There were a couple boxes of old Fondren records sitting on a cart the last time I was in the Woodson and in one of them I discovered correspondence about the potential purchase of a large globe for the map room:
The globe in question, quite beautiful:
I was pretty certain that we did buy this and I had a strong sense that it might still be around somewhere. Sure enough, I found it in a back corner by the north windows on the first floor, looking rather bedraggled but clearly the same globe as the one on the photo:
It wasn’t until I got home and got a better look at the pictures that I noticed the small plaque on the base. Fearing yet another complicated search for an unfamiliar donor, I went back the next day with some trepidation. But it turned out to be easy:
Bonus: If you have a chance go take a close look. It’s no longer the same world.
Extra Bonus: Cannady Hall going up outside the window. It’s no longer the same campus either.
Update: While clearly outdated, the globe is still quite useful.
I was reminded of this recent news story:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/everywhere-there-s-globes-georgia-gop-chair-goes-full-flat-earther-in-wild-rant/ar-AA1bGLEi?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=84a57a7bbd034172b09ac19ccc75f876&ei=22
Tom Hix WRC ’69
I once had a tennis hitting partner who was a flat earther. Interestingly, he had a brother who was a pilot and who assured him that the earth was in fact round. This made no impression. It wasn’t a religious thing either, just basic skepticism. He had a hell of a backhand, though.
Good thing the tennis balls weren’t flat.
I saw a t-shirt recently promoting the “Flat Mars Society.” Seems as likely as any flat planet.
Sat and looked at that globe a lot over the years … Then break time was over and I have a toilet to fix…. I want to volunteer to work for Woodson…. I’m retired and bored…
The video is really funny. Who is the comic professor?
I find old globes (and maps) fascinating in the way they show a snapshot of political boundaries at a particular point in time.
I love how formally the letter is written. It could as easily have come from an English librarian in Victorian times. The language matches the colonial state of the world shown by the globe.
Melissa, do you happen to know the setting of the first globe photo here? The decor is so majestic! I love it.
LD
I think that picture came from the manufacturere.