-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Gerard L. Alexander obituary
Date:   Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:27:25 -0500
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Gerard L. Alexander, longtime Chief of Map Division, NYPL.

We recently learned of the death in 2006 of Gerard L. Alexander, formerly
Chief of the Map Division, NYPL.

Born August 23, 1924 in Europe, he died in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida on
May 17, 2006.  Gerard came to NYPL in 1947, at about age 23, after
emigrating from Scotland, and working briefly at the United Nations 1st
General Assembly held here in New York City.  He was First Assistant in the
Map Division, a natural setting for him as he was a trained cartographer
having studied at the Geographical Institute of Charles University, Prague,
and Edinburgh University.

For the year 1953 he was an illustrator for the Columbia-Viking Desk
Encyclopedia, and was the cartographer for Junior Scholastic magazine, most
likely part time jobs for added income and to keep up his cartographic
skills.  In 1953 and many other years, he led his grand tour of Europe,
aimed specifically at librarians, and visited Scotland, England, Holland,
Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France. In 1955 he led his fourth
tour which included 15 countries!

Gerard was a member of the Special Libraries Association, Geography and Map
Division, and held leadership positions with SLA almost from his first year
at NYPL. In 1950 he was elected Secretary of the Geography and Map Group,
New York Chapter, Special Libraries Association, and later chaired the
Division.  He was on the Publications Advisory Board for Hammond, Inc. and
a trustee of the Islands Research Foundation.

He published several articles, edited books, such as the 2nd edition of
Greenhood’s Mapping, 1971, and Ernst Lehner’s  How they saw the New World,
1966. He co-authored several books with Joseph Nathan Kane, known for his
book on Famous First Facts. Gerard’s first article appeared in the
Cartographical Review/ Kartograficky Prehled, January-February 1947,
co-published by the State Map Collection of the Czech Republic and the
Geographical Institute of the Charles University, Prague. The article was
totally in Czech, but titled in English, “A report of the Map Division, The
New York Public Library.” Because this appeared in January 1947, I suspect
it was researched and published before his actual appointment to the Map
Division staff!  In 1951 he produced the first of several editions of
Nicknames of American Cities, Towns and villages, Past and Present.  His
most important publication was Guide to atlases: world, regional, national,
thematic; an international listing of atlases published since 1950, 1971,
followed by a supplement published in 1977.

However, possibly his most important Map Division activity involved
planning and executing the move of 300,000 maps and atlases from two rooms
on the third floor of the Central Building, NYPL, down to the first floor,
Room 117, opening for service on March 1, 1963, without one day lost from
public service during the move. From two rooms separated by a public
hallway, and scattered collections, the Map Division landed in a two-room
suite with space to spare. This was map room heaven, with 20’ ceilings,
windows on Fifth Avenue, real office space, and low map cases to allow
acres of work space for processing large flat paper materials, maps!

For the first 11 years of his career at NYPL, the Map Division was under
the auspices of the American History Division, with Gerald MacDonald the
acting Head of the Map Division. However, Gerard Alexander was the
essential manager for the Map Division from 1947, when he arrived at NYPL,
as almost the entire expert map room staff, including Chief Walter Ristow,
had retired or left  NYPL immediately after the War. Mr. Alexander was
appointed Chief in 1958, and remained in that position until his retirement
in 1981. He then moved to Florida, and worked as a consultant in the area
of antiquarian maps and also worked in real estate in the Palm Beach area.
His business card states that he bought, sold and appraised antiquarian
maps, atlases and globes, and that he was a map investment consultant.

He was a terrific organizer, as illustrated in his early leadership roles
in the Special libraries Association Geography and Map Division, his annual
group tours to Europe, and the successful 1963 move of the entire map
collection to its present location off the Astor Lobby of the Humanities
and Social Sciences Library at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, New York City.

Today we owe much to his leadership during the post-World War II expansion
and growth of the Map Division, preparing it for 21st century computer
mapping, GIS and the digital era. We see his hand everywhere, every day in
the Map Division we have inherited.


Alice C. Hudson
Chief, The Lionel Pincus & Princess Firyal Map Division
The Humanities and Social Sciences Library
The New York Public Library
5th Avenue & 42nd Street, Room 117
New York, NY 10018-2788

[log in to unmask], 212-930-0589, fax 212-930-0027

Hours: 1-7:30 Tu & Wed, 1-6 Thurs-Sat.    Closed Sun, Mon.

http://nypl.org/research/chss/map/map.html