University Library

A map has a history of its own. Research on an old map can make it live and breathe again. A map can open windows to information like few other sources.The “discovery” of the earliest (1912), detailed, map of Big Basin State Park, a park located entirely within Santa Cruz County, California, has inspired this study of the history of the map, its maker, the people associated with the map, the reason for the map, the place names depicted thereon, and their meaning. The California Redwood Park [aka Big Basin Redwoods State Park] was established as the first redwoods state park in 1902, the earliest in today’s California State park system.