Geoff Willard Blog #9: The Hand Drawn Map Association

As far as ideal digital collections go, this archive of hand drawn maps is not one of them. However, the archive's singular, off-the-wall vision is so intriguing I thought it deserved a second look. Ephemera collecting is the kind of collecting I can really get behind.  

Collection Principles

The specificity of the archive certainly binds their collecting policy. Save for a stray post-it note, they will generally only accept images of hand drawn maps from users, preferably in high resolution (300 DPI or higher, and at least 700 pixels in any one direction). Under the terms and conditions, users retain the copyright over their submissions, but the archive can effectively do whatever they want with it once it's in the collection.  

You'll notice there's no way to search or browse the 98 maps. Not surprisingly, none of the maps have been OCRed. There is also no option to zoom on any of the images (a second click brings you back to the main collection). 

Object Characteristics

It looks like the curator of this archive has imposed some level of name control on the submitted jpegs. Images are labelled with delimiter-separated words, beginning with 'hand_drawn_map' and ending with some word that summarizes the image. No other authority controls in terms of upload format, image size, or descriptive metadata are enforced, only suggested. I do wonder though what the process is - in terms digitization & description - when a user snail mails a map rather than sending it digitally. "We actually prefer this method," they claim, "and will even pay you for your submission to help cover postage costs (limited time offer). We prefer your actual, physical map on paper because they are so much more interesting and fun to archive."  

Metadata

Like the sample archive from last week, almost all the metadata falls on feet of the submitter. The archives provides the image with a number, the location (if known), the submitter user name, and the date uploaded. The curators occasionally describe how the map was submitted; a physical description is noted if they received the map in hard copy.  

Intended Audience

Saying that cartographers would be interested in this collection might be stretching it a bit. General connoisseurs of ephemera would probably see the appeal in this noble activity. It's the type of website that's enjoyed by BoingBoing readers (and I say that as one of them).