Lawrence H. Slaughter Collection of English maps, charts, globes, books and atlases

Collection History

In 1997, on the death of Lawrence H. Slaughter, part of his magnificent private map collection came to NYPL from his estate, as a gift from his family. In 2001, the second half of the collection was given to the Map Division. His collection of maps focuses on the Middle Atlantic region, and formed the basis for the exhibition "In thy map securely saile."

Another private collection came to NYPL in 1990 from the John H. Levine estate, comprised of a wonderful miscellany of antique maps for places around the world, from the Holy Lands to Bermuda, providing additional specimens for this digital presentation.

Background

Established in 1898, from map and atlas collections in the Astor and Lenox libraries, which that year joined to form The New York Public Library, the Map Division now holds some 400,000+ maps, atlases and books about cartography. Support from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2000-2002 enabled cataloging of the Slaughter gift and the related maps included in this presentation, some of which are described in more detail on the "American Shores: Maps of the Middle Atlantic Region to 1850" site below.

Related Resources

Campbell, Tony. “Map History / History of Cartography.” (c2004) <http://www.maphistory.info/index.html>

Library of Congress. “American Memory: Map Collections 1500-2004.” (2004) <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/gmdhome.html>

NYPL. “American Shores: Maps of the Middle Atlantic Region to 1850.” (c2002) <http://www.nypl.org/research/midatlantic/>

_____ . “’In thy map securely saile’: Maps, Atlases, Charts, and Globes from the Lawrence H. Slaughter Collection.” (1998) <http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/epo/mapexhib/index.html>

Collection Data

Description
The collection focuses on the Middle Atlantic region and includes atlases, charts, books, and maps dating from the 16th through the 19th century.
Names
Slaughter, Lawrence H. (Donor)
Dates / Origin
Date Issued: 1540 - 1870 (Approximate)
Library locations
Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division
Topics
United States
Middle Atlantic States
North America
Atlantic Coast (Middle Atlantic States)
Atlantic Coast (U.S.)
Genres
Maps
Atlases
Notes
Acquisition: Maps from the private collection of Lawrence H. Slaughter were gifted to the New York Public Library upon his death in 1997 by his estate. In 2001 the second half of the collection was given to the Map Division.
Exhibitions: Slaughter's map collection formed the basis of the Library's exhibition “"In thy map securely saile’: Maps, Atlases, Charts, and Globes from the Lawrence H. Slaughter Collection.” (1998)
Citation/reference: “American Shores: Maps of the Middle Atlantic Region to 1850.” (c2002) New York Public Library, website.
Type of Resource
Cartographic
Still image
Text
Identifiers
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 6a373d50-c5d3-012f-a6fb-58d385a7bc34
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