October 30, 2000 Library of Congress Celebrates Geography Awareness Week, Nov. 13-17

Geography Awareness Week is being celebrated this year on Nov. 12-18, and the Library will mark the week with special map talks by staff cartographic specialists about some of the maps on display in the "American Treasures" exhibition, Monday through Friday of that week. All of the talks will begin at noon, with the exception of Wednesday, Nov. 15, when the map talk will begin at 1 p.m. The exhibition is located in the Southwest Gallery and Pavilion of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street S.E.

Some of the maps that visitors to "American Treasures" can see include an 1858 powder horn map of the Hudson-Mohawk Valley; a 1562 map of America by Diego Gutiérrez; a panoramic view of the Gettysburg Battlefield; a 1789 "Survey of the Roads of the United States" and a 1913 map of "California Automobile Tours"; a sounding and color overlay of the ocean floor; and a 1785 map by Benjamin Franklin, "Atlantic Ocean Currents: Gulf Stream."

For younger visitors, there will be a handout about George Washington as a mapmaker and surveyor, with background information on his hand-drawn 1750 survey map of Frederick County, Va., which is on view in the "American Treasures" exhibition.

The purpose of Geography Awareness Week, which is sponsored by the National Geographic Society, is to promote awareness about the importance of geography education while demonstrating the breadth of geography and its relevance to almost any other subject. This year's emphasis is on conservation.