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Sections: Newspapers & Periodicals - Manuscripts - Photographs
Prints, Posters, & Drawings - Books - Maps - Music - Sound & Film
Maps
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James Wilson, Globe Maker
James Wilson
[Terrestrial Globe]
3" globe, 1820's
Geography & Map
Division
James Wilson was the first American globe maker. Starting
as a Vermont farmer, he taught himself geography and apprenticed
as an engraver in order to make paper globe gores. The skilled
carpenter also made the spheres and wooden stands for his
3-, 9-, and 11-inch globes. His sons joined him in his Albany,
N.Y., business and together they produced globes from 1811
to the late 1820s.
Treatment: The images on the sphere and
horizon ring of this terrestrial globe were obscured by discolored
shellac. There were multiple design losses on the horizon
ring, as well as a break in its wooden structure. Conservators
removed the discolored shellac using cotton swabs and solvent.
They infilled and inpainted delicately and judiciously the
design losses on the horizon ring. |
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Early Map of America
Americae sive quartae orbis partis nova et exactissima
descriptio.
(Auctore Diego Gutiero Philippi Regis Hisp. etc. Cosmographo.
Hiero Cock Excude. 1562),
Geography and
Map Division
In 1562 Diego Gutiérrez, a Spanish cartographer from
the respected Casa de la Contratación, and Hieronymous
Cock, a noted engraver from Antwerp, collaborated in the
preparation of a spectacular and ornate map of what was then
referred to as the fourth part of the world, America. The
map depicts the Spanish dominion of America. It shows the
eastern coast of North America, all of Central and South
America, and portions of the western coasts of Europe and
Africa.
Treatment: The map was engraved on six
assembled sheets of laid paper that were later lined with
modern bond paper and fabric. However, areas of the map were
badly damaged, tears were poorly aligned and repairs of pressure-sensitive
tape were applied to the back prior to lining. Parts of the
map were obscured by the overlap of neighboring sections.
In order to take off the tape, conservators removed the linings
by immersing the map in a water bath. They separated the
sections using an enzyme to dissolve the old adhesive. They
repaired damaged areas and aligned tears by mending with
Japanese tissue and wheat starch paste. Finally, they reassembled
the sections to reveal as much image as possible. Following
conservation , the Library produced a full-size facsimile
of the map which is available for sale in the Library's gift
shop. |
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Mapping the New World
Johann Ruysch
" Universalior cogniti orbis tabula..." in Claudius Ptolemaeus' Georgraphia
Rome: Bernardius de Vitalibus
1507
Geography & Map
Division
In 1507 and 1508, Bernardus Venetus de Vitalibus published
editions of Ptolemy's Geography in Rome. It
included not only the theretofore traditional 27 maps, but
seven additional maps based on contemporary information.
These are the first editions to include a world map showing
the discoveries of the New World. The map, drawn by Johann
Ruysch, clearly reveals the confusion that existed concerning
the nature of the discoveries occurring in the New World.
For example, Columbus's discoveries are drawn as islands
off the coast of Asia, while Newfoundland, discovered by
John Cabot in 1497, is shown as a peninsula of Asia.
Treatment: Conservators removed the textblock
from its binding and disbound the pages. They brushed a solution
of hydrogen peroxide over lead paint on two maps that had
darkened with age and the dark color reverted to white They
then drycleaned each page, washed them in water, and deacidified
them using a dilute solution of magnesium bicarbonate. They
made paper mends with Japanese tissue and wheat starch paste.
The pages were resewn with linen thread over split alum-tawed
strips. They also sewed on new endbands. Finally, they created
a full limp vellum cover with yapp edges and exposed sewing
strips, in a style sympathetic to the period in which the
map was produced. |
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French Atlas
Gerard Mercator
Atlas Minor, ou briefve et vive description de tout le Monde
Amsterdam, Chez. I. Ianson, 1630
Geography and
Map Division
This atlas is the first French edition of Mercator's Atlas,
translated from the 1607 Latin edition which contains 146
maps produced between 1512-1594. Mercator, a copper engraver
and globe maker, is credited with revolutionizing 17th century
cartography through his use of modern scientific methods
to measure and create new maps rather than revising existing
maps. In 1604 Mercator's copper plates were sold to Amsterdam
cartographer Joducus Hondius and republished in several languages.
Treatment: Conservators disbound the atlas
from its deteriorated binding and washed its pages in water.
Next, pages were deacidified in a separate bath. The pages
were mended and guarded with japanese tissue. To complete
the treatment, the volume was sewn and rebound in full leather. |
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Earliest Recorded Land Dispute
The Oztoticpac Lands Map.
[Mexico,] ca. 1540.
Manuscript on "amatl" paper.
Geography and
Map Division
The Oztoticpac (Mexico) Lands Map is a central Mexican pictorial
document with Spanish and Nahuatl writing showing litigation
surrounding the Oztoticpac estate within the city of Texcoco,
ca. 1540.
As far as is known, this is the earliest recorded lawsuit
or conflict in horticultural literature anywhere in the world.
The document, on pre-European "amatl" paper, involves the
land and property ownership of the ruler of Texcoco, who
was publicly executed in Mexico City during the early days
of the Spanish Conquest in the Central Valley of Mexico.
The execution left in its wake litigation involving ownership
of properties claimed by various sons of Nezahualpilli, the
lords of Texcoco.
In the lower left of the map are depictions of tree grafts
showing European fruit tree branches grafted to indigenous
tree trunks. These are the only such depictions among all
known Mexican Indian pictorial documents.Shown are 20 trees
identified as pomegranate, quince, apple, and pear.
Treatment: A paper conservator removed
fabric and paper backings from the fibrous two-ply original
paper by applying a series of three sandwiches of soaked
blotters to humidify the backings. The blotters came away
dirty from pollutants that had lodged in the paper. The conservator
then removed backings with a scalpel.
However, a stodgy orange adhesive still remained. To prevent
original fibers from detaching, the conservator removed most
of the adhesive by brushing it from underneath through an
upholstery hoop stretched with bridal veil mesh netting.
The conservator filled in the extensive worm-hole damage
using pulp from modern amatl paper handmade in the traditional
fashion. Because the front ply and back ply were different
colors, the conservator used colored pencils to tint the
front.
Conservators made a sink mat with a polyester window that
does not touch the surface to house and display the oversized
map. |
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Portalan Charts
[Portolan Atlas of Nine Charts and a World Map. Dedicated
to Hieronymus Ruffault, Abbot of St. Vaast]
Agnese, Battista, 1514-1564.
Geography & Map
Division
This ca. 1544 nautical atlas of the world was rendered on vellum
in pen-and-ink and watercolor and shows America at various
stages of exploration. It includes an oval map, decorated with
twelve named wind cherubim, that shows Magellan's route around
the world, according to Ristow and Skelton's Nautical Charts
on Vellum in the Library of Congress, 1977.
Treatment: Conservators carefully examined
the charts for stability of pigments and condition of the
vellum. Under microscopic magnification, they consolidated
pigments which were actively flaking and in danger of loss
with gelatin or parchment size diluted with ethanol. Where
the vellum was cockled, the chart was humidified and flattened.
Repairs of tears and losses were done with tinted vellum
using parchment size for the adhesive. |
Clicking on the above image will take you to the Library's
digitized version.
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Drawing of the Battle of Shimabara (1637)
Map
Inscribed 1773
Asian Division
This map depicts the peasant uprising of December, 1637 which
caused the last great mobilization of the armed forces of the
Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1867). This hand drawn and painted
map shows Christian rebels being put under siege in the Hara
Castle on the Shimabara Peninsula in Kyushu and depicts many
of the standards with the crests of the daimyo forces of the
Tokugawa Shogunate of northern Kyushu.
Treatment: The map was hand painted in
panels which had then been joined in strips and lined with
Japanese handmade paper. The images were misaligned along
the joins. Conservators cleaned the map using grated vinyl
eraser shavings in the non-image areas.They removed the old
backing and adhesive residue and float washed the map after
fixing soluble areas in the image with a gelatin wash. They
repaired tattered edges and tears with Japanese paper and
wheat starch paste. Finally, they rejoined the pieces aligning
the parts as before to keep the map historically accurate.
The whole map was lined with Japanese Usu Mino paper and
paste. |
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First Modern Atlas
Abraham Ortelius
[Theatrum Orbis Terrarum]
Bound volume
1570
Geography and
Map Division
This book is known as the first modern atlas. It is important
because it is the first bound, uniformly sized, systematically
organized collection of maps depicting the countries of the
world. Ortelius created the atlas as a reference work. It was
to become the prototype of almost all geographical atlases
from 1570 to modern times.
The book is very rare as it is the first printing of four
editions to appear in 1570 and is made more valuable by its
original binding dated 1570 on the front cover.
The atlas in its original full leather binding in calfskin
with a lavishly gold tooled herald device of John Bishop
of Munster, Osnabruck, and Paerborn. Its highlights are painted
in red, white, and brown pigments.
Treatment: Conservators disbound the volume
and washed and lined the maps to increase overall stability.
In so doing, they introduced magnesium bicarbonate in the
wash to provide chemical stability to the paper by increasing
the alkalinity to 8.5 pH and thereby slowing the degradation
in the verdigris areas. They placed sheets of interleaving
paper opposite the leaves with verdigris as a barrier to
slow the transfer of degradation products from one page to
the next. |
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Map of Alexandria
George Washington
[A Plan of Alexandria now Belhaven]
1749
Geography and
Map Division
George Washington drew this town plan of Alexandria, Va., the
first map of the city. The town was formally incorporated on
July 13, 1749, and consisted of 84 lots, most of which were
one-half acre in size. The site for this new town focused on
a tobacco inspection warehouse and the stores of several Scottish
merchants, located on the Potomac River just north of Great
Hunting Creek in a small community that was originally known
as Belhaven. Washington apparently prepared the map to send
to his half-brother Lawrence, who was in England at the time,
to show him the two town lots that had been purchased for him.
Based on this map, early biographers erroneously concluded
that Washington personally designed or was at least heavily
involved in the city's formation. While the map is clearly
in Washington's hand, there is no documentary evidence to support
the claim of Washington's involvement. It is more likely that
Washington derived or copied these from originals drawn by
someone else,in this case John West Jr., Deputy Surveyor of
Fairfax County, whom he assisted in surveying boundaries and
lots. Nevertheless, the map stands as a unique example of 18th-century
planning and Washington's career as a surveyor and mapmaker.
Treatment: Conservators worked hard to
stabilize friable inks by consolidating them with parchment
size. They removed two lining, one paper, and one cloth layer.
They realigned the map, which had been distorted for many
years. They then mended the map using Japanese tissue paper
and wheat starch paste. They filled losses using compatible
western paper. |
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This late 18th century map of Vienna by Joseph Daniel von Huber
is one view on 24 separate sheets and measures 350 X 410 cm.
Mounted on cloth backing with two wooden rods for rolling or
hanging, this is the largest map in the Geography and Map Division's
collections. Relief is shown by hachures, and buildings are
numbered corresponding to census numbers. An index map is included
with summaries in Latin, Italian, and French.
Treatment: The map's huge size makes it
a challenge to display, transport, and store. The map is
currently stored in a large cardboard tube. The thick-walled
tube was covered with polyester to prevent any migration
of acids from the tube to the map. The rolled map is stored
elevated at each end by two simple stand to prevent the heavy
weight of the tube from harming the map and causing any differential
aging that might occur under the heavy weight. In addition,
the rolled map is covered with opaque paper and plastic sheeting
to protect it from dust, light, and any unexpected water
exposure. |
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Secret Maps
Joao Teixeira
[Secret Maps of the Americas and the Indies from the Portuguese
Archives]
1631
Geography and
Map Division
Compiled in Lisbon in 1630, this manuscript atlas was the work
of João Teixeira, who served as cosmographer to the
king of Portugal and is considered the most prolific Portuguese
cartographer of the 17th century. This unique compilation not
only provides a comprehensive portrait of the Portuguese empire
at the beginning of the 17th century but also reflects the
rivalry of the Portuguese and Spanish during the European Age
of Discovery.
Treatment: The binding of the atlas was
deemed to be detrimental to the manuscript, therefore, it
was removed prior to treatment. Each folio was drycleaned.
Conservators used poultices to remove old mends. They consolidated
pigment areas using methyl cellulose. They washed each folio
locally using ethanol and distilled water sprayed on top
of a suction table and used enzymes to remove adhesive residue.
They constructed inserts for large loss areas to support
rebinding. Finally, they rebound the folios. |
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Pages being encapsulated
Pages post-bound into new volume.
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County Atlases
U.S. County Atlas Collection
Bound volumes
Geography and
Map Division
The Geography and Map Division's collection of county landownership
atlases numbers more than 1800 volumes. These volumes, commercially
produced and sold by subscription in the late 19th century,
contain cadastral or landownership maps for the individual
counties and townships within a county. The atlases were based
on the pre-Civil War, wall-sized, single-sheet county land
ownership maps. They often included county and township histories,
personal and family biographies and portraits, and views of
important buildings, residences, farms, and in some cases,
prized livestock.
Treatment: Conservators disbound the atlases
and saved the original covers. They washed the pages and
deacidified ones whose colors would not be adversely effected.
They sealed the pages in polyester and placed them in a post-binding
structure to permit use, provide support for the pages, and
to retain the book structure. |
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P.O.W. Playing Cards
World War II Playing Cards Maps
Geography and
Map Division
In 1943, the U.S. Playing Card Company began printing card
decks that contained escape maps for WWII prisoners of war.
The map cards were shipped to a Ben Franklin Store in Baltimore,
Md., and retrieved by a covert U.S. agency named MIS-X, based
at Fort Hunt in Fairfax County, Va. The MIS-X sent the decks
to German POW camps. Parcels that contained the decks of cards
were made to look like donations from the U.S. charities. Part
of an escape map was glued between the face and back of each
of the 52 cards. To retrieve the maps, the prisoners soaked
the cards to dissolve the glue that held them together, then
peeled apart the layers to find the map portions bonded between
them. A parcel would also contain a radio part concealed in
a wooden brush, a compass hidden inside of a razor, and a cigarette
pack containing foreign currency. Former POWs have told stories
of using the map cards to escape. Of the 73 prison escapes
by Americans during the war, it is believed that a large percentage
had help from MIS-X.
Treatment: A special housing was created
for these unusual items to provide support and ease access
to the collection items. The housing consists of a recto/verso
mat showing an uncut sheet of cards, and pockets holding
two individual cards and a complete deck. There is also a
wrapper attached to the cover board which contains an additional
uncut map, newspaper article about the item, and a letter
from the donor. |
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Clicking on the above image will take you to the Library's
digitized version.
Argon housing
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Plan for City of
Washington
Pierre L'Enfant
[Plan for City of Washington]
1791
Geography and
Map Division
Pierre-Charles L'Enfant's 1791 plan for the city of Washington
is one of the great landmarks in city planning. It was, L'Enfant
claimed, "a plan whol[l]y new," designed from its inception
to serve as the framework for the capital city of the new nation
beginning in the year 1800. Its scheme of broad radiating avenues
connecting significant focal points, its open spaces, and its
grid pattern of streets oriented north, south, east, and west
is still the plan against which all modern land-use proposals
for the Nation's Capital are considered.
Treatment: A two-step bench treatment was
devised to take place before and after preservation digitization.
At one point in its history, the map had been varnished and
over the years the varnish turned dark brown, rendering the
street plan illegible.Removing the varnish was determined
to be out of the question as it could cause some of the original
map and subsequent notations, including those made by Thomas
Jefferson, to be lost. In 1988, the Library worked with the
U.S. Geological Service to photograph and digitize the plan
so the dark varnish background could be removed digitally
and the street plan would show through once again. Simultaneously,
a full-color facsimile reproduction was made. Before digitization,
conservators made critical minor repairs such as removing
pressure-sensitive tape from the back of the plan, reattaching
detached pieces, and mending some tears. After digitization,
final treatment took place. Conservators removed or thinned
the white paper reinforcing strips that had been placed on
the verso during the map's 1951 treatment to protect the
map's edges. Conservators also removed thick glue residues
along the upper and lower front edges, filled in any losses
with western paper, and mended unrepaired tears using Japanese
paper and wheat starch paste. Finally, the map was placed
in a hermetically sealed case containing inert argon gas
to protect it from further chemical and atmospheric degradation. |
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Indian Lands of
Eastern Wisconsin
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
Manuscript Division
This map of a part of eastern Wisconsin, probably made by a
French voyageur, was carried by explorer, geologist, ethnologist,
Indian agent, superintendent of Indian affairs for Michigan
and author Henry Rowe Schoolcarft (1793-1864), who annotated
it in the course of an expedition he made in summer 1831. Sent
out by Lewis Cass (1782-1866), govenor of Michigan Territory,
Schoolcraft was to take a census of the Chippewa(Ojibwa Indians)
and Sioux(Dakota Indians) settlements in the upper Mississippi
River country and try to resolve hostilities there between
the two tribes. Schoolcraft added the place names of Indian
villages, chiefs' names, and pertinent census figures as well
as translations of some French terms and the identification
of certain geographical features. The reverse orientation of
the map, with north at the bottom, may be due to voyageur's
approaach into the region from that direction.
Schoolcraft planned further exploration of regions beyond
those shown on this map and was especially interested in
mapping the sources of the Mississippi River, but he had
to abandon this goal because of low water on the upper Mississippi.
Exploration was resumed the following year, however, and
Schoolcraft succeeded in establishing Itasca Lake as the
river's source. He published the results in his "Narrative
of an Expedition Through the Upper Mississippi to Itasca
Lake, The Atual Source of the River; Embracing an Exploratory
Trip through the St. Croix and Burntwood (or Broule) Rivers;
in 1832" (New York, 1834). An account of the earlier 1831
expedition is included in this volume, and Schoolcraft's
original manuscript journal is a part of his papers in the
Manuscript Division.
Treatment: The map was delaminated, washed
and deacidified. It was flattened and mended with japanese
tissue and wheat starch paste. Addditionally it was fully
lined with Japanese tissue to provide further support and
stability. |
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Sections: Newspapers & Periodicals - Manuscripts - Photographs
Prints, Posters, & Drawings - Books - Maps - Music - Sound & Film
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