Hi,

Thanks for the info. I'd seen that USGS was scanning their quads. They're already available on CD from the VA Div of Mineral Resources as Pub 173, but don't appear to be geo-referenced. It would be really great if they were in shapefile or otherwise digitized format rather than flat maps, but one lives in hope.

I have the info, thanks to the suggestion that the Library of VA's catalogue with surveys done for WPA projects in Pittsylvania that have the 1936 county road map. The churches and schools are indeed listed with black squares and white squares with the symbols atop them differentiating them, and are described as such in the map legend.

The trouble was that the map was not downloadable, despite being in e-format.

It does appear that the USGS has the white churches and schools named while the black one were not, at least at first glance. Without the VDOT map, it was a 50-50 guesswork situation.

Lyle Browning


On Jul 6, 2011, at 11:04 AM, James W. Wilson wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> You may want to search the US Geographic Names database at http://geonames.usgs.gov/domestic/.  This database should have all names that ever appeared on a USGS topographic map, along with the lat/long (easy to use in a GIS, let me kow if you want some assistance with this).  I searched on Pittsylvania County and schools, and came up with over 100 items.   While there may not be names on the map sheet you are looking at, some may have been labeled on other editions or later maps.  I'm not familiar with school symbols in particular, but the cartographic conventions changed through time, and inclusion or exclusion of labels may have not been strictly based on the type of school.  As you suggest, it may have been that they didn't know the name, etc.
> 
> You may also be interested to know that the USGS is in the process of scanning all of their historic map sheets (see "Scanning and Georeferencing Historical USGS Quadrangles" at http://nationalmap.gov/factsheets.html).  They are also georeferencing these maps as they scan them to facilitate their use in GIS and online mapping systems.
> 
> James
> 
> -- 
> James W. Wilson, PhD
> Assistant Professor of Geographic Science
> Department of Integrated Science and Technology
> James Madison University
> 801 Carrier Dr. MSC 4302
> Harrisonburg, VA 22807
> 540-568-2757 (p)        [log in to unmask]
> 540-568-8741 (f)        http://www.gs.jmu.edu
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 7/3/2011 3:14 PM, Lyle E. Browning wrote:
>> In working on a rather massive project in Pittsylvania County I now need
>> to spread beyond even its gargantuan limits to enclose the entire
>> county. I'm attempting to find the schools that existed in the county in
>> the late 19th and first half of the 20th century and where they were
>> located. We're hoping to do some catchment area analysis for schools,
>> stores and mills based upon the little dots on the map if we can ascend
>> the GIS learning curve in short order. In turn that will be related back to our area.
>> 
>> To that end, I'm looking at the 15' USGS Quad sheets. In using these in
>> other counties, the schools seem to be nearly all named and have either
>> "colored" or "Negro" annotated beside them. Neither the Draper where the
>> project is located, nor the adjacent Danville quads have these helpful
>> annotations. But, some schools are named and others are represented by
>> the same incredibly difficult to spot symbols for schools with absolutely
>> no label whatever.
>> 
>> If anyone has experience in ferreting out these issues, I'd love to hear
>> whether the un-labeled schools are the non-white schools, whether the
>> cartographers simply didn't know the name and left it off or if there's
>> some method to the labeling system.
>> 
>> Also, does anyone know of a list of schools in the county over the
>> years, short of delving into the original records?
>> 
>> Thanks for the help on a very hot 3rd of July.
>> 
>> 
>> Lyle Browning
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