White Mtn map exhibit at Harvard this spring

[RoySwkr]

-----Forwarded Message (Edited)-----

I want to alert you to an exhibition I've been putting together
for the Harvard Map Collection of maps of the White Mountains. We'll
have 31 maps, starting with the 1677 Foster map of New England and
ending with Brad Washburn's 1988 map of the Presidential Range.

The opening date isn't yet entirely certain, but it will probably be
Tuesday, 25 April, and the exhibition should run for about three
months. The gallery is just outside the Harvard Map Collection's rooms,
and it's a good display area, but the entrance is about as obscure as it
could possibly be (mainly because the old main entrance was shut a
couple of years ago, I presume for reasons of security). You have to
enter through the west entrance of Lamont Library, near Widener and just
off Mass Ave., and then pass through a security check, where you sign in.

The exhibition draws on Harvard's collection and mine, with one loan
from the Boston Public Library. I've organized it into four broad
categories: early maps of New Hampshire that depict the White Mountains,
from before there were distinct maps of the region; topographic maps,
including hiking maps; tourist and souvenir maps; and thematic maps
(like maps of the geology of the region). There will be a number of
rare early AMC maps, like the 1910 map of the Great Gulf. I've been
paying particular attention the the depiction of trails. There will be
Harvard's newly discovered and restored Carrigain map, Bond's map, the
1861 Walling map of Coos County and his map of the White Mountains, a
19th-century relief map, plates from Hitchcock's Geological Atlas, a
Franklin Leavitt map, and Pickering's map.

Adam Apt

 

[Amicus]

Thanks from a White Mtn. map aficionado who lives some of the time within walking distance of Harvard. I hadn't heard of Lamont Library but I believe the Widener is in the main Harvard Quad, off Mass. Ave. just east of Harvard Sq. I doubt I would have heard of this exhibition otherwise.

Mike

 

[jade]

Thanks for the heads-up on this RS....sounds like a fascinating collection.....I look forward to seeing it for myself...

...Jade

 

[Waumbek]

I hadn't heard of Lamont Library but I believe the Widener is in the main Harvard Quad, off Mass. Ave. just east of Harvard Sq. Mike

The Lamont is in the SE corner of Harvard Yard.
There's a gate around that corner so you'll have to go in further north near Emerson or further west by the Widener and then make your way to the door on the west (Widener) end of Lamont.

 

[HighHorse]

The easiest way to get to Lamont is via one of the gates off Quincy St. Lamont is basically at the corner of Quincy and Mass Ave (and Harvard St.- it's a weird intersection).

I'll be sure to check this out.

 

[mtnmama]

Map

Roy thanks for the info...can't wait to
see this!

 

[--M.]

Bravo!

Thank you and congratulations indeed! This is great stuff and a real public-service use of this board.

 

[gaiagirl]

Thanks for the heads-up on this. Harvard's Natural History Museum lectures have been the perfect excuse for get-togethers with a dear friend from grad school who lives just blocks away in Cambridge, and this exhibit looks like it will be yet another. Now if I can just get her up to NH to hike more often that'd be great too, but I guess I can venture down to the city once in a while without too much complaining Thanks again ... can't wait to check it out.

 

[chinooktrail]

Great, can't wait to check this out! Please be sure to post again when it opens. I am a map junkie, and love any good excuse to head down to Boston. This one is a perfect reason!

 

[Waumbek]

-----Forwarded Message (Edited)-----

The opening date isn't yet entirely certain, but it will probably be
Tuesday, 25 April, and the exhibition should run for about three
months. The gallery is just outside the Harvard Map Collection's rooms,
Adam Apt

The Archives and Map Room in the Lamont have restricted hours (M-F 10-4.45). Will the gallery exhibit outside these rooms be accessible on weekends? Other parts of Lamont are open on weekends but I don't know about the gallery.

 

[Mad Townie]

Maybe we can make a visit to the exhibit an "event", combined with a bit of dinner in Somerville or Cambridge? Another great excuse for a beer night!

 

[Waumbek]

The Harvard Map Collection is not advertising this exhibit yet on its site but this turned up online on another cartography exhibits site. Note weekdays only 9-5, no university holidays.

April 25, 2006 - August 2006 - Cambridge, Massachusetts
Maps of the White Mountains will feature 31 maps, starting with the 1677 Foster map of New England and ending with Brad Washburn's 1988 map of the Presidential Range. The exhibition is on view from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays (closed weekends and university holidays) in the gallery outside the Harvard Map Collection on the ground floor of Pusey Library at Harvard University. For information: (617) 495-2417.

 

[Dugan]

Maybe we can make a visit to the exhibit an "event", combined with a bit of dinner in Somerville or Cambridge? Another great excuse for a beer night!

Sounds good to me, but would have to be on a weekend.

 

[Amicus]

Closed on weekends

Dugan,

Your "weekends only" condition runs into their "weekdays only" condition, according to Waumbek's post. Maybe leaving work early on a Friday afternoon?

As a weekday resident of Cambridge or Somerville who loves vintage White Mtn. maps, I would be up for turning this into some sort of food or beverage gathering.

Mike

 

[Dugan]

Dugan,

Your "weekends only" condition runs into their "weekdays only" condition, according to Waumbek's post. Maybe leaving work early on a Friday afternoon?

As a weekday resident of Cambridge or Somerville who loves vintage White Mtn. maps, I would be up for turning this into some sort of food or beverage gathering.

Mike

Let's hope I'm more observant out on the trail tomorrow!

In that case, yah, I could manage to leave work early.

 

[Amicus]

Field report - Fri. 4/28

This exhibition is open. It's at the Pusey Library - a modernist, nearly subterranean addition to the Lamont Library. You enter through West Door - Lamont Library (what the sign says), which is down low in the SE corner of Harvard Yard, near the corner of Quincy St. and Mass. Ave.

Hours are 9-4:45, weekdays only, but as long as you're in by 4:45, you can stay at least until 5. That's when I left today and no one seemed about to usher me out. I had to show my license and sign in, but maybe that's me.

It occupies the corridor running north (left) right behind the check-in guard's desk. Along the left wall are 24 framed maps, starting with Samuel Holland's 1784 map showing "The White Hills" and with a blank space for most of Crawford Notch and the Pemi Wilderness. I found it interesting to see how quickly the succeeding maps filled those spaces in. I have seen reproductions of a number of these, but there is nothing like the live, in-color and big (many of them) originals.

A 1902 Boston-and-Maine poster, strange and colorful, displays a "bird's-eye view" of Mt. Washington. It looks like a fish-eye lens shot taken by someone in a balloon floating 150 feet above the Mt. Wash. summit buildings.

The latest wall hanging is Brad Washburn's 1988 AMC map of the "Heart of the Presidential Range," which many of us have, I'd guess. None of the rest were later than the 1930's. All were of interest.

Three display cases contain a couple of dozen smaller items, many of them maps in books. The oldest is a 1677 map of NH in a book printed in London, that includes "The Wine Hills" (interesting engraver's error).

A catalogue without illustrations and marked "Do Not Remove" rested on one of the cases. I didn't have time to study it but it added detail to the display cards. I saw no indication that copies are for sale, but without illustrations there wouldn't be much point anyway.

It took me 50 minutes to look at everything and I think I would need about that much time on another visit to feel I'd really done this justice.

 

[Waumbek]

. I had to show my license and sign in, but maybe that's me.

Nice report, thanks. Until/unless you have a card to one of the libraries in Pusey, photo ID is SOP.

 

[RoySwkr]

A 1902 Boston-and-Maine poster, strange and colorful, displays a "bird's-eye view" of Mt. Washington. It looks like a fish-eye lens shot taken by someone in a balloon floating 150 feet above the Mt. Wash. summit buildings.

These were usually done by ground-based artists. Once photography began to replace artists for easily-seen views, artists used their sense of perspective to draw birds-eye views which photographers couldn't duplicate. They were also known to solicit payoffs from people who wanted their buildings to stand out more. This was quite an industry a century ago.