JANUARY 30, 2010 MEETING

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CMS WINTER MEETING PRELIMINARY PROGRAM,

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LONG BEACH,

SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2010

SCHEDULE

08:30                Registration and morning refreshments

09:00                Welcome, Phil Simon, President CMS, and Juan Ceva, Vice President, Southern California CMS.

09:15-10:00     "North America in the ‘Scientific’ Cartography of Guillaume Delisle (1675-1726)" by Ronald Lockmann, retired professor of geography, researcher and author. Delisle can be called “the first modern scientific cartographer”. This talk will examine selected examples of Delisle’s maps of the North American Continent and how Delisle established high standards of accuracy that influenced future generations that produced “Delisle Type” maps.

10:00-10:45     "Threads of Cartography:  A History of Maps on Cloth" by Judith Tyner, Professor emerita of Geography from CSU Long Beach, author of a new book on cartographic design due out in March, and an accidental collector of ‘cartifacts’. Maps have been made on cloth for centuries and by many cultures.  I look at the kinds of cloth maps and the reason for using this medium.  I look at Chinese maps, English tapestry maps, WWII escape maps, souvenir maps on bandanas and handkerchiefs, schoolgirl sampler maps, and recent Hmong story cloths.

10:45–11:00     Morning break and refreshments

11:00-11:45     "Lewis Evans and his map of the Middle British Colonies, a Tale of Borrowing by Britain's best Cartographers" by Bill  Warren, a retired engineer who plays with map at the Huntington Library and has written the CMS Newsletter for 14 years. Lewis Evans died a year after producing his influential 1755 map and British mapmakers plagiarized the contents. Not once, but multiple times over the next 50 years. The Huntington has a collection of these maps illustrating the evolution of this process and the resulting changes in perception of the geography of North America.

11:45-12:45     Lunch

12:45-1:00      Charting the route ahead. Phil Simon, President CMS, will discuss where our society is heading.

1:00-1:45        “The Effects of Map Production Processes upon Geographical Depictions in the Early Sixteenth Century” by Gregory McIntosh, a past vice president of the CMS, a former aerospace engineer, and a researcher in the history of early sixteenth century cartography. The manufacturing processes used in the production of both manuscript and printed maps in the early sixteenth century included drawing, painting, mixing, tracing, lettering, illuminating, polishing, gluing, cutting, engraving, copying, sequencing, etc. Because of limitations in the production processes, sometimes the geographical depictions on the maps were altered and modified, even distorted. These variant geographical depictions were sometimes misunderstood as real geography by other mapmakers, and also by some recent researchers. We will examine some artifacts or vestiges of the map production process in several maps: the Cantino, Caverio, Pesaro, and Kunstmann No. 3 manuscript planispheres, and the Waldseemuller and Ruysch printed world maps.

1:45–2:00        Afternoon break and refreshments

2:00–2:45        “WWII Escape and Evasion Maps & Compasses” by Susan Caughey, former president of the California Map Society, a map seller, and citrus grower. A major effort to bring our boys home, initiated by the British and later copied by the US. This required great ingenuity and skill to print 3.5 million maps on silk and rayon. The British also devised ingenious compasses for escape use.

2:45–3:30        Members’ Favorite Cartographic Items. CMS members are encouraged to bring their favorite cartographical items and give a short overview of them. Please contact Juan Ceva to let him know you would like to participate.

3:30-4:00                    Directors’ meeting (Interested members are encouraged to stay and participate).

 MEETING NOTES 

The meeting was opened by President Phil Simon and Southern California Vice President Juan Ceva who was congratulated for assembling a fine meeting.

   Our first speaker was Ronald Lockman, PhD, a former student of Norman Thrower’s and retired professor from LSU. His talk was North America in the “Scientific” Cartography of Guillaume Delisle (1675-1726). He first commented that Delisle exasperates librarians by being known as De Lisle, Lisle, de Lisle, etc. He was one of four sons born into the map business and became the premier geographe du roy after being elected to the Academie des sciences in 1702. His career spanned 120 maps and atlases and he became known for high quality maps, refusing to use speculation in their design. His competitors of the time included Herman Moll, the Cassini family, Nicolas Sanson, and Jean-Baptiste Nolin, whom he sued for plagiarism. Among his legacies are the use of Ferro as prime meridian, the secant conic projection, and reducing the size of the Mediterranean.

   Gio Dominique Cassini was probably the first to use triangulation for scientific map design. Delisle followed but had difficulty adapting Cassini’s method to North America, perhaps because of the lack of elevated points in places like Louisiana. In any case, his classic map of the Mississippi drainage was the best available and was widely copied. Herman Moll used all of Delisle’s place names on his  American map. Delisle is best remembered for the accuracy of his maps in an era when speculation was widespread in map making.

   Judith Tyner, PhD, next spoke on Threads of Cartography: A History of Maps on Cloth. Judy is a professor emerita of Cal State Long Beach and was instrumental in helping set up this meeting. Her new book, “Principles of Map Design”, is now available from Guilford Press. She was also a PhD student under Norman Thrower. She began by pointing out that maps have been drawn on a variety of media: clay, stone, precious metals, papyrus, vellum, paper, and finally cloth. Yet there has been little written about maps and media. Cloth certainly predated paper and has the advantages of durability, flexibility, portability and noiseless opening and closing. Cloth has been used for real maps (navigation and special uses) as well as those for decorative purposes, souvenirs and curiosities.

   Some of the earliest known examples come from 2nd Century BC Chinese tombs and are painted on silk. Thai culture often used maps painted on cotton. Enormous maps, such as the 13 by 16 foot Sheldon tapestries, were woven in the late 16th Century using Saxton maps as models. Lady Zhou of China embroidered beautiful maps. Many sampler patterns incorporating maps were produced in the 19th century and traced or hand drawn onto fabric and then stitched by girls or young women. Map printers Laurie & Whittle produced a number of such patterns. Embroidered silk globes were a specialty of the Westtown School where a number of six inch globes were produced. (Silk came in nine inch wide bolts, hence the small globe size.)

   Another popular 19th century pastime was the production of quilts, often incorporating maps. Hooked rugs were also sometimes worked as maps. Dr. Tyner brought examples of Hmong Pa’ndaus or story cloths, with maps and figures appliquéd onto their cotton surface.

   John Spilsbury is credited with the first large scale printing on cloth which included maps on decorative scarves and bandanas. The American Civil War saw many cavalry officers equipped with printed cloth maps. The mid 20th century saw many souvenir maps printed on cloth. Today such maps are available printed on microfiber with great accuracy. These can be printed on both sides and kept in a pocket, no refolding required, for those with tourist sensibilities.

   Our final morning speaker was Bill Warren, your editor, speaking on Lewis Evans and his map of the Middle British Colonies, a tale of Borrowing by Britain’s Best Cartographers. Lewis Evans’1755 map was the most accurate available at that time. Evans died a year after its production. Thomas Kitchin engraved an almost identical map quickly followed by Thomas Jefferys who simply removed Kitchin’s name and re-engraved the plate with his own name. As years went by, further editions of this map were made with subtle changes to the Kitchin copper plate. Other map makers, noting the popularity of that plate, decided to copy it. An Anonymous copy of 1759 became the Bowles “New and Improved” map of 1760 when some border issues were settled with the French. Another revised copy using the same plate was issued in 1771, another in 1774 with “CANADA” engraved from present day Indiana to Quebec. A 1775 reissue of the Jeffreys map of 1758 was made by simply changing the date.

   Thomas Pownall, once Governor of Pennsylvania, was incensed by the plagiarism of Evans’ map. Evans’ widow and daughter received nothing from these publications so Pownall decided to reissue Evans‘ original map and send the proceeds to Evans’ daughter (incidentally placing his own name in the cartouche). Later he re-issued the map with an eastern extension printed separately and pasted on the original.

Sayer & Bennett engraved a new plate for their 1776 “American Atlas”. This included more accurate depictions of the Great Lakes and added “The Seat of the War…” to bring the map up to date. The Bowles brothers, never to waste a copper plate, reissued their 1760 map in 1780  as “Bowles New Pocket Map…” and in 1784 as “Bowles New Pocket Map of the Independent States of North America.”  Another Bowles reissue in 1780 was titled the “New One-sheet Map of the Independent Colonies.”  Then in 1794 Laurie & Whittle issued the map finally identified as the “United States of America.”

   The Huntington Library has a collection of 17 states of the Evans map from 1755 to the early 1800s put together by Henry Stevens, a London map dealer, in the early 20th Century. This unique collection is the basis of this talk which only map lovers could find interesting.

   Box lunches were served in a separate room kindly provided by the Geography Department of CSULB, providing an opportunity to socialize and discuss the morning’s papers.

   The afternoon session was opened by President Phil Simon who reported on the recent Bay Area Maps meeting of Northern California members and suggested similar gatherings in Southern California. He praised the new website, poised to be released, and noted electronic balloting will be used this year. The Newsletter will be available in both print and electronic versions. The Board is preparing a guidebook for new Vice Presidents to assist them in planning and hosting our annual conferences. This should be available by the next meeting. Treasurer Susan Caughey  reported on the good health of the Society’s bank accounts. Secretary Pat Boyce reported that at the end of 2009 we had 168 paid members and that a new directory is scheduled to be available this spring in both printed and electronic formats. Northern California Vice President Fred DeJarlais announced that the next regular CMS meeting will occur on May 8th, 2010 at Stanford University.

   The opening afternoon speaker was Gregory McIntosh, speaking on The Effect of Map Production Processes upon Geographical Depiction in the Early Sixteenth Century. Greg pointed out that many manuscript maps made in the 16th Century were actually copies of printed maps rather than the other way around. Many printed maps of that century still survive. Agnese printed many maps starting in 1544 and at least four dozen of these survive today. Many Spanish and Portuguese maps of this period were considered state secrets, but information quickly leaked out to map makers.

   Greg showed examples of maps where the maker had plagiarized other map makers to the extent of copying decorative elements as real places because they  misunderstood the purpose. Other old maps have been misinterpreted because only poor images were available to copy.  An example is islands surfacing on plagiarized maps where only holes in the original map occurred.

   Other interesting errors occurred through misinterpretation. Reverse images of land forms may have come from hurried copies which flipped engraved images. Newfoundland is shown in this manner on several early maps. Greg is an expert on early manuscript and printed maps, his earliest work being The Piri Reis Map of 1513.

   The last formal presenter was Susan Caughey, Past President and Treasurer of CMS. Her topic was World War II Escape and Evasion Maps & Compasses, a reprise of her earlier talk at our northern California meeting. British MI-9 was in charge of escape plans in WWII and Christopher Clayton-Hutton was the man behind printed escape maps. Bartholomew Co. gave the British Government permission to to use their maps in the spring of 1940 and various materials were tested. Silk proved to be available from rejected parachute cloth much of which was furnished from the United States. Printing on silk proved feasible with the addition of pectin to the ink which prevented running. Black ink maps were soon followed by three color ones. The earliest were hemmed by hand, later issues were sealed with glue.

Some maps were also printed on mulberry paper which could be layered into playing cards and other disguises. Compasses were also produced camouflaged as buttons or other forms. Swinger compasses were included in combs and pencils and compasses were even built into Monopoly game pieces in specially marked boxes. 

   The first American maps of West Africa were produced in 1942. Some were rayon as well as silk. Most American maps were of the Pacific Theater.

   Overall, three and a half million maps were printed. American maps were often printed with  “blood chips”, a promise of payment for helping downed fliers, printed in up to 17 languages. In Europe of 722 downed fliers who escaped, 322 stated they used these maps. Of 10,000 imprisoned POW’s, however, only 30 were known to have escaped. Nevertheless, the maps kept hopes alive until the end of the war.

   Members Memorable Maps brought out some interesting material. David Kalifon brought his 1719 Chatelain world map, a treasure trove of images from that period and with the bonus of California as an island on this five foot wide map. Liz Kalifon brought a birds-eye view of London from 1884 carefully showing the area around Parliament and down river to the Tower. Ed English pointed out David K. Lynch’s new Field Guide to the San Andreas Fault , see www.thulescientific.com for details and order form. Phil Simon brought his Poli Arctic by de Wit, an early polar projection map.

An open Director’s meeting was held with several good suggestions offered for consideration.

   The meeting was then turned over to Secretary Pat Boyce who has revised our website with many great additions and graphics. He showed a beta version, but the public unveiling should occur very shortly. The URL is the same as always, www.californiamapsociety.org , but you are going to see a very appealing new format and a lot more information. Note that the heading boxes have drop boxes with expanded ability to review past history and much more.

   The Members’ Only section will contain a roster of those wishing to be included with contact information and also issues of the current Newsletter and links to past editions. Many Occasional Papers will also be available to members. The Union Catalog of maps is still up and running with new maps added with some regularity. This website is a living document. Your suggestions for additions should be directed to Pat who serves as our Webmaster in addition to his post as Secretary.

   The meeting was adjourned shortly after 4:00 PM with great thanks to Cal State Long Beach, Judy Tyner and the others involved in making this such an en enjoyable meeting for the attendees.