Date: September 20, 1995
Title: Centennia
Speaker: Frank Reed, President, Clockwork Software Company
Location: Towner Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
What did the political map of Europe look like in 1427? Where exactly was the Mark of Berg, anyway? A host of historical-geographical questions like these can be answered by Centennia, an automated historical atlas. Our speaker will be Frank Reed, president of Clockwork Software Company and developer of Centennia. Mr. Reed will discuss the challenges and opportunities of computerized atlas production and will demonstrate the operation of the program, which will generate full-color maps of Europe for any period from 1000 A.D. to the present.
Date: October 17, 1995
Title: Cartomania: Collecting Unusual Cartofacts
Speaker: Sig Feller, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Location: Towner Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
Sig publishes the lively and stimulating the newsletter Cartomania, a treasure-trove of news and notes about, and illustrations of, maps on postcards, placemats, in travel guides, on in-flight videos, etc., etc. Among its contributors are such esteemed cartographers and historians as Hans J. Luft, Ian Kartenfreund, and Zeroczes Alott. Join us as we learn more about the world of the “Cartofact.”
Date: November 15, 1995
Title: Three Hundred Years of Unpredictable Atlases, From Ortelius to S. A. Mitchell, Jr.
Speaker: Roger Baskes
Location: Towner Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
Every map collector has had the experience of purchasing a map, then trying to establish the atlas from which it came. Earlier states of the map will be from earlier editions of the atlas, right? Not necessarily, as member Roger Baskes will explain in “Three Hundred Years of Unpredictable Atlases, From Ortelius to S. A. Mitchell, Jr.” Roger will illustrate some of the maddening complexities of atlas publishing and the constantly changing maps we can expect to find between the covers of atlases from the 1570s to the 1870s, largely using examples from his own collection.
Date: December 13, 1995
Title: Maps of the Holy Lands
Speaker: Ken Nebenzahl
Location: Towner Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
For centuries, a small region in the Middle East has exercised an extraordinary attraction to adherents of three major faiths. Cartographers have shared in this fascination and it is remarkable that many great map makers (including Gerard Mercator) launched their careers with a map of the Holy Lands. Ken Nebenzahl, doyen of American map antiquarians, will share with us some of this history in his richly illustrated talk. Join us for the usual fare and distinctive hors d’oeuvres as we convene this special holiday meeting.
Date: January 18, 1996
Title: The Cartographic Revolution
Speaker: Robert Karrow, Jr. Curator of Maps, The Newberry Library
Location: Towner Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
Mapping was a most uncommon activity in the Middle Ages. The period from about 1450 to 1600 saw an enormous increase in the number of maps in the world, an increase that cannot be explained solely by the multiplying powers of the printing press. Bob Karrow, the Newberry’s Curator of Maps, will discuss this revolutionary change in the numbers of maps produced, the kinds of areas mapped, and the types of maps made.
Date: February 15, 1996
Title: In-Car Navigation Systems: The Future is Here!
Speaker: W. Michael Quane, Research Analyst, Navigation Technologies, Rosemont, Ill.
Location: Towner Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
Ever since the automobile road map was invented, people have been trying to figure out a substitute. Twenty years ago, you might have read in Popular Science about how, “in the future,” computers in your car would do the navigating for you. This dream machine is now up and running, available in some 1996 cars. Mike Quane, a Research Analyst at Navigation Technologies in Rosemont, will explain the new technology, which uses Global Positioning Satellites, and demonstrate its use (no folding required).
Date: March 14, 1996
Title: Land-Cover Mapping Using the Imaging Radar aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor
Speaker: Kathleen Bergen, School of Natural Resources, University of Michigan
Location: Towner Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
On April 9th and again on September 29th, 1994, a new imaging radar with mapping capabilities was launched on two-week missions on the space shuttle Endeavor. The purpose of these missions was to analyze the use of the radar sensor for mapping land-cover and for studying the environment. Kathleen Bergen will present an overview of her work on this new “mapping from space” initiative, and will show space shuttle images of forests in northern Michigan.
Date: April 11, 1996
Title: “Please don’t send battle plans!”: The European Map Trade during the American Revolution
Speaker: Mary Pedley, Adjunct Assistant Curator of Maps, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
Location: Towner Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
Long before the EEC or the Channel Tunnel, the trade in maps between England and France was lively and brisk, and not even war between the countries could bring it entirely to a halt. Drawing on a wonderful cache of letters between the London map publishers Thomas Jeffreys and William Faden and their Parisian counterparts, Ms. Pedley will give us revealing glimpses into the day-to-day work and worries of the eighteenth-century map trade.
Date: May 16, 1996
Title: Promotional Maps of the Northern California Wine Country
Speaker: Teresa Hintzke
Location: East Hall, The Newberry Library
Our own Teresa Hintzke, long-time CMS member and free-lance technical illustrator, has found a way to combine interests in wine, travel, and map design by collecting maps of the California wine country. She will share with us slides of some of the handsome maps in her collection, as well as stories about the wine country tours that she and Ed have enjoyed. To put us in the proper frame of mind for her presentation, David Kizler of Metro Premium Wines will conduct a wine tasting, leading us through the pleasures of five delightful California vintages.