Thanks to a suggestion made by our San Diego for Free columnist, my dad’s birthday was blissfully easy to plan this year. We decided to go to the Map and Atlas Museum of La Jolla and were able to arrange for a private tour — completely free of charge.
The museum is housed within the Merrill Lynch building on Fay Avenue, and is estimated (they won’t disclose the actual number) to showcase a collection worth around eight figures. It is made up of mobile walls and an elaborate hanging system that allows for changes to be made depending on the exhibit.
The museum is the brainchild of Michael Stone, a local philanthropist with an insatiable love for cartography and a desire to share it with the world.
The best part of the whole tour is guide Richard Cloward, a retired U.S. Navy captain without whom we would’ve been done in 20 minutes and wouldn’t have understood a fraction of what we were seeing. As it was, we ended up staying almost two hours — and there was still so much to learn.
Cloward explained the evolution of cartography, from the detailed illustrations that frame some of the maps depicting a country’s people and scenery to that fact that some of the distortions of countries and continents were done intentionally so as to fit the entire image on the paper. He is a wealth of knowledge and is happy to share it.
The museum is free of charge and open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Wednesday and Thursday, the first and third Saturday of each month, and also by appointment. For more information, call 855-653-6277.
All photos by Annie Lane.
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"T-O" world map. Isidore of Seville, 1472. -
Palestine. Anonymous, 1475. -
World Map. Conrad Swenynheym and Arnold Buckinck, 1478 -
World map. Anonymous, 1491. -
World Map. Johann Schnitzer, 1482 or 1486. -
Map by Christofel Colunus. -
Christofel Colunus -
World map. Waldseemuller, 1513. -
World map. Waldseemuller, 1513. -
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World map on a cordiform projection. Johann Honter, 1561. Offers a good view of America and Asia joined across the northern Pacific. -
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Southwest Pacific. Cornelis de Jode, 1593. Copperplate engraving -
America. Abraham Ortelius, 1570. Copperplate engraving. -
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America. Jan Jansson, 1623. -
World and Cosmological Map. Cornelis de Jode, ca. 1600 (1681). -
World Map depicting the earth on an axis. Perhaps by Hans Holdbien or Sebastian Munster, 1532. -
World Map depicting the earht on an axis. Perhaps by Hans Holdbien or Sebastian Munster, 1532. -
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Andreas Cellarius -
World map in the form of a clover leaf. Heinrich Bunting, 1581. -
The sizes of the celestial bodies. Andreas Cellarius, 1660. -
The location of the earth, encircled by the Celestial Circles. Andreas Cellarius, 1660. -
Second hemisphere with the Christianized firmament. Andreas Cellarius, 1660. -
Second hemisphere with the Christianized firmament. Andreas Cellarius, 1660. -
List of mining companies in Goldfield, Nevada. Clason & Co., 1907. -
World map. George Wildey, 1714 (1732). -
Grand Canyon. Joseph "Jo" Mora, 1949. -
Annie Lane
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Very cool stuff. Sounds like a tour I should do.
I definitely think you’d enjoy it, Doug!
Great articule but even better in the “flesh”.
I love learning about interesting and unusual places around the city. Thank you!
How intriguing, and what a deal: a wealth of historical maps and knowledge all available for free.
wow!!! i’m going with my dad too, and ex navy flyer and historical novelist,
thanks!
and mucho thanks to inspiring philanthropists like Michael Stone, and host Richard Cloward, for sharing their passions…
Fantastic photos – loved this museum and glad that you had a good visit as well!