A Cartograph of the Montezuma Mountain School for Boys in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Los Gatos, California
- Title:
- A Cartograph of the Montezuma Mountain School for Boys in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Los Gatos, California
- Alternate Title:
- Montezuma Mountain School for Boys
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- White, Ruth Taylor
- Date:
- 1933
- Posted Date:
- 2017-04-14
- ID Number:
- 2134.01
- Collection Number:
- 8548
- File Name:
- PJM_2134_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1920 - 1939
- Subject:
- Advertising & Promotion
Pictorial - Measurement:
- 27 x 35 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- This is a promotional map for the Montezuma Mountain School for Boys, a prep school "that drew children of the rich and famous to a remote corner of the Santa Cruz Mountains" in northern California from 1910 to 1955. http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_22741079/from-archives-montezuma-mountain-school-boys-rustic-campus, accessed March 15, 2015. The map is dense with pictorial elements showing happy boys engaged in a vast range of activities, with an emphasis on outdoor and athletic events.
The school was founded and run by Professor Ernest Rogers, "an educational pioneer" whose "avant-guarde theories" included rigorous chores for the 150 students, the study of Esperanto, and extensive "legislative-style debates" in a student government organization he also founded, the Junior Statesmen of America. Ibid. The campus, on 264 acres above what we now call Silicon Valley, included a fishing pond, dairy, horses, orchard and cannery. In the 1930s, when this map was made, the school excelled both academically and in sports. Ibid. The core of the school's campus is now a conference and retreat center operated by The Sisters of the Presentation.
Ruth Taylor White (Ruth Taylor before and after her marriage) was well known for the cartoon-figure pictorial maps she produced from the late 1920s into the 1940s. She "depicted a nation and a world where cheerful characters flocked by railway, auto-mobile, ship and airplane to visit picturesque land-scapes full of colourful natives, iconic architecture and natural wonders. She wanted, as she put it, to ‘make geography painless’ for her viewers." Griffin 2017, 245. For other examples of her work in the collection, Search > Ruth Taylor.
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Cite As:
- P.J. Mode collection of persuasive cartography, #8548. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
- Repository:
- Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
- Archival Collection:
- P.J. Mode collection of persuasive cartography
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.