For the full details of the recent International Conference on the
History of Cartography, Belo Horizonte, 9-14 July (ICHC 2017) see the
official record, compiled as usual by Peter van der Krogt at http://www.explokart.eu/ichc/2017.html.
This includes the full list of papers and posters, as well as details of
the three exhibitions.
T. Čelkis, V. Karpova-Čelkienė (Vilnius) Reading signs: manuscript cartography sources of the 16th-19th century from the Vilnius University Library
G. Mihalakopoulos (Corfu) Alexandros Massavetas's 'Going back to Constantinople-Istanbul: A City of Absences': mapping the past and the present through literature
Ch. J. J. Thiry (Golden CO) GIS-based discovery interface to paper map sets
K. Kozica (Warsaw) Different states of the sea chart of the Gulf of Riga by Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer (1534-1606) from his first sea atlas Spiegel der Zeevaert (1583 / 1585) in the Niewodniczański Collection Imago Poloniae at the Royal Castle in Warsaw
N. B. Piekielek (State College, PA) Best practices for georeferencing large scale historical fire insurance maps of the USA
The Directors of Imago Mundi Ltd are delighted to announce that the seventh Imago Mundi Prize has been awarded to Federico Ferretti for A New Map of the Franco-Brazilian Border Dispute (1900), which appeared in Imago Mundi 67:2 (2015): 229–41. Dr Federico Ferretti is a lecturer at the School of Geography, University College, Dublin.
The author has made a convincing and novel contribution to the history of cartography in the the service of diplomacy conducted over the border dispute between French Guiana and Brazil and arbitrated by Swiss scholars in 1900. Based on the newly discovered maps and archives of the explorer Henri Coudreau (1859-1899) and the geographer Élisée Reclus (1830-1905), the author reveals the political usefulness of the maps and shows them in a more subversive role rather than the more usual one exemplifying the power of the state.
The prize is offered every two years. This award covers volumes 67 (2015) and 68 (2016). The winning article is the one judged 'to have made the most significant contribution to the discipline'. Only full-length articles, which are automatically subjected to the (anonymous) external refereeing process before acceptance for publication, are eligible for the prize.
The prize is USD 1000.00 and qualified the recipient for a J. B. Harley Travel Award to the biennial International Conference on the History of Cartography (Belo Horizonte, Brazil), where the prize was presented on 14 July 2017.
The Imago Mundi Prize is generously sponsored by Kenneth Nebenzahl. By courtesy of our publishers, Routledge Journals (Taylor & Francis), Federico Ferretti's article is being made available free of charge at http://www.tandfonline.com/imagomundi (click on the pictorial link in the left margin).
Received from Tony Campbell, Chairman, Imago Mundi Ltd
This exhibition is by no means a mere display of maps (although the true map lover will of course frown at the words 'mere' and 'maps' in one sentence!).
Quite the contrary: the whole context in which these maps were made is illustrated with a multitude of objects, all of them beautifully displayed in an appealing scenography with multimedia and touchscreens. Just to make clear this is an exhibition you can take the whole family to, even the kids: everyone will find something interesting there. You will learn about the creation of the VOC and the political economical background, about the first voyages to Cape Good Hope, then further to Ceylon and India, to Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan and China. The life on board is explained, the contacts with the locals and their effect, the discovery of new plants, animals, spices. But also the slave trade and the often brutal behaviour of the European participants to these 'explorations' is shown. All of this documented with original letters, books, deeds and … maps, of course!
These maps range from the 16th to the 18th century, including city plans, vista's and charts and are almost exclusively manuscript or in any case unique. There is also a special section on navigation and cartography. For a list of the maps on display: click here.
The exhibition language is Dutch but a tablet available in English can guide you through the exhibits. The Dutch United East India Company Book isn't a real catalogue, but much more than that: it gives you the background to what you will see. Available on the spot and in bookshops at EUR 29.95.
This exhibition is a very good introduction to our international conference! Find the conference programme here.
Issue 98 (Spring 2017), consisting of 80 pages, was published in March 2017
and is in distribution to all paid subscribers and members in good standing
of the Washington Map Society. Copies are available for purchase.
2016 Ristow Prize Winner Ana del Cid Mendoza explores orientalist
cartographies, with emphasis on Granada and the Alhambra in Spain. Matthew B. Gilmore describes the impact of Frederick Law Olmsted and the Olmsted Firm
had on the current road system in Washington DC. Cheryl LaRoche uses maps
to explain the functioning of the Underground Railroad and routes taken
northward by American slaves to escape bondage during the US Civil War.
Joseph Schirò traces the pedigree of a fascinating atlas. Bert Johnson
shares the most recent news from the upcoming ICHC in Brazil. Ralph
Ehrenberg receives tributes on his retirement, and Paulette Hasier, his
successor at the Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress, is
introduced and interviewed. There are two book reviews, and more.
Dear Friends,
I had previously contacted you with a grandiose idea of celebrating the 250th anniversary of Cook’s discovery of the east coast of Australia, in Sydney, with a Historic Cartography meeting in Sydney that would attract attention across the spectrum of bodies representing interest in the discipline. The key person is Maggie Patton of the State Library, and she has been on long service leave. Her support of course was essential. She has agreed to be the primary sponsor, and has booked the Libraries facilities for September 7-9. It is probable that we will have a post conference trip to Canberra with a visit to the NLA, and its wonderful collection.I know that you need dates for planning. I do hope you see this as an unusual opportunity, and can now decide exactly the level of interest your organisations may have in being part of this.
This is a major occasion in Australia, and there will be much to do. September is a good time to be in Sydney, and of course the State Library is the collection of Pacific material. The major exhibition related to Cook is being held over at the Library for the meeting. I would encourage you to communicate with Maggie, but i am happy to help in any way I can.
With best wishes,
Robert
Emeritus Professor Robert Clancy AM FRS(N), (e): clancy_robert@hotmail.com, (m): 0402 130 445
4 April 2017
A. C. Metcalf, Who Cares Who Made the Map? La Carta del Cantino and its anonymous maker.
T. W. Shawa, Guidelines for Creating Historical Geospatial Boundary Data
A. Blackler, Conference Review – First International Workshop on the Origin and Evolution of Portolan Charts - Lisbon
As witnessed by the recent exhibition of the world maps of Matteo Ricci and Ferdinand Verbiest at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum, Jesuit cartography still arouses public curiosity centuries after the maps were made. While Jesuit science and mathematics have been the subject of much study, especially in the context of East Asia, the broader and more diverse practices of Jesuit cartography around the world have proven more elusive. At the same time, significant scholarly and public interest remains about both the nature of Jesuit cartography and the longer-term influence it had on the process of imagining localities, nations, empires and cosmologies. Is there coherence to the category 'Jesuit cartography'? If so, what created this coherence aside from the Jesuit order itself? How did Jesuit cartography emerge in tandem with indigenous mapping traditions? And finally, why did Jesuit cartography have such important effects on both national and global scales?
The Journal of Jesuit Studies seeks to publish an issue devoted to Jesuit Cartography that will include an overview of the current state of the field of Jesuit cartography along with six topical articles in August 2018. Abstracts of proposed submissions should be 500 words or less, and are due by Friday 19 May 2017. Full articles should be approximately 7000 words, including footnotes, and will be due by 1 October 2017. A summary article and bibliography by the issue editor on the historiography of Jesuit cartography will be available to contributors.
Contributions might focus on particular maps, cosmological or geographical mapping, particular cartographers and groups of cartographers, mapping and printing techniques, indirect influences of Jesuit mapping in places like Korea, Russia or Japan or on cartographic techniques in places with Jesuit schools like France, transcultural cooperation in creating and disseminating maps, maps as establishing relations between fields of study (cartography and mathematics, linguistics, natural history, aesthetics, or religion), and institutional practices as observatories in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries among other topics. Papers that combine novel archival work and a broader engagement with conceptual or theoretical approaches to Jesuit cartography are especially welcome. Geographic diversity and use of comparative approaches to different regions will factor into considerations of the issue as a whole. Potential contributors should consult the comparative, historical and critical approaches pioneered in J. B. Harley and David Woodward's The History of Cartography (1987+) as well as J. B. Harley's seminal article The Map as Mission (1991), more recent work on the sociology of knowledge and science, and/or data- and simulation-driven digital humanities and historical geography models as baselines for methodology. All papers will be published in English, although help with translation can be arranged.
Color and black and white images are possible and should be tentatively proposed with the abstract as a list (separate from the word count). Acquisition of publication-quality image files and rights to reproduce are the responsibility of the author. A permanent website resource separate from the journal will be available to contributors who wish to publish extra reference images.
The Journal of Jesuit Studies is published in cooperation with the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies at Boston College. It has four issues per year, three of which are thematic and one of which is open JJS is published by Brill and is peer reviewed, fully open access and is part of Reuters Thomson Web of Science Indexing (see http://www.brill.com/products/journal/journal-jesuit-studies). Questions about the issue and abstract submissions should be addressed to Robert Batchelor, batchelo@georgiasouthern.edu.
Robert Batchelor, Professor of History and Director of Digital Humanities, Georgia Southern University Forest Drive Building (Office 1211, 5539 Forest Drive) PO 8054 Statesboro, GA 30460.
Coinciding with the celebration of Canada's 150th anniversary and the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) 50th anniversary, Ontario's university libraries are releasing a collection of over 1000 historical topographic maps of Ontario. The project highlights Ontario's rich history and changing landscape over the past 100 years, and is evidence of how Ontario's academic libraries continue to play a key role in preserving our national and provincial heritage in the digital age.
The project is a province-wide collaboration, led by the OCUL Geo Community, an open forum for the exchange of information relating to maps and GIS, to digitize and geocode early topographic maps of Ontario at the 1:25000 and 1:63360 scales. The maps were originally produced by the Department of National Defence (until 1923: the Department of Militia and Defence) and show a variety of both natural and man-made features covering towns, cities and their surrounding areas in Ontario, over the period of 1906 to 1977. This project represents the single most comprehensive digitization project of the early-National Topographic Series map collection in Canada.
Early topographic maps are heavily used by historians and researchers interested in examining change over time. The project aims to improve access to the maps by making them available online and offering visual exploration through the project website and in the Scholars GeoPortal platform. There is benefit for Ontario’s students in having access to these resources. A project with the functionality of this one makes discovering the history of land use/development in Ontario far more accessible both for researchers and as a learning tool for students, says Ted Wilush, McMaster University Bachelor of Commerce graduate, and map enthusiast.
Researchers and students can explore the maps and compare changes over time using the GeoPortal's map viewer that contains current base map data and a transparency slider feature. The ability to use layers to compare the same (map) sheet from multiple eras against both each other and a modern map/satellite image is invaluable, Ted states.
Ontario's university libraries have been working together through OCUL on initiatives such as this since 1967. Preserving and expanding access to the broad research collections held by Ontario's university libraries is at the core of OCUL's collaboration, explains Vivian Lewis, OCUL Chair and University Librarian at McMaster University. It is exciting to have this collection digitized and openly available to the public. The OCUL Geo Community (previously named the OCUL Map Group) formed in 1973 to communicate and collaborate on map projects, including a union catalogue of topographic maps. Moving forward, the group plans to engage with the larger map community in Canada about the project, and identify opportunities to build on it to include other maps from this national collection.
We hope this is a first step to developing a national framework for map digitization in libraries and improving access to these rich historical maps for researchers and the public at-large, states Lewis. In 2017, OCUL is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and this project demonstrates the ongoing success of this collaboration.
For more information about OCUL's Historical Topographic Map Digitization Project visit http://ocul.on.ca/topomaps.