UW Exhibit Of Vintage Maps, Books And More Through End Of The Month

A neighbor would like to share that the University of Washington is having an interesting exhibit in the Allen library featuring vintage maps, books and more in the Special Collections exhibit "All Over the Map" through the end of the month.

Vintage maps, books and more in UW Libraries Special Collections exhibit ‘All Over the Map’

(“The Road from London to the City of Bristol,” a map circa 1675 by Scottish cartographer John Ogilby — part of “All Over the Map: From Cartographs to (C)artifacts,” a UW Libraries Special Collections exhibit)

Say it’s the year 1675 and you need to ride from London to the city of Bristol. Siri won’t be invented for centuries — how will you find your way? Don’t worry, there’s a map for that.

Drawn expressly for the purpose by Scottish cartographer John Ogilby, the map now sits under glass in the Special Collections area of the UW’s Allen Library, in great shape for being 340 years old.

(A decades-old Viewmaster-style item from Disneyland invites viewers to “go ahead in time to 1986…”Dennis Wise)

The map is one of dozens of items in a new exhibit titled “All Over the Map: From Cartographs to (C)artifacts.” Carefully chosen and organized by UW Book Arts and Rare Book Curator Sandra Kroupa, the exhibit is a celebration of cartography, geography and travel, featuring maps, travel literature, vintage books, photos, manuscripts and more.

“I really love that map,” Kroupa said. “The interesting thing is that it doesn’t put you in any context, so you don’t know where in the world you are. You know to get from here to there, but that’s it. And all along the road are symbols of what happens there, and one of the things is a tree that people were hung from. We even have an artist book from the collection that was inspired by that map.”

“Here are things that have managed to make it through God knows what, and — especially some of the early maps — where have they been?”
Sandra Kroupa, UW Libraries book arts and rare book curator

To Kroupa, on the job just months short of 50 years with no retirement in sight, caring for centuries-old original items like these is like a “sacred trust.” She added: “Here are these things that have managed to make it through God knows what, and — especially some of the early maps — where have they been?” Some were individual sheets in atlases long dismantled and sold off separately, she said.

(An example of the 19th century photography of William Babcock) 

Nearby Ogilby’s cartography are other vintage maps as well as travel books by Charles Dickens and others, including a small 1804 book about touring England told in letters from a brother to a sister and an intriguing 1905 guide to “The Ruined Abbeys of Great Britain.”

Behind glass in another shelf are a few 19^th century photographs by William Babcock — and really, nothing says “colonial” like a formal British couple solemnly riding an elephant on their honeymoon.

Also included are cycling diaries “recorded in map form” by the late, beloved UW historian Giovanni Costigan. He was — who knew? — evidently a biking enthusiast who cycled around England and Ireland in the 1920s. Kroupa said colleague John Bolcer, librarian and university archivist, brought these to her attention. Nicolette Bromberg, UW Libraries visual materials curator, suggested photos for the exhibit and Lisa Oberg, associate director of Special Collections and history of science and medicine curator, provided the exhibit title.

(King Neptune and a mermaid canoodle in this close-up from “Italiae novissima,” a 1579 hand-colored copper engraving by Abraham Ortelius of Antwerp)

Book arts, scientific instruments and ephemera are represented here as well. Kroupa herself donated a 1950s-era Disneyland Viewmaster slide promoting Tomorrowland that lures the viewer with: “Let’s go ahead in time to 1986 — a world of spaceports, moon rockets, modernistic buildings and the fun rides of the future!”

Kroupa created the display in just a few days after learning that she had a hole in her schedule to fill. Curators know their collections, and exhibits compiled in this personal way can be a rare glimpse at favorite items from the trove, which at UW Special Collections numbers about 250,000 printed materials and 1,500,000 visual images in all.

It’s like putting together a big puzzle, she said.

“I say to people that when I walked in here at age 21, someone handed me a whole bunch of puzzle pieces, but I never saw the box! So I didn’t know if I was facing Mount Rainier or four kitties in a yarn basket, or fresh fruit. It just seems like everything you do gives you more puzzle pieces.”