Spotlight on the Collection: ''Maps''

 

Saturday, October 24, 2009

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Museum Meeting Room

 

    Plat maps, township maps, city and town maps, state and world maps, you name it and the McLeod County Historical Museum probably has it in its collection.

    Maps are a crucial part of our lives today, and throughout our history as a county and a country.  As explorers in the wilds of the northwest, life and death could depend on the quality of your guide and your map.  This made map making the first and one of the most important priorities when settling new land.  Although today maps may not play a life and death role in our daily lives, they still define property lines, show the expansion and decline of cityies and towns, or just help you figure out how to find your 8 AM meeting in downtown St. Paul!

    Tami De Kam, our Museum Assistant here at the McLeod County Historical Society will walk us through all the different and unique kinds of maps in our vast and ever growing collection here at the Museum.  Tami will show some of our oldest maps, like the original early map of the town of Hutchinson from 1869, done by Lewis Harrington.  Also some of our most highly used and needed maps like the collection of plat book maps used by researchers in our library.

    Tami will also cover maps that we often forget about, like cemetery and burial maps, that also play a key role in much of the research we do here at the Historical Society.

    As always, our Spotlight on the Collection, "Maps" is free, we just ask that you bring a map from your personal collection.  This can be any type of map that you have, be it old or new.  It can be any size or style and from any county, state, or country.  We hope you will join us as we shine our spotlight on "Maps".