UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #1514
Leimer, Jude

Leimer, Jude (1955–)
Graduate student; managing editor of the History of Cartography Project
At UW: 1979–present (MS 1982)
Interviewed: March 30, 2016
Interviewer: Nichole Barnes
Indexed by: Nichole Barnes 
Length: 54 minutes

Abstract: In this 2016 interview, Jude Leimer, managing editor of the History of Cartography Project chronicles her education and career. Since the early 1980s, Leimer has edited the volumes of the History of Cartography Project, a long-term research endeavor housed in the UW geography department that explores the creation, use, significance, and cultural implications of mapmaking from antiquity to the twentieth century. 

Keywords: History of Cartography Project (University of Wisconsin—Madison. Department of Geography); cartography; geography; research; encyclopedias; Woodward, David; Harley, J.B. (John Brian); editing

Interview Session 1

Session 1	Keywords

00:00:00	Interviewer Nichole Barnes introduces narrator Jude Leimer. 

00:00:31	Leimer was born in New York but spent her formative years in Rochester, Minnesota. Education was highly valued in the family; her father was a mechanical engineer with several advanced degrees, and it was expected that Leimer and her brother go to college. Leimer attended Augsburg College before transferring to the University of Minnesota where she graduated with a BA in geography. In between her transfer she spent a semester at sea and a year off of school.

00:02:37	Leimer was unsure of what she wanted to do professionally after college. She realized she was very interested in maps, but was unsure what kind of careers were possible. Leimer decided to go to graduate school and selected UW-Madison.

00:03:28	Leimer arrived at UW in the fall of 1979. She chose UW because it had one of the best cartography programs in the country. Leimer lists some of the prominent cartographers who were in the geography department when she arrived.

00:04:30	Leimer decided she wanted to pursue cartography and began to work with David Woodward once he arrived at UW. Leimer’s thesis was on newspaper maps in the US. Leimer discusses her relationships with Woodward who was her advisor.

00:06:36	Leimer relays how the History of Cartography Project originated and developed.
 
00:08:02	Leimer connected with the Project in 1981 when the first National Endowment for the Humanities grant was awarded. She worked as a student hourly who worked on assembling lists of reference maps and place names. She gradually took on more and more responsibilities and transitioned into a full time staff member.

00:09:39	Leimer discusses the relationship between Woodward and his co-founder J.B. Harley who moved to Milwaukee in 1986. 

00:10:49	Leimer describes Woodward’s managing style as well as the structure of the office during the early years of the Project.

00:12:00	Leimer recalls what it was like to work on Volume 1. Leimer’s first time using a word processor was at the Project: a CPT with eight-inch floppy disks. She details the workflow for the Project and the contributions of the UW library system.

00:15:13	Specific job roles developed at the Project over time. Leimer remembers the first office manager, Mo Reilly, and illustrations editor, Matthew Edney. 

00:16:49	Volume 1 covered mapping in the Mediterranean and North Africa from antiquity to the Middle Ages. It, along with all other volumes, were published by the University of Chicago Press.
		
00:18:22	Volume 1 was published in 1987. Woodward and Harley originally planned for the entire four-volume series to take no more than ten years. It became clear that the Project had outgrown this timeline, but the founders and staff were committed to doing the volume right, not quickly.

00:20:08	Production for the volume was also time-consuming. For Volume 1, galleys were still cut and pasted to make plates.

00:21:19	By the mid-1980s, the staff was working on Volume 1, 2, and, to some extent, 3. Leimer discusses the content of these volumes.

00:22:52	In the early 1990s, Harley died abruptly; Leimer recalls how this impacted the project.

00:24:47	Leimer discusses some of the challenges the staff had with the three books of Volume 2, all of which were published between 1992 and 1998.

00:27:15	Leimer discusses how Woodward was able to forge friendships and scholarly relationships with historians of cartography from around the world. 

00:29:23	Leimer recalls the writing and production of Volume 3, which was in the works before Volume 2 was completed.

00:31:16	In the midst of Volume 3 (2004), Woodward also died. Leimer describes how she, Woodward, his wife Rosalind “Roz,” and Beth Freundlich, project manager, planned for the Project’s continuation.

00:33:31	Woodward had already edited all entries for Volume 3 prior to his death. The staff finished all other work for the volume, including reference checking, spelling consistencies, and illustrations procural. 

00:34:13	The chair of the geography department acted as the primary investigator for grants until the Project could hire another director. Edney was hired for this position and helped wrap up Volume 3. 

00:37:33	Edney worked for the Project while in graduate school at UW; Leimer describes other project assistant and long-term staff members.

00:39:46	After the publication of Volume 3, focus was shifted to 4 and 6. Mark Monmonier was the sole editor of Volume 6, which covered the twentieth century. Volume 6 was moving more rapidly than 4 so it was published first, in 2015. Volumes 4, 5, and 6 all adopted the new encyclopedic format. 

00:42:11	Leimer discusses the timeline for the remaining two volumes and how generous funding has allowed for the completion of the series.  

00:44:11	Leimer describes the reasons why the series shifted from long scholarly articles to encyclopedic entries.   

00:46:00	Leimer recalls other major changes that have affected the Project over time, including technological developments. 

00:50:13	Leimer discusses how she feels that the Project is at a critical juncture as pressure builds to stick to timelines. 

00:52:40	Leimer hopes that the oral history collection for the History of Cartography Project captures David Woodward as a person and scholar for a new audience. 

00:53:53	End interview. 

END OF ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW #1514