Newsletter 2002: Summer

THE HISTORY OF CARTOGRAPHY Newsletter 2002: Summer Exploratory Essays on Twentieth-Century Cartography Completed The symposium “The History of Cartography in the Twentieth Cen- tury” was held in Los Angeles, 17-18 March 2002, as part of the prepro- gram for the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers. Five board members (Chris Board, Joel Morrison, Ferjan Ormeling, Fraser Taylor, and Waldo Tobler) joined the authors of eleven essays and other attendees for a full day and a half of polished presentations and engaging discussions. David Wood- ward served as chair for the first day of eight talks, and Mark Monmonier took over for the second day, which included the three remaining essays, a summary discussion, and an informa- tive visit to the Jet Propulsion Labora- tory (JPL). Before leaving for the JPL, the group gave Teresita Reed, Out- reach and Office Administrator, a standing ovation for her superb work These images will appear in the model became the focus of attention for a organizing the conference. forthcoming collection of essays on team of experts in industrial interpretation, Each author incorporated feed- twentieth-century cartography in CaGIS. ballistics, ordnance, and aircraft analysis. back from the symposium into a Clockwise, from upper left: From the article on Allied model-making penultimate draft, submitted in mid- during the second world war by Alastair April. Everyone met the deadline, and Gulf Refining Company “info-maps” for Pearson. manuscripts were sent to six board 1935 promoted the high standards of Gulf service, sporting images that now seem University of Washington cartography members and an additional thirty stereotyped and quaint. On the front cover professor John C. Sherman discusses lunar referees who had agreed to evaluate three gasoline attendants service a single modeling with a group of students. the essays within four weeks. Mark car. On the back panel, two women From the article on American academic Monmonier orchestrated the peer powder their noses in a sparkling cartography by Robert McMaster and review, summarized responses, and bathroom. Susanna McMaster. transmitted them to the authors. Each From the article on American promotional road mapping by James R. Akerman. In 1936, C.W. Collier developed the author received feedback from three to slotted-templet method, one of the most five readers, and was given a month to Model makers used one photo, taken important inventions in photogrammetry, address the comments and submit a randomly over the Baltic coast at the end which made possible the adjustment of final draft. Coeditors Monmonier and of a failed mission, to construct this model large areas of air photography to ground Woodward accepted ten manuscripts, of a key research establishment for the V- control. By the early 1950s, these methods which they edited jointly during June weapon program at Peenemünde, north were in routine use in topographic and July. The essays and accompany- Germany. They measured shadows to mapping. ing illustrations were delivered to the estimate heights and added details based From the article on topographic mapping on photo interpretation. The detailed between 1900-1939 by Peter Collier. continued on page 2 Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin, 550 N. Park St., Madison, WI 53706-1491 TEL (608) 263-3992 EMAIL [email protected] FAX (608) 263-0762 URL http://www.geography.wisc.edu/histcart continued from front page American Congress on Surveying and Mapping publications office, as prom- ised, by 31 July, for publication in the July 2002 special issue of Cartography and Geographic Information Science (CaGIS). Subscribers to CaGIS can expect to receive the special issue in October. Friends of the History of Cartography Project who are not subscribers can receive a copy by contacting the Madi- son Project office in mid-October. Volume 3 News It has been rewarding to see this book coming together, and we’re anxious to send it to the University of Chicago Map showing the route of the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies made under the Press at the end of the year for peer command of Cornelis de Houtman in 1595-97 and published soon after his return to review. There are some wonderful Holland by Cornelis Claesz in 1598. stories about the scholarly contributions in this large and complex vol- Peter van der Krogt, who helped revise tion, and centers of mapping). Several ume. and update the original contribution, of the authors recruited for these es- Plans for the Renaissance volume and Kees Zandvliet, who added mate- says are scholars in fields such as intel- have always included large sections on rial on the Dutch West and East India lectual and diplomatic history, art the national traditions of Western companies. Without the cooperation history, the history of science, and Europe. The contributions on Italy, of these five well-known and highly- literature, who have an interest in Portugal, Spain, the German Lands, respected cartographic scholars, a cartography but have not made it the the Low Counties, France, the British first-rate essay on Renaissance map- central theme of their research and Isles, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, ping in the Low Countries would not writing. We are delighted to incorpo- and Russia form what we have always have been possible. The result will rate the breadth of their background considered a foundation for the vol- provide a baseline for any researcher into the volume. ume. It would seem that gathering the interested in Dutch cartography dur- Several of the interpretive contri- literature and writing a narrative ing this period. butions have debunked long-held about the role of each of these coun- Volume 3 also includes a large myths in the history of cartography. tries in Renaissance mapping would be section that we refer to as “interpre- Patrick Gautier Dalché’s essay, for fairly straightforward, but even for a tive essays.” These are designed to example, articulately disposes of the tradition as well-documented as the draw together some of the cross-na- myth that Ptolemy’s Geography had a Dutch, this was no easy task. We were tional themes that can not be ade- simple and immediate effect on the fortunate to have recruited the very quately addressed in the chapters on way maps were compiled in the fif- best in the field early in our prepara- national traditions. The themes in- teenth century. He shows instead that tions for the volume; Cornelis Koeman clude maps and Renaissance culture various European cities absorbed the and Günter Schilder graciously ac- (cosmographical mapping, celestial Geography both in different ways and cepted the invitation and wrote the mapping, the reception of Ptolemy, at different times, and concludes that section. But research on mapping in and maps in the context of textual the notion of geographical coordinates the Low Countries continued with studies, literature, religious world based on longitude and latitude took many new publications every year. views, and understanding of other much longer to be adopted than most When we had finally finished publish- societies); technical skills and Renais- general histories of cartography might ing Volumes 1 and 2 (Books 1 through sance mapping (mathematics, survey- suggest. Another example of revision- 3) of the History and turned our full ing, techniques of measurement, navi- ist thinking is Felipe Fernández attention back to Volume 3, it was gational practices, cartographic signs, Armesto’s essay on maps and explora- clear that a good deal of new research and engraving and printing); maps and tion, in which he questions the long would need to be incorporated. We Renaissance governance (maps in held belief that maps were essential were fortunate to have the support of terms of the state, urban space, rural and invaluable tools of the early navi- the original authors and the additional land management, warfare, and explo- gator and explorer. Both scholars pro- assistance of three scholars in the ration); and the production and con- vide meticulous references to support Netherlands, Marco van Egmond and sumption of maps (in business, educa- their arguments. 2 New Encyclopedic Format and the European Renaissance, is in its Céspedes, whose books illustrate the Volume 4 final stages of prepress manuscript deep controversies over the use of preparation. charts and the reliability of pilots’ The History of Cartography offers a Francesca Fiorani and Mark reports at the end of the sixteenth comprehensive and reliable reference Rosen gave papers on Italian mural century. work for all cultures and periods that map cycles. Fiorani is writing a chap- In addition, two other papers of scholars, teachers, students, librarians, ter on Italian mural maps for Volume cartographic interest were presented at and the general public can turn to for 3; Rosen is researching maps in the the meeting: Helena K. Szepe of the precise information as well as method- Guardaroba in the Palazzo Vecchio in University of South Florida explored ological insights. In the first three Florence. how the Americas were described in volumes, material was addressed in In a session entitled “Illustrating Benedetto Bordone’s Isolario (1528) long chapters written by relatively few Space and Place in the Renaissance,” and Suzanne Boorsch of the Yale Uni- scholars. Over the past few years, our Denis Cosgrove drew parallels be- versity Art Gallery offered persuasive newsletters have chronicled the edito- tween Ptolemy’s Geography and arguments for attributing the engrav- rial meetings and discussions leading Vitruvius’s Four Books on Architec- ing of the thirty-one maps in the up to the decision to structure Vol- ture. Daniel Brownstein argued that Berlinghieri edition of Ptolemy’s Geo- umes 4, 5, and 6 quite differently. the representation of place dominated graphy (1482) to Francesco Rosselli. These later volumes in the series will fifteenth-century geography over the The participants were unanimous be structured as large, multi-level, Ptolemaic abstract systems for repre- in their enthusiasm for these well- interpretive encyclopedias that contain senting space.

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