The “Best Atlas in the World”

 

Earth. Sydney : Millennium House, 2008.

1 atlas (576 p.) : col. ill. (8 folded), col. maps ; 61 cm. Foreword by David Bellamy ; chief consultant, Charles F. Gritzner .  No. 338/2000.  RBR G1021 .E2 2008

This limited edition hand-sewn atlas by Millennium House of Australia was 20 years in the planning stages and 2 years in production.  Named “Best Atlas in the World” at the International Cartographic Conference held in Santiago, Chile in 2008, it beat out over 500 entries from around the globe.

Earth (Blue Edition) contains more than 355 maps covering 194 countries, and includes more than 750 photographs and illustrations representing the work of over 100 international cartographers, oceanographers and geographers.  The leather cover is bound by hand and each copy is individually numbered and is accompanied by a signed Certificate of Authenticity.

This atlas complements the Rare Book Room’s collection of geography texts in the Milestones of Science Collection, notably the Blaeu atlas and the works of Ptolemy, as well as adds to the Grosvenor Room’s superior map collection.

It is currently on display in the new wooden case just inside the Grosvenor Room entrance, which will house future genealogy, local history, and Rare book displays.  Be sure to stop in to see this and other ongoing exhibits!

Where can I find…?

Family researchers often find themselves seeking a specific piece of information about an ancestor, such as birth date.  We might think that the only place to find this is the actual birth record of that person.  However, these alternate sources usually include birth information as well:

• death record
• marriage record
• church baptismal, marriage records
• naturalization papers

Other records may provide the important clue of birth year,  including Census, military records, and passenger lists.

Keeping track of where to look for particular information can be tricky, so we’ve created a handy “Record Selection Table” to guide you to key sources.  If you don’t have luck with the sources in the first column, be sure to try the alternate records listed in the second.

Those alternate sources just might help you break through your genealogy “brick wall!”

Lankes Letters added to RBR

J. B. Lankes (1915-2010), the son of local woodcut artist J. J. Lankes (1884-1960) and Edee Bartlett (1885-1958) has bequeathed to the Rare Book Room of the B&ECPL over 1,000 letters that he had inherited from his famous father. Containing both personal and business-related correspondence, the collection is currently being processed by staff and will greatly enhance our Lankes Collection of block prints, etchings, tools and other miscellanea. Recipients and senders include local artists and friends William j. Schwanekamp and Arthur Kowalski, and internationally renowned artists Charles Burchfield and Dard Hunter, the American authority on printing and papermaking.

Lankes and Kowalski often corresponded using blank papers they collected with business letterheads, a necessary economy at the time. They lightheartedly discuss daily events, other artists and the business of the Saturday Sketch Club, which Lankes formed in 1910. Shown here are illustrated envelopes from letters between Lankes and Kowalski, as well as a three-page letter from Schwanekamp (or Schwane as he was known to his friends) on three different letterheads.

The collection is a wonderful new addition to the treasures in the Rare Book Room.