Date: September 18, 1997
Title: Another America: New Perspectives on Native American Maps
Speaker: Mark Warhus, Manager, Strategic Planning and Sponsored Programs, Milwaukee Art Museum
Location: Towner Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
Date: October 16, 1997
Title: Historic Maps and the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries
Speaker: John Long, Director, Historical County Boundaries Atlas Project
Location: Towner Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
John Long is in charge of one of the longest running cartographic projects at the Newberry, a massive project dedicated to recording of every change of the boundary of every county in the United States since the first American county was formed. The project, of course, draws upon the Newberry’s fine map collection when it needs them as sources. But it’s not simply a matter of copying lines from old maps. For, as we all know, maps can tell lies. Please join us this month as John explains how he and his staff use and interpret source maps.
Date: November 13, 1997
Title: Astronomy and Artistry: The Look of Celestial Charts
Speaker: Anna Friedman, Curatorial Assistant, Adler Planetarium
Location: Towner Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
This month we are in for a visually sumptuous evening. Anna Friedman was curator of last year’s critically acclaimed exhibit, Awestruck by the Majesty of the Heavens, which was jointly sponsored by the Adler Planetarium and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and appeared at the Chicago Cultural Center. Using the depiction of a single constellation as a point of reference, her illustrated talk will survey the astronomical, cartographic, and artistic developments found in celestial charts from Greek astronomy to the present day.
Date: December 11, 1997
Title: The Cartographer and the Literati: Herman Moll and His Intellectual Circle
Speaker: Dennis Reinhartz, Professor of History, University of Texas at Arlington
Location: Towner Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
We will be honored this month by a visit from a distinguished historian of cartography from down Texas way, Dennis Reinhartz. Dr. Reinhartz’s talk about the relationship between the famous eighteenth-century British cartographer Herman Moll and the literary lights of his generation promises to be an entertaining one.
Date: January 15, 1998
Title: Placing Claims and Claiming Place: China in the 18th Century
Speaker: Laura Hostetler, Department of History, University of Illinois at Chicago
Location: Towner Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
Our guest speaker this month is Dr. Laura Hostetler, a specialist in Chinese history who has been researching the cartographic relationship between the West and China since participating in the Library’s Summer Institute in Cartography in 1996. Please join us for what promises to be a provocative talk on Chinese attempts to adapt European cartographic techniques and technology to stake out its place in the wider world during the 18th Century.
Date: February 19, 1998
Title: Maps of a Metropolis: Chicago’s History on the Map
Speakers: Patrick Morris, Map Cataloger and Reference Librarian and James Akerman, Director, The Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography, The Newberry Library
Location: Towner Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
What does an old Indian treaty line have to do with a North Side Chicago park? What monument company also made an important Chicago map? What map of “Al Capone Territory” did Geraldo Rivera overlook? This month’s tandem of speakers will answer these and other Chicago history questions you never thought of asking as they lead an excursion through fascinating facets of Chicago history illustrated by historic maps in the Newberry’s collection. After our traditional slide lecture there will be an opportunity to view some of the Newberry’s original Chicago map treasures.
Date: March 19, 1998
Title: Paper, Vellum and the World of Maps
Speaker: Francis Manasek, Antiquarian Map Dealer and Author
Location: Towner Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
We are delighted that antiquarian map dealer and author Frank Manasek will be able to join us for a very special program this month. Using specimens of maps dating from the 1400s to 1998, his illustrated talk will discuss how vellum and paper interact with copper plates and other printing and coloring techniques.
Mr. Manasek has just published one of the best—if not the best—manuals for map collectors. His book, Collecting Old Maps, will be available in the Newberry’s bookstore before the meeting!
Date: April 16, 1998
Title: The Ottoman Presence in Southeastern Europe: A View in Maps
Speaker: James Krokar, DePaul University
Location: Towner Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
Professor James Krokar, a specialist in the Habsburg and Balkan History, will take us on a historical survey of military conflict, diplomacy, and ethnography in the Balkan Peninsula and the Danubian Basin through the eyes of European mapmakers. His lecture is illustrated with maps in the Newberry’s collections dating from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries. Join us for a provocative examination of the complex history and geography of a region that has experienced political turmoil throughout modem times.
Date: May 21, 1998
Title: Anatomy, Cartography and the New World Body
Speaker: Valerie Traub, Professor of English Literature, University of Michigan
Location: Towner Fellows’ Lounge, The Newberry Library
We are honored that Dr. Valerie Traub will present to us her intriguing and provocative thoughts about the relationship between anatomy illustration and the cartographic representation of the human body during the Age of Discovery.