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Cumming Map Collection: Cumming Map Collection

A guide to the Cumming Map Collection, one of the finest map collections of the American Southeast.

 Sailing Ship Clipart Black and White"When one enters a new territory, the first need is for some sort of map. And when one departs from it, the best legacy one can leave to those who follow is, in turn, a better map."                                                                                                                            Dr. & Mrs. Cumming

Spotlight: Select Maps

Sebastian Munster 1540 Map of New World entitled

Only 46 Years After Columbus, Munster's Map of the New World

Less than half a century after Christopher Columbus sailed to the western hemisphere, this map was made by Sebastian Munster in 1540. Our copy was published in Venice in 1575. It was one of the first maps to use the title 'America' in it to name the land. Can you spot where?

Interesting Facts:

  • Oldest map in the collection
  • Very popular map reprinted in books for nearly half a century 
  • Impressive for its general geographical accuracy given the time 
  • Depicts then-widespread false belief that Earth's circumference was 18,000 miles
  • Among other misconceptions, the narrow isthmus dividing the continent was the discovery of the "Sea of Verrazano" in 1527, in hopes of convenient western passage to the Pacific. 

 

John Speed 1676 Map of Carolina

A Map with Misconceptions

The map that started the entire Cumming Map Collection, John Speed's 1676 "A New Description of Carolina" is a less-detailed and less-artistic version of the 1672 Ogilby-Moxon First Lord Proprietors Map (also part of the collection). The Ogilby-Moxon map was commissioned by the King of England Charles II's eight lord proprietors as promotional material to encourage colonization of the newly-founded "Carolina."  John Ogilby, royal cosmographer to the King gathered information from John Locke among others to make the map.  Despite all of this, the Speed map (which is a near duplicate) is far more popular and widely known than the Ogilby-Moxon map and is also almost double in market value, largely for its coloring. The map has some rather peculiar geographical features that we know to be misconceptions:

  • "The Great Savannah" underwater, from April to October every year 
  • "A great lake with unseen shores"
  • "The Arenosa Desert," stretching from present-day Lancaster to Raleigh 

 

A Map of the Most Inhabited Part of Virginia and the surrounding area in 1775

Thomas Jefferson's Father Helped Make This Map

The Fry-Jefferson 1775 Map of Virginia came about through a collaboration between Joshua Fry, a mathematics professor at the College of William and Mary, and Peter Jefferson, a surveyor living in the Blue Ridge Mountains and father to his more famous son and early US President, Thomas Jefferson. Local governors were facing a great deal of pressure from the Lords of Trade and Plantations in England were placing a great deal of pressure on the local governors to provide more details of the inner and western stretches of the lands. The local governors found it too expensive an endeavor to survey what seemed endless bounds of westward land, and as the Lords of Trade weren't offering any subsidies, they held off. After the NC-Virginia boundary line came about in 1749, interest in a map of Viriginia was renewed, which Fry and Jefferson then published in the later part of 1753. 

Interesting Facts:

  • Fry and Jefferson initially wanted to make the maps in the 1730s, but that didn't amount to much. 
  • Most date this map to 1754, but that's probably not correct, as clarified by Dr. Cumming. 
  • The information on NC was not part of the original map plan, and was provided by William Churton for the second 1755 edition

 

collet 1770 map

The Go-To Map on NC for Nearly 40 years, Collet 1770

In 1767, commander for the British Army John Abraham Collet was coming as North Carolina map surveyor William Churton was handing his materials over to Governor Tryon. Churton was contracted for the Granville Grant to survey the North Carolina area, but he died in 1767— the same year Collet was appointed by King George III to command the fort at Cape Fear River.

At this time, Governor Tryon and many other governors were facing increased pressures by the Lord of Trade and Plantations in England to survey the Carolina provinces. After Collet's arrival, Governor Tryon handed Churton's maps and materials over to him. Collet proved an able cartographer and continued to build on the maps himself. In 1768, one year after Collet had arrived to America, Governor Tryon allowed Collet to return to England with the map he had been working on. He considered it the most accurate map of such a large land area for its time. This landmark map is now in the British Museum. 

Interesting Facts:

  • Collet's map was THE go-to map on NC for 40 years and was used by both sides during the American Revolution
  • Mouzon's 1775 Map of NC and SC, which superseded this one, built directly off Collet's work (also part of our collection)
  • No credit was ever given to William Churton in any of Collet's maps, 1768 or 1770 
  • The map was engraved by Bailey with cartouches symbolizing the New World​​

Sorted By...

The Cumming Map Collection spans the 16th through 19th centuries. Some of the oldest maps in the collection come from Gerard Mercator and Abraham Ortelius, the two greatest geographers of the 16th century. Some of the youngest in the collection include Jean Buchon's maps of NC & SC found in an 1825 Atlas and J. and F. Tallis' finely engraved map of the Western Hemisphere from 1840.  Find a list of all of the maps in the collection by date. 
Most of the maps in the collection regions all across the southeastern United States, includings states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida. However, we also have some gems from other parts of the world, like England, Mexico, Italy, and the Turkish Empire. Find a list of all the maps in the collection by region. 
The collection houses maps from near 40 different cartographers of all kinds of backgrounds. Some came from a families of geographers or publishers and yet others from religious or other backgrounds. Explorer varied from being French, to English, German, or Spanish. For a list of maps by cartographer, see the document below.​
We have maps the carry a variety of fascinating stories and legacies. Some of these include: 
  • A completed on the eve of the American Revolution and used by American, British, and French forces (Mouzon 1775) 
  • Maps from chief chart maker and maritime publisher of the Netherlands, Johanis van Keulen or key British expansionist, Herman Moll. 
  • the map used during the 1782 Treaty of Paris peace negotiations (Mitchell 1755, they used the 1775 edition)  
  • A rare early state-printed version of the map one of the most important maps of the North America, before news of the founding of New Orleans reached France and Carolina is claimed as French,  part of the cartographic war preceding the French and Indian war 1756-63 (de L'Isle1718)
  • A rare explorer's map from Ortelius' atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, recording the names of Indian tribes reported by Hernando de Soto (Ortelius/de Chiaves 1584) 
  • The first soil map and one of the greatest maps of the 18th century, on which all subsequent maps of the century depended (De Brahm 1757)  
  • Captain John Smith's map of Virginia, one of the three most important maps of Virginia, that named many rivers and landmarks and gave name to Indian tribes and villages, which has been a principal source for later Indian ethnology and archeological finds that have found the remains of Indian settlements from the map's accuracy (Mercator/ Hondius 1625). 
Make an appointment to check out any of these maps or others from the collection in person.
We have 48 maps in this collection, and we could sort it in over 48 different, useful ways! You can help us sort it, too. Sort the maps in a new way and send it to us. We might just add it to this research guide with your original contribution. 
Possible Categories for sorted by... 
  • Nationality of cartographer
  • Type of map (reprinted, hand-drawn/navigational, political, etc.)
  • Commissioners (Royal Europe, Spanish governor, etc.) 
  • Pupose (trade, gold, colonization, native american encounters, etc.) 
Send us your student projects and we can put them up here. Meet with us to explore the digital display options— it could be a simple paper or you could explore digital platforms through your Davidson Domains, Omeka, Knightlab Timeline, and others.

Some Books We Have

Davidson College Library Research Guides are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Mailing Address: Davidson College - E.H. Little Library, 209 Ridge Road, Box 5000, Davidson, NC 28035