January 2013 Luncheon Meeting

Speaker: David Buisseret

“A Contentious Chicago Map Society Meeting”

David Buisseret, former Director of the Smith Center for the History of Cartography at the Newberry, explains with illustrations how he and an associate sought to demonstrate that the important 1673 Jacques Marquette map was indeed genuine at a recent Chicago Map Society meeting. It had been declared a forgery by De Vry history professor Carl Weber. This treasured Canadian artifact is the first European depiction of a large part of the Mississippi River. It was lost until  1844, when it was discovered among forgotten documents in a a Canadian Jesuit mission. How does David refute what Professor Weber says is his own cartographical research, "thick" in detail?

Buisseret was born on the Isle of Wight, received his Phd from Cambridge and was Professor of Cartography at the University of Texas until 2006.  Today he is a senior research fellow at Newberry and fellow of the Society for the History of Discoveries.  He is also the author or editor of over 30 books including From Sea Charts to Satellite Images: Interpreting North American Images through Maps.

Union League Club, 65 W. Jackson Boulevard. Luncheon buffet (in the main dining room on six) opens at 11:30 am; program (in a different room, to be announced) 12:30-1:30