When we try to find someplace we haven’t been before, we often turn to search devices in our cars, or phones. But, it was just a few years ago that a road trip meant using a road map, and trying to find someplace across town meant using a Thomas Brothers guard. A museum exhibition on the South Coast looks at maps as tools, as art, and as part of science.
Fred Tonsing is a retired professor at Calfornia Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. Tonsing says he was fascinated with maps as a child, and when he was in the Navy his map reading skills landed him a job as an instructor in naval intelligence. When he started going to flea marts and antique shows with a friend a few years ago, he started to find, and buy some maps which date back hundreds of years.
Tonsing is sharing 40 maps from his collection with the public. They are featured in an exhibition called “Mapping Meaning: Adventures in Cartography” at Cal Lutheran’s William Rolland Gallery Of Fine Art.
Some are of Europe. One shows North America, with the East Coast relatively accurate, but showing California as a carrot shaped island, and what is now Las Vegas as beachfront property.
Tonsing says he knows that maps have become a bit of a novelty. But, he says it’s disappointing that geography is getting short shrift in many schools.
He’ll lead two map related events this week. On Friday, he will give a free talk about mapping the top of the world. It takes place at 4 p.m. Friday, at Cal Lutheran’s William Rolland Art Center. Then on Saturday, Tonsing will host a guided tour of the exhibition. It’s at 2 p.m. Saturday, at the William Rolland Gallery of Fine Art.
Cal Lutheran is the parent of KCLU Radio.
