{"title":"How Did Old Maps Become Valuable? On Map Collecting and the History of Cartography in the United States","authors":"Susan Schulten","doi":"10.1080/15420353.2022.2079799","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract An appreciation for old maps as culturally important documents came slowly in the United States. The first precondition for this shift was the reframing of history brought by political independence. The second was the growth of facsimile maps, which made these sources available to a wider audience. The third was a loose network of scholars, archivists, collectors, and federal actors—including Johann Georg Kohl—who gradually began to advocate for the cultural and political significance of old maps. Yet ongoing advocacy for a federal map collection did not produce results until the end of the Civil War, just as the trade in old maps coincided with the emergence of university-based historical and geographical research. The rapid growth of institutional map collections—including the Library of Congress Division of Maps—by the turn of the twentieth century bears out this shift. The idea that outdated maps might be valuable evidence of history and culture could only develop once maps were understood not simply as instruments of accuracy, but meaningful artifacts of history. Here we trace this complex story across multiple areas of American life from the early nineteenth century to the interwar period.","PeriodicalId":54009,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Map & Geography Libraries","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3000,"publicationDate":"2021-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Map & Geography Libraries","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2022.2079799","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Abstract An appreciation for old maps as culturally important documents came slowly in the United States. The first precondition for this shift was the reframing of history brought by political independence. The second was the growth of facsimile maps, which made these sources available to a wider audience. The third was a loose network of scholars, archivists, collectors, and federal actors—including Johann Georg Kohl—who gradually began to advocate for the cultural and political significance of old maps. Yet ongoing advocacy for a federal map collection did not produce results until the end of the Civil War, just as the trade in old maps coincided with the emergence of university-based historical and geographical research. The rapid growth of institutional map collections—including the Library of Congress Division of Maps—by the turn of the twentieth century bears out this shift. The idea that outdated maps might be valuable evidence of history and culture could only develop once maps were understood not simply as instruments of accuracy, but meaningful artifacts of history. Here we trace this complex story across multiple areas of American life from the early nineteenth century to the interwar period.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Map & Geography Libraries is a multidisciplinary publication that covers international research and information on the production, procurement, processing, and utilization of geographic and cartographic materials and geospatial information. Papers submitted undergo a rigorous peer-review process by professors, researchers, and practicing librarians with a passion for geography, cartographic materials, and the mapping and spatial sciences. The journal accepts original theory-based, case study, and practical papers that substantially advance an understanding of the mapping sciences in all of its forms to support users of map and geospatial collections, archives, and similar institutions.