{"id":48386,"date":"2026-05-06T10:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/libraries\/?p=48386"},"modified":"2026-05-06T10:54:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:54:27","slug":"fonstad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/libraries\/2026\/05\/06\/fonstad\/","title":{"rendered":"American Geographical Society Library Acquires\u00a0\u2018The Atlas of Middle-Earth&#8217;\u00a0Maps\u00a0and\u00a0Fonstad\u00a0Collection\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The American Geographical Society Library recently\u00a0acquired\u00a0the Karen Wynn Fonstad Collection, including\u00a0the original manuscript maps of\u00a0<em>The Atlas of Middle-Earth<\/em>.<em>\u00a0<\/em>A cartographer from\u00a0Oshkosh,\u00a0Fonstad\u00a0was a lifelong fan of J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s work. Upon her passing in 2005, Fonstad left her family an archive of\u00a0nearly 1,000\u00a0map drafts, many of them\u00a0based on Tolkien\u2019s\u00a0<em>The Lord of the Rings<\/em>,\u00a0<em>The Hobbit<\/em>,\u00a0and\u00a0<em>The\u00a0Silmarillion<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fonstad\u2019s meticulous readings of Tolkien\u2019s books informed her cartography as she translated written descriptions into tangible maps.&nbsp;With a blessing from the author\u2019s estate,&nbsp;Houghton Mifflin published&nbsp;Fonstad\u2019s&nbsp;<em>The&nbsp;Atlas of Middle-Earth&nbsp;<\/em>in 1981.&nbsp;Her atlas informed the filming locations for the movie adaptation of&nbsp;<em>The Lord of the Rings&nbsp;<\/em>series in the early 2000s. The success of&nbsp;her work inspired Fonstad to create atlases for other fantasy series such as&nbsp;the&nbsp;<em>Dragonriders&nbsp;of Pern<\/em>, and role-playing games such as&nbsp;<em>Dungeons&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Dragons<\/em>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The collection also includes 40 books\u00a0containing\u00a0her\u00a0extensive geographic notes, pencil drafts, and drafting equipment, providing a look into\u00a0Fonstad\u2019s\u00a0cartographic process. The\u00a0Fonstad Collection is currently being processed\u00a0by library staff.\u00a0Digital access is expected to be available in the near future.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The American Geographical Society Library recently\u00a0acquired\u00a0the Karen Wynn Fonstad Collection, including\u00a0the original manuscript maps of\u00a0The Atlas of Middle-Earth.\u00a0A cartographer from\u00a0Oshkosh,\u00a0Fonstad\u00a0was a lifelong fan of J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s work. Upon her passing in 2005, Fonstad left her family an archive of\u00a0nearly 1,000\u00a0map &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38833,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[28],"tags":[99,32],"class_list":["post-48386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-agsl","tag-american-geographical-society-library"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.5 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UWM Libraries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/libraries\/2026\/05\/06\/fonstad\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"American Geographical Society Library Acquires\u00a0\u2018The Atlas of Middle-Earth&#039;\u00a0Maps\u00a0and\u00a0Fonstad\u00a0Collection\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The American Geographical Society Library recently\u00a0acquired\u00a0the Karen Wynn Fonstad Collection, including\u00a0the original manuscript maps of\u00a0The Atlas of Middle-Earth.\u00a0A cartographer from\u00a0Oshkosh,\u00a0Fonstad\u00a0was a lifelong fan of J.R.R. 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