The Rare Map Collections

The A. Curtis Wilgus Collection

A. Curtis Wilgus served as professor of Latin American History at the University of Florida where he organized and directed the School of Inter-American Studies. Prior to moving to Florida, he taught at the University of South Carolina and at George Washington University. Wilgus authored many books and articles on Latin America and was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to the board of foreign scholarships as coordinator in the Office of Inter-American Affairs.

This collection of 215 maps, donated by Wilgus, includes works of famous French, Dutch, and English cartographers covering the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Subjects include national resources, roads, economic conditions, archaeological sites, physical features, and many others. Among the maps included in this collection are: "A Draught of the Harbours of Port Royal and Kingston, in Jamaica with the Fortifications Correctly Laid Down, also, All the Keys and Shoals Adjacent," London: J. Bew, 1782; "Pan American Highway System, Routes Actual and Projected," compiled from the latest official data furnished to the Pan American Highway Confederation, Washington, D.C., 1940; "The Pan American Railway Transportation Routes by Railway, River and Ocean," drawn by G.F. Pohlers, Washington, D.C. 1910 (Senate Doc. no. 744; 61st Cong. 3d Sess.); and "Fortune's Map of South America in Globular Perspective," 1937.