A PUBLICATON OF THE SURVEYORS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Compiled by C. Barton Crattie, began June, 2008
“Backsights” is the newsletter of the Surveyors Historical Society. Over the years, it has become far more than a mere newsletter. It is now an outlet for publications of articles and research reports dealing with the history of the profession of surveying, be it land surveying or one of the many other branches of the surveying and mapping sciences.
Mary Root assumed the editorship of the publication in July, 1989 and continues producing an outstanding product to this day. Mary kindly provided copies that filled the many gaps in my collection of issues, who without her contribution, this list would not be complete. These issues have been scanned in a PDF format and are available at another location on this site.
We hope this list will be helpful to anyone doing research in the esteemed history of our honored profession. The list begins in January, 1989. Issues prior to this date were not available for this compilation. In the January, 1990 issue, Mary Root presented an Index of all issues of Backsights from its inception up to the January, 1990 date. A thorough index of the issues from January, 1989 to the present is currently being prepared and hopefully will be completed and placed on this website by Fall of 2008.
The format of this subject compilation will begin with the date of the issue's publication followed by the cover title. The Table of Contents will be reproduced with standard, repetitive features abbreviated. Many of the items will seem nonsensical without viewing the particular issue. The purpose of this listing is that some items of interest will be “picked up” by common search engines, allowing scholars and other interested folks guidance and access to our organization's publication. There is a wealth of knowledge to be shared in the many years of “Backsights” production. Our society in general should benefit from this access to our newsletter.
January, 1989
Virginia Beach Convention Historical Exhibit
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips From The Board
Virginia Beach Convention Report
Virginia Beach Convention Pictures
Shovels and Plumb Bobs
Nebraska-South Dakota Monument Pictures
New Members
Bearing Tree Sculpture
The Changing Chains
Surveyors Has Fought Off Guns, Dogs, etc
Care and Abuse of a Solar Compass
July, 1989
The Compleat Surveyor ..., Leybourn
Contents-no actual table of contents in this issue.
What follows is a list of articles.
Chairman's Message
Chips From the Board
Editorial
Oklahoma Land Surveying
Public Land Surveys-Where the Land Came From
The Building of the Erie Canal
Egyptian Surveying Tools
Society Notes, Exhibits and Events
Across the Country: Route 50
Geodesia Improved: A Poem
Serial Feature: “The Boy with the US Survey”
Old Bearing Tree
July, 1990
J. Roach Plummet Lamp
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips From the Board
Editorial
Surveyors Survey: Reader's Questionnaire
Poetry, Wit and Whimsy: A Good Memory
Michigan Museum: McNeely and Outhout
Ancient and Archeological: Roman Surveying
Ancient and Archeological: Origin of Roads
Exhibits, Notes, Events
Bulletin Board
SHS Logo Contest
Historical Highlights: Delambre & Smithson
Borders and Boundaries: Update Washington, DC Project
Serial Feature: The Boy From USGS
California Plummet Lamp
Board of Directors...
Application...
January, 1991
Andrew Ellicott, Rittenhouse Compass and Colonial Surveying
Contents
Andrew Ellicott Portrait
Chairman's Message
Chips...
Editorial
Washington, DC Project
Washington, DC Project
Preservation in a Nutshell
Charles Babbage
Exhibits...
Bulletin Board
Michigan Museum
Serial Numbers for K&E and Heller and Brightly
Poetry...: The Fighting Kentuckian
Serial: The Boy from USGS
Instruments: The Haggers of Baltimore
Board ...
Application ...
July, 1991
The War Between the States Produced Many Authoritative Maps by Federal and Confederate Surveyors Alike
Contents
Surveying and Mapping During the Civil War
Chairman's Message
Chips ...
Editorial
The Civil War
Conserving Old Instruments
Exhibits...
Bulletin Board
Index
History: The Chain
Poetry ...
Serial: A Bucking Mule
Instruments: The New York Makers from the Blunt Family
Board ...
Application
January, 1992
The Ordinance Survey, the Official Mapping Agency of Great Britain
Contents
Chairman's ...
Chips ...
Editorial
British Ordinance Survey Stamps
Michigan Museum
Conserving Old Instruments
Exhibits ...
Bulletin Board
Serial: “Forgotten Americans”
History: Spider Web Crosshair
Poetry...: Saturday Evening Post Cover
Instruments: Alteneder
Board ...
Application
July, 1992
Sir George Everest and the Survey of India
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips ...
Editorial
Sir George Everest and the Survey of India
Why the Midwest is Square
Exhibits ...
Bulletin Board
Serial: The Alaskan Trip Begun
History: 16th Century Surveyors
Poetry ...: Sears, Roebuck and Co. Catalog
Michigan Museum: French Land Claims
Instruments: The Heliotrope
Board ...
Membership Information
January, 1993
Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777 – 1855)
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips ...
Editorial
Sir Friedrich Gauss
Instruments: Trade Labels
Exhibits ...
Bulletin Board
Affiliate News: Indiana
Michigan Museum
Poetry ...: “The Last P.I.”
Serial: “Facing Death in a Canoe”
Surveyors of Yore in Texas – Misdeeds
Board ...
Membership Information
July, 1993
Surveying Memorabilia: Historical, Collectible and Obtainable
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips ...
Editorial
Memorabilia
Conservation of Instruments
Exhibits ...
Bulletin Board
Affiliate News: Indiana
Michigan Museum
Poetry...: Survey Marker Bewitched Indians
Serial: “Declaring War on Uncle Sam”
Instruments: William A. Schmoltz, West Coast Instrument Maker
Board ...
Membership Application
January, 1994
The Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips ..
Editorial
Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina
London Antique Map Shops
Exhibits ...
Bulletin Board
Connections (ancient surveys, today's surveys – relationships)
Poetry...: “Who Killed Who? Where?”
Serial: “The Boy from USGS”
Instruments: Frederich Emmerich
“Theodolite,” Century Dictionary
Board ...
Membership Application
July, 1994
Louisiana Purchase Initial Survey Point
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips ...
Editorial
Louisiana Purchase State Park
Historical Site Registry
Rails and Roads: The Canada Road 1817
Exhibits ...
Bulletin Board
Introduction to Antique Surveying Instruments
Poetry ...”The Blackfly Song”
Serial: “The Boy from USGS”
Instruments: American Railroad Goniometer
Board ...
Membership Information
January, 1995
Time and Navigation: John Harrison's Prize...Longitude at Sea
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips ...
Guest Editorial
John Harrison's Timepiece
BLM: The Symmes Purchase
Exhibits ...
Bulletin Board
A Fine Old Line Across New Jersey
Poetry...: “Who Needs a Survey?”
Serial: Life of John C. Fremont
Instruments: Grading Your Instruments
Board ...
Membership Application
July, 1995
The George Washington Atlas
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips ...
Editorial
Jacob Blattner Compass
The George Washington Atlas
South Carolina: Early Surveying History
Exhibits ...
Bulletin Board
Lincoln: Logs to Logarithms
Poetry...: “W.J. Williams of Plainview, Texas”
Serial: Life of John C. Fremont
Instruments: Evolution of the Transit
Board ...
Membership Application
January, 1996
A Line of Demarcation and Ellicott's Survey of the 31st Parallel
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips ...
Editorial
Line of Demarcation and Ellicott's Survey
Chaining the Land
Exhibits ...
Bulletin Board
Poetry...: “R.A.R. Situations”
Serial: Life of John C. Fremont
Michigan Museum of Surveying
Instruments: Jacob's Staff
Board...
Membership Application
August, 1996
David St. John and Benchmark Instruments
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips ...
Editrorial
David St. John and Benchmark Instruments
The Greenville and Grouseland Treaty Lines
Exhibits...
Bulletin Board
El Dorado Springs, Missouri
Poetry...: “Polaris”
Serial: Life of John C. Fremont
Michigan Museum of Surveying
Instruments: Tacheometry
Board...
Membership Application
February, 1997
John P. Apthorp, First Surveyor...Raw, Primitive...Swampy Wilderness...Southern Florida
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips ...
Editorial
Surveying Chokoloskee's Wilderness World
Book Reviews: Manhole Covers
Forest Service Humor: More than 300 True Stories
Full Steam Ahead: The Race to Build a Transcontinental Railroad
Georgia Land Surveying History and Law
Captain R.S. Webb, MBE, RFA (1892-1976) From Shropshire to Paarl Via
Geodesy and Lesotho
Cave Passages: Roaming the Underground Wilderness
The Charles E. Smart Collection of Antique Surveying Instruments
Initial Points of the Rectangular Survey System
Pynchon's Mason and Dixon
Virginia Fishing Feud
Exhibits...
Bulletin Board
Poetry...: Saturday Evening Post Cover
Serial: Life of John C. Fremont
Michigan Museum of Surveying: Ohio-Michigan Boundary Dispute
Instruments: Saegmuller Attachment
Board...
Membership Application
August, 1997
Cook & Peary – The Polar Controversy Resolved
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips...
Editorial
Cook & Peary – The Polar Controversy Resolved
Surveyors Rendezvous TM
Andrew Ellicott – His Life and Letters
Exhibits...
Bulletin Board
FIG Ad Hoc Commission on the History of Surveying
Poetry...”Song of Surveyors, 1730”
Serial: Life of John C. Fremont
Michigan Museum of Surveying: Judge Cooley on Judicial Functions of Surveyors
Instruments: George N. Saegmuller
Board...
Membership Application
February, 1998
Sanborn Map Company
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips ...
Editorial
Fire Insurance Maps in the Library of Congress
Trials and Tribulations of Thomas Smith
Exhibits...
Bulletin Board
Book Review: A Work on David Clarke of the Pacific Northwest
Poetry...: Survey Pigs
Serial: Life of John C. Fremont
Michigan Museum of Surveying: Three Generations of Surveyors
Instruments: The A. Brown Artifacts
Board....
Membership Application
August, 1998
Ellis Island: N.J. or N.Y.: This Land is Whose Land?
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips...
Editorial
Ellis Island Dispute
Surveyors Rendezvous TM
Exhibits...
Bulletin Board
Borders: North Carolina-South Carolina Boundary Commission Report
Poetry...”You Can't Build that Mosque with a Compass”
Serial: Life of John C. Fremont
Boundaries: The Four Cornerstones of the Original D.C.
Instruments: Measuring Angles (crude plane table)
Board...
Membership Application
February, 1999
Hadrian's Wall: The Roman Frontier in Britain
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips...
Editorial
Roman Glory: Hadrian's Wall
Distance Across a River (Lewis and Clark...The Ohio River)
Alabama Bicentennial: Tracing the Borderlands
Exhibits...
Bulletin Board
Book Reviews: Tri State Corners in the United States
Evolution of Mine-Surveying Instruments
Poetry...”The Englishman Who Went up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain”
Serial: The Life of John C. Fremont
Rendezvous TM '99
Surveyor General's Instructions
Board...
Membership Application
August, 1999
Eugene Scheel: Historical Mapmaker
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips...
Editor's Pen: “Collecting Can Be Dangerous”
Eugene Scheel: Hisrorical Mapmaker
A Newly Discovered Hondius Map
Exhibits...
Bulletin Board
Poetry...: “The Point of No Survey”
Serial: John C. Fremont
The Pennsylvania Method
Surveyor General Rufus Putnam
Board...
Membership Application
March, 2000
Field Wear: Authenticating Old Instruments
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips ...
Editor's Pen: Peter Jefferson
Field Wear: Authenticating Old Instruments
A Treasure, By George, Painstakingly Restored
Old Map Shows Explorer's Encampment (Fort Clatsop)
Exhibits...
Bulletin Board
Book Reviews: The Jefferson Stone: Demarcation of the First Meridian of the United States
Everest: The Man and the Mountain
Attitude and Longitude
Poetry...: “Geodetic Diplomacy”
Serial: “The Life of John C. Fremont”
Surveyors Rendezvous '99
Instruments: John Locke
Board...
Membership Application
Fall Issue (2000)
A. Lincoln with Compass and Chain
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips...
Editor's Pen: “What Money Can't Buy”
Lincoln the Surveyor
SHS Rendezvous, 2000
Book Reviews: Once Upon a Survey (2 Mason and Dixon Books)
Byrd's Histories of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina
Exhibits...
Bulletin Board
Poetry...: “Tribute to Charles M. Schulz”
Serial: Life of John C. Fremont
The Art of Instrument Making
Instruments: Chandlee Compass
Board...
Membership Application
Spring, 2001
John Hunt's Map of a Lost Colony, 1607 (Popham, Maine)
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips...
Editor's Pen: “Wild Kingdom”
1607 Map Helps Unearth A Vanished Colony
History of Computers: Jack Kilby's Big Idea was to Think Small
Exhibits...
Bulletin Board
Book Reviews: The Years of the Life of Samuel Lane: A New Hampshire Man and His World
Eye of the Storm: A Civil War Odyssey
Serial: Life of John C. Fremont
Surveyors Rendezvous
Instruments: Protecting Your Instruments
Board...
Membership Application
Fall, 2001
Surveyor Robert Harvey, Chairman of the Nebraska State Historical Society Committee on Historic Sites...
Contents
Chairman's Message
Chips...
Editor's Pen: (Planned, structured growth in a rural community)
Book Review: Maps and Mapmakers of the Civil War
Christopher Colles' Survey of the Roads, 1789
Exhibits...
Bulletin Board
Book Review: Surveyors of the Public Lands of Michigan
Research: Albany Archives
Serial: Life of John C. Fremont
Poetry...: 1971, Brown on “Red, the Survey Dog”
Instruments: Charles Smart Update
Board...
Membership Application
Spring, 2002
Running the Colorado
Contents
Vignettes: John Dunlap Evans, The Surveyor Who Collected Butterflies
Chips
Editor's Pen: Changes in Format of Backsights
Book Review: Running the Colorado:
“Down the Great Unknown”
“The Last Canyon”
Theodore H. Barrett, Surveyor
Virginia Military District, Ohio
Exhibits...
Bulletin Board
Mason and Dixon
Surveyors Rendezvous, 2002
Serial Feature: Lewis and Clark by Patrick Gass
Folkways: “Preemption Dodges”
Techniques: “Whose Bearing...?”
Board....
Membership Application
Fall, 2002
The Wire that Fenced the West
Contents
Vignettes: John Coffee (Jack) Hays, The Surveyor Who Toted a Colt
Chips...
Editor's Pen: Collecting Books
“The Trumpet Line” and other Survey Legal Gleanings
Burt's Border: Michigan-Wisconsin
Events...
Bulletin Board
Book Review: The Wire that Fenced the West
Nothing Like it in the World: The men who built the Transcontinental Railroad
River and Lake Boundaries: Surveying Water Boundaries – A Manual
Serial: Lewis and Clark...-Gass
Folkways: “A Poetic Line”
SHS Rendezvous Report
Board...
Membership Application
Spring, 2003
Jasper Bilby's Tower
Contents
Vignettes: James Lee Burke – The Surveyor Who Wrote Bestsellers
Chips...
Editor's Pen: Kindred Spirits
The Bilby Tower for Triangulation
A Short History of Roads
Finding Clues in Mountains of Paper
Events...
Bulletin Board
Book Reviews: Mapping and Exploring New Hampshire
Alden Partridge's Excursions to the White Mountains ...
Harvard Astronomer George Phillips Bond and his Role in Mapping the White
Mounains
The Measure of All Things: The Seven Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That
Transformed the World (Delambre and Mechain)
Walkin' the Line: A Journey from Past to Present along the Mason-Dixon
A Hearty Welcome to New Membership
Serial: Lewis and Clark ...-Gass
Folkways: “Phoenixiana”
SHS Rendezvous, 2003
Board...
Membership Application
Winter, 2003
Old Maps of Ancient Sites
Contents
Vignettes: Grace Hopper – The Surveyor's Granddaughter
Chips...
Editor's Pen: “Making History” (Remembering some of our own)
Old Maps of Ancient Earthworks (the Hopewell Mounds)
Electro-Mechanical Calculators: Olivetti-Underwood
Events...
Bulletin Board
Book Reviews: Servants and the Map (Britain's Grand Trigonometrical Survey of India)
The Land We Share: Private Property and the Common Good
The Great Arc: The Dramatic Tale of How India Was Mapped and Everest was Named.
Welcome New Members
Serial: Lewis and Clark...-Gass
Folkways: “Phoenixiana”, Part II
The Lincoln Statue Project
Board...
Membership Application
Spring, 2004
How The Newest Air & Space Museum Restored a Battlefield
Contents
Vignettes: Chances With Wolves
Chips...
Editor's Pen: “Good Books”
Civil War Surveys Provide Original Topo (Manassas Restoration)
The W. & L.E. Gurley Company
“Key of all Key's”: Braddock's Rock
Events...
Bulletin Board
Book Reviews: Measuring America: How an Untamed Wilderness Shaped the United
States...
Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide
Serial: Lewis and Clark...-Gass
Folkways: “Phoenixiana”, Part III
Building Plans for the Museum of Surveying
Board...
Membership Application
Fall, 2004
Dampier, Explorer & Buccaneer
Contents
Vignettes: Dick Fosbury, the Surveyor Who Leapt for Gold
Chips...
Editor's Pen: “A Common Thread” (the simple screw)
William Dampier: Navigator, Mapmaker & Buccaneer
Navigational Tools of Dampier's Time
Surveyor's Rendezvous, 2004
Events...
Bulletin Board
Book Reviews: The Geographic Labourers of Arewa (The Story of the Northern Nigeria
Survey)
The Curious Life of Robert Hooke: The Man Who Measured London
They Left Their Mark: William Austin Burt and His Sons, Surveyors of the
Public Domain
Serial: Lewis and Clark...-Gass
Folkways: “Rodman's Reverie
Marvelous Army – CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps)
Board...
Membership Application
Spring, 2005
The “Task” as a Unit of Land Area Measurement
Contents
Vignettes: Rodney Graves, “The Surveyor Who Grilled Steaks”
Chips...
Editor's Pen: “History Detective” (palimpsest)
The “Task” as a Unit of Measurement
Footsteps and Facts: Fort Laramie
Events...
Bulletin Board
Book Reviews: Epic Wanderer: David Thompson and the Mapping of the Canadian West
Degrees of Latitude: Mapping Colonial America, 1590-1787
Everything is Somewhere: Essays for Land Surveyors
Serial: Lewis and Clark...-Gass
Folkways: The Mountain Maid Mine Survey
Missouri's Tri-Corner Remonumentation (MO, KS,OK)
Board...
Membership Application
Fall, 2005
The Curta Calculator
Contents
Vignettes: The Surveyor Who Prayed (Buddhist Rosary tally beads)
Chips...
Editor's Pen: Zoning and Land Use
Crunching Numbers: the curious history of the world's first pocket calculators
Intelligence inscribed before the printed word in North America
Events...
Bulletin Board
The Mason – Dixon Line
Serial: Lewis and Clark...-Gass
Folkways: The Road to Anywhere, and Prelude (poem)
“Off the Mark”: Losing D.C. Control Points
Board...
Membership Application
Spring, 2006
Surveying After Chicago's Great Fire
Contents
Vignettes: The Surveyor Who Painted (Theodore Gentilz)
Chips...
Editor's Pen, “Sharing Our History” (Loaning the Society's Collection)
Chicago: Surveying After the Great Fire
The Can-Do Seabees
Events...
Bulletin Board
Book Reviews: An Unnatural Metropolis: Wresting New Orleans from Nature
Laying Down the Lines: A History of Land Surveying in Alberta
Serial: Lewis and Clark...-Gass
Folkways: The Origin of the Seabees
History in the Marking: the Berntsen Project
Board...
Membership Application
Fall, 2006
Rendezvous
Contents
Vignettes: The Surveyor Who Became a Prominent Naturalist (Alfred Russel Wallace)
Chips...
Editor's Pen, “Virginia, 2007” (the 400th anniversary)
Rendezvous, Footsteps from the Past, Journey in the Future
Concepts of Land Ownership in Early Michigan History
Events...
Bulletin Board
Book Reviews: The Canoe: A Living Tradition
Georgia Land Surveying History and Law
Following in Their Footsteps: Land Surveying in North Carolina
Serial: Lewis and Clark...-Gass
Folkways: The Hobo Engineer
Remembering Bud Uzes
Board...
Membership Application
Spring, 2007
The Slide Rule: Remember the days of surveying mathematics before hand-held calculators and computers?
Contents
Vignettes: The Surveyor Who Wrote Poetry (Robert David Fitzgerald)
Chips...
Editor's Pen, “Closer to Home” (Local and Regional Museums)
Slide Rules: Technological Beauty
The Struve Geodetic Arc
Events...
Bulletin Board
Book Reviews: Measuring the World
Faces on the Frontier: Florida Surveyors and Developers of the 19th Century
The Compleat Surveyor
Serial: Capt. William Ludlow's Report, 1875
Folkways: John Thompson, English Philomath
Opinion: A Proposal for Our Future
Board...
Membership Application
Fall, 2007
Cartographers of the Tennessee Valley Authority
Contents
Vignettes: The Surveyor Who Became “The Father of El Paso” (Anson Mills)
Editor's Pen: “On The Level” (the simple level bubble)
Tennessee Valley Authority Mapmakers
Wood Fences
Events...
Bulletin Board
Book Reviews: Amerigo: The Man Who Gave His Name to America
Seizing Destiny: How America Grew from Sea to Shining Sea
Maps and Mapping
Close to the Wind: The Beaufort Scale
Serial: Capt. William Ludlow's Report, Yellowstone, 1875
Folkways: “A Letter From the Field: Hazards of Old”
Board...
Membership Application
Spring, 2008
The Open-Sight Compass
Contents
Vignettes: The Surveyor Who Condensed Mild (Gail Borden, Jr.)
Chips...
Editor's Pen: “The Promised Land” (disposition of post Revolutionary War property)
Clinic on the Open-Sight Compass
Surveying Arabia: Danish Expedition, 1761-1767 (Carsten Niebuhr)
Events...
A Life: Silvio A. Bedini
A Life: Art Hipp
Book Reviews: Arabia Felix
Wilderness Survey
Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, A Pictorial History
Serial: Capt. Ludlow's Report, Yellowstone, 1875
Folkways: “The Surveyors Have a Great Advantage”
Traditional Boundaries of Hawaii
Board...
Membership Application
