Map Talk and Exhibit Updates at the Boston Public Library

On Tuesday, 8 September, the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library will host an event titled “Rebels, Redcoats, and Revolutionary Maps.”

It will start with a talk by Richard Brown and Paul Cohen about their book Revolution: Mapping the Road to American Independence, which “looks at the spectacular legacy and importance of early American cartographers.” Of course, some of the most accomplished mapmakers of that time were British.

After the talk there will be a book sale and author signing, and Dr. Ron Grim, Curator of the Leventhal Map Center, will offer a special tour of the “We Are One” exhibition.

That exhibit, which I reviewed back here, was recently revamped with four new items from the King George III Topographical Collection and other collections at the British Library. These include:

• William Brasier’s color manuscript survey of Fort Ticonderoga shortly after the British captured the French fort.
• Lt. Richard Williams’s “Plan of Boston and its Environs”, hand drawn with watercolor.
• Two more sections of Williams’s luscious watercolor panorama painted from Beacon Hill.

The British Library recently shared a blog post about the Williams images.

Also new to the exhibit are a cantonment map from the mid-1760s showing the deployment of British troops in North America, loaned by the Clements Library in Michigan; and one of Amos Doolittle’s hand-colored prints of the British soldiers in Concord in April 1775, loaned by the Connecticut Historical Society.

A lot of the other fine items in the B.P.L. display come from Richard Brown’s collection. His book talk with Paul Cohen is scheduled to start at 6:00 in the Abbey Room on the second floor of the Boston Public Library. It will be preceded by a reception at 5:30 P.M.