Charles Yahr

Charles Corbin Yahr, retired professor of geography at San Diego State University (SDSU), died on July 22, 2006. He was born June 23, 1925 in Chesterfield, Illinois. Yahr earned a bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University at Normal and a master’s and PhD in geography from the University of Illinois.

Yahr served in the U.S. Army from 1944-46, as a First Lieutenant. From 1952-54 he and his wife lived in Karachi, Pakistan while he worked as an editorial assistant for the Silver-Burdett Publishing Company and did field work for his dissertation on the geography of northwest Pakistan. After returning home, Yahr finished his PhD and in 1955 moved to San Diego for a teaching position at SDSU. He retired after thirty-three years at SDSU but continued to teach in the continuing education department and then as a tutor for the literacy project in San Diego.

Charles Corbin Yahr (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(9): 23.

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Roman Drazniowsky

Roman Drazniowsky, former curator of the American Geographical Society Collection, died on July 8, 2006.

Born in 1922, Drazniowsky joined the staff of the American Geographical Society in 1962 as map curator. As the financial position of the society began to deteriorate in the early 1970s, “Dr. D” as he was called, assumed added responsibility, eventually taking charge of the library and the editorship of Current Geographical Publications. When the library and map collection sought a new home, Roman was a key figure in the process which ultimately selected UW-Milwaukee (UWM) as the new home of what came to be called the AGS Collection (AGSC).

It was only natural that Roman followed his collection to Milwaukee in 1978, and became its first curator: he oversaw the collection’s move, its unpacking, and its redeployment in its new space at UWM. In his fifteen years in Milwaukee, he was able to pass on not only his knowledge of the collection, but also much of the lore of the society and his deep understanding of map and geography librarianship as a profession.

In addition to his role with the AGSC, Roman also held adjunct faculty appointments in UWM’s Geography Department and its School of Library and Information Science (now School of Information Studies), and taught courses on cartographic resources and map librarianship (as he had done at Columbia University before moving to Milwaukee).

Roman retired from UWM in 1993, only to pursue an active second career at the Free University of Ukraine, in Munich, Germany, where he taught geography, and served as rector. Roman’s busy retirement did not permit many return visits to the library though he did serve on the AGSC Advisory Committee.

Roman Drazniowsky (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(8): 22.

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Salvatore J. Natoli

Salvatore J. “Sam” Natoli, age seventy-six, died on July 4 in Oxford, Pennsylvania.

Natoli was a stalwart advocate for geography education and worked for the AAG for eighteen years as Educational Affairs Director, serving also as the Association’s Assistant Executive Director for three years.

Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, he earned his bachelor degree, with honors, in geography and social sciences from Kutztown University in 1951. Natoli served in the Army from 1951-53 as a personnel management specialist and participated in Army exercises with nuclear weapons at Camp Desert Rock in Nevada in April 1953. He also taught at the high school level in Chesapeake City, Maryland, before becoming a scholar, fellow, and research assistant at Clark University while earning his master’s degree. After completing his geography master’s degree in 1957 he worked was an assistant to the associate professor of geography at Mansfield College in Pennsylvania, and then as a research fellow and visiting lecturer in economic geography at Clark University and as a lecturer in geography at the University College at Clark. In 1966 he was visiting lecturer in economic and political geography at the University of Connecticut. He completed his doctorate in geography at Clark in 1967.

Prior to finishing his PhD, Natoli joined the U.S. Office of Education in 1966. During his tenure at the Office of Education (1966-69) he held the roles of geography consultant, acting chief to the chief of the geography section, acting chief of the economics section, chief of social sciences, deputy chief of the Trainers of Teacher Trainers Program in the Bureau of Educational Personnel Development, and liaison officer for the Consortium of Professional Associations for the Improvement of Teacher Education (CONPASS).

Natoli came to the AAG in 1969 as Educational Affairs Director. During his eighteen year tenure at the Association he worked to improve the status of the discipline at all levels of the educational system. His work ranged from the creation of resource papers and bibliographic materials, to the improvement of teaching in graduate programs, the nurturing of professional development of faculty, and the maintenance of healthy geography programs. He was instrumental in the work of the High School Geography Project (1961-74), the Commission on College Geography (1963-74), the Visiting Geographical Scientist Program, the consortium for teacher education (CONPASS), the Commission on Geography and Afro-America, and the Remote Sensing Project. He chaired the joint committee that developed Guidelines for Geographic Education (1984) and later was coordinator for GENIP, which laid the foundation for the subsequent publication of national standards for geography. His persistent, quiet advocacy and skilled writing laid the foundations for the status that geography achieved in the national education plan formulated during the administration of George Bush, Sr., which culminated in Goals 2000: The Educate America Act, signed by President Clinton on April 1, 1994. He was editor of the AAG Resource Papers series and also took charge of the AAG Newsletter, improving many functions and adding several columns including the Jobs in Geography section in 1971. From 1984-87, Natoli served as Assistant Executive Director of the Association.

Saul Cohen, former AAG Executive Director (1964), said recently of Natoli, “Behind Sam’s quiet and self-effacing manner was a warm, sensitive individual, widely respected and admired by the many who knew him.  Greatly valued were his passionate love of the field, his gift for simplifying complex geographic concepts, and his ability to implement uncharted new programs linking geography to other social sciences.  Once a project was in his hands, one had confidence that Sam would see it through to success.”

From the AAG, Natoli went on to serve as director of publications and editor of Social Education at the National Council of Social Studies (NCSS) from 1987-93. Upon his retirement from NCSS in 1993, a special dinner celebrating his contributions to geography was held at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C. on January 19, 1994. Despite severe icy weather that closed the federal government, thirty-five colleagues and friends gathered in his honor and messages of appreciation were sent from over seventy well-wishers.

In his retirement, Natoli served as editor in special publications for National Council of Geographic Education (NCGE) and acted as an independent scholar in geography.

Over the course of his career, Natoli was the author of numerous articles and publications and performed many public lectures. He contributed more than ninety publications and was editor of the AAG Resource Papers series, Special Publications at NCGE, and the journal Social Education at NCSS.

Two of his more notable publications include Nurturing Healthy Geography Programs in Colleges and Universities(1982) and Careers in Geography (1983).

Natoli was interviewed by Maynard Weston Dow as part of the Geographers on Film Series in 1985 and 1998. In 1999 he received the AAG’s Gilbert Grosvenor Honors for Geographic Education.  He also received the South Dakota Geographers and Planners’ geography project award (1985), an award from the Geographic Society of Chicago (1985), an award from Kutztown University (1986), the NCGE George J. Miller Award for distinguished service (1987), the NCSS’s distinguished service award as director of publications (1993), and an honorary life membership of the Geographical Society of Chicago (1994).

 

Salvatore Natoli (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(8): 22.

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Karl Stacey

Karl Stacey, emeritus professor of geography at Kansas State University (K-State), died at his home in Topeka on June 14, 2006. He was ninety-seven.

Stacey earned his BA in geography from the University of Colorado, and was a student at the University of Zurich in 1938-39. He received his PhD from Clark University.

Karl Stacey was the pioneer geographer at K-State, starting in the 1943-44 academic year. He served as an officer in Europe during WWII, returning to K-State in 1947. Stacey was part of the faculty when the word “geography” first appeared in the 1951-52 K-State catalogue along with “geology” in the department title. He was on the faculty when the stand-alone Department of Geography was created in 1970, with Dr. Siddall as head. Stacey taught courses in economic, political, and regional geography. His research interest was energy policy. Stacey was a visiting professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology 1956-57 and Australia National University 1967-68. He retired from Kansas State University in 1974.

Karl Stacey (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(8): 22.

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Caleb D. Hammond

Caleb D. Hammond, Jr., president of the map-making business C. S. Hammond & Company from 1948 to 1974, died at age ninety.

C. S. Hammond & Company was second only to Rand McNally in producing road maps and atlases pinpointing cities and towns, across the country and around the world. The 1955 edition of Hammond’s Ambassador World Atlas included 326 maps and a 242-page index with more than 100,000 location names.

Hammond made his mark on the family-owned company by selling its maps to book publishers, including Random House and Simon & Schuster. He also played a key role in helping the company as it made the transition to digital production.

In 1999, the company was sold to Langenscheidt Publishers, a German company that produces travel books and maps. Now known as the Hammond World Atlas Company, it is based in Springfield, New Jersey.

Hammond was born on June 24, 1915 and graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts, with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1937. He served in the Coast Guard during World War II.

In April 1948, Hammond was elected president of the company after serving as the company’s vice president and secretary. He retired in 1974, but remained active, working with the staff as it adjusted to using computers. The company produced the first digitally generated world atlas in 1992.

Caleb D. Hammond (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(7): 17.

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Christopher Exline

Christopher H. Exline, longtime Chair of the Department of Geography at the University of Nevada, died on April 11, 2006.

Exline, born on July 23, 1947, earned an associate’s in 1969 from College of Marin, a bachelor’s in 1971 from Sonoma State, a master’s in 1974 from San Francisco State University, and a doctorate in 1978 from the University of California, Berkeley.

Exline taught at College of Marin from 1973-77 and at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs from 1977-81 before coming to the University of Nevada in 1981. Exline served as Chair of the Geography Department there from 1981-97.

Over the years, Exline received many awards for his teaching and commitment to the university and community including the F. Donald Tibbitts Distinguished Teacher Award (1988), the Distinguished Alumni Award Sonoma State University Alumni Association (1991), the American Planning Association Nevada Chapter Meritorious Service Award (1995), the City of Sparks and Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Agency Meritorious Service Award (1995), and the Board of Regents Undergraduate Advisor Award (2000).

He also served on the City of Sparks Planning Commission (1987-95), the Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Agency (1989-95), and was involved in the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers for many years

Exline joined the AAG in 1971 and was a member until his death.

Christopher Exline (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(6): 16.

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David Weaver

David C. Weaver died in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on April 3, 2006, at the age of sixty-three. Born in Dudley, England, Weaver received his BA degree in geography from the University of Manchester in 1964. He pursued graduate work in geography at the University of Florida, receiving his MA in 1967 and his PhD in 1972. In 1980 he added a Masters in Community Planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Weaver taught at West Georgia College from 1970 through 1977, moving to the University of Alabama in 1977 as associate professor. He was promoted to professor in 1982, and became departmental chair in 1987, a position he held for thirteen years. After stepping down from the chair’s position, Weaver continued to be an active contributor to departmental operations and a mentor to undergraduates, graduate students and faculty alike. He made substantial contributions to the development of the department’s night program.

Weaver’s teaching interests and abilities included historical geography, the geography of National Parks, introductory physical geography, climatology, geography for teachers, a wide array of planning topics, and the geography of Europe, the Middle East, and the American South. As part of Weaver’s efforts on behalf of K-12 teachers, beginning in 1990, he provided annual teacher workshops to improve geographic and environmental education to teachers in conjunction with the Alabama Geographic Alliance, and Legacy Inc., Partners in Environmental Education.

Weaver first joined the AAG in 1964. In 1992 he received the Distinguished Teaching Achievement Award from the NCGE, and in 1997 he received the Outstanding Service Award from SEDAAG.

Weaver’s research was published in such publications as the Journal of Tropical Geography, the Tijdschrift voor Economishe en Sociale Geografie, the Southeastern Geographer, The Professional Geographer, and the Journal of Geography, among others, as well as several books and monographs, technical reports, and maps.

David C. Weaver (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(6): 16.

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Walter W. Ristow

Walter W. Ristow, former Chief of the Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress, Washington, died on April 3, 2006. Ristow, born April 20, 1908, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, devoted his life to the study of cartography, the history of cartography, map librarianship, and map collecting.   He received his formal training in geography from the University of Wisconsin, Madison (BA 1931), a master’s in geography and geology from Oberlin College, Ohio (1933) and a PhD in geography from Clark University (1937).

Upon completion of his graduate work, Ristow began his long career in map librarianship as he served as head and later Chief of the Map Division of the New York Public Library (1937-46). He also served with the Military Intelligence Service as a wartime map analyst from 1941-44. He moved to Washington in 1946 to begin his thirty-two year career in the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress (1946-78). He served as Assistant Chief from 1946-68 and Chief from 1968-78. After retirement he was named Honorary Consultant in the History of American Cartography at the Library of Congress (1978-87).

Ristow devoted substantial energies to the scholarly organizations in his field. He served as Secretary of the Association of American Geographers 1949-50 and also held positions as editor, consulting editor, and advisory editor for several scholarly journals, including the Canadian Cartographer, Imago Mundi, Acta Cartographica, and The Map Collector.  He was as member, vice chairman (1954-57), and chairman (1957-59) of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.

Walter Ristow was a prolific writer with a long list of publications prepared between 1933 and the late 1980s. Among his most noteworthy contributions were The Emergence of Maps in Libraries (1980), the prized American Maps and Mapmakers; Commercial Cartography in the Nineteenth Century (1985), (with R.A. Skelton) Nautical Charts on Vellum in the Library of Congress (1977), the scholarly commentary to the facsimile of A Survey of the Roads of the United States of America in 1789 by Christopher Colles (1960),(editor of) A la Carte; Selected papers on maps and atlases (1972), Marketing Maps of the United States (1951, 1952, and 1958), and Aviation Cartography (1956, 1957, 1960).

During his direction of the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress, he oversaw the development of machine readable cataloging for cartographic objects (MARC maps). He was presented the Distinguished Service Award by the Library of Congress in 1978. During his career he received honors from the Special Libraries Association, the ACSM, and the AAG. Since 1994, the AAG Cartography Specialty Group has offered the Dr. Walter W. Ristow Prize in the History of Cartography, in recognition of academic achievement in the history of cartography or map librarianship

Following his retirement, additional honors were named in his honor, including the Walter W. Ristow Endowment Fund of the Library of Congress (for the advancement of understanding of the Geography and Map Division Collections and American Cartography) established in 1998, and the Ristow Prize of the Washington Map Society, presented annually to the most outstanding submission on the history of cartography.

Walter W. Ristow (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(6): 16.

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Henry Michael

Henry N. Michael died February 19, 2006 at age ninety-two. Michael was widely known for his study of ancient pine tree growth rings which helped resolve problems of radiocarbon dating. He was Chair of the Temple University Geography Department from 1965 to 1973.

Henry Michael was born in Pittsburgh and earned his undergraduate and doctoral degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. He was named an assistant professor at Temple University in 1959, around the same time he began his tree-ring studies. Dr. Michael studied the tree rings of ancient bristlecone pine trees in the White Mountains of California. He drilled samples from bristlecone pine trees, which can live 4,500 years or more, and with colleagues Elizabeth Ralph of the University of Pennsylvania and C. Wesley Ferguson of the University of Arizona, subjected rings of known age to radiocarbon testing. The research, partly conducted at the University of California, San Diego, expanded the known record for radiocarbon testing by thousands of years, to create a reliable chronology for scientists. In the 1970’s and 80’s, Dr. Michael continued to hunt for even older samples of buried bristlecones and managed to match signature patterns from dead trees to living samples, eventually pushing back the limit of the radiocarbon record to 7,400 B.C. He successfully applied the dating method to timbers from Greece and to the cedars of Lebanon, and handed over his data to the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona in the 1990’s.

While a professor of geography at Temple University, Dr. Michael studied Siberia and the cultures of the Eskimos and other Arctic people, and translated works from their Russian sources. He translated the legends of the Yupik Eskimos of Siberia and from 1959 to 1974, helped edit a series of books Anthropology of the North, published by the University of Toronto Press. During the cold war, Michael maintained ties with Russian anthropologists and translated and helped publish their articles. He also edited an account of an early exploration of Alaska and the Yukon, “Lieutenant Zagoskin’s Travels in Russian America, 1842-1844.”

Dr. Henry Michael was chairman of Temple’s geography department from 1965 to 1973, and retired there in 1980. He was also a founder of the Delaware Valley Geographical Association (DVGA) and for decades the host of its twice-yearly council meetings, providing geographers from a dozen local, non-PhD institutions, a professional network.  In 19xx the DVGA presented Dr. Michael with its lifetime achievement award, and he continued an active role in that organization until very recently. And up until 2005 he continued his studies at Penn, working at its Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology, where he was a senior fellow.

 

Henry Michael (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(5): 12.

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Virgil Baker

Virgil Baker died January 13, 2006 in Port Angeles, Washington at the age of ninety-one. He was born April 24, 1914 in North Platte, Nebraska.

Baker earned his bachelor’s (1936) and master’s (1940) in geography from the University of Nebraska, and a PhD in geography (1954) from the University of Utah. Though he taught at Bowling Green, Westminster, and Fresno State College, Baker spent the bulk of his career teaching at Arizona State University (1954-61 and 1966-78).

He was trained as a physical geographer.

Virgil Baker (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(4): 11.

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