1987 – 1988 Meetings

Date: September 17, 1987
Title: The Surly Surveyor: A Look at the Pre-Settlement Vegetation of Wisconsin through the Eyes of the Early Land Surveyors 1832-1866
Speaker: Rob Nurre, Department of Public Lands of the State of Wisconsin
Location: Room 180, The Newberry Library

Mr. Nurre will step into character to teach us about the pre-settlement vegetation of Wisconsin and the use of early surveyor’s notes in its determination.

Date: October 15, 1987
Title: Field Trip to the Regenstein Library, University of Chicago
Speaker: Chris Winters, Bibliographer for Geography, Anthropology and Maps at the Regenstein Library, University of Chicago
Location: The Regenstein Library, University of Chicago

Chris Winters introduces us to Chicago’s largest map collection. He will discuss the pleasures and pressures of managing a large university map library; and yes, he will have a few treasures to show us.

Date: November 19, 1987
Title: Did Homer Have a Map? New Observations in the Geography of the Odyssey
Speaker: Dr. Armin Wolf, Senior Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for European History, Frankfort, Germany
Location: Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library

We are very pleased that Dr. Armin Wolf, from the Max Planck Institute for European History in Frankfort, Germany, will be able to visit us during a very busy tour of North America.

Date: December 10, 1987
Title: Members’ Show-and-Tell
Speaker: Members of the Chicago Map Society
Location: Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library

Once again it is time for the members of the Society to present to us the greater or lesser treasures of their own collections. David Buisseret and Jim Akerman will also report on their current study of the 1637 atlas of France by Christophe Tassin. A dinner will follow the meeting.

Date: January 21, 1988
Title: Images of France: The Nation and its Frontiers in Early Atlases
Speaker: James Akerman, Assistant Curator of Maps, The Newberry Library
Location: Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library

By popular demand, Jim Akerman will expound upon his studies of the structure and political meaning of seventeenth-century French atlases.

Date: February 18, 1988
Title: A Place in the Sun: A Brief Survey of Gulf Coast Cartography
Speaker: Harry Stern, Antiquarian Map Dealer and Appraiser
Location: Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library

Date: March 17, 1988
Title: Elephants for Want of Towns: Another Look at Map Decoration
Speaker: Brian Harley, Professor of Geography, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
Location: Room 180, The Newberry Library

Dr. Hartley is co-editor (with David Woodward) of the multi-volume History of Cartography being published by the University of Chicago Press and is always an entertaining and provocative speaker.

Date: April 21, 1988
Title: Jacques Callot’s Map of the Siege of Breda (1625)
Speaker: Simone Zurawski, Professor of Art History, DePaul University
Location: Room 180, The Newberry Library

This elegant plan, relating the entire course of the siege of many months, is an important monument in the history of engraving. Dr. Zurawski’s study of its execution and the story it tells was aided by her examination of other plans of the siege in the Newberry’s map collection.

Date: May 19, 1988
Title: Early Years of the Great Lakes Survey
Speaker: Chris Baruth, Map Librarian, American Geographical Society, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
Location: Room 180, The Newberry Library

Chris Baruth will discuss the early years of the Great Lakes Survey.

Date: June 4, 1988
Title: Field Trip to Illinois State Museum exhibit, Measuring a Vision
Speaker: John Lamb, Professor of History, Lewis University
Location: Illinois State Museum, Lockport Gallery, Lockport, Ill.

The good folks at the Lockport Gallery will be our hosts for a special tour of the exhibit on the mapping and construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, Measuring a Vision.