Ada Ranson Convent of Notre Dame, Manchester; Schoolgirl Manuscript Atlas

Manuscript atlas. Pen and ink with watercolor. Includes 14 maps. Each sheet measures 6.5 x 8". This manuscript atlas contains 14 beautifully hand-drawn and watercolored maps by Ada Ranson of the Convent of Notre Dame, Manchester. These include England, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Counties, Lancashire, Devonshire, Europe, Wales, France, Spain and Portugal, Italy, Holland and Belgium, Norway and Sweden, and Turkey and Greece. Each map depicts important place names, rivers, and several other topographical features. Includes manuscript title page. Also included as an insert is the Program if the distribution of Prizes, which suggests that young Ada Ranson won a prize for creating this beautiful atlas. In 1804, a group of nuns set up a school for poor girls in a house in Amiens, France. They soon started to take fee-paying pupils from well-off families as a way of funding the education of the poorer children. Over the decades, they set up more schools in Belgium, England and America, with the primary aim of educating the poor. The Sisters came to Manchester in 1851 and continued to teach pupils until 1981. Both the schools and convent were eventually demolished and replaced by a housing estate. This atlas dates to circa 1890 and was most likely made by Ada Ranson as training in geography, drafting, and penmanship. Manuscript map-making was a useful educational tool in the 19th century, a period of imperialism and increased world trade in which geography grew significantly as a field of study. In the United States and northwestern Europe, reform movements that sought to improve the quality and accessibility of childhood education pushed for the inclusion of geography in school curricula. One common method of teaching was the making of manuscript maps. Working from wall maps, globes, and atlases, students were made to meticulously hand-reproduce maps in pen and ink and with watercolor. Such exercises not only provided a way to review and retain geographical knowledge, but they also functioned as training in penmanship, calligraphy, and drafting. This atlas is a lovely document that straddles the line between art and geography. (Inventory #: 321833)