1938 Richard Edes Harrison Map of Robert Moses' Works in New York City and Long Island

Robert Moses' Stamp on New York City.

This 1938 Richard Edes Harrison map of New York City and Long Island focuses on the monumental works of the legendary and tempestuous Commissioner of Parks for New York City, Robert Moses.

A Closer Look

Harrison's text describes the map exceptionally well:

This map of New York City and Long Island, veined and freckled by Robert Moses' parks and parkways, shows the work he has done in his two pet bailiwicks (his supervisory powers extend to New York state parks). This is a due east view taken from a point about twenty miles above Newark.'

The colorful map thus reaches from eastern Staten Island and the Hudson River at the bottom, to distant Montauk Point at the top. To aid in the map's clarity, Harrison has kept the map simple and has identified its features clearly in the map's key. Roads, highways, and government reservations are marked, but the main focus is on the region's parks and parkways (completed or under construction.) Harrison's shrewd one, two, or three dot code indicates which of the parks were entirely Moses projects, which were reconditioned by him, and which were just retouched. 'Freckling' the map with green spots are minor parks.

Land Of Moses

Harrison's peppery title can be judged fair: Moses' impact on the region is apparent today in the number of his works still extant. Note, in particular, the Grand Central Parkway, the Interborough Parkway (later renamed after Jackie Robinson), and the Southern State Parkway. Note also Harrison's tart note at the southern dogleg of the Northern State Parkway near Mineola: 'Detour around protesting landowners.' He also notes roadways supplanted in the face of Moses' projects: 'Long Island Motor Parkway Opened 1908, a highway sensation; closed 1938, and outmoded relic.'

An Artistic Presentation

Harrison's background was more as an artist than a cartographer, and his flourish is given free rein here. The exaggerated curve of the globe is emphasized by the addition of latitude and longitude lines; Harrison has even pictured clouds casting their shadows over the map. Three compass rose serve to orient the least attentive reader. At the right of the map south of Jones Beach a seahorse adds a 'here be dragons' charm.

Publication History and Census

This map appeared in only one edition, in the June issue of Fortune Magazine. The separate map is neglected in institutional collections.

Cartographer

Richard Edes Harrison (March 11, 1901 - January 5, 1994) was an American cartographer, scientific illustrator, and designer based in New York City, active principally from the 1930s through the 1970s. His journalistic maps combined unconventional viewpoints, expressive relief shading, and carefully controlled graphic design to explain international geography to a broad readership. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised in New Haven, Connecticut, he graduated from Yale College in 1923 with a major in zoology and a minor in chemistry. After working as a scientific illustrator and architectural draftsman, he entered Yale's School of Fine Arts in 1926 and received an architecture degree in 1930. With architectural work scarce during the Depression, he moved to New York and worked in interior and industrial design. A 1932 Time map assignment launched his career in magazine cartography; he later became a staff cartographer for Fortune before returning to freelance work in 1938, maintaining important associations with Fortune and Life. During World War II, Harrison challenged the familiar north-up, Mercator-centered view of world affairs through polar projections, orthographic views, and oblique perspectives that emphasized the Earth's curvature and the proximity of continents in an age of aviation. His Three Approaches to the U.S. (1940) and The World Divided (1941) made American strategic vulnerability visually immediate, supporting an internationalist understanding of the conflict rather than geographical isolation. His influential Look at the World: The Fortune Atlas for World Strategy appeared in 1944. Although admired for their explanatory power, his departures from conventional orientation, scale, and projection also attracted criticism from professional geographers and cartographers. Harrison taught at Syracuse University from 1945 to 1949 and consulted for government agencies, including the Office of Strategic Services, the State Department, and the U.S. Geological Survey. His later publications included The Ginn World Atlas (1963), and he contributed shaded-relief cartography to The National Atlas of the United States of America. He received the American Geographical Society's Miller Medal in 1968. An enthusiastic birdwatcher with a sustained interest in Central Park conservation, Harrison died in New York City on January 5, 1994; the Library of Congress acquired his professional and personal papers in 1995.   Further Details...

Condition

Very good. Wear at bottom left.

References

Rumsey 9890.000. Not in OCLC.