1878 Map of Ravenswood

Map

The Great Bend Museum

Name/Title

Entry/Object ID

2020.01.363

Description

Map of Ravenswood from Sycamore St. to Sand Creek, Bedford to Ohio River.

Acquisition

Accession

2020.01

Source or Donor

Miscellaneous FIC

Map Details

Maker or Creator

Joseph Samuel Arthur Farrow

Scale

100 ft to the inch

Area or Region

City

Ravenswood

County

Jackson County

State/Province

West Virginia

Country

United States of America

Continent

North America

Date Published

May 1877 - Aug 1884

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Type

Inscription

Location

Recto, At bottom left center

Transcription

“MAP OF / RAVENSWOOD / W. V.A. / Resurveyed and drawn by order / of Council / J. S. [illegible] Farrow / C. Engineer & Surveyor / Parkersburg, W. V.A. / May 1877”.

Material/Technique

Ink

Type

Inscription

Location

Recto, At bottom center, added later

Transcription

“That part of [illegible] on the / East of Henrietta Street was / resurveyed in Aug 1884 and / also Sycamore Street from Race / to Gallatin Street [illegible] in red ink. / J. S. A. Farrow”.

Material/Technique

Ink

Type

Inscription

Location

Recto, At upper right, written perpendicular to direction of title

Transcription

“State of West Virginia / Jackson County Court Clerk’s Office July 22 187[illegible] / This day the foregoing plate of the town of Ravenswood / was duly recorded in Said Office in ‘Deed Book No. [illegible] / Page “92, 93.” / Teste, / J. L. Armstrong [illegible]”.

Material/Technique

Ink

Condition

Notes

The map is lined overall to a canvas secondary support, likely with a water soluble adhesive. The object was previously rolled and crushed, creating numerous major horizontal breaks through the primary paper support. There are also two major vertical breaks in the paper, running roughly through the vertical center of the map. There are multiple losses along both the breaks and the outer perimeter; the edges of all breaks and losses are rounded. The largest areas of loss to the primary support are at the top and bottom center of the map, primarily to the decorative border and not in areas of heavy cartographic interest. The paper is stiff and discolored brown overall, and preliminary testing indicates that the paper wets up immediately. There are large dark tidelines extending through the object, from the lower right quadrant up to the top right corner, likely caused when the rolled map was wet along one side. There are also a number of brown stains to the primary paper support, located left of the object’s center. There are four small areas on the recto of the map, where there are varying degrees of adhesive residue related to pressure sensitive adhesive tape. Roughly parallel with each other and set about 4” in from the vertical edges, the top two are located approximately 8” from the upper edge and the bottom two 9” from the lower edge. The object is heavily soiled overall, recto and verso, with large clumps of dust at the upper left corner. Also, there is likely significant dirt trapped within the weave of the canvas lining and between the canvas and the paper. The canvas verso has a number of mathematical problems written on it, lightly done in graphite. There are a variety of iron gall inks present, in both the cartographic information and the various inscriptions. The inscriptions dated to 1877 are executed in iron gall ink, while later additions dated to 1884 are done in red ink. There are also a few small areas of verdigris (copper acetate) either outlining or highlighting a specific plot of land. Preliminary testing indicates that all of the inks present are stable in water and that a significant amount of discoloration products will be removed from the paper during washing.