The Buffalo and Erie County Public Library (BECPL) Exhibits “The Map that Changed the World”

Not American history; but it will be complemented by explorations of the local environment.

The Map That Changed the World. This exhibit will highlight a treasure held in the rare book collection of BECPL http://www.buffalolib.org/ : a map created in 1815 by English surveyor William Smith (1769-1839). A Search of Historical Abstracts http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/histabst.html finds 7 citations to pertinent reviews and articles. For a brief biography visit the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/ODNB.html. The map presents the strata levels beneath Great Britain. This unique map influenced the Industrial Revolution as well as supported some of Charles Darwin’s theories. Dr. Tracey Gregg of UB’s geology department http://www.geology.buffalo.edu/ notes, “Without this map, life as we know it today would not exist.”

The BECPL map is one of only 40 extant and is esteemed for its stunning, hand-coloring and detailed notations on the geology of Great Britain.

This exhibit will "reach" the community through a variety of programs, lectures, and fundraising events. The exhibit and associated programming begins with a gala event on September 14: a dinner and lecture given by Simon Winchester. His book of the same name – The Map that Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology (HaperColllins, 2001) -- tells William Smith’s story.

Born to humble parents, Smith was also a child of the Industrial Revolution (the year of his birth, 1769, also saw Josiah Wedgwood open his great factory, Etruria, Richard Arkwright create his first water-powered cotton-spinning frame, and James Watt receive the patent for the first condensing steam engine). While working as surveyor in a coal mine, Smith noticed the abrupt changes in the layers of rock as he was lowered into the depths. He came to understand that the different layers--in part as revealed by the fossils they contained--always appeared in the same order, no matter where they were found. He also realized that geology required a three-dimensional approach. Smith spent the next 20 some years traveling throughout Britain, observing the land, gathering data, and chattering away about his theories to those he met along the way, thus acquiring the nickname "Strata Smith." In 1815 he published his masterpiece: an 8.5- by 6-foot, hand-tinted map revealing "A Delineation of the Strata of England and Wales." – Amazon.com

Additionally, Winchester will give a talk the following day – September 15 -- on his latest book, The Crack at the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 (HaperCollins, 2005).

In the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, San Francisco and a string of towns to its north-northwest and the south-southeast were overcome by an enormous shaking that was compounded by the violent shocks of an earthquake, registering 8.25 on the Richter scale. The quake resulted from a rupture in a part of the San Andreas fault, which lies underneath the earth's surface along the northern coast of California. Lasting little more than a minute, the earthquake wrecked 490 blocks, toppled a total of 25,000 buildings, broke open gas mains, cut off electric power lines throughout the Bay area, and effectively destroyed the gold rush capital that had stood there for a half century. – Book Description

The Library will be a hub of activity throughout this first week. The community will be invited to participate in school field trips, as well as a Thursday night Lecture Series, and a Saturday Family Program Series from 11 am to 2 pm September 17 through the exhibit’s end on December 31, 2005. These programs, tailored for elementary age students, will be held at the Central Library and at various off-site locations, and will include exciting activities such as story times with William Smith, hands-on geologic activities, and digs at the Penn-Dixie Archeology Site and Niagara Gorge.