The Society for the History of Discoveries
46th Annual Meeting
October 6-8, 2005
Williamsburg, Virginia

Map of Williamsburg by a French soldier, May 11, 1782 
(Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary)

Located on this most beautiful peninsula between the James and York rivers, the historical triangle of Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown offers a very dense concentration of history. From the earliest colonial settlers, to the colonial foundations of the nation to the Revolutionary War and the War Between the States, the territory has witnessed a continuous flow of major events. The centerpiece of this area is Colonial Williamsburg, the authentically restored city of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry. It teems with townsfolk in 18th century costume going about their business of carpentry, candle making and gardening, all accomplished in the style of the period with the tools of the period. Just across the street is the Christopher Wren Building, the oldest surviving college building in the US, situated on the campus of the College of William and Mary, which was founded in 1693. Fortunately for those interested in cartography, both of these institutions possess libraries with impressive cartographic treasures, including the ‘Frenchman’s map’ a manuscript town plan drawn in 1782 by a French officer making a billeting plan for his troops. But there is more. Jamestown, the site of the oldest continuous British settlement in what is now the U.S., offers insights into the earliest phase of British colonial life. And on the well preserved battlefields of Yorktown we can visualize that decisive meeting between General Lord Cornwallis and General George Washington that effectively ended hostilities of the Revolution.

Regards,
Ralph Ehrenberg
SHD Vice President/Program Chair 

Program

The 2005 Society for the History of Discoveries (SHD) meeting was held in Williamsburg and Newport News, Virginia, from October 6 to 8, 2005. Presentations were held in the Hennage Auditorium in the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum in Colonial Williamsburg; the Earl Gregg Swem Library, the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg; and the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Virginia.

Thursday, October 6
	2:00 – 5:30 pm	SHD Meeting registration: Foyer, Woodlands Hotel and Suites
	6:00 pm	Reception: Hosted by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and the Society for the History of Discoveries. DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum. (Dinner on your own.)
Friday, October 7
	8:15 – 8:55 am	Private SHD charter coach from hotels to DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum
	8:15 – 9:30 am	SHD Meeting registration: Foyer, Hennage Auditorium, DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum.
	9:00 – 9:30 am	Welcoming remarks:  Richard Francaviglia, President, Society for the History of Discoveries  Margaret B. Pritchard, curator of prints, maps and wallpaper, Colonial Williamsburg  Ralph E. Ehrenberg, Program Chair and Vice President, Society for the History of Discoveries
	9:30 – 10:10 am	Opening Address: Prof. Roy C. Bridges, President, The Hakluyt Society Discourse or Discovery: Studying the History of Travel and Exploration in the Twenty-first Century
	10:10 – 10:30 am	Break
	10:30 – 12:00 pm	Session I Maritime Charting and Navigation Presiding: John A. Wolter Norman J. Thrower Piri Reis (1465?-1554) and Geographical Discoveries, in Context Vladimiro Valerio The Art and Science of Navigation and the “raxon de marteloio” John Hessler  Warping Waldseemüller: A Cartometric Study of the Coast of South America as Portrayed on the 1507 World Map
	12:00 – 2:00 pm	Lunch on your own SHD Council luncheon meeting
	2:00 – 4:00 pm	Session II Discovery through Images Presiding: Ed Dahl Susan Danforth Building an Image: Gottfried Bernhard Goetz's Representation of America Richard W. Stephenson The Remarkable Dr. Thomas Walker: An Eighteenth-Century Explorer, Surveyor, and Mapmaker of Virginia's Backcountry George Chalou Lieutenant Simpson Discovers the Anasazi Richard Francaviglia  Finding the Near East in the Far West: The Orientalist Impulse in Nineteenth Century Exploration.
	4:00 – 4:15 pm	Break
	4:15 – 5:00 pm	Distinguished Speaker: Louis DeVorsey A Place in American Jurisprudence for the History of Discovery and Exploration
	6:00 – 8:00 pm	Exhibit and Reception: Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary Note: SHD charter coach service will be provided from the Woodlands Hotel and the DeWitt Wallace Museum beginning at 5:45 P.M.
Saturday, October 8 The Mariners’ Museum, Newport News
	8:00 am	Depart by SHD charter coach from conference hotels to The Mariners’ Museum, Newport News
	9:00 – 9:30 am	Refreshments in Gallery and Café areas
		Concurrent Sessions III
	9:30 - 11:00 am	Concurrent Session III–A (Theater): Discovering Colonial America  Presiding: Richard L. Pflederer Douglas Peck Myths, Fables, and Legends: The Catalyst for Exploration and Colonization of the Eastern Seaboard of the USA Richard Melvin Santa Elena: Some Comments and a Proposal on the Location Russell M. Magnaghi  Botanical Commodities in the Colonial Americas: The Goal of European Explorers
	9:30 - 11:00 am	Concurrent Session III–B (Huntington Room):  Discovering Africa  Presiding: William A. Stanley Daniel Hopkins  Julius von Rohr, an Enlightenment Scientist of the Colonial Atlantic James Newman  Henry Morton Stanley and the Map of Africa William R. Stanley Modest Expectations and Tragic Finale to The American Colonization Society's West African Enterprise--Colonial Liberia to a Failed State
	11:00 - 11:15 am	Break
		Concurrent Sessions IV
	11:15 – 12:45 pm	Concurrent Session IV–A (Theater):  Discovery across the Waters Presiding: Alberta Auringer Wood Bill Dunwoody Those Double Entries in the Diario: ¿Por que? Jeremy Pool  The Kimmen Line: 17th Century North Atlantic Navigation and the Continental Shelf H. G. Jones Explorers in Reverse: Eskimos in Europe, 1566-1900
	11:15 – 12:45 pm	Concurrent Session IV–B (Huntington Room): Mapping the Americas Presiding: David Buisseret J. Randall Barnes  Giovanni Battista Ramusio and the New World Alistair Maeer Charting England’s Atlantic: The Thames School of Nautical Cartography and the Americas in the 17th Century Greg Kelm Instruments of Spanish Imperial Administration: The Maps of Juan Lopez de Velasco
	12:45 – 1:15 pm	SHD Business Meeting (Huntington Room)
	1:15 - 1:45 pm	Box lunch (Huntington Room)
	1:45 - 3:45 pm	Group Tours of the Mariner’s Museum: Age of Exploration, Library, Research Facilities
	6:30 pm	Cash bar
	7:30 pm	Banquet Two Rivers Country Club Presentation of Annual SHD Awards. 2005 SHD Fellow Louis De Vorsey presiding - Sanford Bederman Welcome and Introduction of Evening Speaker Richard L. Pflederer Mr. T. Jefferson, as interpreted by Bill Barker Report on Lewis and Clark Expedition
Sunday, October 9
	am	Guided walking tour of Colonial Williamsburg

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