The American Geographical Society Library UW-Milwaukee Patti Day Reference Librarian for Digital Spatial Data American Geographical Society Library WLIA February 2003

A Brief History of the AGSC The collection of the AGS, located in NYC Started in 1851 Oldest geography and map society in the US By 1870 the collection was recognized as the “largest and most valuable” of it’s type in the US Produced maps/books/indexes, and sponsored expeditions Many items from the collection were used at the Paris Peace Conference after WWI

Still affiliated with the AGS Moved to UW-Milwaukee in 1978 At the time of the move the collection was conservatively valued at $30 million

The AGS building in New York

AGS Executive Director Sally Meyers, Gov. Schreiber

The Present Collection Over 1 million items, including maps, atlases, books, journals, pamphlets, photographs, slides, landsat images, and digital spatial data Scope of the collection is worldwide Houses the archives of the Association of American Geographers Affiliate member of the USGS Earth Science Information Center (ESIC) network

Approximately 600,000 maps and charts of all types covering the world at a wide range of scales Including major national topographic series, navigational charts and a wealth of thematic maps The oldest map in the collection dates to the Leardo Mappamundi of 1452 Over 9000 atlases ranging from 15 th century to digital data, including 23 editions of Ptolemy’s Geographica dating to 1478

Hundreds of world, sea and regional atlases produced by the greats of atlas publishing: Ortelius, Mercator, Hondius, Blaeu, Sanson, Coronelli and Homann Large collection of nineteenth century state and county atlases

Monographs dating to 1472, containing some of the earliest printed geographical works. Themes include: The history of geographical thought and knowledge The Age of Discovery Exploration and mapping of the US Scientific exploration The history of cartography Descriptive regional geographical works Modern and early reference works

Periodicals—the Geographical Review (1970) concluded that “the leading American library in recorded holdings of older geographical serials, those which began publication before 1950, is the library of the American Geographical Society.” Photographs—over 200,000 images in a variety of formats Globes-83 globes

Who are our users? Researchers from around the world Best Fellowships Genealogists Students Environmental firms Government employee’s Map folks

Louise Boyd photograph Poland, 1934

Preservation

Digital Data at the AGSC The AGSL collects and archives digital data files which are made available to users in a variety of formats Included are digital base maps, attribute data on spatially referenced population characteristics, including non-GIS files Raster images such as aerial photography, satellite imagery, and scanned maps All of the collections are global in scale Trains future GIS librarians through SOIS/AGSC/Geography Department

So, what has this to do with you? Come check it out while you are in town!! The AGSL actively collects locally produced digital data in order to preserve it for future generations All items are cataloged to provide access to UWM students/faculty/staff We take our mission of protecting and providing access to this data seriously

We sign license agreements, create forms indicating restrictions, and screen all users We are sensitive to the needs/requirements of data providers We provide off-site storage for some counties We can’t do this without the cooperation of you and your organization Be a part of 152 years of geographical knowledge