1956–1962–1972 International Cartographic Association bibliography

Summary

This volume is a retrospective and documentary bibliography of the International Cartographic Association (ICA), covering the formative period from the first preparatory conference in Stockholm in 1956 through the Fourth General Assembly and Sixth Technical Conference in Ottawa in 1972. Proposed in 1969 by ICA President K. A. Salichtchev and compiled by Emil Meynen, it was conceived as a comprehensive guide to the Association’s institutional development and intellectual output. The initial manuscript of roughly 600 records was expanded to approximately 850 entries; final editing, proofreading, and preparation of the author index were undertaken by Herman L. Rogge. As the inaugural title in a projected series of occasional ICA publications, the bibliography seeks to make dispersed sources accessible amid the rapid growth of cartographic information and thereby facilitate international exchange of knowledge and professional experience. Its organization follows both the chronology and institutional structure of the ICA. It documents the preparatory international conferences held between 1956 and 1959, meetings of the Executive Committee, General Assemblies, and Technical Conferences convened from Paris in 1961 to Ottawa in 1972. Dedicated sections assemble reports, papers, addresses, articles, and reviews generated by the ICA’s commissions on cartographic education, terminology and standardization, automation, and thematic cartography, together with materials from working groups concerned with cartographic communication and oceanic cartography. Additional sections cover lectures and working papers, national progress reports, map exhibitions, participant and officer lists, member countries, organizational bodies, ICA publications, statutes, and selected minutes and reports. The extensive alphabetical index links authors, institutions, countries, conferences, technical subjects, variant names, and cross-references to numbered records, illustrating the international and multilingual scope of the collection. Subjects represented include automated and thematic mapping, technical vocabulary, production processes, education, information exchange, and national cartographic programs. Rather than advancing a single theoretical argument, the work constructs a systematic documentary infrastructure for studying the ICA’s emergence as a recognized global forum. It preserves evidence of organizational continuity, expanding membership, specialized collaboration, and changing technical priorities, while providing researchers and practitioners with a navigable record of sixteen years of international cartographic activity.