Notas y noticias

David Woodward (1942-2004)

Paula Rebert*

* Albuquerque, New Mexico

David Woodward, map historian and editor of the monumental History of Cartography, died of cancer on August 25, 2004. Through the History of Cartography Project, he led the discipline of the history of cartography into new avenues of research and new understanding of the importance of maps and their role in world history.

The History of Cartography Project was first conceived when David Woodward and colleague J. Brian Harley talked together about creating a multi-volume world history of cartography that could give direction to the study of the history of cartography and serve as a standard reference work. They made their first funding proposal for the Project in 1981. In 1987, Volume One of the History of Cartography, examining cartography in prehistoric, ancient, and medieval Europe and the Mediterranean, was published. Like all of the volumes that were to follow, it featured chapters commissioned from eminent scholars and was meticulously edited by Woodward and Harley, their co-editors, and Project staff. Beautifully produced by the University of Chicago Press, it was illustrated with many high-quality black-and-white and color map reproductions.

In 1991 Brian Harley died, but David Woodward continued to guide the History of Cartography Project. Volume Two investigated mapmaking in the traditional so-cieties of Islam, Asia, Africa, America, Australia, the Arctic, and the Pacific. As work on the volume progressed, the commissioned authors discovered such an unexpected wealth of material that it grew to comprise three books, published in 1992, 1994, and 1998.

Writing and editorial work for Volume Three on the cartography of the European Renaissance has been completed, and it is scheduled for publication in 2007. Three more volumes on cartography in the Enlightenment, the nineteenth century, and the twentieth century have been planned. The volumes published to date have been path-breaking works, winning high praise from reviewers and several awards.

The History of Cartography became David Woodward's life work. Before the Project began, however, he already had a distinguished career as a cartographer and historian. Born in Leamington Spa, England in 1942, he earned his B. A. at the University of Wales, Swansea, in 1964, and worked as a cartographer at the Directorate of Overseas Surveys and the Reader's Digest Association. He traveled to the United States to study cartography with Professor Arthur H. Robinson at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There he earned his M. A. (1967) and Ph. D. (1970) in Geography. He later reshaped his doctoral dissertation as The All-American Map: Wax Engraving and its Influence on Cartography, published in 1977. After graduation, he became Curator of Maps and then Director of the Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography at the Newberry Library in Chicago.

David Woodward held the position of Director of the Smith Center from 1974 until 1980, when he returned to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to become Professor of Geography and to fully organize the History of Cartography Project. In the University of Wisconsin Geography Department, he taught courses in cartography, including History of Cartography, Graphic Design in Cartography, Introduction to Cartography, and Seminar in Cartography. Meanwhile, he supervised twenty-four master's theses and four doctoral dissertations. In 1995, the University of Wisconsin Graduate School honored him with a prestigious named chair.

David honored his mentor in choosing as the title for his position, "Arthur H. Robinson Professor of Geography."

His professional activities outside the university were many. He presented many papers at conferences and was much in demand as a public lecturer. He served as an Editorial Adviser or member of the Editorial Board of a number of professional publications, including Cartographica, The Map Collector, Cartography and Geographic Information Systems, and Annals of the Association of American Geographers. In addition to being a member of many professional organizations, he served as a Member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for the History of Cartography, a Full Member of the Standing Commission on the History of Cartography of the International Cartographic Assocation, Director of the Cartography Division of the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, and committee mem-ber or board member of many others.

While teaching cartography courses, serving professional organizations, and directing the History of Cartography Project, he continued his own research and writing on the history of cartography. Among his many publications were books he authored such as Maps as Prints in the Italian Renaissance: Makers, Distributors & Consumers (the 1995 Panizzi Lectures; London: British Library, 1996) and Catalogue of Watermarks in Italian Maps, ca. 1540-1600 (Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 1996), as well as books he edited, including Five Centuries of Map Printing (University of Chicago Press, 1975) and Art and Cartography: Six Historical Essays (University of Chicago Press, 1987). He wrote many book chapters, including important chapters in the volumes of The History of Cartography; and papers for refereed journals. An important paper published in 1974 titled, "The Study of the History of Cartography: A Suggested Framework" (The American Cartographer 1:101-15), defined many of the problems that would later be addressed by the History of Cartography Project. Recently he completed the introduction and six chapters for Plantejaments i objectius d'una historia universal de la cartografía, published by the Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya, Barcelona, in 2001.

David Woodward's contributions to the history of cartography, the discipline he cared about so much, were immense. The History of Cartography Project was the center of his effort, and he continued to work and plan for the Project until shortly before his death. His co-editors plan to continue the History of Cartography Project and to complete the final three volumes. Those who wish to learn more about the History of Cartography Project may find information on-line at http://www.geography.wisc.edu/histcart.

David Woodward is survived by his wife, Rosalind, his daughter, Jennifer, and his son, Justin. David will be greatly missed by all who knew him and by all who are part of the world of the history of cartography.