1834 Lucy Durfee Manuscript Schoolgirl Map of Europe

This is a beautifully executed schoolgirl map of Europe, drawn in 1834 by Lucy Durfee (conjecturally the daughter of legislator and congressman Job Durfee).

A Closer Look

Like most schoolgirl maps, this map is executed on paper with pen, ink, and watercolors. The map illustrates Europe, including Iceland, and neighboring parts of Africa and Asia. The British Isles are individually named (albeit with the baffling reverse spelling of 'DNALTOCS'.) Germany and Prussia are separate. Austria's southwestern border extends into Italy beyond Milan. Turkey's borders include all of Greece and the Balkans as far as Belgrade. Russia's territory to the north includes Finland and Lapland, while to the south, it reaches as far as the Black Sea. Countries are illustrated along with their capitals and principal cities. Mountains are indicated pictorially, with an elegance modeling the engraved maps of the period. Rivers are carefully drafted and named as well, showing that the mapmaker had good references, which she was following scrupulously. The map is neatly lettered (more so in the larger lettering than in the finer print, admittedly). The lettering for large regions is particularly decorative, in the style of printed maps of the period. While some misspellings on the map are clear oversights, the error with Scotland appears to be willful. The present example was treasured from an early date, as indicated by having been mounted on linen for preservation.

The Source

Schoolgirl maps, necessarily, were drawn based on the maps of their respective regions found in popular atlases of their day. The political borders displayed on the manuscript coincide well with those displayed on the 1829 Europe appearing in Jesse Olney's A New and Improved School Atlas. Olney had an abiding relationship with the schools in Connecticut, and the work would have been readily available in neighboring Rhode Island.

Identifying the Author

We acquired this along with three other maps (the United States, Rhode Island, and New England) which are similarly dated, and of which one other is signed by the author, Lucy Durfee. We see evidence of a girl of that name born in Tiverton, Rhode Island, in about 1821 who fits contextually, but since such 'schoolgirl maps' were student works of young women virtually all destined for marriage and motherhood, it is nearly impossible to be completely certain of the identity of its young author. We do find a Lucy Durfee (1821 - 1890), who represents a compelling possibility. She was the eldest daughter of a Rhode Island lawyer, lawmaker, and congressman with a literary bent. His household would certainly have had the resources clearly available to the author of this map, and such an individual can be expected to have educated his daughter as a Federalist citizen and mother of the next generation of engaged and patriotic Americans.

Schoolgirl Maps

While the use of mapmaking in teaching is first seen in Europe, mainly England, the Schoolgirl Map became a peculiarly American pedagogical tool in the first part of the 19th century, a period in which standards and purposes in women's education were changing. While boys were frequently taught the practical execution of surveys and charts, the production of attractive and informative maps was primarily the domain of young women. Such maps can be found of the World, the United States, or more specific maps of states. These were based on generally available reference maps, such as those found in the atlases produced by Carey and Lea, Finley, and Mitchell.

Goals

The goals of these exercises were more far-reaching than teaching geography. Girls learned penmanship, each map often using three or more lettering styles. Mapmaking sharpened the retention and recall of factual information. Students were encouraged to take pains in their draftsmanship, and often achieved beautiful flourishes of artistic expression. But most peculiar to American iterations of educational mapping was the goal of instilling a sense of civic pride and responsibility. Indeed, the key desired result of girls' education in the post-Revolutionary United States was to prepare for the education of the next generation of American citizens, a patriotic duty that would primarily fall on the shoulders of these young women.

Publication History and Other Examples

For a good overview, see Betty Mason's '19th Century Schoolgirls Were Incredibly Good at Drawing Maps.' Published July 27, 2016, by National Geographic.