The California State University, Northridge's History Club, in concert with
the Friends of the Oviatt Library, Phi Beta Delta, and the German American
Cultural Society sponsored the program, The Map that Named America: The
1507 Waldseemüller Map. In late May 2003 the Library of Congress
completed the purchase of the only surviving copy of Martin Waldseemüller's
1507 world map, the first map to depict the outline of the world's continents
as we know them, and the first document on which the name "America"
appears.
Featured speakers at the presentation were Margrit Krewson, formerly German/Dutch
specialist with the Library of Congress, and Dr. Ronald Grim, Curator of the
Norman B. Leventhal Map Collection, Boston Public Library (formerly, Senior
Specialist of Cartographic History, Library of Congress). The talks focused
on the significance of the map which has been called in the Library of Congress
Information Bulletin (September 2003), "America's Birth Certificate,"
and the process by which the map made it from a princely possession in Germany
and a national treasure of that country, to the Library of Congress in Washington
DC.
The program took place in the Oviatt Library's Presentation Room on Tuesday,
October 25, at 12:30 p.m. A facsimile of the Waldseemüller Map was on
display.
For more information, see "The
Map that Named America." Library of Congress information bulletin.
Sept. 2003.
