Plenary meeting of the Commission on National Atlases of the International Geographical Union in Moscow, August 11–20, 1958.

Summary

This report describes the first plenary meeting of the International Geographical Union’s Commission on National Atlases, held in Moscow on 11–20 August 1958. The available opening and closing sections outline the commission’s establishment in 1956 under K. A. Salishchev and its aims of promoting national atlas production, improving quality, and making corresponding maps internationally comparable. Approximately 150 geographers and cartographers attended. The programme covered national production reports, atlas purposes and contents, preliminary research results, and the commission’s work plan. The Belgian presentation distinguished a national atlas systematically compiling geographical knowledge from a national survey atlas supporting territorial planning, with details of their organization, contents, and publication progress. The closing resolutions proposed bibliographical work, consultation, a secretariat at Moscow University’s Faculty of Geography, and preparations for exhibitions, publications, and a commission report for the 1960 Stockholm International Geographical Congress. Polish and Swedish representatives offered to undertake bibliographical work and, respectively, an exhibition and a study of atlas production technology. Atlas-producing institutions were asked to submit progress reports by 30 June 1959. The account also records institutional visits and cartographic exhibitions in Moscow and Leningrad. Participants considered the meeting valuable for developing scholarly contacts and strengthening international cooperation in national atlas production.