Training for Eighteenth-Century Cartographers

The Department of the Geographer, an organization reenacting the cartographic unit of the Continental Army, has announced its fifth annual Cartography, Surveying & Engineering School of Instruction, to be held next month in West Virginia.

The group’s website explains:

At so many of the events we participate in, we are so busy working with the public that we don’t get to conduct training exercises for ourselves. Sessions for the weekend include:

• Creating (draughting) maps from survey data
• Thomas Hutchins’ study of magnetic needle dip around the world
• Colouring maps and plans with period watercolors
• Observing the 2012 Transit of Venus
• Enhancing living history impressions by studying museum collections
• Basics of 18th-century surveying

This is the sort of event I have no interest in attending, but am tickled pink to know that it’s out there.

The next transit of Venus, incidentally, is on 5 June, so make your plans now.