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Documentary – 90 minutes – 2023 David Rumsey has spent the last 30 years building one of the biggest historical map collections in the world. He calls it his poem. As seen through the eyes of an AI narrator, this seems like an unexplainable quest. In this film, the narrator follows him on a road trip as he encounters ghosts from his past and sees the end inching closer. "A Stranger Quest" premiers at the Torino Film Festival November 30. Made by Italian filmmaker Andrea Gatopoulos, the film will be released in 2024.     ..read more

David Rumsey is one of the most important map collectors of the last half century. He has thought deeply about the importance the history of cartography and has brought together a collection that spans the history of mapmaking. Critically, he has also embraced the technological revolutions that have changed the science and practice of cartography since the 1960s. David’s collection is part of the special collections library at Stanford University and can be accessed at the David Rumsey Map Collection. https:// www.davidrumsey.com/ I spoke with David about what got him started in map collectin ..read more

The David Rumsey Map Collection online database has grown to over 120,000 maps and related images. Below are over 500 highlights of maps added between 2017 and 2023.  ..read more

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  When we digitize historical maps we create copies that can be shared and used by all. But we also create the potential to repurpose these copies to advance understanding of the original maps. To do this, we create composite maps, georeferenced maps, composite views, interactive globes, composite texts and other types of digital versions that expand map interpretation and enhance use. Below are some examples of these interpretive maps that we have created over the past 20 years. To date we have created 1,674 interpretive composite maps, views, and texts as well as over 56 ..read more

  Read: "At Stanford’s David Rumsey Map Center, the past, present and future converge"  From the article: "Deep inside Stanford University’s Green Library, David Rumsey makes his way up a winding staircase, stopping at every turn to admire the various historical-map wallpapers that stretch from floor to ceiling. With infectious excitement, he takes in the Paraná River in South America, Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan, Mount Kailash in Tibet and even the constellations, depicted colorfully in a massive celestial chart..."   Images with captions from the article are below M ..read more

  This is Part Two of the blog post documenting the 46,000 new maps and images that have been added online since 2015. The total online collection is now over 105,000.  This post covers 50 highlights of additions made in 2017. Later posts will cover the additions made in 2018, 2019, and 2020.  All titles may be found by clicking on the View links or images below.  China : Chung Hue Min Kuo = central flowery republican country. (Seen from the direction of Guam). Richard Edes Harrison. (inset) Migration of Chinese Universities. 1941. Harrison, Richard Edes, New ..read more

  We previously wrote about Early Mapping of Silicon Valley and the Internet. Since then we have added 25 maps of Silicon Valley and other tech hubs like Route 128 in Boston, Austin, Texas, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Also we have added some maps of Silicon Valley before it became a tech center. Here is a link to the entire group, including the earlier maps. These maps offer a unique view of the spatial arrangement of Tech firms. While the process of selling advertising spaces on the maps no doubt resulted in some firms being omitted and some included firms being overemphasized, stil ..read more