Alice Hudson: New York Public Library's Treasure Among Maps

摘要

This is the third in a trilogy of interviews I have undertaken on behalf of the Journal of Map and Geography Libraries. The first was of David Cobb, formerly of Harvard University; the second was of Mary Lynette Larsgaard, formerly of the University of California at Santa Barbara; and now Alice Hudson of the New York Public Library. Each interview occurred as one of these prominent figures in the map and geography library profession stepped down from his or her position into retirement. It feels to me, and to everyone with whom I have made mention of these and other retirements, like the end of an era. It is as if we were standing on a hilltop ridge looking across a foggy plain, wanting the fog to lift and the future to become clear before us and yet we have only sketchy ideas about that future in our mind like an unrealized map. We sit at the feet of those who have gone before us and partake of their wisdom and advice.