• 2004
• Cartographic Map
• Exhibit map
• Project link

David Rumsey’s collection of historical maps is one of the largest and most complete of its kind. Focused for the most part on North and South America in the 18th and 19th centuries, the collection comprises more than 150,000 items: maps, atlases, and contextual supporting documents. Unlike similar collections, the delicacy and rarity of which necessitate careful storage and restricted-use policies, maps in the David Rumsey Collection are available in growing numbers on the Web at www.davidrumsey.com. The conjunction of old and new technologies is the heart of Cartographica Extraordinaire. The maps selected for Cartographica Extraordinaire tell a hundred distinct, exciting, important, and sometimes controversial stories, along two main paths of inquiry: How did a continental wilderness become a civilization and how has the development of cartographic science changed the ways we perceive, describe, study, and use that land? Geographic information systems (GIS) dominate the cartography of today. Yet, they are shaped by the history of map making – its theory and practice and what it tells us about the people we were, are, and will be.