The Hermon Dunlap Smith Center
for the History of Cartography
The Hermon Dunlap Smith Center, founded in 1972, supports the mission of the Newberry Library as it relates to the field of the history of cartography. The Center seeks to advance knowledge of the history of cartography, defined as the history of creation, use, and interpretation of maps and the relationship between mapping and other facets of human history. The Center promotes the use of the Library’s cartographic collections by scholars, educators, and the general public through conferences, exhibitions, fellowships, institutes, lectures, publications, seminars, consultations, and workshops.
Seminars and Lectures
Developing Cartographic Literacy with Historic Maps. An NEH Summer Seminar for School Teachers, from 22 June to 10 July 2009. The application deadline is Monday, 2 March 2009. Instructions for application and application materials are available by download at the seminar’s website. Contact Sarah Frank, Program Assistant at franks at newberry dot org with questions. Please visit the Newberry’s Programs for Teachers website for other opportunities available at the Library for school teachers.
The Chicago Map Society. Founded in 1976, the Chicago Map Society is the oldest map society in North America. Meetings are held during the academic year at the Newberry Library. Meetings begin with a social half-hour, followed by a 45-minute presentation and a brief question and answer session. The only requirement for membership in the Chicago Map Society is an interest in maps. The membership form is available by download. For more information about joining and to view past and future lecture notices, point your browser to our website.
Virtual Exhibitions
Click here for information on exhibits that have appeared in the Newberry’s exhibit galleries.
Resources for Teaching with Historic Maps
- Historic Maps in K-12 Classrooms. A free on-line resource for teaching the geographical dimensions of American History, featuring lesson plans based on supplied images and texts from the Newberry’s collections.
- Lesson Plans for Grades K-12. In addition to our Historic Maps in K-12 Classrooms site, we work with participants in our seminars and institutes to produce individual map-based lesson plans.
- College and University Level Courses. Professors share their ideas for using historic maps through their reading lists and class assignments, plus reviews of websites with significant cartographic resouces.
Mapline and our other Publications
- Mapline. Our newsletter, published trianually. Selections are available for on-line viewing.
- Slide Sets. Each printed set contains six slides of Newberry materials with accompanying commentary by cartography scholars; many are now available as virtual sets. Our new virtual slide sets offer the descriptions and commentary of our printed sets, in an on-line format.
- Exhibit Catalogs. Commentary and high quality reproductions of some of the Newberry’s best cartographic exhibits.
- Occasional Publications. A wide range of carto-bibliographies and map finding aids, map facsimilies, and moderate-length original studies in the history of cartography.
- Nebenzahl Lectures: Collected Published Lectures. Essay collections inspired by our popular Nebenzahl Lectures series.
- Posters & Facsimilies. Beautiful full-color momentos of some of our best exhibits.
The Cartographic Collections at the Newberry Library
Other Map and History of Cartography Resources
Smith Center Staff
- Director: James Akerman, Ph.D.
- Program Assistant: Sarah Frank, M.A.
- Mapline editor: Please direct correspondence for the editor to smithctr@newberry.org.
Affiliated Staff
- Curator of Special Collections and Curator of Maps: Robert W. Karrow, Jr., Ph.D.
- Map Cataloger and Reference Librarian: Patrick Morris
- Please direct map reference questions to reference@newberry.org.
- E-mail for the Chicago Map Society should be directed to smithctr@newberry.org.