Washington Map Society

MEETING SCHEDULE

Program sessions will be held in the Reading Room, Geography and Map Division, B level, Library of Congress, Madison Building, 101 Independence Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C. Please allow adequate time to pass through the security checkpoint at the Library's entrance in time to be seated for the start of the meeting. The Library is one block from METRO's Capital South Station (Blue and Orange Lines). The Chairman of the WMS Program Committee is Howard Lange, phone 703-532-1605.

On Saturday, May 3, 2008 we will have a field trip to Baltimore. In the morning, at 10:30 am, we will visit the Maryland Historical Society, 201 West Monument St., to view an exhibition that will include its original Mason-Dixon map. A curator will discuss the map of the "boundary between the provinces of Maryland and Pennsylvania," printed by Robert Kennedy in Philadelphia in 1768. The map documents a survey by astronomer Charles Mason and surveyor Jeremiah Dixon that took the two men took almost six years to complete. Commissioners for both colonies signed this print of Mason and Dixon's "true and exact" plan in 1768 and affixed their wax seals. (Three of them were later to sign the Declaration of Independence.) The exhibit will feature additional historic maps and documents recording the eighty-year dispute between Maryland and Pennsylvania, alongside samples of surveying instruments of the day. At 2:00 pm, we will visit the Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles St., just three blocks from the Historical Society, for a tour of Maps: Finding Our Place in the World. This is the most significant map exhibition in Baltimore since the great show more than 50 years ago. Organized by The Field Museum and the Newberry Library, this special exhibition will draw on the outstanding exhibitions that recently closed in Chicago. It will include some of the world's greatest cartographic treasures, not only maps made by great cartographers of the Middle Ages and the age of exploration, but also seldom-seen artifacts that broaden our knowledge of the almost universal human activity of map-making. Highlights include three maps by Leonardo da Vinci, J. R. R. Tolkien's map of Minas Tirith, and Thomas Jefferson's map of the proposed contours of the states of the Union. Our guide to the exhibition will be Will Noel, Curator of Manuscripts and Rare Books. Please register for one or both of these tours. Restaurants for lunch are convenient to the museums. There should be ample parking at the Maryland Historical Society. Group rates per person for the tours are $8 for the Walters and $3 ($2 for seniors) at the Maryland Historical Society. Sign up with Howard Lange at 703-532-1605.

Friday, May 16, 2008. The WMS Annual Dinner is at the Law Office of Jones Day, 51 Louisiana Ave NW, with a dramatic view of the US Capitol and Capitol Hill. Cocktails at 6:15 PM and dinner at 7 PM. President Bill Stanley will talk about James McNeill Whistler: Cartographer. A registration form is available online. For further information, contact Howard Lange 703-532-1605.

On Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 7:00 pm, WMS members are invited to a presentation by Prof. Kenneth Martis titled The History of the Election Map. Election district boundary maps emerged as early as the 1790s in the United States, but the first real election map probably appeared in France circa 1870. Prof. Martis will trace the emergence of statistical maps of U.S. presidential election results by counties in the 1880s, through intricate and artistic renderings of election mapping in Germany in the early 20th century, publication of the Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States in 1932, development of spatial statistical analysis and modeling in the 1950s and 60s, to the impact of Geographical Information Science today. Prof. Martis will draw illustrations and analysis from his forthcoming article in the multivolume History of Cartography. Kenneth C. Martis is a Professor of Geography at West Virginia University and is the first awardee of that institution's highest academic honor, Benedum Distinguished Scholar. He has taught at West Virginia for over thirty years. He is the author or co-author of six award winning books on the United States Congress and American politics, including "The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts: 1789-1983;" "The Historical Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections, 1788-1989;" and "The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress:1789-1989." The Library of Congress selected the political cartography from the latter work as the centerpiece of its main 1989 exhibition in celebration of the bicentennial of the United States Congress, "Tides of Party Politics: Two Centuries of Congressional Elections".

On October 18, 2008 members of the Society will make a field trip to the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, Winchester, Va. An exhibition entitled Jed Hotchkiss - Shenandoah Valley Mapmaker will feature about 60 maps and sketches by this important mapmaker. The exhibition will include manuscript maps from the Library of Congress and The Handley Regional Library, Winchester, as well as high quality digital images. Richard W. Stephenson (Library of Congress, retired), who is co-curator along with Robert Grogg (National Park Service, retired), will lead a tour of the exhibition beginning at 11:00 am. Following lunch in the tea room on the grounds, Mr. Stephenson will make an illustrated presentation, after which we will have a tour of the 18th century mansion built by Robert Wood, son of the surveyor and founder of Winchester, James Wood. The grounds of the museum, which includes the mansion, are most attractive. With the foliage in its full fall glory, this should be a delightful outing! Watch for details in future mailings.