From macomb at ca.inter.net Thu Apr 1 12:20:37 2004 From: macomb at ca.inter.net (macomb@ca.inter.net) Date: Thu Apr 1 09:20:39 2004 Subject: [BHC] Map Collection in Danger Message-ID: > Burton Historical Collection List > _______________________________________________ > Burton Historical Collection List > _______________________________________________ Thanks Christie for alerting us to the Map collection. A particular note of interest, specifically to the Burton Librarians considering the disposition of their map collection, would be the mapmaker identification of some possible collections they have on hand. As the Burton was indexed, an original unpublished manuscript of Mark Twain's was discovered. Though I haven't heard of how this manuscript came to be in the Burton Collection, I do have a good theory. The MACOMB family of Detroit origins (1769-1796) collected many family records over later generations (including the original animal hide contract) and those found there way into the Burton collection. US Col. John Navarre MACOMB II, would become a personal friend of Mark Twain by the time Twain was to embark on his speaking engagements and travel, write and publish of letters describing his travel and in the San Francisco (Chronicle?) newspaper. Col. John Macomb, then editor for this paper, secured funding for Twain's traveling expenses. I surmise this is how the unpublished Twain manuscript came to be in the Burton collection....it was given to Col. John MACOMB, who in turn left it with the accumulating MACOMB family archive. If my theory proves to be true, then I may have an answer to some of these maps and a very exciting one, as some of the maps in the Burton collection may have been made by Col. John Navarre MACOMB II, as he was a topographical Engineer for the US army, and one of the first such engineers to map the US western region, including the Rio Grande River (pre Civil War he mapped all railway lines in the USA extant at that time). During the Civil War he was responsible for the entire US Federal Balloon Observation Corp as a Lt. Col.. At the very least, the Smithsonian Institute must be contacted to verify this theory about some of these maps. In continuing this same line of speculation, the two MACOMB brothers, William Sr. and Alexander Sr. sponsored a number of exploration ventures during the entire course of their business operations operating out of Detroit. To place this significance into historical perspective, these two brothers were the two major shareholders of a new company they called "The Northwest Co.", a historical origin that to my knowledge has never been surmised, discovered or published (execpt by one other than myself in the Canadian Biographies). Just thinking of what maps may be in the Burton Collection makes me anxious (their business records from 1768-1796 are in the Burton). Thank you for awakening me from my research into records, to NOT forget the wealth to be gotten from published and unpublished maps. Regards Murray McCombs was From labuszkl at log.on.ca Fri Apr 2 05:29:43 2004 From: labuszkl at log.on.ca (Kathleen LaBudie-Szakall) Date: Fri Apr 2 11:33:11 2004 Subject: [BHC] Map Collection in Danger Message-ID: <00d701c418b6$8f6e46e0$280e8b18@-kszakall> Christie: I, for one, use the Map Collection almost every month. The maps I utilize are the U.S. Army maps for Europe, a 15-vlume set of books -- the Slownik Geograficzny, and other European gazetteers. These maps show the location of homes in addition to the cemeteries and churches, etc. The books tell us where to locate specific church and/or civil records. They are vital to everone's genealogical and historical use. While, the idea of disposing of maps other than Michigan may be of use for some, it would not be my choice. There must be some other way of saving the Detroit Library system money. I do, agree, that the library would need a resource center for computers but these maps and books located within are extremely important as well and needs to be maintained. I do like your idea of building or renting a special building for the Map Collection and the Burton Historical Collection. I am sure it would get the desired amount of usage but only if the Collections were maintained and new additions made. Kathleen LaBudie-Szakall -----Original Message----- From: ChristieTrapp@aol.com To: dulongj@habitant.org ; bhc@habitant.org Date: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 10:13 PM Subject: Re: [BHC] Map Collection in Danger Topographical Maps - Most topographical maps that I have seen show the rise and fall of the land, it shows where mines, cemeteries, railroads, and some old structures are located and points of references like mountains, valleys, hiking trails and such. They generally aren't street maps, though they might show the old dirt roads and little used county roads. Of course, my frame of reference is maps my dad collected for his many hiking trips. I've never seen any that incorporate towns and cities. If there are several maps made over a number of years, you can see what changes have taken place to the landscape. I suppose these would be a valuable resource to a genealogist who is looking for old cemeteries and the like that have disappeared from the landscape. As I am not familiar with the map collection at the Burton perhaps someone can put an approximate date of the first of these particular maps and what the most recent are? Do they cover only Michigan? Or the entire US. The USGS sells topographical maps to the general public so most people can obtain at least a current map if they really wish to look at one. I personally don't use them for genealogy. I prefer the other maps that show where people lived, the names of the streets, war movements, border changes, and those maps that mention point of references cited in history books. I do agree that the Map Collection per se should not be destroyed until a Map Librarian can be found to catalogue the maps. Perhaps a decision needs to be made by the library that only those maps that pertain to Michigan and the states that surround Michigan should be maintained and the rest sent elsewhere if they cover other areas of the country. Or, perhaps they should still be maintained but perhaps spread around the library to where the books of the same area are located for ease of access. But I don't know the space problem the library may have in doing as I just suggested. Perhaps the maps could be located in a specific space in the library. I suppose they already are, but only have my experience to draw on from attending the University of Arizona. At the University they have set aside the basement area (subfloor) of the library for housing the following: microfilms of newspapers, microfilms/fiche of company 10K's, maps. There is a photocopy service also located on the same floor so that if someone wants a copy of a map they can either print it off on 8x10 or 11x14 pages (to scotchtape together if bigger) or if a full copy of the map is wanted they have the service available that uses the blueprint type machines that will make an exact duplicate of the map. It is not a blueprinter, but something like it that can handle the larger sheets of paper. Those copies are sometimes not available on the same day basis because they also handle other duplicating requests so they may have to mail them to you, but they provide this service if you can't come back to pick up. Does the Burton have this kind of set up? I do think it is important that we contact the librarian and express our thoughts on the subject about the federal repository of the topographical maps. Definitely need to keep all the old maps intact and not have them disappear. If space is becoming a problem in the library, perhaps a drive to build a new library needs to be started or a second library built that is built specifically to house the Burton, the old maps and books that pertain to genealogy or history specifically. If these departments are removed and housed separately with their own funding, etc. wouldn't that make life so much easier for the Detroit Public Library system as a whole? Anyone have any thoughts on this idea or subject? Would like to hear from others on this. Christie Trapp -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://aries.lunarpages.com/pipermail/bhc_habitant.org/attachments/20040402/244106b9/attachment-0001.htm From ChristieTrapp at aol.com Fri Apr 2 13:20:10 2004 From: ChristieTrapp at aol.com (ChristieTrapp@aol.com) Date: Fri Apr 2 13:20:40 2004 Subject: [BHC] Map Collection in Danger Message-ID: <97.4619978c.2d9f330a@aol.com> In a message dated 4/2/2004 11:33:55 AM Pacific Standard Time, labuszkl@log.on.ca writes: I, for one, use the Map Collection almost every month. The maps I utilize are the U.S. Army maps for Europe, a 15-vlume set of books -- the Slownik Geograficzny, and other European gazetteers. These Kathleen wrote that she uses the above set of maps/books. These are very specialized and I don't believe they would fall under the U.S. Topographical Maps. But any clarification would be appreciated. When I think of the topographical maps, I'm thinking of the ones that are produced by the USGS, not specialized maps as described above. The USGS maps would fall under the federal depository holdings as they are issued by a U. S. government agency. I suspect that the maps used by Kathleen were published on a one-time basis, which would make them a rare set of maps and not subject to the federal depository topographical maps. Any clarification about the maps that Kathleen described as it pertains to the map collection holdings and/or potential destruction would be appreciated. Christie Trapp -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://aries.lunarpages.com/pipermail/bhc_habitant.org/attachments/20040402/4fc4101a/attachment.htm From dulongj at habitant.org Wed Apr 21 15:07:49 2004 From: dulongj at habitant.org (John P. DuLong) Date: Wed Apr 21 15:06:52 2004 Subject: [BHC] Millage Officially Announced Message-ID: Hello All, I thought I should forward the following email on to you. JP ********* [From:] Nancy Skowronski To: All Employees List [Date:] 04/20/2004 02:22 PM cc: Subject: Millage Announcement At this afternoon's Detroit Library Commission meeting, the Commission approved a resolution placing the following DPL ballots on the November 2, 2004 General Election ballot: 1. Renewal of 3 existing mills that will expire on June 30, 2005. 2. Addition of 1 new mill. The resolution requests that both mills run for a period of 10 years. The resolution next goes to Detroit City Council and then the Detroit Election Commission for approval. Juliet Machie and Pat McClary are coordinating our millage campaign and will share strategies and messages as they are finalized. Please stay tuned. -- Nancy Skowronski Director and CEO Detroit Public Library 5201 Woodward Avenue Detroit, MI 48202 Voice: 313.833.3997 Fax: 313. 833.2327 Email: nskowro@detroit.lib.mi.us