Date: September 20, 1990
Title: Deerskin Maps
Speaker: James A. Marshall
Location: Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
James A. Marshall is well known for his long-term work on the surveying and mapping of prehistoric North American Indian earthworks, and has found that early historic maps drawn by Native American Indians bear great resemblance to prehistoric earthwork built about 2000 years in Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia and Florida. These similarities raise many questions such as whether the prehistoric earthworks are also maps on a giant scale and, if so, maps of what?
Date: October 18, 1990
Title: American Cities: A Cartographic Perspective, 1683-1989
Speaker: Gerald Danzer, Professor of History, University of Illinois at Chicago
Location: Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
Jerry is well known to all of us for his active use of maps in the teaching of history. Today he will give us an overview of the ways Americans have used maps and view to picture their cities.
Date: November 15, 1990
Title: Historic Illinois from the Air
Speaker: David Buisseret, Director, and Tom Willcockson, Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography, The Newberry Library
Location: Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
David Buisseret and Tom Willcockson will talk about their collaborative work, recently published by The University of Chicago Press, Historic Illinois from the Air. This history of the state tells its story primarily from a visual point of view, using satellite images, aerial photographs, contemporary maps and new line drawings to offer a fresh vision of both Illinois and Chicago. The talk will be illustrated with slides, and afterwards David and Tom will be happy to autograph copies of the work, which will be available at the Library Bookshop.
Date: December 10, 1990
Title: Maps and Games
Speaker: Jim Akerman and Tom Willcockson, Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography
Location: Como Inn, Chicago, Ill.
For our annual holiday meeting, we will have a gala dinner at the Como Inn (546 North Milwaukee Avenue). Smith Center stalwarts Jim Akerman and Tom Willcockson will speak on “Maps and Games.”
Date: January 17, 1991
Title: Chicago River and Railroad “Brotherhood” in Maps
Speaker: Lucia Apostol, Architect, Urban Planner, Teacher and Writer
Location: Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
Lucia has practiced Architecture for over seventeen years and has taught for several years abroad in the United States. Today she will focus on the role of maps in documenting Chicago’s urban history, a research that will be applied to a design proposal for riverfront development. See the September 1990 issue of Mapline for background information.
Date: February 21, 1991
Title: Map Decoration as Visual Poetry: from Hans Holbein to Ernest Dudley Chase
Speaker: Howard Deller, President, Wisconsin Geographical Society
Location: Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
Tonight’s presentation will focus on the art of map decoration from the Renaissance to the present. Special attention will be placed on the relationship between art and cartography and on the role of map decoration in increasing public awareness and appreciation of maps. While many examples of Renaissance map art will be discussed, the major focus will be on the 20th Century.
Date: March 21, 1991
Title: Antique Maps – Collectibles or Investments?
Speaker: Harry Stern, Chicago Map Dealer and Appraiser
Location: Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
This evening’s talk will use many examples derived from old catalogs to illustrate how antique map prices have changed over the past half century. Should you invest in maps today? Harry will be happy to comment on any of your favorite maps at the end of his presentation.
Date: April 18, 1991
Title: Mapping the French Empire in North America
Speaker: David Buisseret, Director, Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography, The Newberry Library
Location: Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
After his opening remarks, David will lead us through two exciting exhibits currently at the Newberry about the French in North America. The first contains displays and artifacts relating to exploration, the fur trade, settlement and fortifications. The second features original maps and drawings of the French presence from the St. Lawrence River to the Caribbean.
Date: May 16, 1991
Title: Atlas of Columbus and the Great Discoveries
Speaker: Kenneth Nebenzahl, Map Dealer and Author
Location: Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
Ken’s talk marking the Columbus Quincentennial brings together many of the great manuscript and printed maps documenting the age of European discovery. Examples of maps ranging from the cartographic tradition inherited by Columbus to the close of the 16th Century will be discussed.
Date: July 17, 1991
Title: From Sea Charts to Satellite Images: Interpreting North American History through Maps
Speaker: David Buisseret, Director, and Tom Willcockson, Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography, The Newberry Library
Location: Room 180, The Newberry Library
Helped by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Smith Center has recently published a book at the University of Chicago Press titled From Sea Charts to Satellite Images: Interpreting North American History through Maps. This book contains twelve essays, each concerned with a particular type of map. Each essay first describes the map-type, then gives about ten illustrated examples of how it may be used in historical research, and finally tells how to track such maps down. The essays are written by Brian Harley, David Quinn, Louis DeVorsey, Robert Grim, Gerald Danzer, Michael Conzen, Robert Karrow, Thomas Schlereth, Christopher Baruth and David Buisseret. In many cases, explanatory maps have been drawn by Thomas Willcockson to accompany the original maps.
Believing that this volume might be of interest to members of the Map Society, we have arranged an extra meeting at the library for Tuesday, July 17th. We shall have drinks at 5:30 PM as usual, and then David Buisseret and Tom Willcockson will talk about the work, with slides. Copies will also be available for purchase.