Cartographic heritage at the National Archives : an archival assessment

Abstract

Much has been written about local historical maps from a historical and descriptive perspective. The purpose of this long essay deals with an archival assessment of the cartographic fonds found at the National Archives, Rabat. It starts off with an introduction about the different types of maps, including maps which are not found locally, such as cadastral maps. The first chapter describes different types of maps, such as, the cabreo, the cadastral map, the portolan chart and the ordnance survey maps. A literature review follows. This describes secondary sources which deal with maps found locally and also a description of works which deal with cataloguing cartographic material. Chapter 3 focuses in the cartographic material found in the National Archives, Rabat. The bases of the information come from members of staff at the Archives who deal with the map collection there and finding aids of the material itself. A description of the map room ensues, followed by a description of the fonds, preservation of cartographic material, cataloguing and appraisal follows. The final chapter deals with the planning of a map room for a national archives institution, also in view of the government’s commitment to be a new National Archives repository.