Don't forget that recent Smithsonian article Linda Zellmer pointed out a few months ago:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/un told-story-secret-mission-seize-nazi-map-data-180973317/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

And note that I asked about Nazi-stamped maps back in Autumn, 2005 (see the Maps-l archives; thread entitled "Nazi-stamped maps"). I cited something called "Map Libraries and the Armed Services--A Story of Uneven Relationships," by Carlos Hagen, and rec'd a lengthy reply from KU's Scott McEathron, who had done a poster about this subject. The full text of his response is below.

Joel Kovarsky also forwarded a related MapHist-l post from John Cloud, also below.

McEathron

Subject:        RE: MAPS-L: Nazi-stamped maps

Date:   Wed, 30 Nov 2005
From:   McEathron, Scott R <[log in to unmask]>
To:     Maps, Air Photo & Geospatial Systems Forum <[log in to unmask]>

Michael,

I recently presented a poster related to this topic last October at the NACIS conference in Salt Lake City.  There are hundreds of different stamps from that era on captured maps.  Some are maps that the German military initially captured from other countries. In my mind they are historically interesting artifacts.  However, any given stamped sheet could be rare or valuable to somebody.  Also, the symbols may be offensive to some and prone to mutilation ( I have seen the little swastika colored in on some nautical charts.

Below is the abstract from my poster.

Best wishes,
Scott R. McEathron
Map Librarian
Anschutz Library -- University of Kansas
1301 Hoch Auditoria Drive
Lawrence, KS  66045-7537

Captured German Military Maps of WWII: The Results of a Preliminary Survey from the Thomas R. Smith Map Collections, University of Kansas Libraries
Scott R. McEathron, University of Kansas Libraries (email: [log in to unmask])

In the wake of Allied advances into Germany in 1945, teams of young geographers working for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Cartographic Division's Map Information Section went in search of German geographers and maps.  They interviewed geographers and mapmakers and found maps by the hundreds of thousands.  The maps that were not of immediate strategic value were shipped back to Washington, D.C. (Smith and Black 1946; Wilson 1949, 306).

Many of these captured maps were eventually distributed to American universities via the Army Map Service depository channels and through the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division's summer internship programs.  Beyond the initial studies related to this topic (Fisher 1946; Smith and Black 1946; Wilson 1949) little subsequent work has been done.  Notable exceptions include Rose and Willig's (2004) study on the preparations made by German geologists for Operation Sealion.  Also, Tatham's (1978) survey of captured German maps held in the Map Room of King's College, London.

This poster introduces a survey of these materials that is initially focused on the T. R. Smith Map Collections, University of Kansas Libraries.  The primary objectives of the survey are to: 1) explore and document the extent and intensity of mapping; 2) explore the varieties and innovations of mapping conducted by the German military circa 1939-45; and 3) explore the provenance of the maps themselves.

Preliminary results confirm what one may expect in regards to extent and intensity of German mapping.  Areas of the most intense mapping include: France, the Low Countries, the United Kingdom, Norway, the Balkans, and the Soviet Union.  Tatham (1978, 25) identified four forms of thematic or specialized mapping: Missweisungs-und Nadelabweichungs Karte (Magnetic deviation and variation map), Volkstumskarte (Nationalities map), Befestigungskarte (Fortifications map), and Baustoffkarte (Building material map).  In addition to these, several others have been located in the T. R. Smith Map Collections, including: Bildplankarte (Photographic map), Fliegerausgabe (Pilot's edition), Mil.-Geo.-Karte or Militärgeographische Einzelangaben (Military map), Panzerkarte (Tank map), Stadtplans (City plans), Stereokarte (Stereographic map), nautical charts, and various communications (telegraph/phone) maps.

Occasionally, the provenance of the maps may be traced using the "ownership" stamps on the sheets.  Original owners include national agencies in France, Greece, and the Soviet Union (captured by the German Army), and Germany, universities, individuals, and military units.  Intermediate owners generally include one or more of the following: the Army Map Service, OSS, the Department of State, or the Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.  The final owner is the University of Kansas Libraries, T. R. Smith Map Collections.

References

Fisher, Eric. 1946. German Geographical Literature, 1940-1945. Geographical Review 36, no. 1: 92-100.

Rose, E. P. F., D. Willig. 2004. Specialist Maps Prepared by German Military Geologists for Operation Sealion: The Invasion of England Scheduled for September 1940. Cartographic Journal 41, no. 1: 13-35.

Smith, Thomas R., Lloyd D. Black. 1946. German Geography: War Work and Present Status. Geographical Review 36, no. 3: 398-408.

Tatham, A. F. 1978. German Military Mapping--an Exploratory Survey. The Cartographic Journal 15, no. 1: 20-27.

Wilson, Leonard S. 1949. Lessons From the Experience of the Map Information Section, OSS. Geographical Review 39, no. 2: 298-310.

=====================

Cloud

> In a real sense, the Cold War started before WW II ended, as the
> western Allies on the one side, and the Soviet Union on the other,
> systematically dismantled as much German science and technology as
> they could.
>
> One part of that story I followed pursuant to my dissertation research
> involved the exploits of the HOUGHTEAM (capitalized like that because
> it was SECRET) leaded by then Major Floyd Hough, the brilliant US Army
> geodesist.  Their assignment, as a tiny part of the Allied effort, was
> to scour Germany for photogrammetric equipment and geodetic
> observatory equyipment and personnel.  Which they found, and they also
> stumbled upon, in the village of Salzfeld, about 20 kilometers from
> Jena (the home of Karl Zeiss Optik), the entire geodetic archives of
> the Wehrmacht. This included first order triagulation surveys running
> from Moscow to Vladivostok, executed by German geodesists under
> contract to the Czar in the early 1900s to plan possible routes for
> the Trans-Siberian Railway. All of which became incalculably valuable
> for targeting ICBMs in the Cold War.
>
> The HOUGHTEAM alone (18 men and women out of an estimated 10,000
> Allied intelligence personnel) shipped over 90 metric tons of
> material, including whole map series, back to Washington.  All those
> materials have dispursed over time to many collections.
>
> I published a paper on all this.  If anyone want a copy, send me an
> email off-list and I'll send it to you as a pdf.

Cloud's paper might this one: https://geography.wisc.edu/histcart/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/04/11cloud.pdf

HTH.

Michael

On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 4:12 PM Redmond, Edward James <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

All:

I agree that a written summary of the project, focusing on how the maps came to the US (the Hough Team, the Herringen Cave, etc); made their way to the War Department/Army Service; and were then transferred to LC; and, ultimately, university collections throughout the country.

And the final paragraph can summarize the Stanford Libraries current project…establishing a timeline from 1945 to the present!

Ed Redmond
Library of Congress
Geography and Map Division
[log in to unmask]

From: Maps-L: Map Librarians, etc. <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of LOUISE RATLIFF
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2020 3:13 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: WWII Captured Maps

Hi all,

I think it would be fabulous if some of you collaborated and wrote this all up in one place. Do you think it would be worthwhile to publish such an article?

Louise

On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 12:09 PM March, Greg <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

John, thank you! I does sound like the LOC Summer Program is the source of the maps we had at UT. Ed Redmond was very helpful explaining the program to me in an earlier email, as well as several others who emailed today. Theresa Quill sent me this link to a 2001 Information Bulletin from LOC which was very helpful. I wonder if people from UT (Geography and Geology Departments, Libraries) participated several times over the years (since the 1950’s) because it was such a large collection.

-Greg

Gregory H. March

Map & Government Information Librarian

Associate Professor

University of Tennessee

Hodges Library

Knoxville, TN 37996

865-974-3878

Research Guides – Anthropology, Earth & Planetary Sciences, Geography, Maps, Government
Tennessee Committee on Geographic Names

From: Maps-L: Map Librarians, etc. <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Crissinger, John
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2020 1:43 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: WWII Captured Maps

[External Email]

Greetings Greg. I second and third some of the comments you have received about the captured maps. LC’s map program decades ago was a wonderful source for map librarians to build their collections. I participated in it I believe it was 1983 – got a ton of great maps for Virginia Tech, met a lot of other map librarians from all over the country and really gained a much broader appreciation of the map world. Your description sounds very much like that program as your source. I know many maps were stamped with LC on them, but don’t recall if all would have been. If no one has written about the program and its impact on map libraries, I sure hope someone does soon. I have a feeling there are few of us left that actually had hands-on participation in the program – and my participation was in my “former” life ….John

John D. Crissinger

Reference & Special Collections Librarian

Ohio Native Heritage Archive

John L. & Christine Warner Library

Ohio State – Newark/COTC

1179 University Dr.

Newark, OH 43055

Geography 2100 Instructor

740-366-9306

[log in to unmask]

From: Maps-L: Map Librarians, etc. <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of March, Greg
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2020 9:30 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: WWII Captured Maps

Hello map community,

I hope everyone is well considering what we’re all going through with this virus. The University of Tennessee (UT) Libraries has donated its entire collection of WWII captured maps (Japanese and German) to Stanford University, who’ll be adding these maps to its existing captured map collection, and digitizing and making these maps available online to the public. I’m writing an article with Julie Sweetkind-Singer and Shizuka Nakasaki from Stanford about the captured maps, and we’re trying to find out more information regarding the history, production, and distribution of these maps. We have documentation provided to Stanford University from University of Washington that includes correspondence (dating back to 1946) between Oregon State College and the Army Map Service (AMS). From our understanding, Oregon State College donated it’s collection of Japanese captured maps to University of Washington – who then donated them to Stanford University Libraries.

Included in this documentation is a list of libraries in the United States that participated in the AMS Depository Plan to receive tactical maps. This list is about 10 pages, so if anyone wants it, I’ll be happy to send it to you. There is also a letter (attached - AMS_1 and AMS_2) dated January 23^rd, 1946 from Charles Steele, Chief, AMS Library. The letter mentions the 1946 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Chicago and centers around the broad AMS Depository Plan – those libraries participating in receiving AMS tactical maps. The letter also mentions WWII captured maps, and how these maps would be distributed to a limited number of libraries (not to be confused with the larger distribution list), that were chosen by an appointed committee at the ALA Midwinter conference. This committee would be in direct contact with Library of Congress and the AMS.

One of the questions I’ve tried to find out more about is - How did UT receive a majority of the WWII captured maps it had in its collection? I haven’t been able to find any documentation at UT about the captured maps or the AMS tactical maps. UT wasn’t on any AMS depository plan – not included on the large distribution list to receive tactical maps. Some of the captured maps in UT’s collection had Library of Congress stamps, but the majority didn’t. A majority of the maps were stamped by AMS. This makes me wonder if the University of Tennessee was one of the geographically located libraries selected by the 1946 ALA Midwinter committee.

Does anyone have any information regarding the history, productions, and distribution of these maps to these geographically selected U.S. Libraries? For our literature review, all we’ve been able to find so far is Lee Hadden’s work (WAML article – Heringen Collection, and the Earth Sciences History article - The Heringen Collection of the US Geological Survey Library, Reston, Virginia), and Mark Monmonier’s article in Coordinates – Mapping Under the Third Reich: Nazi Restrictions on Map Content and Distribution. I’ve contacted the Library of Congress and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency to try and find out more information and am awaiting a reply.

Does anyone have similar circumstances where you have a collection of captured maps in your library but don’t know how your library received them? Any information that anyone can provide is greatly appreciated! Stay safe!

Sincerely,

-Greg

Gregory H. March

Map & Government Information Librarian

Associate Professor

University of Tennessee

Hodges Library

Knoxville, TN 37996

865-974-3878

Research Guides – Anthropology, Earth & Planetary Sciences, Geography, Maps, Government
Tennessee Committee on Geographic Names

--

Louise Ratliff

Retired UCLA Librarian

Michael Fry
Collections Manager | Map Library Manager
National Geographic Society Library
202.807.3139

[log in to unmask]

1145 17th St., NW, Washington, DC 20036