Winter 2014 Volume XII, Number 1 Philip Lee Phillips Map Society Find Us Online: of the Library of Congress
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Friends of the Geography and Map Division Winter 2014 Volume XII, Number 1 Philip Lee Phillips Map Society Find Us Online: of the www.loc.gov/phillips Library of Congress Inside this issue: Chief ’s Report 2013 Introducing New 2 As we begin 2014, I gold atlas collections. Con- Steering Commit- would like to take a moment struction on the 1,625- tee Members to share with you some of square-foot facility started the Division’s new goals and on November 1, 2013. The John A. Wolter 3 Co-Edits Book on recent achievements. I also Reading Room will be un- Perry and Japan wish to express how very dergoing a major upgrade in grateful we are for your con- the spring. G&M and 4 tributions to the Phillips So- Collaborations continue Taiwanese Center ciety, which have helped to to be important. We have an Co-Publish make so many good things agreement with the National Map Guide happen here in G&M. Geospatial-Intelligence Notes from the 5 In the fall, we held a Agency, which has provided Division Steering Committee meeting a ten-person team to help in Tampa and set a goal for scan our entire African set Phillips Society 7 the Phillips Society to reach map collection. When com- and Brazil. Donors Acknowl- more than $1 million in ac- pleted, each institution will We added important and edged cumulated donations by the have digital images of the rare historical maps, includ- time of our Spring Confer- maps, and G&M will retain ing Giuseppe Rosacccio’s Volunteer Herb 10 ence in May. We continue to the original maps. Universale Descrittione Di Tutto il Mondo (c.1620). This set of Gilder be amazed and appreciative We also partnered with engraved sheets is one of the of your contributions. We the National Library of Ko- Spring Conference 11 have collected $956,779.62 largest Italian world maps rea to preserve four historic published in the seventeenth Announcement to date. I am confident we maps of Korea. Since 2007, century and is emblematic of will achieve our goal. 34 unique map scrolls and the “Lafreri school” of map- Our online presence con- sheets published between making. Pieter Goos’ West- tinues to grow. We have 1760 and 1900 have been Indische Paskaert (c.1674) is a more than 40,000 maps preserved and digital images sea chart on vellum. It repre- online this year and our are posted online. sents one of the most im- portant Dutch contributions Twitter account has now A record $2,570,220 was to hydrography in the seven- jumped to more than 6,000 spent on acquisitions. This teenth century. We also pur- followers. included the purchase of chased a hand-colored Kore- [email protected] The Division’s physical 22,585 maps, 830 atlases, an celestial atlas. The trans- space is being updated. We 4,400 computer files and 253 lated title reads: “Old Sky News and information about Chart Showing the Rank and the premier map collections of are in the midst of building a publications. A special focus new secured storage facility, was on acquiring maps of a Distribution of Stars.” This the Library of Congress. treasure was printed from which is designed to house emerging and geopolitical the Division’s platinum and powers, such as China, Iran Story continues on page 10 Philip Lee Phillips Map Society Volume XII, Number 1 Pa ge 2 Introducing New Steering Committee Members Richard (“Dick”) Pflederer became 2011. interested in the history of cartog- He published a popular history of por- raphy when his work took him to Sin- tolan charts in 2012 called, Finding Their gapore in 1986. Way at Sea. He also is the au- Initially, Mr. Pfle- thor of seven reference books derer focused on six- and several articles, focusing teenth-century printed on the subject of nautical car- maps of the Far East. tography. His interest shifted to Mr. Pflederer is a graduate the voyages of explora- of Northwestern University The Philip Lee Phillips Map tion, particularly those and his career has focused on Society of the Library of Congress is of the Portuguese in international business with named in honor of Philip Lee Phil- Asia and portolan long-term assignments in sev- charts. lips (1857-1924), the first Superin- eral countries, including Brazil, tendent of Maps at the Library of In 2005, he won the Singapore, Hong Kong and Congress when the Hall of Maps Caird Fellowship of the Japan. and Charts was established in 1897. National Maritime Museum and has He and his wife Sue share their time conducted other long-term research between Williamsburg and Tuscany, where The group is a non-profit, vol- projects while a resident at the British they have a small house. untary association whose objective Library and the Bodleian Library at is to develop, enhance, and promote * Oxford. He is a Fellow of the Royal the work of the Geography and Geographical Society, a member of James Walker is a retired physician liv- Map Division by advancing its pub- the Editorial Advisory Council of The ing in Eugene, Oregon. He attended Am- lication, education, exhibition, Portolan, a member of the Society for herst College and Case West- preservation and acquisition pro- the History of Discover- ern University School of Medi- grams. ies and the International cine, served in the USAF and Map Collectors’ Society. completed his specialty train- To obtain membership and ac- Mr. Pflederer teaches ing in Rochester, New York tivities information, please contact: before moving to Eugene. in the Christopher Wren Ralph E. Ehrenberg There, he practiced nephrolo- Association of the Col- p) 202/707-1992 gy and internal medicine for lege of William & Mary f) 202/707-8531 and is a member of the twenty-six years. adjunct faculty of Old Dr. Walker retired from PLP Newsletter Staff Dominion University. medical practice in December, Ryan Moore, He also has taught the 2003. “While I could still Editor history of cartography count to ten,” he said. Since to G&M staff members. then he has drawn personal [email protected] enjoyment and fulfillment from a growing 202-707-7779 family, community service, extensive trav- In 2009, he founded the Williams- Ralph E. Ehrenberg, burg Map Circle, a group whose aim is el, and his cartographic avocation. to promote the understanding of maps Managing Editor within the community. He has been a Story continues on page 6 [email protected] member of the Phillips Society since Friends of the Geography and Map Division Pa ge 3 Former G&M Chief Co-Edits Book on Perry and Japan Ship Clerk’s Journal Reveals Intriguing Details William Speiden Jr. was a teen-aged clerk on the flag ship of Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry that was on its way in 1852 to “open” relations between America and the isolationist Japanese nation. The 16-year-old sailor captured important details about the historic trip in a journal that he kept until 1855. It is now the subject of a new book that was co-edited by former G&M Chief John A Wolter. With Commodore Perry to Japan: The Journal of William Speiden Jr., 1852-1855, was published by the Naval Institute Press. It is available as both a paperback and a E-book. A Journey of a Lifetime As a young sailor, Speiden saw many wonders on his voyage. His ship depart- ed Philadelphia in March 1852. After sailing down the east coast, the ship headed into the Atlantic Ocean. Dock- ing at St. Helena, which is roughly in the middle of the ocean, the clerk visited the house and grave of Napoleon, who had been imprisoned there by the British. He next rounded the horn of Africa and by April 1853, reached Hong Kong. Preserving the Author’s Voice the Speiden’s nineteenth century writ- Finally, in 1854, the Perry mission ing style, transcribing passages as they reached its objective: Japan. Using so- The journey of Perry is of consid- were written. Several illustrations cre- called “gunboat diplomacy,” The Treaty erable interest to Mr. Wolter, who, ated by Speiden, shipmates and per- of Kanagawa was reached with the To- along with David Ranzan, university sons he met while traveling supple- kugawa shogunate. After a 200-year poli- archivist at Salisbury University, and ment the text. cy of self-imposed seclusion, the Japa- the late John McDonough, a manu- nese ports of Shimoda and Hakodate script historian at the Library of Con- The clerk’s journal is today housed were opened as trading zones to the gress from 1961 to 1998, edited in the Library of Congress Manuscript United States. The Japanese guaranteed Speiden’s handwritten journal. Division. It is one of some 254 collec- the safety of shipwrecked sailors, who The editors described Speiden’s tions in the Naval Historical Foundation were previously executed for illegally entries as “stirring scenes that were Manuscript Collection, which was entering her soil. The basis for a perma- vividly impressed upon [him] while formally acquired in 1998. Several nent American consul in Shimoda was sailing to the Pacific Ocean via the maps from the Library’s collections established, as well. A year later, Speiden Cape of Good Hope.” were used to illustrate the book. and his shipmates returned home. Wolter and his colleagues retained Story continues on page 6 Philip Lee Phillips Map Society Volume XII, Number 1 Pa ge 4 G&M and Taiwanese Center Co-Publish Guide to Early Chinese Maps at the Library of Congress Phillips Society Helped to Fund the Project The Division and the Academia sonal libraries.