Highlights from Winterthur

Last week I went down to Delaware to see the Common Destinations exhibit at Winterthur. The exhibit is modestly sized but is an impressive collection of maps and related objects. I spent long enough in the gallery to cause my relatives to wonder about my sanity. The staff allows photography so I took pictures of some of the highlights.

 

This is a detail from "A chart of the Antilles, or Charibbee, or Caribs Islands, with the Virgin Isles" by Louis Delarochette from 1784. I like the elevation profiles of the various islands. Not a common feature on maps but this must have been pretty helpful to navigators.

 

Here is a map of the western hemisphere with the countries outlined in embroidery. The needlework was done by Mary Franklin of Pleasant valley, New York. The full map can be seen here.

 

 Here is a detail from the "Plan of the City of Philadelphia and Environs" (Varle, 1802) showing some proposed squares in "West Ville" that were never developed. These include a Market Square along the Schuylkill River and Washington Square (the square now known as Washington Square was originally called Southeast Square.) 

 The scale is in Perches, an old unit similar to a rod.

 

From the 1861 "Washington Map of the United States" by Maury. This is a large wall map with the counties colored. I like how in Texas and other plains states the counties end abruptly near the 100th meridian.

I was not able to take a good picture of this one but here's a highly detailed 1777 chart of Narragansett Bay - the image is from Martayan Lan, an antique map, globe and book dealer. 

For my own personal interest here's a map of Albany, where I went to school and also lived for a while. The map is not dated but is from the later 1800's and is credited to "Charles Magnus lith. New York." Washington Park was just a small square then. The Albany Medical center area was "Alms House Square" and there was a railroad ferry crossing the Hudson from "East Albany."

Finally, the fan from the promotional materials live and in person.

There's a lot more great stuff to see including revolutionary war satire, early British maps of a newly independent United States, surveying equipment, fashion accessories needlepoint maps. I didn't have enough time to photograph and catalog everything noteworthy. If I did this would be an extremely long post.