The Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography

Nebenzahl Lectures

The Kenneth Nebenzahl, Jr., Lectures in the History of Cartography are held at the Newberry Library every two to three years. Since 1966 the Lectures have been dedicated to exploring promising new themes and lines of research in the study of the science, art, and culture of mapmaking. Each series consists of several lectures given by a small group of invited scholars whose work addresses the theme of that year’s series. The collected lectures of almost every series have been published by the University of Chicago Press.

The Lectures are made possible by the generous support of Kenneth and Jossy Nebenzahl. The Lectures are free and open to the public, however, registration is required. The Lectures are occasionally held in conjunction with other map or history of cartography events. When this occurs, separate registration may be required for each event.

Ancient Perspectives: Maps and Their Place in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome
16th series: 8–10 November 2007

This year’s series examines recent trends the study of the mapmaking by the ancient cultures ringing the ancient Mediterranean Sea. The series has been organized for the Smith Center by Dr. Richard Talbert (University of North Carolina-Chapel), and will include seven papers on topics ranging from urban to cosmological mapping. In honor of the occasion the Newberry Library is mounting an exhibition titled, "Ptolemy’s Geography and Renaissance Mapmakers," featuring the Newberry’s stellar collection of early printed editions of the great 2nd-century geographical manual by the Claudius Ptolemy.

The 48th annual meeting of the Society for the History of Discoveries will take place at the Newberry after the Lectures, on 12–13 November 2007. The Nebenzahl Lectures and the meeting of the Society for the History of Discoveries form part of the Festival of Maps, Chicago 2007 .

The Imperial Map: Cartography and the Mastery of Empire
15th Series: 7-9 October 2004

The expansion of early modern states into global empires had ramifications for almost every aspect of the history of modern cartography. Topographic mapping played an important practical and symbolic role in the attempts to extend European power over newly established dependencies. In Western North America, parts of South America, Russian Siberia, and sub–Saharan Africa, exploratory mapping furthered political and military objectives, assessed economic resources, and assisted the settlement of colonizers and the displacement or absorption of the colonized. On a broader social and political front, public forms of mapping, such as journalistic and educational mapping, contributed to the formation of popular imagination of empire at home and later among the colonized. In turn, colonized peoples themselves began to develop their own cartographic responses to imperialism that drew upon both their own cartographic traditions and Western ones.

A Taste for Maps: Cartography and Commerce in Early Modern Europe
14th series: 11–13 October 2001

Although historians of Cartography often consider the term “commercial cartography” to denote maps of a lesser quality, the commercial motive has been central to the making of maps for centuries. Whether conducted at the behest of governments, scientific organizations, private citizens, or other interests, mapmaking has always been a business as well as an art. These lectures explored the how the business behind cartography affected the making of maps in early modern Europe. As keynote speaker Dr. Mary Pedley explained, “behind every printed map was someone waiting to be paid.”

Narratives and Maps: Historical Studies of Cartographic Storytelling
13th series: 28–30 October 1999

Most people think of maps as simple representations of space, not of time, history, or myth. Yet some Mesoamerican maps relate the myths and legendary histories of the communities that made them, battle plans from all eras narrate the tactics and fortunes of combatants in space and time, and historical atlases chart the expansion and contraction of nations and empires. These maps, then, cannot be reduced to a spatial collection of facts. The most valuable information they have to offer is in the story that they tell. But do all maps tell a story? This series of the Lectures addressed this fascinating question, and in so doing made inroads into understanding the narrative and storytelling properties of maps and the ways in which maps are deployed in narrative works.

Maps on the Move: Cartography for Transportation and Travel
12th series: 24–26 October 1996

Cartographic Encounters: Perspectives on Native American Mapping and Map Use
11th series: 25–26 June 1993

Profiling the City: Six Studies in Urban Cartography
10th series: 7–9 November 1991

Rural Images: The Estate Plan in the Old and New Worlds
9th series: 10–12 November 1988

Monarchs, Ministers, and Maps: The Emergence of Cartography as a Tool of Government in Early Modern Europe
8th series: 7–9 November 1985

Maps in the Making: The Various Sources of Printed Maps
7th series: 27–29 October 1983

Art and Cartography
6th series: 30 October–1 November 1980

Mapping the Great Lakes Region: Motive and Method
5th series: 11–13 August 1977

Mapping the American Revolutionary War
4th series: 14–16 November 1974

Five Centuries of Map Printing
3rd series: 24 November 1972

The British Cartography of Eighteenth Century North America
2nd series: 3, 10, 17–18 April 1970

The Study and Collecting of Early Maps: A Historical Survey
1st series: 27–28 October and 10–11 November 1966