3 messages.---------------------------------Johnnie
 
 
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>Date:  Thu, 25 Apr 1996 13:15:07 +0100
>From:  [log in to unmask]
>Subject:  Storing wall maps
 
 
   I just wanted to add my experience with rolled wall maps, which,
   although it is from another point of view, may be worth some
   consideration.
 
   I once catalogued a collection of historical maps for the local
   history department of a state university library. I found myself
   one day in their basement storage area, where their collection of
   mid-19th to mid-20th century wall maps (200-300 of them) were
   placed one or two each in very long cardboard tubes (like the kind
   we can't get the USGS shipments out of, only wider and much
   longer). These tubes had been honey-combed into simple wooden
   frames. I thought this was very clever when I saw it, and still do.
 
   However, once we started pulling these maps out to look at them, we
   discovered something many of you already know--maps should not be
   stored rolled like this for long periods of time! They could
   certainly not be flattened enough to use them; the outermost layer
   (i.e., bottom several inches of the map) were nearly destroyed from
   the battering it took in protecting the rest of the map; the old
   varnish was cracking like crazy and taking the map with it; and the
   maps exhibited the oddest pattern of curves. The conservation work
   required to repair these is laborious and costly, particularly
   because, due to their large size, they have to be sent out to one
   of the few conservation labs in the country with equipment large
   enough to hold them. And, I have seen wall maps treated and
   prepared for hanging storage (flat, not rolled), and, although this
   was several years ago, the result was not satisfactory.
 
   So, no neat solutions here, but a warning that if the maps in
   question are anything you will want to keep in good and usable
   condition for some time (even as little as 20-30 years), don't
   store them rolled.
 
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   April Carlucci                [log in to unmask]
   The British Library                        Voice +44 171 412 7000x4167
   Map Library                                      +44 171 412 7703
   Great Russell Street                       Fax   +44 171 412 7780
   London  WC1B 3DG
   United Kingdom               "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"
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>Date: Thu, 25 Apr 96 07:45:36 CDT
>From: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: re: Storing Wall Maps
 
 
We have a few wall maps in our collection.  Several years ago we purchased some
6 ft and 8 ft acid-free map tubes and placed the maps (after removing from the
rollers) in these, with the map number labeled on the outside of the map tube.
These are stored in a corner in the stacks.  They are rarely pulled, but when
they are, we have a large table to lay them out on.  This has worked for these
maps.  We have a hundred or so smaller maps in map tubes ranging from 3 ft to
5 ft (most are 4 ft), which are just a bit too large for the 36 x 48 map
drawers.  These were all rolled when received as well.  These are stored in map
tubes or specially-made phase boxes and lined up on top of the map cases.
Ideally we would like to have all these maps flattened, but they are too large
for our map cases.
 
Laura Saegert
Map Archivist
Texas State Archives
[log in to unmask]
(512) 463-5500
 
 
 
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>Date:         Thu, 25 Apr 96 08:01:28 CDT
>From:         [log in to unmask]
>Subject:      Re: Storing Wall Maps
 
 
In reponse to the wall map storage problem:
We store about 750 wall maps vertically on metal carts.  The carts are about
2x4 feet and grids with either 2x2-inch or 4x4-inch openings.  Further, the
rows are terraced so the rolled maps in the back stand up higher than those in
the front row (it also helps to house them in an old WPA building built with
14- foot ceiling for the pre-airconditioned south).  The carts make it easy
to move them around to access the requested map.
 
In addition to the standard shelf list, we keep a faculty list of which map
each faculty member prefers to use.  This alllows the faculty member to
ask for "the African map I always use" without the staff looking up all of the
wall maps of Africa.
 
 
John Anderson
Cartographic Information Center
Louisiana State University