A generale mapp of the Isles of Great Brittaine, 1669

Over at the Philadelphia Area Center for the History of Science’s PACHSmörgåsbord blog, Haverford Professor Darin Hayton discusses his recent assignment utilizing maps from Special Collections in his course on the Introduction to the History of Science.  Each student picked a pre-1700 map from the collection (some were facsimiles of older maps) and visited several times to study their map.  They were to analyze the map both for what it actually presented as well as by delving into the context of its creation and use.  The end result was a short report on their findings, a Biography of a Map.  Please read on for Darin’s analysis of the assignment:

Biography of a Map—Further Experiments in Pedagogy

Marketing a Colony—William Penn’s Maps of Pennsylvania

Mapping Our Way Forward—More Experiments in Pedagogy

The exhibit “You Are Here: Exploring the Contours of Our Academic Community Through Maps” runs through February 10, 2012. What follows are some of our favorite online mapping sites including a few coming from Haverford. Please use the comment form below to tell us about your favorite mapping sites as well!

Cook, James, 1728-1779, A voyage towards the South Pole, and round the world : Performed in His Majesty’s ships the Resolution and Adventure, in the years, 1772, 1773, 1774, and 1775 / Written by James Cook, commander of the Resolution. In which is included, Captain Furneaux’s narrative of his proceedings in the Adventure during the separation of the ships … Illustrated with maps and charts, and a variety of portraits … and views … drawn during the voyage by Mr. Hodges, London : Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1777 (2nd edition).

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Diana Franzusoff Peterson, College Archivist & Manuscripts Librarian, and John Anderies, Coordinator for Special & Digital Collections, will be attending the conference “Future Foundations: Mapping the Past – Building the Philadelphia GeoHistory Network” sponsored by the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries at the Chemical Heritage Foundation, December 2-3, 2005.