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Maps feature strongly in new Taiwanese museum
New home for Boston's Leventhal Map Center to open shortly
Three-year grant for the University of Texas at Arlington's digitisation project
1866 survey plat poses questions about the Mason-Dixon survey line markers
Early Australiana collection for sale
Road map collection given to new museum in Pontiac, Illinois
Oxfordshire estate map among listing of UK public art works
Restored Maine estate map on display
Congress gets a 'flat earth' map
Moses Greenleaf
A cartographic museum launched in Guyana
More on Michael Stone and his La Jolla map museum
Cambridge University put their Speed proof set online
Visitors can now get closer to the Hereford Mappa Mundi
An exhibition of MacDonald Gill's decorative map posters this summer in Brighton
'British Map Engravers: a Dictionary of Engravers, Lithographers and their
Principal Employers to 1850'
Rubber map prepared for the invasion of Iwo Jima in 1945 returned to one of the ships involved
1790 manuscript map in the Albert Small gift to George Washington University
A vast 1940 wooden model of San Francisco under threat
Independent historian of Rome describes her working life
An exhibition about the London Underground map in Beck's home borough
Comments about the 1402 Korean world map
A new map museum opens in San Diego
1699 Thornton chart now seen as having Anglo-French boundary information
Restoration of the Ratzer map raises ethical questions
Hidden treasure in the John Carter Brown Library
Leventhal Collection to move to a new space this year
Map display in the United Arab Emirates
Maps from the Anglo-Indian wars of the 1840s
'The maps formerly belonged to 1st Viscount Hugh Gough who was commander-in-chief of the British army in India
for that campaign which took place during the regency of Maharajah Duleep Singh. The find was made by British
born writer Bobby Singh Bansal who was visiting Ireland to conduct research for his next project when he was
shown the maps that had lay undetected in the castle attic for over 100 years. After further examination he
realized that the rare maps were in a very frail condition and required urgent restoration. The unique maps
reveal a wealth of information for any passionate military historian or private collector.
'One of the maps depict the Battle of Sobraon which was fought on the 10 February 1846, between General Hugh
Gough with 10,000 troops of the East India Company’s Bengal Regiment versus the mighty Khalsa Army of the
‘Lahore Durbar’ with 20,000 troops under the command of General Sham Singh Attariwala. Other maps include the
Battle of Mudki, Battle of Maharajpore (1843) and the Battle of Chillianwalah fought under the leadership of
Rajah Shere Singh Attariwala where the Khalsa army won a decisive victory over the British in 1849. After
serving in the British Army, General Gough retired to a quiet life back home in Dublin, receiving a generous
pension from the British government for services rendered. The maps remained within the Gough family in Ireland
and Scotland but for reasons unknown were abandoned in one of the Gough estates in Galway until now.
'Bansal has previously published ‘The Lion’s Firanghis: Europeans at the Court of Lahore’ in 2010, published by
Coronet House and available on Amazon.com. He is currently completing his next volume on ‘British Colonial
Administrators of the East India Company’ and also a television documentary on the plight of Hindu & Sikh
families of Kabul.'
'The < http://www.nmth.gov.tw/index.php > National Museum of Taiwan History will hold its grand opening in Tainan City Oct. 29, following
12 years of preparation, museum authorities announced ... Of particular note is the collection of historic maps,
charts and documents that the museum has obtained from foreign collectors. “They will provide us with different
viewpoints from which to look at Taiwan’s history.”
'The museum presents “both history and Taiwan in one museum,” Lu said, distinguishing it from
the National Taiwan Museum and the National Museum of History, both in Taipei. The NTM
focuses on natural history while the NMH highlight Chinese culture in Taiwan, he explained.
'The Tainan museum is located in the Annan District—historically an estuary and foreign
trading hub until the river silted up in the 18th century.'
'The Boston Public Library will open a new space for the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center on Saturday,
October 22. The opening ceremony and ribbon cutting will begin at 11:00 a.m. at the Central Library in
Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street. Under construction since April of this year, the renovation
of 5,760 square feet of space is a City of Boston capital project.
'The Leventhal Map Center will be located on the first floor of the library’s historic McKim Building in
Copley Square. The renovated space features a new exhibitions gallery, a public learning center, and a
reading room for rare map research. Other elements include a custom stained glass reproduction of a 1775
map of Boston, exploration areas designed for children, and a world globe three feet in diameter ...'
'Around 1770, a Franciscan priest captured the topography, missions and presidios north and south of the Rio
Grande to reveal the presence of Christianity in portions of the region. This manuscript map, created in
ink, watercolor and gold on vellum, was one of the first to show present-day South Texas and what is now the
northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas.
'The map will be among 5,000 historically significant and rare maps that will be placed on the Portal to
Texas History maintained by the University of North Texas Libraries in the libraries' "Mapping the
Southwest" project. The project, which is being funded by a three-year, $314,688 grant from the National
Endowment for the Humanities, will provide online access to many of the maps in the University of Texas at
Arlington's Cartographic History Library, which is part of the Special Collections at UT Arlington's
library.
'The maps that will be digitized by the UNT Libraries' Digital Projects Unit and placed on the portal
particularly emphasize the Gulf Coast and the region of the Greater Southwest -- the area that includes
modern-day Texas and other southwestern states annexed by the U.S. after the Mexican war of 1846-48. The
oldest map that will be placed on the Portal to Texas History is a representation of a world map created by
2nd-century Greek astronomer, geographer and mathematician Claudius Ptolemy
'About 250 maps in the UT Arlington collection are already on the portal, with the rest scheduled to be
online by April 2013 ...' [Article continues.]
'At
auction, the box lot fetched just $45, but what was inside was a valuable and mysterious document. Robert
Adkins waited at the estate auction, two years ago, to buy personal items and papers of Edward Twilley,
his late uncle. "The day of the auction, all the old papers, deeds maps and stuff were out there. I bought
every lot of papers but one. Come home, opened up a pack of deeds and found this rolled up," he said, as
he placed a 12-inch by 5-foot [30 x 152 cm] length of paper on his kitchen table. "I told my wife, 'I don't believe
this.' This is a map or survey done in 1866. On it was the house of James Adkins, and it's still
standing."
'Written on the paper is the notation "Showing the first 5 miles of the Mason
Dixon Line" from the Mason-Dixon marker, near Mardela Springs [Maryland], heading east. In ink and colors
are shown houses, landmarks, ditches, roads, trees, a well, a bridge and a blacksmith shop. Yet there is
more, much more, to what appears to be a survey plat. "Wicomico County was formed in 1867 and this, I
believe, is the survey for forming the northern boundary of Wicomico County," he said. "There should be
three more sheets of survey to go with this, but this shows the first 5 miles."
'The survey identifies the
area of the Mason-Dixon corner stone that marks the line between Delaware and Maryland, not as being near
Mardela Springs, but as located near Horntown, now a forgotten community. Initially, Adkins' interest was
in what might be a one-of-a-kind document showing the details along the first 5 miles of the county line
heading east. That first 5 miles also followed the east-west tangent line set by colonial survey to mark
the boundary line between Maryland and Delaware about 1750 ...'
The remainder
of the article explores the implications of this newly discovered survey for the history of the
Mason-Dixon line boundary markers.
'A rare collection of books and maps detailing the discovery of the "southern continent" long before it
was named Australia is being offered for sale. The collection, valued at over $3.5 million, includes
material dating back to the birth of printing, including the first depiction of the Southern Cross. The
rarest item in the collection is the Quiros Memorials, a series of petitions presented by Pedro Fernandez
to the King of Spain in 1608 to argue that an expedition should be sent to develop the Southern Land.
Only one other set of the memorials exists and is held in the NSW State Library.
'The total collection, being sold by Hordern House antiquarian dealers, mostly
for fixed prices, includes 127 items spanning 250 years and took an Australian private collector 35 years
to compile. Hordern House director Derek McDonnell described the collection as the true first chapter of
Australian history. "There is the most extraordinary spread of books from the 15th century to the 18th
century about a South Land - from the craziest ideas at the beginning, to a gradually emerging picture of
what is really there," he said. Mr McDonnell said he expected a substantial interest in the collection
from private collectors and institutions in Australia and overseas. Hordern House expert Matthew Fishburn
believes a collection of this nature is unrepeatable.
'"To be able to accumulate this sort of collection is incredibly rare and I don't
think there are many collections internationally that could match this," he said. Along with
geographically significant maps the exhibition shows early predictions of what inhabitants in the southern
continent would look like, credited by Mr McDonnell as his favourite aspect of the collection. "There is
the chap with his head underneath his shoulders and there is the one whose foot has developed as a sun
shade, and one with animal legs and four arms. They are very, very strange people," he said. The maps and
books will be on display for public viewing or sale until August 11.'
'An extensive map collection has been donated to the new <
http://visitpontiac.org/webpages/index.php?art=961 > Pontiac-Oakland Automobile Museum and Resource Center. The collection, the work of educator and historian Larry McClellan, contains thousands of maps, some dating back to
the earliest days of automotive history. Most of the maps were produced and distributed by petroleum companies free of
charge to their customers. Viewed as a form of popular art, the maps tell the story of the expansion of the American
highway system and reflect the cultural changes that attended the growth of automobile travel. McClellan has been
collecting road maps and American tourism materials and has written newspaper and journal articles from his passion for
maps and highways. McClellan will attend the museum's opening ceremonies Saturday, July 23, and is expected to be on hand
to answer questions about maps on both Saturday and Sunday, July 24'.
As part of an ongoing
project to document all works of art in British public collections, this concentrates on a map, 'created with a
mixture of egg and pigment on calf skin', and measuring 42 x 265 cm, produced for a legal dispute around 1540.
'A
painting long assumed to have been produced by monks is now thought to have been commissioned by a 16th century
Abingdon landowner. The Monks' Map hangs in the Abingdon Guildhall and depicts the course of the Thames through the town and towards
Oxford. After several lawsuits regarding the river's use a man called John Blacknall is thought to have had the map made
to indicate who owned what. Jackie Smith, honorary archivist to Abingdon Town Council said: "He marked out the parts that were his and was
particularly interested in the river and the fisheries because there were major disputes between different
owners."
'At this time Abingdon was situated in Berkshire and not Oxfordshire. Blacknall had bought land where Abingdon Abbey was situated and decided it included the rights to the fish and
eels in the river. The eels had been a major food commodity for the monks of the ancient Benedictine abbey. The monks had even been paid the price of 100 eels a year by the people of Oxford in return for a navigation
channel on church land ...' [I do not know if this map is already well known.]
About the chance survival of an unusually large estate map, measuring 73.5 x 104 inches [1.87 x 2.64 metres],
recently restored and now on display.
'Long before Maine was a state, surveyors hired by George Washington walked Washington County’s fields, forests
and coastlines to create maps — maps hand drawn with ink and illustrated with watercolors that were then used to
entice settlers to locate in what was then called “Passamaquoddy Country.”
A collection of six such original maps that survived for more than 200 years — one for 216 years — are now on
display at the Dennysville Academy-Vestry Museum. The centerpiece of the collection is a 1796 map created by
surveyor Solomon Cushing for General Benjamin Lincoln ...
'When Lincoln’s family sold his Dennysville home decades ago, several maps were
found rolled up and stuck inside a wooden barrel. “The antique dealers that had shown up for the sale
deemed them worthless,” Windhorst said. The maps were nearly burned in a bonfire of scrap items but another
local historian and author, Rebecca Hobart, saved the maps and placed them in her attic. A chance visit by
map expert and collector Bill Welsh of Massachusetts brought the maps to light.'
An
account, with illustrations, of the 1893 Map of a Square and Stationary Earth by
Orlando Ferguson, donated to the Library of Congress by Don Homuth, a former North Dakota
state senator. Commentators to the blog were surprised that 'Professor' Ferguson was able to
believe in the concept but the Flat Earth Society continues to thrive today. [See further: 'Ingenious
'Flat Earth' Theory Revealed In Old Map', by Natalie Wolchover, Life's Little Mysteries, 23 June: <
http://www.livescience.com/14754-ingenious-flat-earth-theory-revealed-map.html >.]
A piece about 'Maine's greatest map
maker, Moses Greenleaf (1777-1834)', on whom Holly Hurd, education outreach coordinator at
the Osher Map Library, at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, has been working for
four years. The Osher Map Library's exhibit Printed Maps of the District
and State of Maine 1793-1860 runs until August 25.
'A
cartographic museum was launched Wednesday at the National Museum as part of observing
International Museum Day. The museum will serve in displaying many historical maps and in
educating the public of Guyana’s history. Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport was present at
the launching and emphasized how the implementation of the map room will be a learning
instrument for the people of Guyana.' < http://roger.ugnotesonline.com/mcys/guyana_national_museum.html > The
National Museum was founded in 1868, when the country was known as British Guiana.
An illustrated interview with
the map collector, Michael Stone, who recently opened a new museum in La Jolla, California. [See
previous entry for 8 February 2011.]
'Published 400 years ago, the first comprehensive atlas of Great Britain is being
celebrated by Cambridge University Library, home to one of only five surviving proof sets, all
of which differ in their composition ... Anne Taylor, Head of the Map Department at the
University Library, said: “Although the Library holds several copies of the published atlas –
including a first edition – it is the hand-coloured set of proofs produced between 1603 and 1611
that is one of its greatest treasures. It was bought by the University Library in 1968 after
the government refused an export licence for the proofs to be sold abroad. We know it as the
Gardner copy after its previous owner (Eric Gardner). It really is a rare and delightful item.”'
High resolution images of all 66 maps - these proofs do not have the descriptive text on the reverse - are
available on the University website.
'The new display features an audio visual presentation and allows people to get closer to the
map, which is also now better lit. The exhibition also features a "turning the pages"
interactive screen for people to explore some of the cathedral's ancient books. Cathedral staff
have spent the past three weeks removing the old exhibition and installing the new one.
'The
Mappa Mundi exhibition first opened in 1996 following the completion of the New Library
Building. Canon Chris Pullin, the cathedral's chancellor, said: "Putting the Mappa Mundi in a
better lit case and letting people get closer was a real priority and including more interactive
elements for people to use".
'Funding for the project came from the Mappa Mundi Trust, Heritage
Lottery Fund, The Pilgrim Trust and Lord Gavron in partnership with Hereford Cathedral Perpetual
Trust.'
'A treasure trove of historical artwork hidden in a cottage for 60 years is to go on public
display for the first time. This summer the University of Brighton is mounting a
retrospective exhibition of the work of MacDonald (Max) Gill, younger brother of the sculptor
and type designer Eric Gill.
Max Gill was best known for pictorial maps and in 1914, his “Wonderground” map of the London
Underground system sold in its thousands and inspired a resurgence of pictorial and
decorative map-making in Britain, the United States, Latin America and Australia ...
'The catalyst for the exhibition was Max’s great-niece, Caroline Walker, who is currently
engaged in writing his biography. She said: “As a child I was fascinated by Max’s wonderful
maps with their strange and exotic creatures and quirky characters, and four years ago I
decided to find out more about the man who’d made them.”
The trail led her to Ditchling Museum, whose collections include works by Eric Gill and his
mentor, Edward Johnston, the calligrapher and designer of the London Underground logo and
typeface. It was Priscilla Johnston, Edward’s youngest daughter, who became Max’s second wife
in 1946.
'The Sussex cottage where the work was discovered was bought by Priscilla in 1939 as a retreat
for her and Max. Her nephew Andrew, who inherited the cottage on her death in 1984, remembers
that one room was always known as ‘Max’s studio’ and had a fading copy of his Atlantic
Charter map of 1942 pinned to the wall. Caroline was put in touch with Andrew and his wife
Angela and was invited down to their cottage.
Caroline said: “I couldn’t believe my eyes – the treasure trove of material I was shown was a
researcher’s dream come true. And it turned out to be the first of many visits, and each time
there were discoveries of things which had not seen the light of day since Max’s death. I was
overwhelmed.”
'The maps and artwork had lain for more than half a century
undisturbed – except by the occasional mouse – in chests, cupboards and drawers. The longer
maps, carefully rolled and labelled, were tucked away in a space under the eaves. Because
they have been protected from light, many of the poster maps are in mint condition, their
colours as bright as the day they were printed. There were drawers full of letters and
photographs too, and Priscilla’s detailed diaries which have provided a valuable record of
her life with Max.' [The article continues]. The exhibition, <
http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/whats-on/gallery-theatre/gallery-events/gallery-exhibitions-2012/gallery-events-july-2011/macdonald-max-gill
> Out of the Shadows: MacDonald (‘Max’) Gill decorative map posters and visual genius,
will be shown at the University of Brighton Faculty of Arts, 22 July-29 August 2011.
This long- and eagerly-awaited dictionary -
representing the combined expertise of two of the most knowledgeable British Map dealers,
Laurence Worms and Ashley Baynton-Williams - is to be published by the Rare Book Society,
initially on subscription, in June 2011. Further details and ordering information from Ash
Rare Books (the Worms firm).
The MapHist announcement includes this summary.
'An illustrated dictionary of well over 1,500 members of the map-trade in the British Isles
from the beginnings until the mid nineteenth century, including all the known engravers and
lithographers, all the known globemakers and retailers, the principal mapsellers and
publishers, the key cartographers, the makers of map-based games and puzzles, and others.
Each entry includes a list of published work, the known biographical facts (in most cases
based on fresh and original research), addresses and dates, details of apprentices, etc.,
with much previously unpublished material.'
'A rare World Ward II rubber intelligence map of Iwo Jima was
returned to the Battleship USS North Carolina this week. The battleship took part in the US
Navy and Marine assault on the Japanese-held island during a brutal World War II battle.
'Over the past six months, a conservation effort at East Carolina University preserved the
rubber relief map by removing previous restorations that caused deterioration. The map is now
stored in an oxygen free environment to ensure the rubber does not deteriorate further and
will be on display along with the rest of the battleship's collections. The Iwo Jima map was originally constructed by the Naval Photographic Interpretation Center
for preparation of invasion of the island. Made of cardboard, plaster and foam rubber, at an approximate scale of 1:12,500, the terrain
model served to train military personnel and depict the island with air strips and
topographic features.
'The battleship organization says that during the conservation process, stenciling on the
reverse side of the map was revealed, as well as unique construction details. "Of all the campaigns in the Pacific during WWII, the battle for Iwo Jima is the most
iconic,” Mary Ames Booker, Curator of Collections ...' [The article continues - there is also an
enlargeable illustration.]
'Albert H. Small, a prominent Washington collector and real estate developer, is giving his extensive
archives on Washington history to George Washington University, the college is announcing Monday. Small, a native Washingtonian, is also donating $5 million to the university to renovate a historic home on
the campus and to help build an adjacent museum. The 156-year-old Woodhull House will contain the documents
and be renamed for its benefactor.
The collection has almost 700 pieces, including a letter written by George Washington to Congress in 1790
outlining the 10 square miles that would be the capital. The gift also includes a hand-drawn map, made by
surveyor John Frederick Augustus Priggs in 1790, which shows the rivers and the road that ran from Georgetown
to Anacostia, called the Ferry Road. It includes a bandanna, sold as a souvenir, with the design of the first
engraved map of Washington and an 1810 copperplate that was used to print money for the Bank of Columbia in
Georgetown ... ' [See further on the Booktryst blog, 4 March 2011 < http://www.booktryst.com/2011/03/mr-small-goes-to-washington.html >.]
'A 71-year-old lode of San Francisco history is looking for a home. It's a three-dimensional scale model of
San Francisco, built of wood by the Works Progress Administration and presented to the city in 1940. It was
an extraordinary freeze-frame of what San Francisco looked like just before World War II, and it measured 41
by 37 feet [12 x 11 metres] when it resided at City Hall. The relief map depicts in miniature the city's Deco
skyscrapers, now-vanished industrial zones, sand dunes and two brand-new bridges. Construction of the model
demonstrated what the federal government could do to put dozens of men and women to work during the Great
Depression.
'UC historical geographer Gray Brechin, who discovered it last fall, says the model was presented to the city
for use as a planning tool after New Deal public works such as the Bay Bridge, Caldecott Tunnel, the Bay
Area's airports, Treasure Island and the East Shore highway revolutionized Bay Area space during a few years
of economic crisis greater than today's. Much of the model now lies in pieces in 17 wooden crates at a UC
warehouse in Richmond. The university needs the space for its huge anthropology collection, and Brechin
worries that the model might meet the fate of other vanished relief maps when it should be accorded a place
of honor such as that given a WPA model of the New York water supply at the Queens Museum.
'Professor Peter Bosselman, who has used a section for planning studies at UC Berkeley, would like to see the
entire model reassembled and made available to the public again. Building the original map required 1,200
man-months of labor and cost today's equivalent of $1.5 million. The price of giving it a good home now?
Moving expenses and dusting. It would be a shame to lose this historic treasure instead of giving the public
a chance to see a city our grandparents knew.'
'In 1992, I quit my teaching job at the University of Arkansas,
put everything into storage, cashed in my life savings — a stupendous $10,000 — and moved to
Rome to begin the first phase of research for a project that has become my life’s work. My
money ran out nine months later, but by then the project had begun to take on a life of its
own, and I had become an independent scholar. The project is an online cartographic history of
the urban development of Rome, focusing on how the city has been shaped by its water
infrastructure for nearly 3,000 years. I thought that if I could help architecture, landscape
and planning students to understand how water helped to define Rome, I might provide a model
for looking at other cities ...'
Then follows an account of the rigours, risks - and benefits - of
undertaking research on your own terms. 'Enormous and far from complete, my project has taken
over my professional life. But, finally, after years of research and writing, my first book, <
http://yalepress.yale.edu/book.asp?isbn=9780300155303 > The Waters of
Rome: Aqueducts, Fountains, and the Birth of the Baroque City, has been published by Yale
University Press'.
'An exhibition detailing the history behind one of the world's most
iconic designs has gone on display in Hendon. The London Tube map, created by Finchley resident Harry Beck, went on to inspire and influence
thousands of similar designs across the globe. Now, the Church Farmhouse Museum on
Greyhound Hill, is giving residents the chance to explore the painstaking research, development
and persuasion process Beck had to contend with in order to get his design recognised. The
exhibition, based on a local private collection, traces the development of the London
Underground Map from the 19th Century to the present day ...A memorial plaque in Beck's honour
currently stands at Finchley Central Underground Station.' The free exhibition, which started
in January, runs until 27 March 2011.
Extended
comments about a digitised version of the so-called Kangnido [here 'Gangnido'] world map
of 1402, the oldest such map produced in East Asia (though not, as claimed here, earlier than any
Western world map). The Kangnido is fully described by Gari Ledyard in The History of
Cartography Vo. 2, Book 2 (pp.244- ). The original manuscript is held by the Ryukoku
University Library in Japan. There is no indication that the digitised version has been placed on
the web.
'In an age when more and more people rely on computers to tell them where to go, Mike Stone has
immersed himself in old maps, those ancient windows into what people knew, what they believed,
what they feared. He’s turned his extensive private collection — about 500 rare items collected over 20 years, some
dating to the 1400s — into the city’s newest museum. The Map & Atlas Museum of La Jolla, tucked into an office building on Fay Avenue, opens today by
appointment only, but is expected to begin offering regular visiting hours in about a month.
Admission is free.
'“When you look back in history at decisions that shaped the world, there were people sitting
around tables in rooms looking at maps,” said Stone, 48, a private investor and philanthropist.
“They used maps to form governments and start wars — to make decisions that still influence our
lives today.” The maps are displayed on walls and in cases, arranged somewhat chronologically and by themes.
There’s a crude black and white drawing of the world from 1472, a vibrant “Roads to Romance”
representation of Southern California circa 1958 and hundreds of other maps from all over the
world. Some were used in their day for navigation, some for display, some for dreaming ...
'But even though he lives on the West Coast, his reputation in the map-collecting world landed him
on the advisory board of the map center at the Boston Public Library. It was there, during a
discussion about offering more people a chance to see rare maps, that the idea for the La Jolla
museum was born. “I thought, ‘Wait a minute, I have enough of a collection to do this,’” he said.
Last fall, the Stone Map and Atlas Foundation took over space in the Merrill Lynch Building in La
Jolla — previously occupied by a firm that makes background-music playlists for businesses — and
gutted it. A private grand opening was held last night. Stone said he hopes educators, collectors, historians, local residents and tourists will want to
see the maps. “They really are an efficient way to bring people back in time,” he said.'
See the rest of the article for brief mentions of a few of the maps in the
collection.
More on the 1699 John Thornton manuscript chart of Newfoundland,
acquired at auction last month in London by Daniel Crouch and now to be offered for sale at the
Miami Map Fair this weekend for $600,000 [see archive entry for 27 November 2010].
'The dust-covered relic rescued from behind a water tank in Scotland appears to represent the
landmark moment in Canada's past when rival French and English empires first attempted to formally
divide the country. The excitement surrounds a thin red line drawn diagonally across present-day Labrador, Quebec and
Ontario, where the frontier possessions of Britain and France were in dispute at a time of rapidly
growing interest from both mother countries in Canada's fur-trade riches. Remarkably, the line passes directly through the labels for "Nova Britania" and "New France" on
the 68-by-80-centimetre vellum map, drawn by Thornton on sheepskin to help ensure its
preservation ...
'Maureen Dolyniuk, manager of the Winnipeg-based Hudson's Bay Company Archives, said the
unexpected appearance of the Thornton map fills a major gap in the cartographic record of Canada
... "We have a record in the minute books of the Hudson's Bay Company that they purchased two copies
of this map," she added, noting the firm paid Thornton all of "three pounds" for his services in
1700. The HBC archive, a world-renowned repository of early maps of North America, already possesses an
important 1709 map of Canada drawn a year after John Thornton's death by his son, Samuel.
'That map also features the same long, red diagonal line — but this time conspicuously marked as
the boundary between French and English territory, and roughly corresponding to the height of land
dividing the Hudson Bay watershed to the northwest from the St. Lawrence River/Atlantic Ocean
watershed to the southeast.
Significantly, historians have pointed to the 1709 map as critical to negotiations between France
and England leading to the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, which — until the British victory in the Seven
Years War some 50 years later — established each empire's domain in North America.
'Dolyniuk, who has been collaborating with Crouch in researching the history of the newly
discovered map, said it appears to have been the template — the Hudson's Bay Company's initial
attempt at a French-English division of territory — from which Samuel Thornton crafted his 1709
map ten years later.
"We don't see any earlier versions of it," Dolyniuk said, describing John Thornton's scarlet
stroke as perhaps the first clear expression of the company's — and by extension, the British
Empire's — line in the sand in the face of French competition for the future Canada.
"It's the line the company used to defend their territory, the rights over their charter
territory," she said. "It was their interpretation of the boundary between the English and French
territory."
'Even as recently as the 1920s, when officials from Britain and Canada were still negotiating where
to draw the boundary between Labrador and Quebec, the 1709 map — and thus its 1699 template — were
factored into the final border agreement, notes Dolyniuk ...'
On the face of it, a heartening story of the discovery in the storeroom of the Brooklyn Historical Society of one of now four
surviving examples of Bernard Ratzer's 'Plan of the City of New York', and its subsequent
restoration. The first online page contrasts the before and after images, allowing either to be enlarged.
In its original form the map is not only discoloured with varnish and broken along folds caused by its
rolled-up condition [not 'cut in strips' as described] but it has significant sections missing, most
noticeably at the top right. The restored version, however, is 'complete'.
This raises the question of authenticity in restoration. It may be that the
generally accepted view has been followed here, namely that inserted pieces should be clearly indicated as
such (perhaps by using paper of a different tone). But the comment about 'boiling pots of old books used
to distill the color of aged paper' [specifically a book of 1804] seems to suggest the opposite. It is
just about possible, by comparing the two images to make out where the join between the original and the
inserted sections falls. But the only way the missing section could have been sourced - unless it was
preserved separately and not shown in the photo - was from one of the other surviving examples. The Ratzer
map, here dated 1770, is known in a later state of 1776, which, theoretically, means that the top right
corner might have seen alterations during the map's life. If the intention was to disguise the fact that
the restored map is a hybrid, and if this cannot be readily seen with the naked eye, there is a danger
that a potentially confusing bibliographical entity has been created. I hope that any researcher who
consults the Society's map will be shown precisely which sections have been added. In that way the
conflicting needs of scholarship and public enjoyment could both be met.
A map found by Christopher Pastore, University of New Hampshire, the Paul W.
McQuillen Memorial Fellow at the John Carter Brown Library, Fall 2010, neatly demonstrates the old adage
that you are more likely to make a significant discovery in the obvious places, than on eBay. It also
highlights the value of researchers, who can show curators what they didn't know they already had.
'Manuscript map from "A Copy of the Record of the Proceedings of the
Commissioners for settling adjusting and determining the Boundary of the colony of Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations Eastward toward the Province of the Massachusetts Bay". This very large manuscript map, about 50 inches by 45 inches, was somewhat hidden
within the binding of the copy of the proceedings. Not even included in the cataloging for the manuscript,
it was discovered by a curious inspection of red ribbon appearing in the gutter of the last page.'
'For now, the Microtext Department
room at the Boston Public Library retains its quaint, last-century ambience. Located on the first floor
of the McKim Building, fronting Copley Square, the narrowly rectangular space features a 74-foot-long
arched ceiling overlooking a row of microfilm machines and work stations. In a few weeks, however, the
machines will be gone, a nearby reference desk removed, and the room on track for a $1.8 million
makeover. Next fall, if all goes as planned, the space will reopen as the new repository and exhibit
hall for the library’s Norman B. Leventhal Map Collection, one of the country’s foremost cartographic
resources. Many of the collection’s most valuable maps, atlases, and other materials will come out of
storage and into fuller public view ...' [Then follows a summary account of the collection and its
history.]
'Over the decades, the library built its own collection through private donors and
acquisitions by its staff, currently budgeting $100,000 annually for new purchases. Once Leventhal elected to
partner with the BPL, library officials say, discussions began about creating an exhibit space for the entire
cartographic archives, most of which is housed on the third floor of the Johnson Building annex. Several sites
within the library were considered before settling on the first-floor space in McKim.The project was expedited
earlier this year, said Leventhal Center executive director Janet Spitz, with the primary criteria being easy
access by the public, space to accommodate researchers, and room for families to feel comfortable to explore
with their children. “Map lovers are made, not born’’ is one of the center’s guiding philosophies, Spitz said.
The gallery is scheduled to open in October, with a private preview ceremony timed to coincide with
Leventhal’s 94th birthday in August.
'Even as plans for the new gallery take shape, the center is continuing to
conserve, scan, catalogue, and digitize its archival assets. To date, more than 3,100 maps have been
posted on the center’s website. They
are also available to download, along with more than 90 lesson plans designed for K-12 educators. One
hundred maps went online in October, and the number of maps available online is expected to nearly
double over the next two years, aided by a 2010 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.'
Website visitors now number 1.1 million annually, according to Spitz, and they spend an average of 40
minutes per visit. “There are a lot of map lovers out there, and they’re discovering us,’’ she said.
'In May, to further showcase its collection, the Leventhal Center will mount a 3,500-square-foot
exhibition titled “Torn in Two,’’ commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. The exhibit will
use maps, paintings, photographs, diaries, and other period materials to explore the war’s causes and
consequences, with a focus on Boston’s role in the conflict. Visitors will be able to adopt a Civil
War-era persona to help organize their stroll through the exhibit. After 2011, it will tour other venues
around the country.'
'It has taken 30 years, but visitors to the Dr Sultan Al Qassimi Centre of Gulf Studies
[in Sharjah?] can now view one of the most remarkable collections of maps of the Gulf and Arabian
Peninsula ever accumulated, going back to the days when the world was viewed heart shaped ... one of
hundreds of rare maps from the personal collection of Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, Ruler of
Sharjah, on display free to the public.' Providing an Arab view of the region's cartographic history. It
is not clear if this is a temporary or permanent exhibition.