David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

Last updated
David Rumsey Historical
Map Collection
Plano topografico ciudad buenos aires 1895.jpg
1895 map of Buenos Aires,
part of the collection
Housed at Stanford University
Funded by David Rumsey
Website davidrumsey.com

The David Rumsey Historical Map Collection is a large private map collection with over 150,000 maps and cartographic items. The collection was created by David Rumsey who, after making his fortune in real estate, focused initially on collecting 18th- and 19th century maps of North and South America, as this era "saw the rise of modern cartography." [1]

After 2004 Rumsey expanded the collection to include maps from the 16th through 21st centuries, covering more of the world. In 2008 the collection's website was cited as one of only seven websites with freely available "skillfully compiled carto-bibliographic entries with corresponding early-map images." [2] At that time the site comprised 16,000 digital images. [2]

In February 2009, David Rumsey announced that the entire collection would be donated to Stanford University, including 150,000 maps and their digital images, as well as the database used to track the images. [3] Stanford houses the collection in the new David Rumsey Map Center which opened in the main library in 2016. The website (where the images are posted on-line) was to continue as a separate public resource.

As of February 2022, there were over 114,000 digitized items available through the website, [4] hundreds of which were hosted through Google Earth layers. Select maps are also featured at the Rumsey Maps island in Second Life. as well as 2D and 3D GIS. A new MapRank search tool has been added enabling geographical searching of about 60,000 maps from the collection by map location and coverage. In addition, a georeferencing tool has been added that allows site users to georeference and display any of the maps in the collection. The website has additional viewers from Luna Imaging, Inc, including the LUNA browser which doesn’t require any special plug-ins or software to view the collection, zoom into image detail, create slide shows, media groups, or presentations.

The website also has a blog listing new additions to the collection, featured maps, news, videos, and related sites.

When a document is found on the website, it is usually accompanied by extensive metadata, such as author, date of publication, short title, type, dimensions, note(s), area, full title of the document, full title of the publication it may be part of with notes and download options. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geographic information system</span> System to capture, manage, and present geographic data

A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and software that store, manage, analyze, edit, output, and visualize geographic data. Much of this often happens within a spatial database; however, this is not essential to meet the definition of a GIS. In a broader sense, one may consider such a system also to include human users and support staff, procedures and workflows, the body of knowledge of relevant concepts and methods, and institutional organizations.

<i>Theatrum Orbis Terrarum</i> 1570 atlas by Abraham Ortelius

Theatrum Orbis Terrarum is considered to be the first true modern atlas. Written by Abraham Ortelius, strongly encouraged by Gillis Hooftman and originally printed on 20 May 1570 in Antwerp, it consisted of a collection of uniform map sheets and supporting text bound to form a book for which copper printing plates were specifically engraved. The Ortelius atlas is sometimes referred to as the summary of sixteenth-century cartography. The publication of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570) is often considered as the official beginning of the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Digital Library Program</span>

The National Digital Library Program (NDLP) is a project by the United States Library of Congress to assemble a digital library of reproductions of primary source materials to support the study of the history and culture of the United States. The NDLP brought online 24 million books and documents from the Library of Congress and other research institutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sanborn maps</span> Detailed maps of cities and towns in the United States

Sanborn maps are detailed maps of U.S. cities and towns in the 19th and 20th centuries. Originally published by The Sanborn Map Company (Sanborn), the maps were created to allow fire insurance companies to assess their total liability in urbanized areas of the United States. Since they contain detailed information about properties and individual buildings in approximately 12,000 U.S. cities and towns, Sanborn maps are valuable for documenting changes in the built environment of American cities over many decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Széchényi Library</span> Library in Budapest, Hungary

The National Széchényi Library (OSZK) is a library in Budapest, Hungary, located in Buda Castle. It is one of two Hungarian national libraries, the other being University of Debrecen Library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Rumsey</span> American map collector (born 1944)

David Rumsey is an American map collector and the founder of the David Rumsey Map Collection. He is also the president of Cartography Associates. In 2023, he starred in the documentary A Stranger Quest by the Italian director Andrea Gatopoulos, presented at Torino Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saxon State and University Library Dresden</span>

The Saxon State and University Library Dresden, abbreviated SLUB Dresden, is located in Dresden, Germany. It is both the regional library for the German State of Saxony as well as the academic library for the Dresden University of Technology. It was created in 1996 through the merger of the Saxon State Library (SLB) and the University Library Dresden (UB). The seemingly redundant name is to show that the library brings both these institutional traditions together.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terrain cartography</span> Representation of surface shape on maps

Terrain cartography or relief mapping is the depiction of the shape of the surface of the Earth on a map, using one or more of several techniques that have been developed. Terrain or relief is an essential aspect of physical geography, and as such its portrayal presents a central problem in cartographic design, and more recently geographic information systems and geovisualization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Web mapping</span> Process of using the maps delivered by geographic information systems (GIS) in World Wide Web

Web mapping or an online mapping is the process of using, creating, and distributing maps on the World Wide Web, usually through the use of Web geographic information systems. A web map or an online map is both served and consumed, thus, web mapping is more than just web cartography, it is a service where consumers may choose what the map will show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal</span> Portugal national library

The Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal is the Portuguese national library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National and University Library in Zagreb</span> National library of Croatia and central library of the University of Zagreb

National and University Library in Zagreb (NSK) is the national library of Croatia and central library of the University of Zagreb.

The Stanford University Libraries Digital Image Collections is an online collection of digital images called Image Gallery, maintained by the Stanford University Libraries. The site provides access to over 50,000 digital images scanned from collections owned by the Stanford Libraries. Users can search image metadata, browse collections, and view images at high resolutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TimeMap</span>

TimeMap Java is an open-source web mapping application, which was one of the first such applications to introduce generic time filtering and map animation on the web. TMJava is a comprehensive Java mapping applet which can run as a standalone application with local data, on a web site or as a two tier application with a backend server and independent metadata clearinghouse, supporting distributed data sources.

The Water Resources Collections and Archives (WRCA), formerly known as the Water Resources Center Archives, is an archive with unpublished manuscript collections and a library with published materials. It was established to collect unique, hard-to-find, technical report materials pertaining to all aspects of water resources and supply in California and the American West. Located on the campus of the University of California Riverside (UCR), it is jointly administered by the UCR College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (CNAS) and the UCR Libraries. WRCA was part of the University of California Center for Water Resources (WRC) that was established and funded in 1957 by a special act of the California State Legislature and was designated the California Water Research Institute by a federal act in 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Map collection</span>

A map collection or map library is a storage facility for maps, usually in a library, archive, or museum, or at a map publisher or public-benefit corporation, and the maps and other cartographic items stored within that facility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D-Scribe Digital Publishing</span>

D-Scribe Digital Publishing is an open access electronic publishing program of the University Library System (ULS) of the University of Pittsburgh. It comprises over 100 thematic collections that together contain over 100,000 digital objects. This content, most of which is available through open access, includes both digitized versions of materials from the collections of the University of Pittsburgh and other local institutions as well as original 'born-electronic' content actively contributed by scholars worldwide. D-Scribe includes such items as photographs, maps, books, journal articles, dissertations, government documents, and technical reports, along with over 745 previously out-of-print titles published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. The digital publishing efforts of the University Library System began in 1998 and have won praise for their innovation from the leadership at the Association of Research Libraries and peer institutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanford University Libraries</span>

The Stanford University Libraries (SUL), formerly known as "Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources" ("SULAIR"), is the library system of Stanford University in California. It encompasses more than 24 libraries in all. Several academic departments and some residences also have their own libraries.

Kären Esther Wigen is an American historian, geographer, author and educator. She is the Frances and Charles Field Professor of history at Stanford University.

The cartography of the region of Palestine, also known as cartography of the Holy Land and cartography of the Land of Israel, is the creation, editing, processing and printing of maps of the region of Palestine from ancient times until the rise of modern surveying techniques. For several centuries during the Middle Ages it was the most prominent subject in all of cartography, and it has been described as an "obsessive subject of map art".

References

  1. Ganahl, Jane (27 September 2004). "David Rumsey made a living in real estate. Then he charted his future to match his passion: maps". The San Francisco Chronicle.
  2. 1 2 Joel Kovarsky (2008), "Carto-Bibliography on the Web: Links Combining Text and Image", Imago Mundi, vol. 60, no.1, pp. 93–96. JSTOR   40234119.
  3. "Maps of Americas past". Stanford News Service. Stanford University. 4 February 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
  4. "Home". davidrumsey.com.
  5. E.g.: Caarte Vande Reede ende Haven van Medenblick, hoemen die ... by Willem Jansz. Blaeu from 1620