The David Rumsey Map Center opened on April 19th, 2016 in the Bing Wing of Green Library, Stanford University. The Center is a new collections-based resource designed to provide access to cartographic information in all of its forms, from paper to digital. It is a flexible and rich environment for research and teaching with large collection of rare atlases and maps, high-resolution screens equipped with interactive tools for viewing digital images, and knowledgeable staff.
In this collocated environment, scholars can work with original physical items side-by-side with digital surrogates. In digital form, a map can be readily manipulated, enlarged, quantified, aggregated, visualized, and systematically interrogated in a unique way. Working simultaneously with the native format and context (such as a map within an atlas) enriches the information available, giving researchers a chance to embark on discoveries that would otherwise not be possible.
The Rumsey Map Center, named for its leading donors, David and Abby Rumsey, complements Stanford Libraries’ long history of working with cartographic materials. The combined holdings include the David Rumsey Map Collection of some 150,000 maps and their digital surrogates as well as other cartographic collections and materials long held at Stanford, including the Glen McLaughlin Collection of maps of California as an Island, the Dr. Oscar I. Norwich Collection of Maps of Africa and over 10,000 antiquarian maps collected over the years by Special Collections.
