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All, The next NY Map Society meeting will be May 14th at 2:30 pm at the New York Public Library, 5th Avenue & 42nd Street. "The Hidden Harmony of Hell Gate: Henry Mitchell and his Quaker Cartography in the Coast Survey" Henry Mitchell (1830-1902) joined the Coast Survey as a teenager, and stayed with it his entire working life. He was the younger brother of the noted astronomer Maria Mitchell; the Mitchells were a learned Quaker family from Nantucket. Within a few years of his arrival at the Survey, Mitchell became the Chief of Physical Hydrography, a position he filled for his entire career. Physical hydrography means the science of moving water: tides and currents, tsunamis, storms, but also wetlands and sandbars—and Hell Gate, in the East River. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Library Historian John Cloud's presentation will focus on two major episodes in Mitchell's career: 1. His revelations about coastal wetlands, and his remarkable 1869 treatise on marshland reclamation, with accompanying maps, 2. His remarkable and well-illustrated saga, from 1867 to 1873, to prevent the damming of the East River. Mitchell was uncommonly successful in both these endeavors, despite a Quaker sensibility that was taken then as “old-fashioned” but which was in fact at least a century ahead of its time. A FEW REMINDERS: Please keep an eye on our "Newsletter" page for news of meetings and events sponsored by other organizations. We don't clutter your Inbox with an endless series of announcements, so it pays to look in on this page fairly often to see what's coming up in the near future. And as noted in last month's announcement, we've added a "News from our Members" section devoted to map-related news and projects involving members of the New York Map Society. If you're a member, please let us know what you're up to (map-related, of course), and we'll post a report on the site. Have a look at http://www.nymapsociety.org/LETTER.HTM, then send your own news to [email protected], and we'll do the rest. Best, Heather Kinsinger Board of Directors NY Map Society
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