WMU Libraries already has one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of maps and atlases in the United States, and the new atlas will be an important research resource for scholars studying the geography and history of East Asia and the Korean Peninsula.
The atlas was published by the Northeast Asian History Foundation to represent the territory and geography of Korea during the past 12 centuries. The maps reproduced for the atlas were either hand drawn or printed before 1910 on various materials ranging from rice paper to silk cloth. The old maps contained in the Atlas are essential for the study of national territories, and they played an important role in Korea's development of cartography as a scientific study. All of the maps have been held in library and museum collections in Korea and many other countries that were involved in the early mapping of East Asia.
Nearly all of the research locating the maps was done prior to 1990. Stoltman describes the main features that are significant regarding the atlas
- It represents specific cartographic information regarding Korea's national territory, which has become significant in more recent years due to territorial disputes with Japan. This includes critical information necessary to resolving territorial issues through presentation of key historical, geographical, and cartographic information.
- The maps are drawn at different scales—offering considerable detail about the entire peninsula, active trading and exchange, patterns of roadways, land uses, and other economic activities.
- The maps portrayed demonstrate the long and well established scientific and cultural role and the country’s acceptance of its role in attaining peaceful and harmonious social and political relationships within Northeast Asia and the rest of the world.
Stoltman has guided delegations of secondary school geography and social studies teachers and textbook authors to South Korea since 2009 under the sponsorship of the Northeast Asian History Foundation. The U.S. delegates meet with Korean colleagues from secondary schools and universities to present research papers; and discuss important issues about geopolitics, economic geography, teacher preparation, and the teaching of geography. Those activities are followed by four days of field study that have taken the groups to observe the physical and human geography from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to the port and industrial centers in the southern region of the Korean Peninsula.
The major objective of the visit by U.S. teachers is to enhance knowledge of the Republic of Korea, now the world’s 14th richest country, and a major trading partner with the United States. Teachers in the delegation have the opportunity to establish professional connections with Korean teachers and many continue to work together following the conference and field study in South Korea. The visits by the U.S. delegates further WMU’s global engagement among students, faculty and people in other countries.
The Meader Rare Book Room is named for Mary and Edwin Meader. Mary, a widely known aviatrix and explorer, signed the Explorer's Globe for the American Geographical Society in Kalamazoo several years ago. Edwin was a geographer and long-time member of the defense intelligence department of the U.S. Government, who later was an adjunct professor of geography in WMU's Department of Geography— making the Meader Rare Book room a more than appropriate venue for the presentation of this valuable gift.