TOC: Journal of Map and Geography Libraries 2021

The Journal of Map and Geography Libraries announces the publication of a special issue devoted to the topic of provenance, entitled “That Map Belonged to Somebody: The Importance of Provenance to Map Librarians.” The editors anticipate that this issue will be of interest to the staff and friends of the Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress, as the final article provides a history of the Geography and Map Division’s Summer Project program, which spanned the last half of the 20^th century. In addition, this issue includes a remembrance of Ed Redmond, while the other articles touch on the Library of Congress in one way or another. The introductory editorial and abstracts of all the articles are currently available online, as are the full articles for subscribers to the journal. The hard copy version of this issue will appear later this year.

A plan of Alexandria, now Belhaven. George Washington, 1749.

While some in map librarianship may consider “provenance” an archival term and thusly not germane, the editors who started their careers in archival settings and moved on to work for the Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, though at separate times, propose that provenance is very useful for map librarians. This special edition’s five articles, written by map librarians in North America and Europe, explore the role of provenance. All discuss map or atlas collections within library settings with a focus on the origins of specific cartographic materials, examining such concerns as who created or first owned them, how they were used or consumed, and how they were acquired by the library. Mentioned in the articles are proposals for cataloging and digitizing the maps, moreover, including in those records information about provenance.

Issue Editors: Ronald Grim, Library of Congress and Boston Public Library (retired); and Ryan Moore, MA, MLS, Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. Introductory editorial and remembrance of Edward Redmond, Senior Reference Specialist and Vault Curator, Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. The opinions and views stated in this publication are their own.

Articles Include:

“Annotated Atlases: Unraveling Hidden Stories of Provenance” by Ronald Grim, Curator of Maps (retired), Leventhal Map and Education Center, Boston Public Library.
“Cartographic Treasures Destroyed ‘With Fire and Sword’? The Unwritten Story of the Map Collection of the Bavarian Army Library” by Thomas Horst, University of Lisbon, Faculty of Sciences, Interuniversity Center for the History of Science and Technology (CIUHCT), Lisbon, Portugal.
“Acquisition of World War II Captured Maps: A Case Study” by Julie Sweetkind-Singer, Associate University Librarian for Science and Engineering Resources, Stanford University, and Gregory H. March, Map and Government Information Librarian and Associate Professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
“Capturing the Complex Histories of German World War II Captured Maps” by Susan Powell, GIS & Map Librarian, Earth Sciences and Map Library, and Heiko Mühr, Map Metadata and Curatorial Specialist, Earth Sciences and Map Library and Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
“Will Work for Maps’: A History of the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Special Map Processing Project” by Paige G. Andrew, Distinguished Librarian and Cartographic Resources Cataloging Librarian, University Libraries, Pennsylvania State University; Linda R. Musser, Distinguished Librarian and Head, Fletcher L. Byrom Earth and Mineral Sciences Library, Pennsylvania State University; and Laura Kane McElfresh, Cartographic Metadata Librarian, University Libraries, University of Minnesota.

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