The 16th international conference on the history of cartography: Report

Abstract

Vienna was the site for the 16th International Conference on the History of Cartography, 11-15 September, 1995. The lovely late summer weather, the architectural and historical glories of the city, and its cultural excitement attracted the enthusiastic participation of some 260 participants from 40 countries and five continents. Those registered for the conference found included in their packets a programme in the three official languages, English, French and German; the abstracts of papers with curricula vitae of each speaker; catalogues for some of the exhibitions; and-one of the nicest features of the arrangements-a week's transportation pass for Vienna's excellent system of trams, buses and metros. All soon learned to appreciate the easily mastered, clean, rapid, convenient Vienna metro. Several meetings were held on Sunday, 10 September, prior to the formal opening-the International Society for the Curators of Early Maps (ISCEM), and the International Cartographic Association's (ICA) session on Teaching the History of Cartography. Ed Dahl chaired the ISCEM gathering, attended by some 40 curators. The theme of this year's meeting was New Technologies, and participants discussed their use in disseminating information on early maps. Several curators called up their home pages on the World Wide Web to demonstrate the possibilities of this rapidly enlarging resource. Robert Karrow of the Newberry Library, Chicago, was unanimously elected the new chairperson of ISCEM; David Bosse remains as editor of the ISCEM Newsletter. The conference formally opened in the Prunksaal, or Hall of State, of the Austrian National Library with a flourish, literally. The imposing circular hall, flanked by statues of members of the 206 House of Habsburg and with a statue of Emperor Charles VI in its centre, holds the libraries of Prince Eugene of Savoy and other illustrious men on its main level and on galleries encircling the high domed ceiling, which is embellished with paintings of allegorical figures. Once participants were seated, two trumpeters appeared on facing galleries and played a fanfare to announce the official start of the conference. Hans Marte, Director General of the Austrian National Library, welcomed members of the conference to the Library and to the great city of Vienna. Franz Wawrik, Director of the Austrian National Library Map Library, outlined highlights of Austrian cartography, and Tony Campbell, Map Librarian at the British Library and spokesman for Imago Mundi, welcomed the audience. Those participating in the academic sessions then walked through the heart of Vienna's Old City, past archaeological remains of 2000 years of the city's history, to the lecture hall of the Bank fur Arbeit und Wirtschaft (BAWAG), which the bank had graciously made available to the conference. In this suite of rooms, in a handsome, modern building sitting cheek-by-jowl with structures pre-dating it by centuries, the bulk of meetings were held during the next few days. Papers in the first session, on the future of the history of cartography, and on the exhibitions arranged for the conference (21, 9) set a standard for the sessions to follow. One of the themes of this conference, the history of the mapping of Central Europe, was elaborated on in the second session (32, 28, 6), while the emphasis shifted farther east in the third session, with papers on mapping in Russia and Estonia (27, 20, 26). The first day of the conference ended in grand style back at the Oratorium of the Austrian National Library with a cocktail reception hosted by the Director General of