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Catherine Delano-Smith

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description Catherine Delano-Smith Overview

Catherine Delano-Smith is a British cartographic historian renowned for her extensive research on prehistoric and medieval maps. She served as a long-time editor of Imago Mundi, an academic journal dedicated to the history of cartography. Her scholarly work focuses on the function and cultural context of early maps before the Renaissance. She writes for an audience of historians, archivists, and cartographic researchers.

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What is Catherine Delano-Smith known for studying?

Catherine Delano-Smith studies prehistoric, medieval, and early modern maps, including the signs and symbols used on them. She also examines how maps functioned for different readers and communities.

What is Imago Mundi?

Imago Mundi is an academic journal devoted to the history of cartography. Delano-Smith served as a long-time editor, helping develop scholarship on maps from antiquity through the modern period.

Why does Delano-Smith focus on map users?

She argues that a map's meaning depends partly on who made it and who used it. Her research connects cartographic symbols with travel, biblical interpretation, education, and social change.

What is the Maps and Society lecture series?

Delano-Smith co-founded the Maps and Society lecture series at the Warburg Institute. The series brings historians together to discuss maps as cultural objects as well as geographic documents.