RARE EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN MAPS JOIN NEWBERRY LIBRARY'S
COLLECTION OF CARTOGRAPHIC TREASURES

Maps acquired from the Chicago History Museum

CHICAGO (May 31, 2006)  - The Newberry Library and the Chicago History
Museum worked together to create a solution to keep key maps and
manuscripts in the city of Chicago. The Chicago History Museum, in an
effort
to bring its collections closer to its primary mission of documenting
the history
of the city, decided to part with 1,000 maps and manuscripts last year.
In
order to keep the treasures in Chicago, the museum generously gave the
Newberry Library an opportunity to make a private offer for any maps of
interest.

"We are so pleased that we were able to work with the Chicago History
Museum to keep these wonderfully rich maps here in Chicago for scholars
and
map enthusiasts to study and enjoy," said Robert Karrow, curator of
special
collections and curator of maps at the Newberry Library.

Paul Saenger, the Newberry's curator of rare books, added "The sale of
out-
of  scope and duplicate materials allowed us to pursue this wonderful
opportunity to build our collection."

A team of Newberry Library curators and reference librarians examined
the
Chicago History Museum's collection and identified nearly 400 items that

would enhance the Newberry's existing map collection. Perhaps the most
exciting items in this collection are two very sought-after maps of
Texas,
including a large and very uncommon 1857 edition of DeCordova's map, and

six manuscript maps, among them a map of Newfoundland from about 1675
and another of the Ohio Valley from the 1790s. Nearly a quarter of the
items
purchased are maps and views of American cities, and there are more than
50
railroad maps, both categories that will strengthen already substantial
Newberry collections in important ways.

The mix of pre-1800, 19th and 20th century maps and atlases are an
extremely complementary addition to the Newberry's fine cartographic
collection. For example, the 54 county landownership atlases from the
late
19th and early 20th century added the Newberry's first atlas for some
counties.

When all items have been added to the Cartographic Catalog on
Biblioserver,
(www.biblioserver.com/newberry), they will be searchable by the
phrase "Purchased from the Chicago Historical Society, 2005."  To view
one
of the maps from the collection, please visit the New Acquisitions
section on
our Web site at http://www.newberry.org/collections/NewAcq2005.html.


ABOUT THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY
The Newberry Library is an independent library open to the public for
research
and reference in the humanities. One of the largest independent research

libraries in the United States, the Newberry holds an extraordinary
collection
of about 1.5 million books, 5 million manuscript pages, and more than
300,000
historic maps.  As one of the world's leading repositories of a broad
range of
books and manuscripts relating to the civilizations of western Europe
and the
Americas, the Library acquires and preserves research collections of
such
materials and provides for and promotes their effective use by a diverse

community of users. Visit the Newberry online at www.newberry.org.

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Angie Cope
American Geographical Society Library
UW Milwaukee Libraries
2311 E. Hartford Avenue
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201

http://www.uwm.edu/Libraries/AGSL/index.html
Hours: M-F 8:00am-4:30pm
[log in to unmask]
(414)229-6282 / (800)558-8993 (US TOLL FREE) / (414)229-3624 (FAX)

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