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 page 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.