German World War II Captured Maps

Our goals for this project were to increase access to and understanding of this rich yet neglected legacy collection of maps. We are:

• Creating thoughtful organization for the map sets in our collection in order to understand their historical evolution and create corresponding richly descriptive cataloging records.

• Scanning and publishing online the digitized sheets in order to make them more broadly available to researchers around the world.

Our entry into this project was sparked when UC Riverside made the decision to withdraw their collection of German and Japanese captured World War II maps in the fall of 2017. Taking in their collection of approximately 20,000 maps helped us identify our existing holdings and fill in gaps.

We began our German World War II Captured Maps project in earnest in 2018. Our project encompasses many moving parts: incorporating the UC Riverside maps, updating catalog records, scanning sheets, and storing the sets in order to provide both access and protection for this valuable collection.

Prior to the pandemic shutdown we were processing approximately 500 map sheets each month, with approximately 10,000 maps cataloged, scanned, and stored thus far. We intend to continue work to complete the project as soon as conditions allow.

Project Leads

Susan Powell -- Project Manager

Heiko Mühr -- Map Cataloger & Historian

Earth Sciences & Map Library

Bonita Dyess -- Map transfer logistics & student supervision

Student Library Employees

Lisanne Van Engelen -- Index map creation

Library IT

for their work managing and digitizing the maps, adding them to the digital collections site, and more.

Northern Regional Library Facility (NRLF)

for their work managing the retrieval and storage of the maps.

Other Thanks:

Janet Reyes, UC Riverside Library -- project inspiration & map shipping/organization

Brian Quigley, Peter Soriano, & Beth Dupuis -- advice & support

Interlibrary Services

Mail & Transportation Services