[ISHMap-List] Announcing Map Month May (Mapping in the Early 20th Century; Denver, CO)

[Joel Kovarsky]

Forwarded from Maps-L.

On 3/11/15 1:50 PM, Angela R Cope wrote:
>
> ​​Forwarded by Angie
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Lorraine Sherry <lorraine.sherry at comcast.net>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, March 11, 2015 12:27 PM
> *To:* Rocky Mountain Map Society
> *Subject:* Announcing Map Month May
>
> *Mapping in the Early 20^th Century *
>
> *RMMS Map Month: May 2015*
>
> *A Joint Program by RMMS, Denver Public Library, and the University of 
> Denver*
>
>
>     Exhibits:
>
> *April 13^th through June 28^th . “Mapping the 20^th Century: Original 
> Maps from the Denver Public Library.” *
>
> *5th Floor Map Area, Western History/Genealogy Department, Gates 
> Reading Room, Denver Public Library.*
>
> The 20^th century saw a revolution in maps used for public 
> consumption. Maps became more visually arresting because of better 
> graphics, color, and creative presentations.  This exhibit provides an 
> overview of the nature and variety of maps of Colorado from 1900 
> onward, including cities, mountains, tourist destinations, and 
> commercial publications. Of special interest are maps by the Clason 
> Map Company, a Denver based cartography and printing enterprise.
>
> *March 30^th through June.  “Pictorial Maps of the 20^th Century: 
> Popular geographic information presented for beauty and amusement.” 
> University of Denver, Anderson Academic Commons.*
>
> The 1920s ushered in a new style of cartography that almost 
> caricatures traditional maps. Designed by modern commercial artists, 
> these maps were designed for tourism, commercial advertising, or to 
> illustrate the news and other themes. Known as “Pictorial Maps”, they 
> integrated narrative, geography, and a sense of humor in a way that 
> was both useful and visually striking. This exhibit, drawn from the 
> private collection of Wesley Brown, follows the innovative style of 
> pictorial mapping from the 1920 through the 1980s.
>
>
>     Lectures:
>
> *May 4: 6:30 PM – Jim Akerman. **“A Luddite's view of the history of 
> cartography in the 20th century.”***
>
> *Denver Public Library, Conference Room 2.***
>
> The Twentieth Century was arguably the most transformative century in 
> the history of cartography since the Renaissance. The 1900s saw the 
> rapid expansion of mapmaking in both the commercial and governmental 
> spheres, the emergence of cartography as a professional and academic 
> field, and the related development of map libraries, map 
> librarianship, and the field of the history of cartography itself. A 
> century that began in the midst of an industrial revolution in 
> cartographic printing ended in the midst of a digital revolution. For 
> years experts and prognosticators have been predicting the demise of 
> the paper maps. But neither the paper map – nor for that matter, the 
> manuscript map – has disappeared from the scene. In his talk Dr. 
> Akerman, Curator of Maps at the Newberry Library in Chicago, draws on 
> wide range of maps to ask whether the technological, professional, and 
> social developments truly transformed mapmaking and map use over the 
> course of the past century; and if so, if this is a good thing. He 
> doesn’t have easy answers to these questions, but like fellow 
> Luddites, he thinks they are worth asking.
>
> **
>
> **
>
> *May 11: 6:30 PM – Susan Schulten, “How an artist reinvented the map.”*
>
> *University of Denver, Anderson Academic Commons, Special Events Room. *
>
> More Americans came into contact with maps during the Second World War 
> than in any previous moment in American history. From the elaborate 
> and innovative inserts in /National Geographic /to the schematic and 
> tactical maps that filled daily newspapers, maps were 
> everywhere. While war has perennially driven interest in geography, 
> World War Two was different. The urgency of the war, coupled with the 
> advent of aviation, fueled the demand not just for /more/ but 
> /different /maps. The most important innovator to step into this 
> breach was actually not a cartographer at all, but an artist. 
> Beginning in the late 1930s Richard Edes Harrison drew a series of 
> elegant and gripping images of a world at war, and in the process 
> persuaded the public that aviation and global war really had 
> fundamentally disrupted the nature of geography.
>
> *May 18:  6:30 PM –**Curtis Bird, “Pictorial Maps, a history and 
> overview.”*
>
> *University of Denver, Anderson Academic Commons, Special Events Room*.
>
> The beginning of the 20th century marks amazing developments in our 
> precise understanding of the earth and its complex geographical 
> structures. And at this same time the genre of “pictorial” maps 
> charted a different vantage of geography, looking at life, culture and 
> the perspectives that define areas to us. While pictorial cartography 
> can be colorful and whimsical, full of illustrations, it can also pull 
> back the veil on culture and perception at the time. In this talk we 
> will look at several different “streams” of pictorial map making that 
> can define the genre.
>
> *June 1:  6:30 PM – Bill Wyckoff.  “Promotional cartographies: the 
> Clason Map Company and the American West, 1903-1931.”*
>
> *Denver Public Library, Conference Room 2.*
>
> George Clason built the largest commercial map company west of Chicago 
> between 1903 and 1931. In his years as a Denver-based map publisher 
> and booster of western economic development, Clason produced millions 
> of road maps, state maps, city maps, promotional circulars and maps 
> for mining companies, land companies, and state and local governments. 
> In this paper, Bill Wykoff examines the business relationships Clason 
> forged with private companies and public institutions and how textual 
> and visual material within Clason’s maps communicated enduring ideas 
> about the West’s economic potential and regional character.  He 
> suggests that Clason’s maps formed a powerful cartographic narrative 
> focused on promoting development in the West that reflected his own 
> belief in progress and the merits of individual effort within a 
> largely capitalistic economic system. He also examines how these same 
> economic principles shape Clason’s later career as a writer of 
> self-help essays on achieving financial independence. These essays 
> became accepted household wisdom to millions of Americans between 1925 
> and 1950 and remain in print today. Bill Wyckoff suggests that 
> Clason’s cartography reflected the same economic principles he made 
> famous in his later essays about saving money and building capital.
>
> **
>
>
>     MAP FAIR:
>
> *June 1:  5:30 PM and following Bill Wyckoff’s lecture*
>
> Before and after the lecture on June 1^st , local map dealers will 
> have a selection of their inventory on display and available for purchase.
>

-- 
Joel Kovarsky
The Prime Meridian
1839 Clay Drive
Crozet, VA 22932 USA
http://www.theprimemeridian.com
Phone: 434-823-5696

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