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Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2000 09:25:28 -0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
From: Mark Thomas <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: 1815 NC-SC boundary survey
Sender: Mark Thomas <[log in to unmask]>



I got a call from a commercial surveyor who is interested in
finding an original copy of an 1815 boundary survey map (a
manuscript map) of the border between North and South Carolina
(actually, just the western part), along with accompanying
field notes. It's the sort of thing that  most likely would be
in a special collections library, if it still exists, and seems
pretty "obvious" (4 by 24 feet long, probably rolled up), so if
someone has ever seen it in their life I was hoping they might
remember where.  No reference to it being in Raleigh since 1861.

More important details:
There were two official copies made of the map and field notes
from the survey in 1815.  One for each state.  By 1861, the
South Carolina version had disappeared and they had another
official copy made from the remaining one in Raleigh.  This 1861
copy still exists in Columbia.  But since 1861, the original
1815 North Carolina copy has disappeared. This is what the
surveyor is hoping to find, along with NC's copy of the field
notes.

He's had the NC Dept. of Archives and History and other likely
agencies looking for it, but no luck yet. So, he's starting to
check academic libraries.  Because of that 1861 date, I figured
it could have dissappeard during the Civil War or right after.
Maybe destroyed, but maybe ended up among the possessions of the
heirs of a Union general and was eventually donated to a
library.  I'm being an optimist. :-)

There is an OCLC record for a photocopy of the 1861 SC copy
that's in the Greenville County Library.  Says it was copied in
1997 in Columbia by a company called South Carolina Mapping
Services.  The catalog record says the photocopy is 626 cm.
long, which is only about 20.5 feet, by 92 cm (3 feet):  maybe
they had to reduce it to 3 feet wide to get it onto the paper
they copied it onto.  (Don't know how they'd do this since you
wouldn't run an 1861 map through a blueline copier even if it
were narrow enough!)  This record transcribes the interesting
notes such as the NC secretary of state, Rufus H. Page saying
that "I ... do hereby certify that the within is a true copy of
the orignal on file in this office."  Still, the surveyor would
like to see the 1815 original and accompanying notes.

thanks,
        Mark
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mark Thomas / [log in to unmask] / 919-660-5853, fax:919-684-2855
Map and GIS Librarian / Economics Bibliographer
Public Documents and Maps Department
025 Perkins Library / Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0177

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