Jim Flatness and others from the Geography and Map Division moving the newest globe. - Michaela McNichol
This new hand-painted, hand-lettered, 54-inch globe showing the earth's major geographical features, major cities and political boundaries (current as of April 2006) is the latest addition to the globe collection of the Geography and Map Division (G&M).
An independent globe maker, Bill Kiermeyer of Covington, La., created this one-of-a-kind globe especially for G&M, which paid $10,000, "a bargain" that covers the cost of materials, according to division Chief John Hébert. The advantage of so large a globe, Hébert said, is that it shows the curvature of the Earth and gives the viewer a realistic perspective of distances and directions that are not so readily apparent on flat maps. For example, a globe this size makes apparent the amazing feat of the 16th century Europeans who navigated vast oceans and extraordinary distances to sail around the tip of South America from the Atlantic to Pacific shores of North America.
A globe this size also challenged the division's Jim Flatness, Hébert and others who had to figure out how to squeeze it through the reading room door on June 22, the day it arrived.
