Exhibit Section

  • VI. Undiscovered Treasures: Public Geographies

    Other aspects of the industrial revolution included a steady rise in the standard of living and an associated increase in the consumption of culture. Among the large and illustrated Bibles, prints by Currier and Ives, upright pianos, and ornate furni...

  • V. Undiscovered Treasures: Specialized Geographies

    The industrial revolution entailed, among other things, the expansion of towns and cities, the continual reworking of urban infrastructures, and the increasing specialization of knowledge. Inevitably, there evolved several groups of professionals, ea...

  • IV. Pocket Treasures

    Simultaneous with the production of folio atlases and geographies was the emergence of a "pocket" genre, often produced by the same cartographers or publishers (14, 15). This product was both portable and relatively inexpensive (12) in comparison to ...

  • III. Classic Treasures

    The maps displayed on this wall are generally acknowledged to be cartographic treasures, as judged by conventional standards: they are old, rare, valuable, and historically important. They range in age from approximately 250 years (11) to more than 5...

  • II. What Is a Treasure

    This exhibition is about cartographic "treasures," which is to say maps and geography books which possess value. For most old items, that value is determined by beauty (1), rarity (2), or historical significance (3). Historians also value those works...

  • I. Introduction

    Five years ago the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education opened with an exhibition called Treasures of the Collection. The objects then on display were drawn from the library's two founding collections, formed by the late Lawr...

  • XIII. Credits

    This exhibition was curated by Dr. Peter M. Enggass, Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography and Geology, Mt. Holyoke College, Yolanda Theunissen, and George S. Carhart. Valuable assistance was given by Dr. Harold L. Osher, Prof. Matthew H. Edney...

  • XII. Maps from the Same Plate and Derivative Maps

    The copper printing plates used for maps generally had long lives, some remaining in use for many decades, or even centuries. Plates were edited or reworked by successive cartographers and printers as a matter of course. Some were sold or inherited, ...

  • XI. Transcription and Translation

    The importance of a map to an historian or historical geographer lies not only in the information depicted graphically but also in the texts that frequently accompany maps. Such texts provide a variety of important evidence for understanding the past...

  • X. The Cartouche

    A "cartouche" is the frame used to highlight and emphasize pieces of text on a map. The text might be the map's title, its place and date of publication, the maker's name, a dedication, or some explanation of the map's features. As innately decorativ...