Map History: Spring Events

Dear Map Historians:

To begin our new term, we would like to read and discuss Christian Jacob’s The Sovereign Map: Theoretical Approaches in Cartography throughout History at our next meeting–please mark your calendars for 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday March 3, place TBA. The book is a meditation on the meaning of maps–the author spends the first 90 pages pondering, “What is a map?”–this provocative and engaging text is a good place to go after Harley. We thought we would provide plenty of time to order and read copies. If you would like one, please let me know no later than this Friday, I need to place our entire order before the University of Chicago Press concludes its book sale. I would also like to use our blog, admirably maintained by Kelly, as a place to begin the discussion (http://historicalcartography.wordpress.com/) . . . please pay a visit to this site and sign up for an RSS feed that will alert you to new posts (if you have a google homepage and/or use google reader, this is easily done, even if you are new to the process).

As John Randolph’s project on Russian mobility and mine on the Cartography of American Colonization Database begin bearing fruit, expect at least one presentation on how some of the GIS tools we learned can be put to use. Sometime in early April, we will host Texas A&M historian April Hatfield, who will present a work-in-progress on the cartographic dimensions of English and Spanish contacts in the Americas. As always, we will give priority to any of you who wish to present something you are working on.

For those of you who attended our events last term, welcome back–those of you who haven’t, please feel free to join us whenever you can. To our students in History 502E (Spaces of Empire): you are very much welcome, but not required, to join us.

Best,
Max and Jovita

The Sovereign Map: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/presssite/metadata.epl?mode=synopsis&bookkey=159414