Paul Stevens map collection

Access and use

Location of collection:
The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon
The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon
3600 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway
Mount Vernon, VA 22121
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Reference services
Phone: (703) 780-3600
Restrictions:

This collection is open for research during scheduled appointments. Researchers must complete the Washington Library's Special Collections and Archives Registration Form before access is provided. The library reserves the right to restrict access to certain items for preservation purposes.

Preferred citation:

[Name and date of item], Paul Stevens collection of Maps, [Folder], Special Collections, The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon [hereafter Washington Library], Mount Vernon,

Summary

Extent:
26 Sheets
Language:
English , French , German , Latin .
Preferred citation:

[Name and date of item], Paul Stevens collection of Maps, [Folder], Special Collections, The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon [hereafter Washington Library], Mount Vernon,

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains 26 maps of the New World, dating 1541-1778, which illustrate the progression of European geographic knowledge about Virginia and North America from the 16th through the 18th centuries

"Theodore De Bry's engraving of John White's manuscript map was the first finely-detailed view of a North American landscape. It depicts English claims to "Virginia," which at the time encompassed both modern Virginia and North Carolina. Created in the wake of the failed English settlement at Roanoke Island, De Bry's color engraving visualizes English understanding of indigenous political communities such as the Secotan, Chawanook, and Weapemeoc peoples. At right, the ships heading into the Chesapeake Bay suggest future pathways for settlement and commerce." -- Mapping the "New World": Highlights from the Paul Schott Stevens Collection

"Produced for the French Navy, the rare chart displayed here was the best available chart of this region for the time, and was used by all naval forces involved in combat during the American Revolutionary War. The information on this very detailed chart was based primarily on the work of American Anthony Smith, a local Chesapeake Bay pilot of St. Mary's County. The chart was consulted by Admiral de Grasse in his victory over the British off the Chesapeake Capes on September 5, 1781." https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:z603vv10h

"Originally published in 1753, the Fry-Jefferson map was the most accurate map of Virginia at that time. This French version was printed at the beginning of the French and Indian War, which began when Governor Robert Dinwiddie ordered George Washington and his Virginia troops to drive the French off British-claimed land. Most of the indigenous names featured in John Smith's map are gone, replaced by Anglo-American settlements." -- Mapping the "New World": Highlights from the Paul Schott Stevens Collection

"Europeans had a more precise understanding of North America and the Caribbean by the early 18th century. Guillaume De L'Isle drew on earlier French expeditions into the continental interior to create the first accurate map of the Mississippi River. His use of color falsely implies fixed borders between competing European and indigenous peoples." -- Mapping the "New World": Highlights from the Paul Schott Stevens Collection

"Thirty years after Martin Waldseemüller printed one of the first maps of the Americas, Lorenz Fries published an updated European perspective on the New World. "Terra Incognita" on Waldseemüller's map has become "Terra Nova" on Fries's. The Castilian flag marks Spanish territorial claims in the Caribbean, while the continent's indigenous people are caricatured as primitive, reflecting common European misperceptions of native cultures." -- Mapping the "New World": Highlights from the Paul Schott Stevens Collection

The first printed map in English to show California as an island, with flat northern coast.

"From Theodore de Bry's Grand Voyages, Dreyzehender Theil Americae published by Matheus Merian. This German version of Captain John Smith's map of Virginia depicts the English colony shortly after Jamestown's 1607 founding. Powhatan, the principal chief of the indigenous confederacy that dominated the region, presides in the upper left corner. The rivers command our attention. The English expected to settle the interior by following waterways upstream. In time, tobacco plantations worked by indentured servants and slaves replaced the indigenous settlements that dotted these rivers. The Potomac River is visible just above the "SA" in "Chesapeak Bay."" -- Mapping the "New World": Highlights from the Paul Schott Stevens Collection

Biographical / historical:

Paul Schott Stevens donated the collection of maps to the Washington Library in 2020.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically and filed according to size.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Maps (documents)
Nautical charts