Please consider supporting the History of Cartography Project
Detail from Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland, Geographie der Pflanzen in den Tropen-Ländern, ein Naturgemälde der Anden, 1807. In Cecilia A. Smith’s Volume Five Exploration and Mapping entry.
By making a donation, you will have a direct impact on our work. We are making a final push to complete the final volume of the series, and private gifts are more essential to the Project’s funding structure than ever.
The final leg of the History of Cartography Project’s work depends on support from individuals, private foundations, and corporations. During the research phase of the Project, private donations released federal matching fund from consecutive grants, and the broad support from individuals helped secure those research grants by demonstrating how valuable The History of Cartography is to the public as a resource. Thank you!
Federal agencies no longer provide support. We look to private sources to replace those major funders. Please consider supporting the Project. We are grateful to all our supporters.
Your gifts will help us complete the series by publishing Volume Five, Cartography in the Nineteenth Century. In July 2025 we submitted the manuscript to Press, on schedule! With 411 entries, one million words, and 1,055 full-color images, it will take time and attention to detail to work carefully through the stages of production. We are partnering with an excellent team at the University of Chicago Press and will publish in late 2027. This will complete The History of Cartography series and bring the History of Cartography Project to a close.
- support a significantly reduced but experienced staff during press production, and
- ensure the quality that readers have come to expect from The History of Cartography.
Why give? Want more detail? “The Road to Publication” is a brief, four-step summary that identifies specific tasks your donations will support as together we publish this massive reference resource. For an interesting read and to understand why donations are still so critical (and why we expect publication to follow two years from submission), check out “What Does it Mean to Send the Volume Five Manuscript to Press?”
Donations do indeed make a difference. Thank you for your support.
How to make a gift by phone or by mail
Gifts are tax deductible. Our fundraising partner, the University of Wisconsin Foundation, is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization.