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Anna-Maija Pietilä-Ventelä the Scientist and Explorer A. E. Nordenskiöld Cartographic Collection in the National Library of Finland

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Anna-Maija Pietilä-Ventelä the Scientist and Explorer A. E. Nordenskiöld Cartographic Collection in the National Library of Finland Anna-Maija Pietilä-Ventelä The Scientist and Explorer A. E. Nordenskiöld Cartographic Collection in The National Library of Finland Bibliotheca Nostra : śląski kwartalnik naukowy nr 3, 70-81 2015 BIBLIOTHECA NOSTRA. ŚLĄSKI KWARTALNIK NAUKOWY NR 3 (41) 2015, S. 70-81 ANNA-MAIJA PIETILÄ-VENTELÄ The National Library of Finland, Helsinki THE SCIENTIST AND EXPLORER A. E. NORDENSKIÖLD CARTOGRAPHIC COLLECTION IN THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF FINLAND The History of the Library The library is Finland’s oldest scientifi c library. It was founded 1640 as The Library of the Royal Academy of Turku. So from 1707 the library got legal deposit copies from Swedish printers. In 1809 Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire and Helsinki became the new capital in 1812. There was a great fi re in Turku 1827 and after that the university was moved to Helsinki and reopened as the Imperial Alexander University of Finland. During the time of Russian Empire the collections grow rapid because the library got legal deposit copies of all publications printed in Russia and huge book donations from St. Petersburg. In Helsinki the new library building was opened 1845 plan by Carl Ludwig Engel. Finland became independent in 1917 and the library con- tinued with the status of legal deposit library. The Library is responsi- ble for the acquisition, cataloging and preservation of the national public heritage, “the memory of the nation” and research literature mainly for the humanities and the social science fi elds. The National Library func- tions as a national service and development unit for library network and the book sector, promoting national and international partnership projects. The Library builds its collections, services and expertise to serve the Information Society of the future, the library network and the scientifi c community. The focus is on creating Digital Library Service. The Library is supervised by its own Library Board and led by the Direc- tor. The institution’s annual funding is primarily allocated on the basis of an agreement between the University and the Ministry of Education. The personnel now is 213 permanent staff and the organization has four depart- ments in four locations; Helsinki two, Urajärvi in southern Finland as ARTYKUŁY 71 Deposit library of Helsinki University and Mikkeli in eastern part of Finland as The National Digitization Centre. Collections The National Collection, the heritage of publications printed in Finland or related to Finland, includes the following signifi cant collections: Publica- tions from the Swedish Era 1488-1809, National Collection 1810 - , news- papers and periodicals, ephemera collection – including leafl ets, programmes, posters, picture, ex libris collections and National Sound Archive. Library’s valuable manuscript collections date back to the few valu- able manuscripts saved from the Great Fire of Turku 1827. These collec- tions, primarily obtained through donations as Manuscripts on Papyrus collection from the era 300–200 B.C., Medieval Fragments on Parchment collection, Infl uential Finnish scientists’ manuscripts from different centu- ries, many Finnish composers’ archives including Jean Sibelius’s musical manuscripts and Manor libraries and thematic archives. The Library has signifi cant foreign scientifi c collections focusing on the arts and humanities, Russian and East-European studies, theology and history of science as well as several special collections. The Russian legal deposit collection contains approximately 11 0000 volumes and is internationally signifi cant. The Slavonic Library has traditionally also acquired so-called Russian Émigré literature published outside Russia for its collections. After World War II, the Library’s contacts with the Soviet Union improved, and the volumes of books procured grew substantially, approximately 3 000 – 4 000 annually. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, hundreds of publishing fi rms of varying sizes replaced the highly centralised governmental printing agencies, and book publishing became increasingly diversifi ed. Special collections include The Russian Era (1820 –1917) minority col- lections organised by language, for example, Arabica, Armeniaca, Caucasica, Hebraica, Persica, Turcica. There are also Incunabula Collection, The Col- lection of Foreign, Literature printed in the 1500s, Monrepos Manor Library Collection, Japonica Collection, Brummeriana (children’s books collec- tion), Tibetan collection and The A.E. Nordenskiöld’s cartographic collec- tion, which belong to UNESCO’s Memory of the World register as well as Radzwills’ Archives and Niasvizh (Nieśwież) Library Collection submitted by Belarus in cooperation with Finland, Lithuania, Poland, Russian Federation and Ukraine. Collections consist around 3 million books and serials, 670 000 micro- fi lms and microfi ches 150 000 recordings (90% of all Finnish recordings), 50 000 sheet Finnish music publications, 3 million other publications as small prints, posters and maps etc. 72 BIBLIOTHECA NOSTRA. ŚLĄSKI KWARTALNIK NAUKOWY NR 3 (41) 2015 The scientist and explorer A. E. Nordenskiöld Cartographic Collection Man and some aspects of his career Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld was born in Helsinki in 1832. His childhood home Alikartano Manor (Frugård) in Mäntsälä is now a museum open to the public during the summer. His father was a famous mineralogist. The family roots were in Sweden. Adolf Erik completed his studies in Helsinki and began to build a research career in chemistry and mineralogy. He did research work also in Berlin. He became in involved in certain incidents which displeased the Governor General in Finland. He was forced to leave Finland as well as the University. He went to Stockholm and there he lived for the rest of his life. In the autumn of 1858 he was invited to take up the post of Director and Professor in the National Museum of Natural History in mineralogical department. He held this post until his death 1901. Although he was forced to leave his home country owing to his outspoken political opinions, new opportunities soon arose in Sweden, where he became one of his era‘s most renowned scientists. Nordenskiöld also infl uenced many aspects of societal life internationally as well as in Sweden. Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld was one of the most brilliant explorers of the 19th century.While David Livingstone and Henry Stanley were exploring the inner of Africa, Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld explored the polar regions. He did two expe- ditions to Greenland, fi ve to Spitzbergen and three Northern Siberia. He tried for the North Pole. Finally he sailed for the fi rst time in human history through the Northeast Passage along the Russian north coast to the Bering Strait. Father of Historical Cartography Nordenskiöld’s interest in old maps began when he was planning his expeditions to places of which no better maps than the historical ones existed. Although the old maps revealed even imaginary information of the arctic regions Nordenskiöld studied the works of earlier explorers to the north carefully. He is known to have planned his expeditions in detail and studied not only old maps but also collected information from Norwegian fi shermen who sailed far north in the summertime with their whaleboats without maps, relying on experiment only. This gathering of information and careful plan- ning for the worst saved Nordenskiöld and his expeditions many times. After the successful voyage through the Northeast Passage Norden- skiöld began to study and on large scale collect cartographical literature. His thorough and systematic research methods made him a pioneer in the history of cartography. He devoted himself completely to the study of the history of cartographical literature. He published two pioneering works, an early history of cartography, Facsimile-atlas. Stockholm, 1889. In that book he published reproductions of the most important maps of his collec- ARTYKUŁY 73 Fig. 1. Explorer A. E. Nordenskiöld - Father of Historical Cartography. Wiipuri 1881. Phot. by A. Pietilä-Ventelä tion up to 1600. Facsimile-atlas contained a cartographical image of the world, the history of early mapmaking as well as 170 pictures and charts including Nordenskiöld’s view the most important maps of the 1400s and 1500s presented as facsimile editions. A history of early printed charts and sailing descriptions, Periplus was printed in Stockholm 1897. Periplus contains a history of hand-engraved and printed nautical charts until the mid-1700s. The study of old, mostly hand-engraved portolans, sailing directions and charts of routes and coastlines was an extremely arduous task and it appeared the work was an unique achievement. The total number of maps and illustrations was 254. Both works were self-published and well received immediately after they appeared. Research in the fi eld was scare at that time. The works are high quality in terms of their print quality and overall appearance. Facsimile-atlas and Periplus have retained their status as seminal works in the history of cartography. Because of these works he has been called the father of historical cartography. Those books have been published in many editions. They were translated into English the same year they were published. The printing plates of the facsimile maps are today in the pos- session of the National Library of Finland. The important work from his own collection that Nordenskiöld pro- duced is Contribution to the Early Cartography of America. This he had pub- lished also at his own expense in 1892. The exhibition catalogue coincided with the Chicago World’s Fair’s celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America. The publication presented early maps of America, Iceland and Greenland in his collection. 74 BIBLIOTHECA NOSTRA. ŚLĄSKI KWARTALNIK NAUKOWY NR 3 (41) 2015 He also produced a similar publication treating early Russian maps, Sam- ling af Gamla Kartor öfver Ryska Riket, 1892. All that remains of this in the Nordenskiöld Collection. Title pages and table of contents reveals that Norden- skiöld treated 26 different Russia-related maps that were printed before 1600. Afterwards he describes the Russia of the late 1600’s through fi ve maps.
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