MCMC Couples with UMR to Preserve History
When Dr. J. David Rogers needed some assistance in scanning a very old map, he requested the expertise of the USGS Mid-Continent Mapping Center (MCMC). Dr. Rogers, a professor of Geological and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Missouri – Rolla (UMR), had purchased a map from a retiring professor that was created and published in 1799. As far as he can tell from his research, the map was investigated and plotted by a French Army Lieutenant prior to the Louisiana Purchase and covers the area that is now St. Louis, where the Missouri River meets the Mississippi River, and some reaches to the south.
The map was amazingly well preserved inside a glass frame, and was carefully placed upon MCMC’s scanning system, which digitized the map at very detailed 1000 bits per inch. Once the map was scanned, the original was placed back in the case and the digitized version was saved on CDs. Dr. Rogers has granted MCMC full use of the map and hopes other educators and researchers will make use of this unique opportunity. Members of the scanning team were Mark Barnes and Gary Vandergriff, assisted by Mark Newell     
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