J.B. Harley Research Fellowships in the History of Cartography

The J.B. Harley Research Fellowships in the History of Cartography


Of interest to anyone looking at issues of mapping and cartography.

The Harley Fellowships - the only one of their kind in Europe - provide support of up to four weeks (normally at GBP 400 per week) for those, from any discipline, doing the equivalent of post-graduate level work in the historical map collections of the United Kingdom. Web site: http://www.maphistory.info/harley.html

The closing date for applications is 1st NOVEMBER 2012. The Fellowship website has an Application page that should provide all the necessary information as well as answering many frequently asked questions: http://www.maphistory.info/application.html

It would be helpful if you could say where you saw this notice.

Please forward to others who might be interested

Email applications to: rose.mitchell@nationalarchives.gov.gsi.uk
Rose Mitchell
Honorary Secretary, J.B. Harley Fellowships

Map archivist
Advice and Records Knowledge Department
The National Archives
Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/maps

Book of the Month: Mapping India

The beautifully illustrated and presented Mapping India by Manosi Lahiri, published this year by Niyogi Books in New Dehli, is a new addition to a number of works we hold which look at the act of mapping and India. These include Ian J. Barrow's Making history, drawing territory : British mapping in India, c. 1756-1905, Matthew H. Edney's Mapping an empire : the geographical construction of British India, 1765-1843, and Susan Gole's Indian maps and plans : from earliest times to the advent of European surveys.

Mapping India examines the mapping of India over the last 500 years, looking at the influence of war and commerce as the driving force for the mapping of India, and changes in cartography and access to maps through to the beginning of the 21st century. The book presents some of the famous maps which have depicted India and also influence cartography in India for several centuries.They reflect the influence and role fo the East India Company, of colonialism and of independence, and include maps of Partition, migration and famines.

Covering a broad period this work is notable for the beautiful reproductions of maps held in repositories including many Indian archives, especially previously classified (and therefore not made available to the public) maps in the National Archives of India; the British Library; the Royal Geographical Society; the Asiatic Society, Kolkata; the Asiatic Society of Mumbai; the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum at the City Palace, Jaipurl and the Susan Gole Collection at the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, New Dehli.

Map Kibera - Community Mapping in Nairobi, Kenya

Map Kibera


http://mapkibera.org/

Map Kibera is a fascinating example of citizens and aid agencies using social media for community empowerment and development.

Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, is a city suburb, which since 2009 has been creating a free open map of facilities and providing news services for local citizens and community activists. Kibera is the largest slum in Africa, situated in Nairobi, Kenya. Many UN agencies, including UN-HABITAT, US Government agencies such as USAID, and NGOs, have presences nearby in Nairobi, and as a result, Kibera is one of the most well known, researched, and serviced slums anywhere. Despite this focus, Kibera was literally a blank spot on the map, its patterns of traffic, scarce water resources, limited medial facilities, etc. remained invisible to the outside world, and residents themselves. Without a basic knowledge of the geography of Kibera it is impossible to have an informed discussion on how to improve the lives of the residents of Kibera.


In November 2009, local young people learned to create maps using OpenStreetMap techniques. This included surveying with GPS, and digitization of satellite imagery and paper based annotation with Walking Papers. The work has been ongoing since, with the support of local community members and financial support from a number of agencies. In April 2010, Map Kibera started two media and local news reporting groups formed to elaborate on information in Kibera. Kibera News Network uses handheld Flip video cameras to record local news and stories and edit videos to post on Youtube and share in the community.Voice of Kibera uses Ushahidi software to map local stories and reports onto the Kibera map, and serve as a local information hub. Both groups are led by Kibera youth.

The project blog  provides descriptions of the implementation of the project which discusses the uses and promotion of mapping technology. The project wiki provides an ovierview of the project and details of plans and project documentation.

Maps

A reminder that both the Senate House Library and Commonwealth Studies library contain maps of Commonwealth (and other) countries. While collections are not as extensive as British Libray holdings we nevertheless have a good collection of maps which are listed on our catalogue (though not all are catalogued) and encourage readers to ask us about our holdings.
Map enquiries should be directed using the library enquiry form with details of country or area and date and kind of map or information looking for.
Copying facilities are available (copyright permitting).

Canadian election results map

Today's post highlighting something on the 2008 Canadian elections, of interest as the nation goes to the polls again, from the always interesting Map Room blog:

La Presse, a Montreal newspaper, has put poll-by-poll election results from the 2008 Canadian federal election onto a Google Maps interface. (Kudos to them for doing it for the entire country, and in English as well — not something I’d necessarily expect from a Quebec media source.) Being able to get that much detail about the last election is extremely useful in the context of figuring on what’s going on in the current one. More about this at Fagstein. Via Maclean’s.



2008 Canadian Election Results first appeared on The Map Room: A Weblog About Maps on April 7, 2011. Copyright © 2011 Jonathan Crowe. Distributed under a Creative Commons licence.

Maps of Africa to 1900

The Maps of Africa to 1900 digital collection contains images of maps listed in the bibliography Maps of Africa to 1900: A Checklist of Maps in Atlases and Geographical Journals in the Collections of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (Bassett & Scheven, Urbana: Graduate School of Library and Information Science, 2000).

As such, this collection mines not only the Library’s map collections, but also its extensive collection of 19th century atlases and geographical journals, including the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society (United Kingdom), the Bulletin de la Société de Géographie de Paris (France), and Petermanns Geographische Mittheilungen (Germany).


Bassett’s and Scheven’s original bibliography lists 2,416 maps of which nearly 78 percent date from the 19th century. Africanists and historians of cartography are drawn to this century because the map of the continent changed so rapidly in the wake of European explorations, conquests, and colonization (Bassett & Scheven, p. iii). About a quarter of the collection dates from the sixteenth century, 9 percent from the seventeenth, and 13 percent from the eighteenth century.

The Library is digitizing as many of the maps as possible, condition permitting. Maps are added to the collection as they are completed.

Maps workshop postponed

Due to a conflicting event the Maps workshop programmed for Friday January 29th, 2.00pm has been postponed - further information will be posted opnce a new date has been set

Commonwealth Studies Library Workshops

Our programme of free workshops offer short practical sessions to help you discover and make use of the wealth of information available at the Commonwealth Studies Library. Book your place by emailing icommlib@sas.ac.uk (please indicate any particular areas of interest so workshops can be tailored to your needs)

Colonial Blue Books and Annual Reports: Discover the wealth of statistical and social data contained in these annual reports, full of rich information on all aspects of colonial administration and life in the colonies.
Thursday January 14th, 2.00pm, NG14, Ground Floor Library, Senate House.

Maps: Explore the Senate House Library and Commonwealth Studies map collections and discover how to find maps in other libraries, and hidden in books and reports.
Friday January 29th, 2.00pm, Map Library, Ground Floor Library, Senate House

Finding and using census data for historical research: What information is contained in census reports? What can they tell us about people’s lives? How reliable are census reports and what questions should we ask when using these?
Friday February 12th, 2.00pm, NG14, Ground Floor Library.

Workshops are usually held in the Ground Floor Library, North Block, Senate House, Malet St, London WC1E 7HU. Workshops start at 2.00 and last for approximately an hour. Further details for each workshop will be available closer to the time. Places are limited so please pre-book in advance.

We can also arrange workshops for specific research groups or groups of students. For advice or assistance, telephone David Clover, Commonwealth Studies Librarian, 020 7862 8840 or email icommlib@sas.ac.uk

Research Training at Commonwealth Studies Library

This year we're in the initial planning stages of a planned series of short (no more than two hours) hands-on workshops aimed at small groups of Masters and Postgraduate Research students, looking at the use of various resources for ‘Commonwealth studies’ in both electronic and print format. Suggestions so far include
• the use of census material
• colonial blue books and annual reports from the colonies
• the Confidential Print
• maps and geographical sources
• and finding biographical information.

We would welcome your feedback as to whether you think such an idea would be of use to you or your students, whether the length is appropriate, what time of day may best suit students and what resources or topics may meet their needs.

We would also welcome any general comments on information training needs and how we could contribute to meet these needs; as well as any other general comments and feedback.

Please respond by email to david.clover@sas.ac.uk

We are also happy to arrange tours for groups of students, if you are interested, please do get in touch.