To learn more about non-current maps
see Map History / History of
Cartography.
Meeting announcements can be found at
Cartography - Calendar of Meetings and
Events.
Click here for archive of
past exhibitions.
Indefinite - Bucharest
The Muzeul
National al Hartilor si Cartii Vechi [National Museum of Maps and Old
Books], Strada Londra nr. 39, is a unique presence in the
Romanian museum landscape. Its existence is due to the map-drawing
collection donated with generosity by the former Prime Minister and
his wife, Adrian and Daniela Nastase, who are the founders of this
culture house. Other maps came from gifts received by former
President Ion Iliescu and from the collections of some important
commercial banks. The entire collection totals more than 800 maps and
engravings, drawings, lithographs etc. as well as a few specific
objects to the museum theme; and is displayed in 16 rooms which
combine the scientific part with the artistic one.
Indefinite - Carson, California
A permanent exhibition
of antique maps has opened on the second floor of the California
State University Dominguez Hills University
Library, 1000 E. Victoria Street. Entitled Where Are You From?
the exhibition documents the vast information that be gleaned from
maps. Looking for New Granada? Since it is now the country of
Columbia you probably can't readily find it on MapQuest, although it
is represented on a map now on display in the library. Need to find
where Russian Tartary or "Hindoostan" was? You can find
them in the exhibition. With 15 maps dating from 1747 to 1946, the
exhibition covers the entire world. These maps show how the world was
viewed throughout the last 250 years and surprise the viewer with
accuracy as well as inaccuracy and whimsy. They invite praise for
their art and design, confusion when a familiar place is named
something else and serve as a gateway for critical thinking. The maps
are part of the Library's Archives and Special Collections Map
Collection. Additional maps are on display in the on the fifth floor.
The Library collaborated with the Promoting Excellence in Graduate
Studies Program to put the exhibition together. The maps can viewed
during regular library hours.
Indefinite - Jacksonville, Florida
The Lewis
Ansbacher Map Collection contains some 244 antiquarian maps
of Florida and Florida cities, North and South America, and the
world. It includes historical views and plates focusing on northern
Florida. Most of these maps are on permanent display in the Morris
Ansbacher Map Room on the fourth floor of the Main
Library, 303 N. Laura Street. Additional information
813-228-0097.
Indefinite - Kozani, Greece
Kozani
in the World of Maps is on display at the Municipal
Map Library housed in the recently restored Georgios
Lassanis Mansion at the center of the city. The historic Map
Library, with its roots in 17th century, keeps a small but important
collection of maps, atlases and geography books, mainly from 18th
century, referred to the period of Greek Enlightenment. For example,
a copy of the 1797 Rigas Velestinlis "Charta" as well as
the extremely rare 1800 Anthimos Gazis world map are kept there among
other maps and atlases which were never before put on public display.
Contact: 2461 50635 / 2461 50632
for additional information.
Indefinite – La Jolla, California
The
Map & Atlas Museum of La Jolla is
tucked into an office building at 7825 Fay Ave, Suite LL-A. The maps
are displayed on walls and in cases, arranged somewhat
chronologically and by themes. There’s a crude black and white
drawing of the world from 1472, a vibrant “Roads to Romance”
representation of Southern California circa 1958 and hundreds of
other maps from all over the world. Some were used in their day for
navigation, some for display, some for dreaming. There are maps that
show California as an island - a depiction of an almost mythological
paradise that persists, in the public consciousness, centuries later.
There is a map from 1617 that shows what is now Belgium and Holland
shaped like a lion - a projection of power and national pride. The
maps are a part of the Stone Map and Atlas Foundation, headed by
local businessman and philanthropist Michael Stone, who has been
collecting maps for 20 years. For additional information, including
hours the Museum is open, contact Michael
Stone or Tracy
Houdmann at (858) 551-1170.
Indefinite – La Rochelle, France
The
Musée
du Nouveau Monde [Museum of the New World], 10 Rue Fleuriau, is
housed in an eighteenth century mansion, the hotel Fleuriau, named
after the family who lived there from 1772 to 1974. The Museum
features numerous old maps of the Americas as well as sculptures,
paintings, drawings, furniture and decorative objects. These objects
are evidence of the triangular trade and slavery with the Americas,
through which the city of La Rochelle, like others, amassed
considerable wealth. Part of the museum is devoted to the French
conquest of the New World, especially in Canada, while evoking the
Old West and Native Americans.
Indefinite – Mexico City
Museo
Nacional de la Cartografía,
at Avenida Observatorio No. 94, corner of Periférico Tacubaya,
D.F., C.P. 11870, Delegación Miguel Hidalgo, features exhibits
about the general history of mapping of Mexico. Codices, atlases,
navigational charts, topographic plans, and instruments used to make
geodesic and topographical measurements are on display.
Indefinite – Montreal
History
and Memory showcases
almost 500 artifacts, images, archival documents, and early maps from
the Stewart Museum’s
vast collection showing the influence of European civilizations in
New France and North America. The planispheres, star charts and maps
of North and South America and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans amply
illustrate the expanding geographic knowledge gained by Europeans as
they made their way across continents, that until then, had remained
terra incognita. Added to these artefacts is a major collection of
globes and navigation instruments: mariner’s compass, traverse
board, nocturnal, astrolabe, sundial, and maritime hourglass from the
18th century. The Stewart Museum is located at the British military
depot on St. Helen's Island, Parc Jean-Drapeau.
Indefinite - Tampa, Florida
Four
Hundred Years of Florida Maps 1513 to 1913 features
twenty-seven items selected from the J. Thomas and Lavinia W.
Touchton Collection of Florida Cartography at The
Tampa Bay History Center, 801 Old Water Street. These maps and
charts represent some of the "Florida" map-makers visions
that have been created over the past 400 years.
Indefinite - Vienna
The Globe
Museum of the Austrian National Library, Palais Mollard,
Herrengasse 9, is the world's only institution devoted to the study
of globes and related instruments like armillary spheres and
planetariums. On display in eight rooms are many of the more than 460
globes owned by the Museum. Additionally there is a bilingual (German
and English) multimedia presentation about globe history, globe
making, and the use of globes. Additional information
from Tel.: (+43 1) 534 10-710 or Fax: (+43 1) 534 10-319.
Indefinite - Washington
Exploring
the Early Americas is an exhibition featuring the 1507
Waldseemüller "World Map," the first map to use the
name America; and rotating items from the Jay
I. Kislak Collection, which includes rare books, manuscripts,
historic documents, maps and art of the Americas. Also on display is
Waldseemüller's "Carta Marina" or Navigators' Chart;
and the Schöner Sammelbund, a portfolio that contained two world
maps and other cartographic materials. The exhibition is in the
Northwest Gallery of the Jefferson
Building, Library of
Congress. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
October 2010 – 2012? - Newton, Massachusetts
Historic
Newton's Jackson Homestead and Museum, 527 Washington Street, has
opened its newest exhibit, Mapping
A New Town: 1714-1874. The exhibit traces the evolution of
map development in the city. Newton's earliest map, begun in 1714,
shows details that are not clearly understood, but over time, the
maps become more descriptive and show elements of the physical
landscape that give shape and character to the emerging town. With
each map and in each era, there is a unique sense of place as Newton
evolves from a rural farming community bounded by the Charles River
to a lively suburb, stimulated by the opening of the first steam
railroad in Massachusetts, and, by 1874, a new political entity
celebrated as the "Garden City" of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts. Newton takes shape on rare maps and is seen in prints,
photographs, and a fine landscape painting, "The Great Curve on
the Boston and Worcester Railroad at Newton Lower Falls," is on
loan from a private collection. The Jackson Homestead and Museum,
part of Historic Newton, is open from Tuesday to Friday from 11 am to
5 pm, and on Saturday and Sunday from 12 noon to 5 pm. For more
information call 617-796-1450.
December 2, 2010 - February 25, 2012 – Cracow
The
Cracow
Saltworks Museum Wieliczka has an exhibition "Mining
Cartography." The exhibition introduces the fascinating world of
historic cartography including the presentation of valuable and
unique maps of Martin Germanus, engraved by William Hondius in 1645;
and the oldest county plan Bochnia of 1746. In contrast, there is a
display of contemporary maps developed and plotted using computer
techniques. Additionally, there are plans of coal mines, displays of
surveying equipment, and instruments used to draw maps.
March 26, 2011 – August 2012 – Williamsburg
More
than Meets the Eye: Maps and Prints of Early America is at the
DeWitt
Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, 326 West Francis Street.
The exhibition features 35 maps, portraits, and other graphic images
that invite the viewer to look more deeply into the subtle messages
delivered by artisans depicting America. In addition to objects from
the Colonial Williamsburg collections, the exhibition includes an
outstanding documentary source for the 1920s restoration of the
historic town—the “Frenchman’s” map, loaned
by the College of William and Mary. The Connecticut Historical
Society has also kindly agreed to loan their copy of Abel Buell’s
"A New and correct Map of the United States of America,”
the first map of the thirteen states to be published after the
Congress of the Confederation ratified the treaty on January 14,
1784. Two programs in conjunction with the exhibit "Focus on
Maps" and "Maps and Migration" will offer a closer
look at specific types of maps. "Focus on Maps" will
feature rare and important 17th and 18th century American maps. That
program will be offered at 2:15 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on Mondays from
April 4-June 6. "Maps and Migration" will show
transatlantic migration routes in British North America during a
guided tour of the 17th and 18th century maps. That tour will be held
at 4 p.m. on Thursdays May 5-June 9.
May 31, 2011 – May 31, 2012 – Washington
When
Earth is viewed from space, cloud formations, coastlines, mountain
ranges, islands, deltas, glaciers and rivers take on patterns
resembling abstract art—with striking textures and brilliant
colors. These images can be seen in a new exhibit, Earth
as Art, in the
exhibition hall outside the Geography
and Map Reading Room, Library of Congress, on the basement level
of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E. The exhibit
is free and open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday
through Saturday. The 40 award-winning Landsat satellite images will
become a part of the permanent collection of the Library’s
Geography and Map Division (G&M). In 2006, G&M hosted an
earlier “Earth as Art” exhibit and those images also
became a part of the Library’s permanent collection. Landsat
satellites for nearly 40 years have captured images of the Earth’s
surface, providing data for applications in business, science,
education, government and national security. The satellites monitor
important natural processes and human land use such as vegetation
growth, deforestation, agriculture, coastal and river erosion, snow
accumulation, fresh-water reservoir replenishment and urbanization.
The U.S. Geological Survey selected images for the exhibit based on
their aesthetic appeal rather than their scientific value.
August 22, 2011 - May 30, 2012 – Tucson
Becoming
Arizona: The Valentine State is an exhibit in celebration of
100 years of Arizona statehood. On February 14, 1912, Arizona became
the 48th state, and the last of the contiguous states, to join the
Union. Known as the “Valentine State,” Arizona’s
path to statehood was marked by a pioneering spirit, intermittent
achievement and political debate. Becoming Arizona: The Valentine
State recreates the colorful story of Arizona’s path to
statehood. This year-long exhibition is on display in the gallery at
Special Collections,
1510 E. University Blvd. Becoming Arizona features a selection
of maps, books, photographs, letters, scrapbooks and unique items
selected from Special Collections’ extensive Southwest and
Borderlands holdings. The exhibit documents the experiences and
stories that defined the region during the colonial period,
territorial times and the years leading up to 1912 statehood.
Additional information from Chrystal
Carpenter.
September 10, 2011 - February 17, 2012 - Birmingham,
Alabama
Mapping
Birmingham charts the growth – and aspirations behind
that growth – of Birmingham from its founding to present day.
The exhibition can be seen at Vulcan
Park and Museum, 1701 Valley View Drive. The exhibition’s
artifacts, maps of the city depicting key points in its history,
offer glimpses into Birmingham’s past and its vision for the
future. Maps come from Birmingham Public Library archives depict the
development of the communities of Mountain Brook and Corey. Frederick
Law Olmsted’s vision of a unified park system for Birmingham is
depicted through a reproduction of his groundbreaking 1925 study.
Visitors also encounter the latest plans for the Birmingham metro
area. Vulcan Park and Museum collaborated with a host of local
architecture firms and architecturally minded groups to procure
designs for Park Place, SoHo, and Mt. Laurel, and to offer glimpses
of yet-to-be-realized plans for Birmingham’s system of parks
and neighborhoods, and for revitalized historic districts.
September 30, 2011 - January 8, 2012 – Gent
In
the early twelfth century Lambert, Canon of Saint-Omer (now in French
Flanders), compiled an encyclopaedia of the knowledge of his
predecessors. In that book entitled Liber Floridus he
describes the world and the cosmos, and man’s life within that
greater whole. His own contribution was mainly in the fields of
cosmography, geography and cartography. Lambert illustrated his
findings with colourful miniatures which help make this medieval
encyclopaedia a truly superb piece of work. He was drawing maps of
the world four centuries before cartography became a discipline in
its own right. A world-famous manuscript, the Liber Floridus
is recognized by the Flemish Community as a masterpiece. It derives
from St Bavo’s Abbey in Ghent and is now part of Ghent
University Library’s collection. In the exhibition, Liber
Floridus. Cartography around 1100, at STAM
- Ghent City Museum, Godshuizenlaan 2, scientific insights into
this mediaeval masterpiece take the form of a fascinating story.
Thanks to precious illuminated manuscripts from the late-eighth to
the twelfth centuries loaned by institutions in Belgium and abroad,
the Liber Floridus can be shown alongside its sources and
works by Lambert’s contemporaries.
October 1, 2011 - March 9, 2012 – Auckland
You
Are Here: Mapping Auckland shows Auckland as a city that has
been planned, designed and drawn many times over. See maps from the
rich, vast collection in Auckland Museum’s library and plot
your own story of the city on the interactive map. What did Auckland
look like on paper 70 or even 170 years ago? How did early
Aucklanders depict the space around them? And what stories do these
maps have to tell? Created by Auckland Museum, The University of
Auckland and Unitec, this exhibition will give you a new perspective
on your city. Now open in the Auckland
Museum, Parnell, Pictorial Gallery (2nd floor); Open daily, 10am
– 5pm.
October 3, 2011 - February 15, 2012 - Cambridge,
Massachusetts
Canals
represent major achievements of civil engineering, but they often
originated in schemes that were initially derided as the quixotic
visions of impractical dreamers. In many cases, the major proponents
of canals were motivated as much by utilitarian concerns as by an
idealistic quest to dissolve barriers between different regions,
cultures, and bodies of water. Visions
and Revisions: The Cartographic Construction of Canals explores
the cartographic trail left by some of the most ambitious of these
projects, including China’s Grand Canal, the Erie Canal, the
Suez Canal, and the Panama Canal. It will examine the physical,
political, and ideological obstacles that had to be overcome before
these visions could be realized. In many cases, the initial plans
were drastically revised, new solutions were improvised, or the
entire enterprise was postponed for another generation of dreamers.
Exhibit is in Map Gallery Hall, Pusey
Library, Harvard University. For further information, contact
Joseph Garver at
617-496-3670.
October 4, 2011 – April 28, 2012 – Portland,
Maine
The Osher
Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, corner
of Forest Avenue and Bedford Street, newest exhibition is The
Grand Tour and the Development of Tourism: 1600 to 1900"
on October 4, 2011. The exhibit traces the “grand tour”
as a rite of passage for the British gentry from its beginnings to
the early modern era, when railroad and steamships introduced mass
tourism as we experience it today. Exhibition will be open to the
public Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm.
October 12, 2011 - February 10, 2012 - Tempe, Arizona
Changing
Boundaries: Historic Maps of the U.S.-Mexico Border is an
exhibit of maps that illustrate how the present U.S.-Mexico border
region has evolved over the past four centuries. It will be on
display at Arizona State University, School
of Transborder Studies, 1120 S. Cady Mall. The event is free and
open to the public. The maps on display are from the collection of
Simon Burrow, who curates the exhibit. Burrow has been acquiring
items in his collection from map and used book dealers around the
world over a span of 25 years. The maps, which date as early as 1597,
show the explorations, claims, counter claims and conquests that
resulted in the current borderline. There are examples of how
California was depicted as an island populated by Amazons and maps
that show where ancient and mythical cities were thought to be, as
well as treasure maps that would allegedly lead to Cibola – the
Seven Cities of Gold. The exhibit moves to "Fronteras
Cambiantes" - CECUT,
Tijuana Cultural Center from February 24, 2012 - May 30, 2012.
October 16, 2011 - September 8, 2013 – Rotterdam
How
do you find your way on the open sea? You can forget about it if you
do not have a proper map of the world. However, making such a map is
a quite complex process. Try creating a good representation of a
spherical shape like the Earth on a flat world map. The solution
found by the 16th century cartographer Mercator became world-famous
because sailors were able to plot their courses on nautical charts
using a straight line for the first time. Discover everything about
navigation at sea – both with and without Mercator’s map
- at the family exhibition Steady
as she goes - Sailing by Mercator's map at the Maritime
Museum Rotterdam, Leuvehaven 1. Historical maps and shipmodels
will help you, but you will also be working with globes, binoculars,
compasses, the stars and modern navigation equipment such as
satellites and GPS. The only remaining copy of Mercator’s world
map in atlas format and his recently restored globe can also be
admired at the exhibition.
October 22, 2011 – March 30, 2012 - Topeka, Kansas
The
Great Overland
station, 701 N. Kansas Avenue, was once an active rail station,
but since 2004 the 80 year old structure has served as a museum
dedicated to railroad heritage. The
People's Kind of Railroad: The Santa Fe, the City, the State, and the
Nation will feature over 80 photographs, as well as a wide
variety of maps, pictures and artifacts.
November 8, 2011 – November 4, 2012 - Los Angeles
Tracing
the growth of Los Angeles, the nation’s second largest city, is
the topic of the new exhibit, As
the City Grew: Historical Maps of Los Angeles, on display at
the Central Library, First
Floor Galleries, 630 W. Fifth St., downtown. The 34 historical maps
in the exhibition are from the Los Angeles Public Library’s
100-year-old map collection, which contains more than 100,000 items
and represents local, national and international cartography. It is
one of the largest collections owned by a public library in the U.S.
and is noted for materials relating to Los Angeles and the West
including historical topographical maps, road maps, street guides,
and fire insurance atlases.
December 1, 2011 - Spring 2012 - Helena, Montana
Mapping
Montana: Two Centuries of Cartography can be seen at Montana
Historical Society, 225 North Roberts, Lobby Gallery. In December
1965 the Montana Historical Society marked the centennial of the
creation of Montana’s first map, drawn by preeminent
cartographer and surveyor, Walter W. de Lacy, with an exhibit of de
Lacy’s maps. For the first time since 1965 the Historical
Society is displaying a selection of the institution’s massive
collection of over 10,000 maps. This unique collaboration between the
Historical Society’s Research Center and the Museum will tell
the story of Montana’s past from early exploration to the
Indian wars to the arrival of the railroad and through the
development of Montana’s industries of mining, cattle ranching,
farming, and tourism. The exhibit will also document the creation of
towns and cities, national parks and forests, and highways.
December 3, 2011 - February 19, 2012 - Sydney
A new
exhibition of historic charts at the State
Library of NSW revisits how explorers put Antarctica on the map.
On the 6 February 1772, Captain James Cook sat down to plan his
second voyage south. He had been commissioned by Britain's Royal
Society to discover the vast, largely mysterious landmass thought to
exist at the bottom of the world. He sketched a rough map of the
Southern Hemisphere and marked the routes sailed by others before him
- French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville, who circumnavigated
the globe in 1766-69, and Abel Tasman, who skirted Australia's
southern shores more than 100 years earlier. Then he marked in yellow
ink the route he would take. This voyage would prove the mysterious
'Terra Incognita' was neither as big nor as habitable as previously
thought. Cook's chart is one of 120 rare maps on display at the State
Library of NSW in Sydney to mark the centenary of the
Australasian Antarctic Expedition. The exhibition Finding
Antarctica: Mapping the Last Continent tells the story of the
gradual discovery, exploration and charting of this unknown region
from the 15th century through to the present day.
December 6, 2011 - April 15, 2012 - New York
The
Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan, 1811-2011
celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Commissioners’ Plan of
1811, the foundational document that established Manhattan’s
famous street grid. Featuring an original hand-drawn map of New
York's planned streets and avenues prepared by the Commission in
1811, as well as other rare historic maps, photographs and prints of
the evolution of the city's streets, and original manuscripts and
publications that document the city’s physical growth, the
exhibition examines the grid’s initial design, implementation,
and evolution. The Greatest Grid traces the enduring influence
of the 1811 plan as the grid has become a defining feature of the
city, shaping its institutions and public life. The exhibition can be
seen at Museum of the City of New
York, 1220 Fifth Avenue. The exhibit is accompanied by a book of
the same name, edited by Hilary Ballon of NYU, who also curated the
exhibition, and co-published by the Museum and Columbia University
Press.
December 9, 2011 - January 15, 2012 - Hong Kong
Precious
ancient rare
books and special collections from the National Library of
China, which has the world's largest collection of Chinese documents,
will be on display at the Exhibition Gallery of the Hong
Kong Central Library, 66 Causeway Road, Causeway Bay. The 42
exhibits on display are some of the precious treasures in the
National Library of China's vast holdings. They consist of "shanben"
(rare books), Dunhuang documents, ancient maps and atlases,
epigraphical and pictorial rubbings and texts and illustrations from
China's ethnic minorities, and feature a wide spectrum of disciplines
ranging from religion, literature, geography and medicine to art and
technology of ancient China. Ancient Chinese cartography has a long
history. The earliest mention of a Chinese city map dates back to the
11th century BC during the early years of the Western Zhou dynasty.
In ancient China, maps functioned as the territorial emblems of a
state and provided concrete proof of territorial rights.
January 6-31, 2012 - Casper, Wyoming
The National
Historic Trails Interpretive Center, 1501 North Poplar Street, is
presenting a temporary exhibit on historic maps of the United States,
United States territories in the west, and the state of Wyoming. The
Jack
Rosenthal map collection will be displayed in the Edna
Kennell Heritage Gallery. The exhibit includes 37 original maps that
date from 1853 to 1912. The collection is on loan from the Nicolaysen
Art Museum in Casper. For more information, contact the Center at
(307) 261-7780.
January 6, 2012 - May 4, 2012 - Santa Fe
Between
the Lines: Culture and Cartography on the Road to Statehood, an
exhibition of thirty maps commemorating the centennial of New Mexico
statehood, is located in the State
Capitol building, right outside the governor’s office in
the Governor's Gallery. The maps date from 1564 to 2011 with more
than half of them detailing the history and culture of the state in
the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The maps are drawn from the
holdings of the Fray Angélico Chávez History Library of
the Palace of Governors of the The New Mexico History Museum and
private collections across New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexico. The
exhibition is curated by Dr. Tomas Jaehn, Director of the Fray
Angélico Chávez History Library, and Dr. Dennis
Reinhartz, Emeritus Professor of History at The University of Texas
at Arlington, among others.
January 6, 2012 - March 28, 2012 - Tucson, Arizona
A new
exhibit, Mapping
Arizona: From Mexican Territory to U.S. State, offers a
visual illustration of Arizona’s path to statehood as
documented through historical maps of the region. The exhibit, on
display in the University
of Arizona Main Library, 1510 E. University Blvd, is one of
several exhibits, lectures and events hosted by the University
Libraries in celebration of the state’s Centennial. In addition
to an array of historical maps, “Mapping Arizona” also
includes books and unique documents selected from Special Collections
extensive holdings. These additional materials offer insight into the
stories that accompany the lines, boundaries, and borders within the
maps.
January 12, 2012 - April 27, 2012 – Leiden
Leiden
University organizes the exhibition Topographic
Memory. Treasures from the collection of Dutch topography.
Town profiles and drawings of prominent buildings like, monasteries,
castles, city gates and bridges are not only beautiful to look at,
but can also help to reconstruct the past. The exhibit can be seen in
the University
Library at Witte Singel 27.
January 12, 2012 - June 29, 2012 – Singapore
The
Raffles Town Plan depicting the urban plan of Singapore according to
the instructions of Sir Stamford Raffles, a video on unusual street
names, legal documents and maps are among the items featured in an
exhibition at the National Library,
100 Victoria Street. The Stories
Behind Singapore Streets exhibition, which traces street
naming conventions from the pre-colonial era to modern Singapore,
aims to create a greater awareness of the Republic's early history,
nation-building process and multicultural heritage. In total, more
than 100 street names are featured, such as those during the 14th and
15th century, pre-Raffles Singapore and the post-colonial period
after Singapore's independence in 1965. Other highlights include the
National Library's legal documents and maps from the Koh Seow Chuan
collection, PictureSG1's photographs of street scenes of early
Singapore from the Lee Kip Lin collection, and a video on 10 unusual
street names such as Kay Poh Road, Rotan Lane and One Tree Hill.
January 17, 2012 – April 8, 2012 – Evanston,
Illinois
The Mary
and Leigh Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Drive, presents
Prints and the Pursuit of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe an
exhibition that examines how celebrated Northern Renaissance artists
contributed to the scientific discoveries of the 16th century. This
exhibition and the accompanying catalogue offer a new perspective on
the collaboration between artists and scientists: the project
challenges the perception of artists as illustrators in the service
of scientists, and examines how their printmaking skills were useful
to scientists in their investigations. Artists’ early printed
images served as effective research tools, not only functioning as
descriptive illustrations, but also operating as active agents in the
creation and dissemination of knowledge. Taking into consideration
prints, books, maps, and such scientific instruments as sundials,
globes, astrolabes, and armillary spheres, this project looks at
relationships between their producers and their production, as well
as between the objects themselves. Previously this exhibit was at the
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur
M. Sackler Museum.
January 18, 2012 - February 17, 2012 – Paris
La
France en relief - From Louis XIV to Napoléon III can
be seen at the Grand
Palais, Nef du Grand Palais, Entrée principale, Avenue
Winston-Churchill. Relief maps - models of fortified tows –
were produced for military purposes from the reign of Louis XIV to
the end of 19th century. Theses objects, of an incredible quality and
size, shed light on a range of historical phenomena, including the
development and setting of borders, siege warfare and fortifications,
map-making, and the transformation of the town planning and the
landscape.
January 20-31, 2012 – Hanoi
The city of Ha Noi
evolved quickly from the period of French colonisation, from an
oriental-style urban centre to a modern city. Two French historians
and doctors, Philippe Le Failler and Olivier Tessier from the Ha
Noi-based French school of the Far East (Le Ecole Francaise
d'Extreme-orient), selected old photos, maps, and drawings of Ha Noi
from 1873-1945 which are now on display at a new exhibition in the
capital. The exhibition entitled Mot So Hinh Anh Tieu Bieu Ve Ha
Noi Giai Doan 1873-1945 [Ha Noi Views and Prospects for the Period
1873-1945] is held at the Thang Long-Ha Noi Heritage preservation
Centre, No 9 Hoang Dieu Street. The exhibition features more than 80
panels of photos, documents, and drawings of Ha Noi from 1873, when
French forces started to occupy the city, to the August 1945
Revolution and the country's independence.
January 20, 2012 - April 29, 2012 - Topeka, Kansas
The
Kansas Historical Society announced that the Kansas
Museum of History will display the world’s earliest printed
map as part of its new temporary exhibit, You
Are Here: Putting Kansas on the Map. The Kansas Museum of
History is open 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesday – Saturday and 1
– 5 p.m. Sunday. The Museum is located at 6425 SW 6th Avenue,
Topeka. Admission fee is $8 adults, $6 students. A highlight of this
exhibit is the world’s earliest map, a “T-in-O”
style map of the world, represented as an “O” with a “T”
inside. The “T” divides three land masses: Europe, Asia,
and Africa. This map is on loan from the Kenneth Spencer Research
Library, University of Kansas. An 1823 map by explorer Major Stephen
Long shows the plains labeled as the “Great Desert.” This
map led to the perception that Kansas was not habitable. It is on
loan from Special Collections and University Archives, Wichita State
University Libraries. Also in the exhibit are the best maps from our
collections, including a 1560 map of the New World by German
cartographer Sebastian Münster. It is the first map to show the
North and South American continents as separate from the rest of the
world. Other exploration- and settlement-themed items in this exhibit
include a map showing Pottawatomie land allotments, a map of Indian
reserves in 1854, a topographical map of the Oregon Trail, an 1880s
map showing places to water cattle in Gove County, and Union Pacific
land grant maps. Other maps in the exhibit explore town development
and tourism, including an imaginative map of Ness City showing water
canals and early 1900s travel maps.
January 24, 2012 - February 24, 2012 - Mississauga,
Ontario
Presented in partnership with the Peel Heritage
Complex, Heritage
Mississauga, 1921 Dundas St. W., is delighted to host the A
Call to Arms: The War of 1812 & Historic Mississauga
traveling exhibit from the Archives of Ontario. The Archives of
Ontario’s War of 1812 traveling exhibit sheds light on
formative events in the history of Ontario. The War of 1812 had
long-term effects on the economic, social and political life of the
province. This exhibit is a history resource that showcases some of
the personalities and locations that played a role in the war, and
explores the events of that conflict using the correspondence and
diaries of those who lived it. Their words are illustrated with
artwork, maps and photographs from the holdings of the Archives, many
being made widely available for the first time. This free exhibit is
open from Tuesday to Friday, 9am-5pm, and 8pm on most Tuesdays. For
more information, please contact
Heritage Mississauga at 905-828-8411 ext.29.
February 1, 2012 – December 31, 2012 – Plymouth,
Massachusetts
Written,
Printed and Drawn: Rarities from Plymouth's Past is a special
exhibition of the archival documents, rare books and maps from the
collections of Pilgrim Hall
Museum, 75 Court St. Given the fragile nature of many pieces,
they will only be displayed for a term of three and a half months
before being replaced by other documents, rare books and maps. This
is done for preservation purposes (reducing exposure to light) and to
show some of the highlights from the library and archives
collections. Over the course of the exhibit, 18 documents, five maps
and 15 rare books will be displayed. For information call
508-746-1620. Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. seven days a week.
February 15, 2012 – September 15, 2012 - Astoria,
Oregon
An exhibition titled Envisioning
the World: The First Printed Maps, 1472-1700 can be seen at
Columbia River Maritime Museum,
1792 Marine Drive. The exhibition will feature approximately 30 rare
world maps drawn from the collection of Henry Wendt, and will explore
the major trends in intellectual history from the early Renaissance
through the scientific era of the Enlightenment. Through the language
of cartography, the maps in the exhibition illustrate the way in
which scientists, mathematicians, explorers and cartographers came to
grips with the shape, size and nature of the Earth as a whole and its
place in the universe. Highlighted in the exhibition are the
important contributions to this evolving cosmography of: Ptolemy (c.
90-168 ); Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543); Galileo Galilei
(1564-1642); Johannes Kepler (1571-1630); and Edmond Halley
(1656-1742). Works featured in the exhibition include: the first
printed map (1472), a schematic concept of the continents in the form
of a "T" encircled by an "O" of ocean; the first
printed road map (1598), showing the cursus publicus, the postal
system of the Roman Empire, in eight sections totaling 14 linear
feet; highly decorative exemplars from the golden age of Dutch
mapmaking (17th century); and elaborate hand-colored celestial views
(1700), representing the constellations with figures from Greek
mythology. A concurrent exhibition, Mapping
the Pacific Coast: Coronado to Lewis and Clark. The Quivira
Collection, is a world class exhibition showcasing 45
magnificent maps, books and illustrations, dated 1544 through 1802,
of the west coast of North America. It invites viewers on a voyage of
exploration from the first tentative probing by European explorers
through Thomas Jefferson’s commission of the Corps of
Discovery.
February 22, 2012 – April 28, 2012 – New York
The
American Civil War is one of the defining events in American history.
To commemorate its 150th anniversary, the Norman
B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library created the
exhibition Torn
in Two: the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War. This
multimedia display takes a geographic and cartographic approach to
exploring and illuminating the causes of the conflict, the conduct of
the war and how the war was remembered in later years. It will
showcase 50 historic maps interwoven with 40 photographs, paintings,
prints, diaries, political cartoons, music and press of the period.
The exhibit can be seen at the Grolier
Club, 47 East 60th Street. The exhibit will be open to the public
free of charge, Monday - Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. A fully
illustrated, 152-page exhibition catalog is available for US $35.00;
for information about purchasing a copy, send inquiries to
maps@bpl.org. The exhibit will move
to the Osher Map Library,
Portland, Maine, April 1-August 30, 2013.
February 24, 2012 – May 27, 2012 - London
To
mark the 500th anniversary of the birth of Gerhard Mercator
(1512-94), Treasures Display:
Gerhard Mercator: Mapping Britain small display
will feature some of the celebrated cartographer's most
groundbreaking work including the first 'Atlas', one of his only
surviving manuscript maps, and maps and letters demonstrating his
influence upon the early maping of Great Britain. Free in the Sir
John Ritblat Gallery, British Library,
96 Euston Road.
February 24, 2012 – May 30, 2012 - Tijuana
Changing
Boundaries: Historic Maps of the U.S.-Mexico Border is an
exhibit of maps that illustrate how the present U.S.-Mexico border
region has evolved over the past four centuries. It will be on
display at "Fronteras Cambiantes" - CECUT,
Tijuana Cultural Center, Paseo de los Héroes No. 9350, Zona
Urbana Río. The maps on display are from the collection of
Simon Burrow, who curates the exhibit. Burrow has been acquiring
items in his collection from map and used book dealers around the
world over a span of 25 years. The maps, which date as early as 1597,
show the explorations, claims, counter claims and conquests that
resulted in the current borderline. There are examples of how
California was depicted as an island populated by Amazons and maps
that show where ancient and mythical cities were thought to be, as
well as treasure maps that would allegedly lead to Cibola – the
Seven Cities of Gold.
March 5, 2012 – December 2, 2012 – Duisburg
The
Kultur- und
Stadthistorisches Museum, Johannes-Corputius-Platz 1, will have a
specail exhibition on honor of the 500th birthday of Gerhard
Mercator. Featured will be globes and a selection of maps and
atlases by Gerhard Mercator, who was born in 1512 in Rupelmonde and
lived in Duisburg from 1552.
March 25, 2012 - June 17, 2012 – Antwerp
In
honor of the 500th anniversary of Gerard Mercator (1512-1594), the
Museum
Plantin-Moretus/Prentenkabinet, Vrijdagmarkt 22-23, has an
exhibit Mercator:
Reizen in het onbekende [Mercator: Exploring New Horizons].
The exhibition illustrates the fascinating interaction between travel
behavior and the development of cartography by means of travel
reports, books, letters, maps and atlases, scientific instruments and
prints. The worldview of the Europeans in the 16th and 17th century
significantly expanded and opened a new world. Explorers, traders and
diplomats write down their travel experiences in journals and
reports. Travel literature is an important source of information for
the mapping industry, which is growing fast.
September 13, 2012 – November 5, 2012 – Paris
The
Bibliothèque
nationale de France / Inha, Galerie Colbert 2 rue Vivienne, will
have an exhibition of Maps and Plans of Algeria from its
collection. For additional information contact cartes.plans@bnf.fr.
mid-October 2012 – mid-January 2013 – Paris
An
exhibition
on Portolan charts from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century will
be at the Bibliothèque
nationale de France, François-Mitterrand site. For
additional information contact cartes.plans@bnf.fr.
February 21, 2013 - April 26, 2013 – Annapolis
An
exhibition titled Envisioning
the World: The First Printed Maps, 1472-1700 can be seen at
Elizabeth
Myers Mitchell Gallery, St. Johns College, 60 College Avenue,
Mellon Hall. The exhibition will feature approximately 30 rare world
maps drawn from the collection of Henry Wendt, and will explore the
major trends in intellectual history from the early Renaissance
through the scientific era of the Enlightenment. Through the language
of cartography, the maps in the exhibition illustrate the way in
which scientists, mathematicians, explorers and cartographers came to
grips with the shape, size and nature of the Earth as a whole and its
place in the universe. Highlighted in the exhibition are the
important contributions to this evolving cosmography of: Ptolemy (c.
90-168 ); Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543); Galileo Galilei
(1564-1642); Johannes Kepler (1571-1630); and Edmond Halley
(1656-1742). Works featured in the exhibition include: the first
printed map (1472), a schematic concept of the continents in the form
of a "T" encircled by an "O" of ocean; the first
printed road map (1598), showing the cursus publicus, the postal
system of the Roman Empire, in eight sections totaling 14 linear
feet; highly decorative exemplars from the golden age of Dutch
mapmaking (17th century); and elaborate hand-colored celestial views
(1700), representing the constellations with figures from Greek
mythology.
April 1, 2013 – August 30, 2013 – Portland,
Maine
The American Civil War is one of the defining events in
American history. To commemorate its 150th anniversary, the Norman
B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library created the
exhibition Torn
in Two: the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War. This
multimedia display takes a geographic and cartographic approach to
exploring and illuminating the causes of the conflict, the conduct of
the war and how the war was remembered in later years. It will
showcase 50 historic maps interwoven with 40 photographs, paintings,
prints, diaries, political cartoons, music and press of the period.
The exhibit can be seen at the Osher
Map Library, 314 Forest Avenue. A fully illustrated, 152-page
exhibition catalog is available for US $35.00; for information about
purchasing a copy, send inquiries to maps@bpl.org.