Malcolm Young Lecture 2024

Distinguished University Professor Susan Schulten specialises in the development of American geographical imaginations and cartographic cultures in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The subject of her lecture is American cartographer Richard Edes Harrison. From the 1930s through the 1950s, Richard Edes Harrison produced hundreds of stunning maps and graphics that upended the American public’s understanding of geography in a world governed by war and aviation. With training in architecture and scientific illustration, he was untethered to cartographic conventions, and instead embraced an aesthetic that foregrounded design. He rejected the idea that a map could – or should – adhere solely to geometric precision, and instead used unconventional perspectives to capture rapidly shifting economic and political realities. Here we examine the source of his creativity and explore the ways these images simultaneously chronicled and advanced American power at midcentury.

Susan is a prolific author, most recently publishing Emma Willard: Maps of History (2022) which examines Willard as a pioneer of data graphics. Other successful publications include A History of America in 100 Maps (2018), published with the British Library Press and which uses maps drawn exclusively from the British Library’s collection.

Registration
Registration, as with all our online events is free. Also, in the same vein, the event is open to all, but with tickets always offered to our members first. An initial batch of 100 tickets is being released from today. Registration is now open on EventBrite.  The link is here: Register on EventBrite.

[For most users, just clicking on the above link will take you straight through to the ticket page. If you have any difficulty, simply cut and paste this into your own browser instead – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/susan-m-schulten-on-the-cartographic-creativity-of-richard-edes-harrison-tickets-855883981027?aff=oddtdtcreator .]

You will be sent a Zoom joining link for the event 2 weeks before, and also a day before, the lecture.

This lecture will be both highly significant as well as accessible and stimulating. We hope that you are able to join us.  Do feel able to pass the registration link on to fellow map enthusiasts and map collecting societies.