. One chap had stationed himself
by an early map of Italy, explaining to all and sundry that it was ‘upside-down’ (the convention
that north is at the top of a map arrived late). Another kindly helped me get some kind of fix
on the reproduction Hereford Mappa Mundi, pointing out Britain at bottom left and Europe above
it. I found myself exclaiming to a stranger that the gold-leaf fringed Venetian map pictured
above was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen.'
This is
headed with an eye-catching illustration of one of the new galleries at the revamped Museum of
London wall-papered, floor, ceiling and sides, with reproductions of Charles Booth's celebrated
'Map Descriptive of London Poverty in 1891'. It goes on to provide the backgound to Booth's work and
maps.
Ostensibly a report on
yesterday's unusual international conference at the Library of Congress, this focuses on just
one of the five speakers, John Hessler, the conference's energetic organiser. The issues
surrounding the birth of these remarkably accurate navigational charts in the 13th century
remain obscure. As Hessler admitted: "Even with all the research that has been done on them the
world over,there's not a single question about them that we can definitively answer." However a
small group (among which I include myself) continue to grapple with these fascinating problems.
Parks Canada is taking time out from protecting the wilderness this week to rescue thousands of
historic photos, slides, documents, maps and books from a major flood in its downtown Revelstoke
headquarters. "It has been really hard," said Marnie DiGiandomenico, spokeswoman for Mount Revelstoke and
Glacier national parks in the B.C. Interior, of the emotional toll of the cleanup.
Dismayed Parks Canada staff arrived at work early Tuesday morning to find the 6,000-square-foot
basement of their leased office space under two metres (seven feet) of water. The flood badly
damaged the parks' huge archival inventory documenting the cultural and natural history of the
area to the early 1900s. "It was underwater," DiGiandomenico said. She credited the quick action of staff for rescuing much of the historic material.
Thousands of soggy photos and slides -- among them early images of Glacier House, one of
Canada's first tourist hotels, and the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway -- were
immediately dunked into buckets of cold water as a temporary method of preservation as they are
sorted and hung to dry. Damaged paper documents -- including historic reports, books and maps -- have been shipped by
the truck load to freezer facilities around the province until they can be dealt with. "What that does is it buys us time to make a decision and prevent any further deterioration,"
DiGiandomenico said.
Parks Canada has since brought in contractors to help in the cleaning and sorting process.
Meanwhile, parks employees have been dispatched to temporary office space until the downtown
facility is restored. Some archival items are beyond repair, DiGiandomenico acknowledged, adding many paper documents
have been tossed out. But just how much history was lost has yet to be quantified. DiGiandomenico said the flood will likely change the way Parks Canada stores its historical
records. The cause of the flood remains under investigation by the office building's management staff.
Comments from the main organiser of
the British Library's 'Magnificent Maps' exhibition, assisted with good illustrations.
Note that this is ten 'of the greatest', not one of those ghastly 'ten greatest...'
exercises. Instead Peter Barber has selected the items for their interest, not necessarily
fame.
Another very personal take - rather
than the syndicated repeat of an institutional announcement, which always blankets these occasions
- by a thoughtful journalist on the British Library's 'Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art
exhibition.
A major offshoot of the imminent British Library 'Magnificent Maps'
exhibition is the Folio Society's (almost) facsimile of the Hereford Map. Herewith technical
details.
'The Folio Society has produced what it terms is the definitive
reproduction of the Hereford World Map, the largest surviving medieval Mappa Mundi. The 700-year
old map has been recreated in a limited edition of 1,000 numbered copies of 1,422x1,200mm, 90% of
the size of the original. High-resolution digital photographs were made in nine pieces and
stitched together before retouching to restore and brighten the colours based on knowledge of the
type of pigments used at the time the original was produced. The retouching was carried out by
Alan Flint of Dot Gradations in Wickford, Essex. With several stages of proofing involving The
Folio Society and a panel of experts including the head of the map collection at the British
Library Peter Barber, conservation consultant to Hereford Cathedral's Chained Library Chris
Clarkson and University of London professor of medieval manuscript studies Michelle Brown.' See
also the relevant Folio Society
page.
Since April 5th Tom Harper, co-organiser with
Peter Barber of the British Library's 'Magnificent Maps' exhibition [due to open this Friday, the 30th], has been
blogging about the preparations and giving his take on the 'Beauty of Maps' programmes. Well
worth a look. [Via The Map Room weblog.]
'When the
world was still being discovered, maps were not only images of power, but retained elements of the
fabulous and the mythical. And - long before landscape paintings - they were displayed as works of
art'. The British Library's forthcoming 'Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art' exhibition
(to open next week on the 30th) has, deservedly, attracted massive publicity, helped by two
associated BBC series. Jonathan Jones, the Guardian's art critic, offers an original and
perceptive view from a different perspective.
'Susan Schulten, associate
professor of history at Denver University, has received a fellowship from the Guggenheim
Memorial Foundation ... The award will fund Schulten’s current book project, A Nation in Time
and Space. The book, which is under contract with University of Chicago Press, will examine
the rise of new forms of mapping and graphic knowledge in 19th and 20th century American life.
'Schulten says that while historians routinely characterize the 19th century as an era of expanding
knowledge about the world, her research concerns the cartographic form this knowledge took. As a
historian, she is drawn to the rise of thematic maps - or maps of information - such as the first
maps of slavery in 1861 and the first atlas of the census in 1874. In many ways, she argues, this
use of maps to ask and answer questions about the world anticipated the more recent revolutions in
cartography, such as geographic information systems.
'"I investigate how these and new maps - and other types of graphic
information - both reflected and created new ways of thinking, acting and governing in American
life," says Schulten, who applied for the Guggenheim fellowship in September. "My main point is
that the proliferation of these new maps was closely linked to the growth of the nation in both
abstract and concrete ways ..."
'Schulten has written about half of the book and will use the fellowship to finish it while on
sabbatical from fall 2010 to fall 2011. She will spend the bulk of her time in Denver writing the
book, but the short-term fellowship will allow her to spend June researching at the Huntington
Library in Pasadena, Calif. She also will make short trips to study archives in Chicago,
Washington, D.C., and Milwaukee ...
'In addition to the book, Schulten plans to deliver a companion Web site
where visitors can see high-resolution versions of the maps. "Maps are unusually rich artifacts for
exploring history," she says. "I’m grateful for the award and thrilled that my interest in the
history of cartography is shared by others."'
An announcement about academic internships in the Department of Rare Books, Special
Collections and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester includes the
following. 'Dr. Seymour Schwartz, surgeon and scholar of historic maps, will be donating to the
University his collection of maps of the Rochester and western New York State areas as well as
other Rochesteriana. An exhibit of his maps, supplemented with maps from the Department’s
existing holdings will be installed in the Rare Books and Special Collections department in
November 2010. The intern would work with Dr. Schwartz and Nancy Martin from the Department to
assist in curating this exhibition. This would involve learning about the cartography of this area
as well as the many tasks involved in mounting an exhibition.' See the
Archive (25 January 2008) for a note about Dr
Schwartz's previous pledge of 225 early maps of America to the University of Virginia
Libraries.
'According to grubstaker.com, the map was found by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Peggy
Ellis, who was poking around the Library of Congress on vacation when she stumbled upon it
... It was in six sections and has been put back together digitally, with all seams removed
and information replaced where creases had erased it.
What’s really radical about it is that it increases the number of documented ghost towns
exponentially. Colorado historians and the USGS were surprised to find 1,096 communities,
mining camps, and ghost towns displayed - the Colorado Historical Society has only
documented 150 and projected there to have been 400 to 500.' The blog entry reproduces the
map in full, published by 'James McConnell, School Supplies Denver Col', includes four
enlarged details, and provides a link to a large-scale scan.
Reproducing a press release from the British Library, this describes
the successful outcome to the appeal described last autumn (see the archive entry for 29
September 2009. 'British Library successfully stops English naval explorer’s journal from
sailing abroad. The British Library has acquired a previously unknown journal of British naval
pioneer, Sir John Narbrough, thanks to a £200,000 grant from the National Heritage Memorial
Fund (NHMF) and the generous support of Dr Bernard H Breslauer, the Gosling Foundation and
other individual donors ...'
'Sir John Narbrough’s naval journal will be displayed in the Sir John
Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library from May. The draught of Magellan Straits,
drawn by Captain John Narbrough in 1670, will be displayed in the British Library’s new
exhibition: Magnificent Maps: Power,
Propaganda and Art which opens on 30 April (free admission). The total cost to purchase the naval journal of Sir John Narbrough was £310,000. This
acquisition complements the British Library’s existing map collections of 4½ million atlases,
maps, globes and books on cartography, dating from the fifteenth century to the present day.
Once catalogued, Sir John Narbrough’s naval journal will be readily accessible to researchers
through the Library’s Reading Rooms at St Pancras. The acquisition was made possible due to a temporary export bar which was placed on the journal
by the Culture Minister. The Minister’s ruling followed a recommendation by the Reviewing
Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, administered by the
Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA).
The misleading title disguises the fact
that this is about a book launch (on March 26), not the sale of a map collection. It involves a reproduction, with
expert commentary, of the famous Lanhydrock Atlas, covering about 70,000 acres (almost 30,000
hectares) in the south-west of England.
'A collection of maps
dating back to the 1690s charting the lands owned by the Robartes family at Lanhydrock are to
be published for the first time thanks to a project between the National Trust and Cornish Book
publisher, < http://www.cornwalleditions.co.uk/ > Cornwall Editions.
The Lanhydrock Atlas is a remarkable survival of Cornish history - with 258 maps in watercolour
and gold leaf on vellum, produced at the end of the 17th century - many by Joel Gascoyne who
was the cartographer of the first one inch to one mile county map of Cornwall in 1699. The four
volumes of work show the land owned by the Robartes family - stretching from Land's End to the
banks of the Tamar - providing a detailed history into both the land and life at this time in
Cornwall ...'
'Although some mystery surrounds just why the Atlas was first produced
and where the four volumes were kept, Paul Holden, house and collections manager at
Lanhydrock, said the publication of the atlas, marks eight years of pushing. "The Lanhydrock Atlas is a truly unique work, in both its size and quality, and really helps us
to understand so much not just about the size of the estate owned by the Robartes family,
estimated to be 70,000 acres, but also gives us an insight into the shape and uses of the lands
they owned and the buildings that were on them...
'"They did find their way back to Lanhydrock and the sheer levels of
detail, the quality of the maps and the condition in which they remain is remarkable," he
said. "They are unable to go on public display as they are so sensitive that natural light will
quickly fade them, so we were delighted when Cornwall Editions said they wanted to publish the
Atlas as they are such an important reference point. "The National Trust would also like to thank the Piet Mendel's Foundation and Cornwall Council
for their financial support," he added. The book contains a detailed history of the Robartes family, while the maps themselves have
been carefully interpreted by leading Cornish scholars Peter Herring and Dr Oliver J Padel ...'.
'The Connected History
project will link up currently separate databases of source materials. Once complete, it will
give academics or members of the public a single site that lets them search all the
collections. Once completed the search engine will index digitised books, newspapers,
manuscripts, genealogical records, maps and images that date from 1500-1900.
'"There are a number of electronic resources that have been created by universities and by
commercial providers," said Professor Robert Shoemaker from the University of Sheffield which
is heading the project. "They are all available, and all separate and some require
subscriptions." "What we are trying to do is join them up to create an integrated search facility so you do not
have to conduct more searches than necessary," Professor Shoemaker told BBC News. "We are creating a kind of sophisticated Google for those selected range of resources that we
know are of high quality," he said.
'Much of the work involved in the Connected Histories project will be
tagging and annotating entries so classification systems are standardised. "We want to provide
a level of structured searching by names, places and dates," he said. "That information is
provided on some databases and in some cases we'll have to identify it ourselves." In general,
said Professor Shoemaker, the different collections possess different types of materials so
there is little overlap between them. Currently 12 institutions have signed up to contribute
their collections but more are expected to join in the future.The initial partners include the
University of Sheffield, the Institute of Historical Research, the University of Hertfordshire
and King's College, London. The first phase of the <
http://www.history.ac.uk/projects/connected-histories > Connected History
project should be completed by March 2011 ...'
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.]
'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.
'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 <
http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/auction-house/catalogue-id-2790851 > Online Catalogue.
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'.
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.
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?
'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 >.
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.
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 <
http://collections.stanford.edu/images/bin/search/advanced/process?clauseMapped%28collectionBrowse%29=The+Barry+Lawrence+Ruderman+Collection&sort=title&browse=1 >
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 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.
'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.'
'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]
'"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."
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'.
'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 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].
'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.
'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.'