Best Paper of the Year Award for Volume 12

Abstract

The three issues published in 2016 of the Journal of Map & Geography Libraries hold a wealth of thought-provoking and valuable information. As we do each year, we have the challenge to select one article that stands out above the others and is named our Best Paper. It gives the editors of the Journal of Map & Geography Libraries great pleasure to announce that the article, “Putting the World in Its ‘Proper Colour’: Exploring Hand-Coloring in Early Modern Maps,” by Stephanie Elizabeth Stillo has been chosen for the Best Paper Award for volume 12. As Stillo explains in her abstract, “This article explores the utility of X-Ray Florescence (XRF) in identifying pigments used in early modern hand-colored prints. Published accounts of the use of XRF on hand-colored documents are rare. As a consequence, historians and conservators know little about the pigments used in hand-colored prints, information that is not only vital for the preservation of extant colored documents, but also essential for helping historians periodize hand-coloring and assess its usage.” This study compared early modern coloring manuals with XRF analysis of printed and hand-colored cartographic compilations from Amsterdam and London. “The combination of textual and technological analysis resulted in a more nuanced understanding of the materials used in hand-coloring prints in early modern Europe. The study also exposed surprising actors in the history of the analyzed documents, highlighting the exciting potential of XRF to verify the historical authenticity of hand-coloring.” One of the strengths of this article is the human side. It combines the scientific inquiry into types of pigments used in the hand-coloring process, what they are made of, and even “cataloging” them based on colors generated with the role that women played in this enterprise and industry. “Putting the World in Its ‘Proper Colour’ ... describes how X-Ray Flourescence (XRF) can help librarians and archivists address the questions of provenance and authorship of hand-colored maps. It also illustrates [the] potential of collaborations between the STEM fields and the humanities.” By using two historical atlases as examples for testing purposes, Stillo details the use of a newer form of spectrometry to detail the elements involved for different pigment types that has little information about this process in the literature. Further, she delves into the social aspects such as how hand-coloring became a broader “hobby” over time as much as a special niche in the cartographic world. This paper fills a void in the literature about hand-coloring as a cartographic technique.