Publishing
I have been writing! The California Map Society, in its journal Calafia is planning to publish the fifth in a series of articles that I have written each of which concentrates on a map or set of maps under the title "Hiding in Plain Sight". Each essay suggests a way to read antique or 20th c. maps to discover themes that are present in the map only upon discovering elements that are printed in the map as secondary text or symbols and discoverable with a close reading and critical eye. Each article features a different American 20thc, 19th c. or earlier antique map, or reviews several maps which reveal their full story once elements hiding in plain sight are revealed. Three of these articles are posted below. The fourth article, about a Butte, Montana copper mining claims map and the social history it reveals about the people who settled in Butte in the mid to late 19th c. can be found on this web site as the map's description. Each of my articles also identifies historic American themes that belong to the American social continuum from the founding of the country, if not from the era of the subject map to our times. For example, one theme is that maps reveal the stresses created by social or political change; another theme is that the images of a city in art and or in a map anticipates ideas in contemporary American urban planning - or is a foil for what contemporary American "urban planning" has omitted or discarded; and a frequent theme is American ethnic, religious or racial relations. A land use theme discussed in the Butte, Montana copper mining claims map is how the law's definition of land interests as "real estate" and "private property" drive how American maps are drawn despite the map title and purported subject being a city, namely a public place.
Conferences
On November 5, 2022 the California Map Society held its membership Fall Conference, in which I participated (via zoom) in a panel discussion on map collecting. The California Map Society web site has full speaker and program details.
Please continue to stay in touch and sign up for my mailing list. Your telephone inquiries are always welcome as are requests for maps or other materials not found in the web inventory.