Raleigh Ashlin Skelton (21 December 1906 – 7 December 1970) is best known for his work on the history of

cartography Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

and particularly his attempts to prove the authenticity of the

Vinland map The Vinland Map was claimed to be a 15th-century mappa mundi with unique information about Norse exploration of North America but is now known to be a 20th-century forgery. The map first came to light in 1957 and was acquired by Yale University. I ...

Life

An enigmatic personality, Skelton was known as "Peter". Skelton was born in Plymouth, England. He was educated at Aldenham School and

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...

. He served as the Assistant Keeper of the Department of Printed Books of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

from 1931 to 1953, with a break for military service from 1939 to 1945, and as Deputy Keeper from 1953 to 1967. He began work in the Map Room of the British Museum upon his return from military service in 1945 and in 1950 became the Superintendent, in which post he continued until his retirement in 1967. He died in a car crash in December 1970.

Works

* ''The

Vinland Map The Vinland Map was claimed to be a 15th-century mappa mundi with unique information about Norse exploration of North America but is now known to be a 20th-century forgery. The map first came to light in 1957 and was acquired by Yale University. I ...

and the

Tartar Relation The ''Tartar Relation'' (Latin: ''Hystoria Tartarorum'', "History of the Tartars") is an ethnographic report on the Mongol Empire composed by a certain C. de Bridia in Latin in 1247. It is one of the most detailed accounts of the history and cus ...

'', written with Thomas E. Marston, and George Painter, by

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

, * ''History of Cartography'' (with Leo Bagrow), originally published in London and Cambridge by C. A. Watts and Harvard University Press in 1964. * Skelton wrote a number of articles and books on maps of explorers including Captain

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

's maps of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, including ''The Marine Surveys of Captain James Cook in North America 1758-1768'', and the English translation and commentary to the facsimile edition of Antonio Pigafetta's narrative account of the first circumnavigation by Magellan (1519-1522),

, 1969.

Professional activities

Skelton served as the Honorary Secretary of the

Hakluyt Society The Hakluyt Society is a text publication society, founded in 1846 and based in London, England, which publishes scholarly editions of primary records of historic voyages, travels and other geographical material. In addition to its publishing rol ...

from 1946 to 1966. He was the General Editor of ''

Imago Mundi ''Imago Mundi'', or in full ''Imago Mundi: International Journal for the History of Cartography'', is a semiannual peer-reviewed academic journal about mapping, established in 1935 by Leo Bagrow. It covers the history of early maps, cartography, ...

'', the major journal in the field of the history of cartography, from 1957 to 1970. This was a collaboration with R. V. Tooley. He was Chair of the Working Group on Early Maps of the International Geographical Union from 1961. He was also a member of the

Académie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences The International Academy of the History of Science (french: Académie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences) is a membership organization for historians of science. The academy was founded on 17 August 1928 at the Congress of Historical Science by ...

and of various other societies concerned with history, geography, archaeology, bibliography and archives. During a sabbatical leave in 1962–63, he served as consultant and Acting Map

Curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in the

Widener Library The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, housing some 3.5million books in its "vast and cavernous" stacks (library architecture), stacks, is the centerpiece of the Harvard College Libraries (the libraries of Harvard's Harvard Faculty of Arts an ...

Honours

Skelton was elected a Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...

(FSA) in 1951. He was awarded the Gill Memorial of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

in 1957 and its Victoria Medal in 1970.

References

External links

Bibliographic Essay: History of Cartography
1906 births 1970 deaths Writers from Plymouth, Devon Historians of cartography People educated at Aldenham School Employees of the British Library Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Road incident deaths in England 20th-century English historians Victoria Medal recipients {{cartography-stub