The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-07-27
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
EREDERIC J. HASKIN. Director.
Washington, ID. @.
THE GOVERNMENT MAP COLLEC-
TON,

many people come to my door and
read the sign Maps and Charts and
turn away" p. L. Phillips, chief OF
the map division of the library of
congress made this remark, and he
made it rather sadly. There is as
much to the picturesque IN Mr.. Phil
lips division as in any part or the
great library. But the public thinks
of q map as a dull, abstract outline
of a country. So, more often than not,
visitors pass by and miss seeing the
map with the picture of the one
legged man holding his foot over him
like an umbrella.
This attractive novelty is just inside
the door. 1t is possible that If he were
outside, below the sign maps and
Charts" the one-legged gentleman
might stimulate the public magma
ton and Mr.. Phillips would be swamp
ed with visitors. But side-show ad-
vertising is beneath governmental dig
nity Mr. Phillips has perhaps gone
as far as this dignity permits when
he placed a swinging rack of quaint
old sixteenth century maps just out
side his door.
The one-legged gentlemen is in this
collection of valuable old vellum
charts He is sitting blissfully in the
shade of his huge foot in Ethiopia, a
region about which very little was
kn@wn when the map was drawn. In
another of these maps man with
neck like a camel is set down some
where in northern Europe.
These freak humans were not put
there in any spirit of levity. The map
makers of the sixteenth century de-
pended on explorers and travellers Tor
information about distant countries
Just as map makers do today. Some
times they were deceived. Travellers
exaggerated or reported weird tradi-
lions as facts. Sir John Mandeville,
famous traveller of the fourteenth CEN
fury, is responsible for the one
int nr4f
that MandeYille's book of travels con-
tains the same picture that the map
maker used a couple of centuries later
Vaudeville added a description to his
PICTURE written in the quaint old Eng
lish of his time:
In Ethiope ben many diverse folk:
and Ethiope is clept (called) Gusts
In that Centres ben folk that han
but O foot: and that it schadewethe
allie the Body azen the Some: whanne
thei wo1e I've and reste hem"
The man with the long, curved
neck is another concoction of some eX-
plorer. He adorns 1859 sailing chart
of the coast lines of the world. The
grated their work with pictures of
this sort, showing the natural ex-
hibits and interesting features OF the
different countries. This chart shows
an excellently drawn elephant,
camel, a deer, unicorn, and other ami
mails in Africa, for instance, and in
Europe the principal cities are marked
by their coats of arms and a tiny view
of the city over the shield. Each OF
these views is no larger than a rs
cent piece. Yet the towers and battle
ments of each city are distinctive.
The different countries are marked by
pictures of the rulers sitting on
canopied thrones. The apparel of the
kings and the colors and style in which
they are drawn are strongly suggestive
of the royalty on a modern deck OF
playing cards.
This was a map of 1859, a more
colorful and fancifu1 affair than our
current maps with their dots for cities
and wavy lines for mountains. Yet
this map is scarcely considered old by
cartography experts A map MADE
after 1850 is comparatively modern
This is logical when you consider that
the Romans made charts in planning
their roads, and that records of maps
go back several centuries before
Christ. Some of the most interesting
maps in the Library of Congress, to
Americans, at least, are not old by
this standard.
A rare and unique map of this
country is one showing the names
proposed by Jefferson for new states
in 1884. What is now the north CEN
trail and northwestern part of the
United States was beginning to open
up, and jefferson proposed an ordi-
nance to parcel it off and name it.
He suggested in his ordinance such
names as Sylvania, Assenisippia, Poly
Michigania, Saratoga, Pelisipia, 1lli-
noia, and Washington. Most of these
names were never taken seriously.
One critic said of them: Such mix
ture of Greek, Latin, English and In
dian perhaps was never seen before"
But the next year a publisher printed
a tiny pocket almanac containing a
picture of the map as Jefferson
wanted it.
Division Saves Billions.
Showing the public its entertaining
exhibits is not, of course, the main
function of the map division. Mr..
Phillips has in his charge one of the
largest collections of maps in the
world, and the material is put to i'm
portant uses. He says that his divi-
sion has saved the government bill
lions of dollars.
When the United States was bar
gaining for Alaska, the boundary line
was in dispute, and maps from the
library OF congress showed the original
line to which the Russian territory
extended. Another time. Mississippi
and Louisiana had a controversy over
an island in the Gulf of Mexico. 1t
was an insignificant island that no
state would have thought of arguing
over until it became known as a fine
place to catch terrapin. Library of
congress maps were sent for to show
old established boundaries.
Lately Newfoundland and Canada
have been disagreeing over their
boundary line and men were sent
down to Washington to study the map
material of the finest collection in the
western world. These are a few ran
dom instances, showing the use to
which the government maps are put.
Maps are sent out of the building
only for government use. The public
can consult the material in the library.
People out of the city often use the
map division, however, as a. source of
information. They write to ask the
status OF Danzig; how to pronounce
Baluchistan; and where to find
Rusinia on the map. There is moro