Mapping the World

The RGS has a room called the Map Room. It's not the only place where maps can be found.

There is a huge archive of maps at the HQ.

In Britain, the Royal Geographical Society was founded in 1830 with the special aim to promote the exploration of the interior of Africa (Barnett 1998; Stern 1998). Its foundation further had the express aim of establishing “a complete collection of maps and charts from the earliest period of rude geographical delineations to the most improved of the present time” (quoted by Crone and Day 1960, 12). This was very much an aspiration, however, as the society’s finances precluded the actual acquisition of many maps. Even after the RGS began in 1854 to receive government funding to enlarge its map collections and to hire a map curator, most acquisitions of historical materials were by donation (Clark 1986).

The formation of the RGS in part influenced the British Museum to show an interest in curating early maps.

In October, James Cheshire is giving a Monday night lecture on a Library of lost maps at UCL.

Source: Matthew Edney

https://www.mappingasprocess.net/blog/2021/6/23/origins-of-map-libraries-in-the-mid-nineteenth-century