Maps and History at the Tuck Library

By Kevin Gardner on Monday, January 6, 2003.

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PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DRAWING MAPS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE SINCE THE EARLIEST DAYS OF EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT.

AND OVER THOSE 300 YEARS, THE STATE HAS CHANGED A GREAT DEAL.

SO HAVE THE MEANS, AND THE MOTIVATIONS, OF THE MAPMAKERS.

THE NH HISTORICAL SOCIETY IS OFFERING A LOOK AT SOME OF THE WAYS MAPMAKERS HAVE DEFINED, AND EVEN ADVERTISED, OUR STATE.

THE EXHIBIT IS CURRENTLY ON DISPLAY AT CONCORD?S TUCK LIBRARY,

HUMANITIES REPORTER KEVIN GARDNER HAS THE FIRST OF A TWO-PART SERIES ON NEW HAMPSHIRE?S Captured PasT

DID YOU KNOW THAT NEW HAMPSHIRE ONCE CLAIMED THE LAND THAT IS NOW VERMONT?

OR THAT MASSACHUSETTS MADE A SIMILAR CLAIM TO ALMOST HALF OF NEW HAMPSHIRE?

DID YOU KNOW OUR STATE ONCE BOASTED DOZENS OF SKI JUMPS?

OR THAT A SINGLE RAILROAD VIRTUALLY CONTROLLED MASS TRANSPORTATION HERE FOR MANY YEARS?

THESE ARE JUST A SMATTERING OF THE HISTORICAL FACTS AND CURIOSITIES ON DISPLAY AT CONCORD?S TUCK LIBRARY.

JANET DERANIAN IS THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY?S DIRECTOR OF COLLECTIONS AND EXHIBITIONS.

SHE POINTS OUT THAT THE LIBRARY?S RICH COLLECTION MAKES THIS EXHIBIT A NATURAL.

Deranian: (2:27) We have 2300 maps in the collection ? it?s clearly one of our strengths, and not just by numbers, but the significance of the contents as well.

Gardner:

34 MAPS DISPLAY CHANGES IN NEW HAMPSHIRE FROM THE 1730?S TO THE 1950?S.

LIBRARIAN DAVID SMOLEN BREAKS THE EXHIBIT DOWN INTO 5 BASIC CATEGORIES.

Smolen: (1:23) We have a section on border disputes in NH history, a section on tourism, a section on town planning, a section on railroad development, a section devoted to Sanborn fire insurance maps, and maps showing town development.

Gardner: THE EXHIBIT BEGINS WITH 18TH CENTURY BORDER DISPUTES.

IT INCLUDES A QUARREL BETWEEN THE TOWNS OF BOW AND RUMFORD.

RUMFORD LATER BECAME CONCORD.

THERE?S ALSO A 1739 MAP THAT DETAILS A DISPUTE BETWEEN NEW HAMPSHIRE AND MASSACHUSETTS.

OUR SOUTHERN NEIGHBOR TRIED TO LAY CLAIM TO NEARLY HALF OF THE GRANITE STATE.

APPARENTLY THEY DIDN?T KNOW THE EXACT LOCATION OF THE MERRIMACK RIVER.

THEN THERE WAS THE GREAT BORDER FIGHT BETWEEN NEW HAMPSHIRE AND NEW YORK.

TODAY THE TWO STATES DON?T EVEN TOUCH EACH OTHER.

BUT BEFORE THE REVOLUTION THE TWO COLONIES ACTUALLY FOUGHT OVER THE BORDER.

JANET DERANIAN.

Deranian: (5:34) There was a great deal of controversy about exactly where New Hampshire?s western border fell and where New York?s eastern border fell, and so in one map we can see that at one time it was interpreted as taking up all of what?s known as Vermont today, in fact you can see that New Hampshire itself had, through the administration at the time, given names and settled many towns in what is now Vermont, whether or not they had the authority to do so.

Gardner:

THE KING EVENTUALLY RESOLVED THE DISPUTE IN FAVOR OF NEW YORK.

AND HE FIXED NEW HAMPSHIRE?S WESTERN BORDER AT THE CONNECTICUT RIVER.

HAD THE DECISION GONE THE OTHER WAY, NEW HAMPSHIRE MIGHT BE TWICE THE SIZE IT IS TODAY.

AND VERMONT MIGHT NEVER HAVE APPEARED.

MAPS NOT ONLY RESOLVED 18TH CENTURY BORDER DISPUTES.

THIS WAS ALSO A VERY ACTIVE TIME OF SETTLEMENT.

AND THE EXHIBITION FEATURES SEVERAL MAPS SHOWING HOW SETTLERS LAID OUT SOME OF NEW HAMPSHIRE?S FIRST TOWNS.

LIBRARIAN DAVID SMOLEN:

Smolen: (19:45) This is some of the most unique maps in the collection, being that they?re manuscripts. Basically irreplaceable. This map right here is the oldest map in the exhibit, it?s a 1732 map of Nottingham, and it shows the proprietors of the town and we can see here the town center?

Gardner:

THE TOWN PLANNING MAPS ARE IDEALISTIC, TO SAY THE LEAST.

THEY?RE EXTREMELY ORDERLY TO LOOK AT.

BUT AS JANET DERANIAN POINTS OUT, FREQUENTLY THE SURVEYERS NEVER VISITED THE SITES.
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AND THEY DREW THE MAPS FOR PROPRIETORS WHO NEVER INHABITED THEIR PROPERTIES.

Deranian: (21:10) ?.so if you look at the map of Nottingham, it essentially looks like a giant cross with multiple sections to the cross, and where the two arms of the cross intersect is the town center. Now what we don?t know about from this plan of Nottingham is whether there are any significant brooks or rivers or hills or anything else that might have prevented someone from actually building on the lot that had been assigned to them. And I think that is part of the fun of looking at all these maps in the town planning section, is that sometimes they attempt to be very geometric in their organization, and oftentimes that was done without regard to landscape features.

Gardner: LANDSCAPE FEATURES BECOME CRITICALLY IMPORTANT IN LATER MAPS FROM THE 19TH CENTURY.

THE EXHIBITION FOLLOWS ONE NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN THROUGH ALMOST A CENTURY OF GROWTH AND CHANGE.

DAVID SMOLEN:

Smolen: (11:31) This section shows the development of Exeter over a 90-year period. We have maps of Exeter from 1802, 1845, 1874, and 1892, and we can see through the maps how the town changed??.

Deranian: (12:38) ?..and in that way they?re unique representations of the type of information that you can?t get at through diaries or newspapers of the period, or any other primary source. For example?..here in 1802, we have a street called Jail Street, and sure enough, as a part of the street is the County prison. 1845 it?s called Prison Street, and the County Jail is still there. Now when we move to 1874, there is no longer a Prison Street or a Jail Street, there?s something called Chestnut Street, and sure enough you cannot find the County Jail. We move to 1892, and we still have Chestnut Street and we still don?t have the County Jail?.

Gardner: THE EXETER MAPS ARE ALSO NOTABLE FOR THEIR DEPICTION OF THE GROWTH OF THE RAILROAD.
IT DIDN?T EXIST IN 1802, BUT BY 1892 THE RAILROAD HAS BECOME A COMMANDING FEATURE OF THE TOWNSCAPE.

OTHER MAPS IN THE COLLECTION MAKE IT CLEAR THAT ONE LINE, THE BOSTON AND MAINE, DOMINATED RAIL TRAVEL IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.

SOME OF THE MAPS FOCUS ON POLITICAL CONFLICT.

OTHERS PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO THE SETTLING AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW COUNTRY.

THE EXHIBITION?S MAPS ALSO TELL US A GREAT DEAL ABOUT THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONCERNS OF TIMES PAST.

BUT THEY ALSO FUNCTION IN UNINTENDED WAYS, AS RECORDS OF THE MINUTEST DETAILS OF ORDINARY LIFE.

DAVID SMOLEN POINTS TO ONE OF THE FAMOUS SANBORN FIRE INSURANCE MAPS.

IT?S COLOR CODED WITH PINK FOR BRICK BUILDINGS AND YELLOW FOR WOODEN ONES.

Smolen: (15:22) This is a map of Berlin from 1909, shows the main street, and we can also see all the different businesses here are labeled, are described, and it just provides a wonderful snapshot of life in Berlin in 1909. We may not have an aerial photograph of Berlin in 1909, but this basically serves that purpose. And here we can see the International Paper Company Mill, and it not only shows the mill but it shows the purpose, what every part of the mill was, so for example here it says acid tanks, here it says supply storage, sulfite screen room, machines, and beater engines, so we can see how the plant was laid out.

OF COURSE, NO EXHIBITION OF NEW HAMPSHIRE MAPS WOULD BE COMPLETE WITHOUT A LOOK AT THE TOURISM INDUSTRY.

SOME OF THE EARLIEST MAPS OF THE WHITE MOUNTAINS ARE ON DISPLAY HERE.

THEY INCLUDE ENGRAVINGS OF PROMINENT GRAND HOTELS AND REMINDERS OF A FAMOUS CRAWFORD NOTCH DISASTER OF 1826.

Smolen: (30:50) Here we can see an early depiction of the Willey Slide, so we can see the family running away to their doom, while the house is spared?

What I love here is how the White Mountains are depicted, which they look more like the Rockies than the actual White Mountains.

Gardner:

THE TOURIST MAPS ARE PARTICULARLY ENTERTAINING.

ONE CAN SEE HOW 19TH CENTURY VEST POCKET GUIDES DISPLAYED THE WHITE MOUNTAINES USING ECCENTRIC SCALES.

AND IN THE 20TH CENTURY, MAPS PROVIDED A COME-ON TO WINTER TOURISTS.

IN ONE 1938-39 MAP, A SYSTEM OF SMALL ICONS LOCATES ALL THE STATE?S SKATING PONDS, TOBOGGAN RUNS, AND SKI JUMPS.

THERE WERE DOZENS.

THE MAP EVEN TELLS YOU WHERE TO FIND INSTRUCTION IN DOG SLEDDING.

JANET DERANIAN POINTS OUT ANOTHER MAP CONSISTING ALMOST ENTIRELY OF TINY, COLORFUL CARTOONS.

Deranian: (32:15) We?re looking at a map of the state of NH done in 1926 by Elizabeth Shurtleff, and unlike?this one is really not interested in showing you how to get from one place to another as to show you little humorous in-jokes regarding each location?.There?s not a place that you can?t look at and find some sort of caricature with a little balloon coming out of their mouth.

Gardner:

THESE MAPS ARE ENTERTAINING.

THEY ARE EDUCATIONAL

BUT THEY ALSO SERVE A LARGER PURPOSE.

THEY CALL THE ATTENTION OF HISTORIANS, GENEALOGISTS, STUDENTS, AND OTHERS TO THE TUCK LIBRARY?S PERMANENT COLLECTION OF MANUSCRIPTS AND DOCUMENTS. DIRECTOR JANET DERANIAN:

Deranian: (14:50) That?s part of the purpose of these library materials-based exhibitions, is to encourage people to come back and use or collections for their research, not only to show them visually what a wealth of material this is, but also to say yes, this is a resource that you can use, too.

Gardner:

MAPPING NEW HAMPSHIRE THROUGH THREE CENTURIES WILL REMAIN ON DISPLAY AT THE NEW HAMPSHIRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY?S TUCK LIBRARY THROUGH MAY 31ST.

FOR NHPR NEWS, I?M KEVIN GARDNER.

Suggested Host Outro: IN THE SECOND PART OF HIS SERIES, KEVIN WILL EXPLAIN HOW CONCERN ABOUT A TREE DISEASE RESULTED IN THE CREATION OF ONE OF THE MOST FASCINATING COLLECTIONS OF MAPS EVER MADE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.