Housed in Special Collections, the Boswell treasure-trove comprises 1,525 maps and about 2,500 supporting books and atlases. The maps – dated from before 1500 to 1901 – illustrate the development of the art and science of cartography in the Western world. They are considered some of the Special Collections' most important holdings.
Here there are intriguing maps of a strange New World as it appeared to the first European explorers in the 1500s; maps showing Terra Incognita – Antarctica – circling the bottom of the globe; maps portraying California as a huge offshore island; battle maps of Boston and New York during the Revolutionary War; maps of the ever-changing political frontiers of Europe.
"The Library of Congress and the New York Public Library possess the definitive collections of cartography in the nation," acknowledges Albert R. Vogeler, the volunteer curator of the Boswell Collection, "but Cal State Fullerton has by far the finest assemblage of early maps in the California State University system." Curator since 1994, Vogeler previously taught in the liberal studies and history departments and has long been a member of the Patrons of the Library's Board of Governors.
It all began in 1971 when founding Librarian Ernest W. Toy and Boswell, an antiquarian map and rare book authority, founded the collection with 54 maps. By 1985 it had reached its projected size, in part assisted by gifts from the Patrons of the Library. Since then the university has served twice as a venue for the California Map Society's annual meetings and the collection has been the subject of three of the society's illustrated lectures.
