David Rumsey Map Collection

Every image in the David Rumsey Map Collection has associated media, catalog, and metadata presented in different formats: as a thumbnail label, Media Summary, and Media Information. The Media Information contains the full catalog record, while the thumbnail label and Media Summary present just four data fields.

The Media Information can be viewed by clicking on an image once to bring it into the Detail View, or by clicking on the "i" in the LUNA Workspace. This Media Information is helpful in several ways. In addition to providing valuable curatorial information on the specific object, the Media Information is also an important resource for finding additional items of specific interest. Because many of the images in the collection are related to other images you can use the "Pub fields" to discover similar content. The “Pub Fields” generally describe all the attributes of the related images – in the case of a map that is part of an atlas, the "Pub Fields" list the atlas author, date, title, size, number, and other information.

The best way to do this is to copy the Pub List No and then past it into the keyword search box. You'll then discover all images which relate to that specific map, chart, etc. You can also slide your mouse over the Pub List No field and move to the right to the box "Search Pub List No."

For example, if you're looking for maps of New York you might just enter "New York" as a keyword. One result will be a map of New York City and County, by David Burr. This map is part of an atlas titled, Atlas, State of New York, which is named in the Pub Title field. If you copy the Pub List No for the New York city map (0103.000) and paste it into the search box you'll see all images in the collection which relate to the atlas.