I Am a Map Magnet

From Chester Public Library Sept. 2011

Not too long ago, I found a map at the Plainfield Public Library, hidden in an envelope of Courier News clippings. It seems that the universe has recognized my love of all things cartographic and sent another great gift of New Jersey history in my direction. During my first week working at Chester Public Library, Lesley (the library's Director) came into my office holding a long oblong box with an ebony handle poking out of one end, and said there was a map inside. The map had been hidden behind a filing cabinet, and its provenance was a mystery. I immediately rose and said we should go into the big meeting room two doors down and set up a few tables on which to unroll the map.

From Chester Public Library Sept. 2011

We each clad our hands in white cotton gloves and gently began unrolling the map. Lesley followed my speed, taking great care since we saw that the map was acidic and quite brittle (see the photo immediately above). Fortunately, the rest of the map was in very good shape for its age and its storage. It had been pretty tightly rolled, sleeved in a cardboard liner, then placed within a cardboard carton with one open end.

From Chester Public Library Sept. 2011

As soon as we had it unrolled, Lesley held the bottom ebony roller while I took as many photos as possible. The one directly above was taken from atop a step-stool. As you can see from the photo and the ones to follow, the center of the map is a topographic representation of the state, while surrounding images include small illustrations of cities from elevated views, street maps, and a fascinating time dial.

From Chester Public Library Sept. 2011

Above is a street map of Paterson, which has seen its fair share of news lately due to the recent hurricane Irene.

From Chester Public Library Sept. 2011

The city of Newark anchors the lower right corner of the map.

From Chester Public Library Sept. 2011

The border grapevine and flower design, as well as what I'd call "vignettes" of the Delaware Water Gap and Paterson are shown in the illustrations above.

From Chester Public Library Sept. 2011

The map also features a meteorological map designed by Lorin Blodget, author of American Climatology.

From Chester Public Library Sept. 2011

After I had finished photographing the map, I wanted to find out more about it, so Lesley and I began to roll it back up to place back into its original packaging for the time being. During the rolling, we discovered that it had been mounted as two pieces onto a woven fabric that was sewn together (see the photo abov).

As soon as I could, I posted my photos to Picasa and sent out a few emails to the New Jersey State Archives and some contacts at Rutgers Libraries' Special Collections. I heard pretty quickly from archivists at the State Archives who said that they do not have a copy of the map, but that the State Library does (and would we want to sell or donate ours to the archive -- can't blame them really, I'd probably ask the same).

The catalog page of the map states the information found in the title area (shown in the first photo at the very top of this post). If you magnify the image, you can see that it can be dated as 1860 because it states (in rather small print directly above the scale measurement) "Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1860 by Robt. P. Smith in the Clerks Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania."

It would be interesting to see which other state offices, organizations, and/or individuals might have a copy of the "Topographical Map of the State of New Jersey, Together with the Vicinities of New York and Philadelphia, and with Most of the State of Delaware from the State Geological Survey and the U.S. Coast Survey, and from Surveys Compiled by G. Morgan Hopkins, Civil Engineer. Adopted for the use of the Geological Survey, authorized by ACTS of the LEGISLATURE passed March 2nd 1854 and March 14th 1860, under the direction of William Kitchell, SUPERINTENDENT of the GEOLOGICAL SURVEY of NEW JERSEY." (The emphasis is not mine.)

If you have any information on the map that you think might be useful, or if you know about the history of this particular map, please let me know. Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to give.