Society for the History of Discoveries


About the Society

The Society for the History of Discoveries was formed to stimulate interest in teaching, research, and publishing the history of geographical exploration. Founded in 1960, the Society includes members from several academic disciplines as well as archivists, non-affiliated scholars, and laypersons with an interest in history. Fellows (or Honorary Fellows) of the Society will have distinguished themselves by scholarship or service; those honored thus far are John Parker, David Beers Quinn, Norman J. W. Thrower, Virginia Garrett, Jenkins Garrett, Arthur Holzheimer, Barbara Backus McCorkle, Louis De Vorsey, David Buisseret, Carol Urness and Sanford Bederman. The scope of the Society's activities encompasses the discovery, exploration, and mapping of the earth's land and sea surface from earliest times to the present - the explorers and the explored. Fields of specialization thus include the history of European expansion, cartography, navigation, colonial settlement, biography, and bibliography.

The Society's program of publications includes Terrae Incognitae, a journal of research papers and book reviews published annually since 1969, and five volumes in the series Studies in the History of Discovery, published jointly with the Newberry Library. In addition, the spring Newsletter reports current and planned activities of the Society's members and general news related to the history of cartography, discovery, and exploration. The Annual Report is issued in December.

Annual Meetings (sometimes held jointly with kindred societies such as the Hakluyt Society), are generally held in the fall and are two or three days in duration. They afford members an opportunity to present, hear and discuss papers on subjects in their fields of specialization; most also include visits to, or participation in, nearby points of interest and events. Click here for information on past and future meetings.

The records of the Society
are kept at the University of Texas at Arlington. Click here for a SHD Records Finding Aid in A GUIDE TO ARCHIVES AND MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS in the Special Collections Division at The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.


Click here for the Society's Articles of Association


OFFICERS FOR 2007-2008

PRESIDENT – Thomas F. Sander
Past President, Washington Map Society
P.O. Box 10793
Burke, Virginia 22009-0793
sanderva@erols.com

VICE PRESIDENT – Gerald D. Saxon 
Dean of the Library and Associate Professor of History
University of Texas at Arlington
3409 Sheffield Drive
Arlington, Texas 76013
saxon@uta.edu


EXECUTIVE SECRETARY – Katherine Goodwin
1701 Silver Leaf Drive
Arlington TX 76013
goodwin@uta.edu

TREASURER – George Chalou
3348 Sheffield Court
Falls Church VA 22042
chalou@erols.com


COUNCIL 2007-2008

Ronald Grim rgrim@bpl.org 
Ky Kylander ckylander@aol.com
Joyce Lorimer jlorimer@wlu.ca
Richard Pflederer RLPfled@cox.net
Marguerite Ragnow (ex-officio) ragn0001@umn.edu
Dan Terkla terkla@iwu.edu
Alberta Wood awood@mun.ca


Click here for past officers and council members.

WEB SITE CONTENT MANAGER
Thomas Sander
P.O. Box 10793
Burke, VA 22009-0793, USA
sanderva@erols.com

TERRAE INCOGNITAE
EDITOR: Marguerite Ragnow, Curator, James Ford Bell Library, University of Minnesota ragn0001@umn.edu
BOOK REVIEW EDITOR: David Buisseret, Newberry Library buisser@uta.edu
ASSISTANT EDITOR/BIBLIOGRAPHER: Mike Downs, The University of Texas at Arlington nergal@sbcglobal.net 
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR: Kit Goodwin, University of Texas at Arlington goodwin@uta.edu


EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD 

Ed Dahl, Gatineau Quebec 

Ralph Ehrenberg, Falls Church Virginia 

Francis Herbert, Royal Geographical Society

Bruce Solnick, Lenox Massachusetts

Carol Urness, The James Ford Bell Library

Society for the History of Discoveries home page

All Original Material, Translations and HTML Coding Copyright © The Society for the History of Discoveries 1999 - 2006. All rights reserved.