General News
New Leadership at the History of Cartography Project
The UW-Madison Department of Geography extends a warm welcome to Matthew
H. Edney in his new role as director of the History of Cartography Project.
Since receiving his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1990
under the supervision of series cofounder David Woodward, Dr. Edney has
maintained close ties with the Project and with scholars in the field.
His work has explored various themes in map history including imperial
cartography (Mapping an Empire [Chicago, 1997]), Enlightenment cartography,
and the cartography of early America. His comprehensive research on the
theory, methodology, and recent historiography of map studies has influenced
the structure of the later, encyclopedic volumes of the History of Cartography
series. Dr. Edney has been Associate Professor of Geography-Anthropology
and American and New England Studies and a faculty scholar at the Osher
Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education at the University
of Southern Maine since 1995. In 1998 Dr. Woodward appointed Dr. Edney
as coeditor for Volume Four of the History series, Cartography in the
European Enlightenment, a role that he will continue. He is a Director
of Imago Mundi, Ltd., Chair and President of American Friends of the
J. B. Harley Research Fellowships, Inc., and was an organizer, with Yolanda
Theunissen and David Cobb, of the 20th International Conference on the
History of Cartography (June 2003). He joined the Project team in Madison,
Wisconsin, in July 2005.
Jim Burt, then chair of the Geography Department, deserves special thanks for his excellent service as interim director of the History of Cartography Project from September 2004 through June 2005. His willingness to step forward enabled work on the series to continue without interruption after David Woodward's death.
History of Cartography Project Volume Updates and Office News
Copyediting is nearing completion of the massive manuscript of Volume Three, Cartography in the European Renaissance. Last spring, Project staff sent the black and white photos, color plates, and original line art prepared in the UW Cartography Lab to the University of Chicago Press and compiled a massive bibliographic index. Although actual publication of the volume is not expected until 2007, it is encouraging to see so many necessary elements falling into place.
The preparatory work necessary to shift to an encyclopedic structure for Volume Four, Five, and Six of the History of Cartography series is almost complete. Volume Four has been the forerunner of many changes to the series, and planning has required hard work and innovation. Before it can be pre-approved for publication by the University of Chicago Press, each encyclopedic volume must be conceptually designed, its entry term list refined, word counts allocated on a strict "word budget" that includes citations, and page space reserved for illustrations.
In 2004 and 2005 respectively, Volumes Four and Six each successfully navigated the Press's rigorous process and gained pre-approval. Since then, editors Matthew Edney and Mary Pedley (Volume Four) and Mark Monmonier (Volume Six), working closely with editorial staff at the Press, have created detailed contributor manuals, planned the process for contracting authors, and designed a system to track progress from author recruitment to reference-checking final manuscripts. The editors wrote scope and context descriptions to guide those who will be researching and writing entries, and potential authors have been identified for well over half of the entries. Since the volumes are each planned as one-million-word, 800-entry encyclopedias written by approximately 250 contributors, this has all required immense dedication, creativity, and perseverance. With the groundwork laid, work on Volume Five will commence when editors are appointed.
The History of Cartography Project is once again fully staffed. In addition to hiring Matthew Edney as director, Jan Manser joined our staff as financial administrator this summer. Her work in the areas of purchasing, bookkeeping, and office management replaces that of Rose Barr, who ended her limited term employment with the Project to pursue a career in phlebotomy. We welcome Matthew and Jan and offer Rose our thanks and best wishes.
Congratulations to reference editor Jed Woodworth (History and Education Policy Studies) and his wife Shawna on the birth of their son Benjamin Charles on 26 June 2005 and to illustration editor Dana Freiburger (History of Science), who received a National Science Foundation grant to participate in the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute at the University of Tokyo last summer.
Royal Scottish Geographical Society Centenary Medal Awarded
Rosalind Woodward, wife of the late
David Woodward, accepts the 2004 Royal Scottish Geographical Society
(RSGS) Centenary Medal from RSGS President The Earl of Dalkeith at the
President's Reception and Awards Dinner, October 2004, in the Royal College
of 
Surgeons, Edinburgh, in the presence of HRH The Princess Royal, who
is a Vice-President and Honorary Fellow of the Society. Dr. Woodward
was the recipient of the Centenary Medal, which is awarded annually in
recognition of outstanding contributions in the field of geographical
enquiry and the development of geography as a discipline. Professor Woodward
recieved the award for his many distinguished contributions in cartography.
Photo by Gavin Anderson.
Conference Honors Harley's and Woodward's Vision and Looks to the Future
The University of British Columbia's 35th Medieval Workshop, "Cartography in Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Fresh Perspectives, New Methods," was held in Vancouver October 28-29, 2005. The scope of the conference matched that of Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient, and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean, Volume One of the History of Cartography, edited by J. B. Harley and David Woodward.
Eighteen years after the publication of this crucial work in 1987, the conference offered a unique forum to highlight, distill, and reflect upon the remarkable progress made in so many areas since 1987, thereby honoring the memory of the editors, and in particular David Woodward, who died in 2004.
Organized by Richard Talbert (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) and Richard Unger (University of British Columbia), the workshop was effectively an extended argument for the preparation of a second edition of Volume One. As such, it pointed to a future life of the Project beyond the completion of the six volumes, to continue to coordinate, synthesize, and foster research in the history of cartography.
