Rasmuson Library rare maps in Philadelphia exhibit

Submitted by Margaret Asbury
Phone: (907) 474-6595
02/17/06

Two rare maps from the Alaska and Polar Regions Collections at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Rasmuson Library are included in an exhibit titled "The Princess and the Patriot: Ekaterina Dashkova, Benjamin Franklin, and the Age of Enlightenment"? at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.

The exhibit explores Enlightenment themes through the lives of Franklin and Princess Ekaterina Romanova Dashkova of Russia. Her acquaintance with Franklin helped her be selected as the first female member of the society. The exhibit, which runs from Feb. 18 through Dec. 31, is part of Philadelphia’s tribute to Franklin on the 300th anniversary of his birth.

The maps loaned for this exhibit were purchased with gifts from the late Elmer E. Rasmuson.

The first map, Vil’brekht’s General’naia Karta Rossiiskoi Imperii na Sorok Odnu Guberniiu Razdielennoi (General Map of the Russian Empire Divided into 41 Provinces), helps exhibit visitors grasp the vastness of the Russian empire.

The second, Bowles’s New Pocket Map of the Discoveries made by the Russians on the Northwest Coast of America, serves as a reminder of the short distance between Russia and Alaska and helps explain Dashkova’s interest in sponsoring expeditions to the far reaches of Russian territory.

Bowles’s New Pocket Map can be viewed at the Alaska History Store website: www.alaskahistorystore.org/map025.html