At the David Rumsey Map Center 

Thursday, October 19th through Saturday, October 21st, 2017

This October the David Rumsey Map Center will host a three-day conference on cartographic scholarship called the Barry Lawrence Ruderman Conference on Cartography, to be held on October 19, 20 and 21, 2017. The conference, the first of its kind, is designed to encourage cartographic scholarship and shed light to areas that have otherwise been ignored. This particular conference focuses on emerging scholars and gives a broad overview of work around the world, organized by time periods. The conference will look at ways to expand the field and draw from experts outside traditional historical cartography. It is to this end, we are excited to bring Parag Khanna whose take on re-writing maps based on how we are connected rather than politics and geography is a compelling take on how one might view the current century. Parag Khanna is the author of Connectography and is a noted spatial thinker. Events will begin the evening of October 19.  Speakers from around the world will discuss the latest in the history of cartography and related fields, while several advanced Stanford students will also have a chance to share their exciting new research in how they use maps as part of their scholarship, teaching and research.  

The conference is being made possible by the generous support of Barry Lawrence Ruderman. Barry Lawrence Ruderman is a map and atlas dealer based in La Jolla, California, and one of the Founding Friends of the David Rumsey Map Center at Stanford.  His website, raremaps.com, is one of the oldest and largest for the sale of antique maps and atlases. Since 2009, Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc. has contributed over 50,000 digital map images to be placed in the Stanford Digital Repository. To begin with, about 20,000 of these maps can be searched, viewed and downloaded through Stanford's catalog as part of the Barry Lawrence Ruderman Collection; the collection will be unveiled when the conference opens. Barry supports the conference's unique take on rare maps and atlases as objects of scholarly study and spatial thinking within the larger context of interdisciplinary work done at Stanford and elsewhere. 

Please note that the conference has a small registration fee ($100 for regular registration, $25 for students) to ensure attendence after registration and to cover a small part of expenses to include the reception and coffee breaks. 

The David Rumsey Map Center asks that you observe the following guidelines during the conference:

• Water is welcome in closed containers only.
• No food or other drinks are allowed.
• We will provide pencils and writing paper.
• We welcome cell phones and laptops.
• Restrooms and water fountains are located on the third and second floors below the Center.
• Photography of the space and objects are allowed. 

For more, please visit our using the center page.