Developing Cartographic Literacy with Historic Maps

FAIN: FV-50185-08

Newberry Library (Chicago, IL 60610-3305)
James R. Akerman (Project Director: March 2008 to March 2011)

A three-week summer seminar for fifteen school teachers on learning to "read" historical and contemporary maps.

In the summer of 2009 The Newberry Library will invite 15 schoolteachers from throughout the U.S. to develop their cartographic literacy and their ability to use maps effectively in their classrooms through a 3 week course of map study, discussion, and research. The seminar, co-directed by James Akerman and Gerry Danzer, will pursue readings of historic and contemporary maps as windows into the worlds from which they emerged. During their residence, seminar participants will follow a program of readings of recent scholarship in the history of cartography, practical workshops, and field trips designed to help participants read and use map documents effectively in personal research and teaching. Most importantly, participants will engage in intensive reading and analysis of original map documents from the Library's renowned collection of historic maps, and pursue research projects that will have a tangible impact on teaching cartographic literacy in their own classrooms.