James Wilson's Terrestrial Globe, 1811

From the 1770's through the 1960's globes have been a basic geography teaching tool for educational institutions, from academies and universities to schools of all sizes and libraries in more recent years. In the 1700’s, they would have been imported and were often purchased by the wealthy. This terrestrial globe was created by James Wilson, one of America's earliest globe manufacturers, in 1811. It is an example of one of Wilson's earliest globes to be used in academies and larger schools and was used in Vermont in the 19th Century. The globe is hung on a brass meridian ring and set in maple stand supported on 4 turned legs joined by cross stretchers. The printed horizon ring displays zodiacal signs, months of the year, and degrees longitude pasted on a circle. It is printed and tinted on a paper surface and inscribed: "A NEW [/] AMERICAN TERRESTIAL GLOBE on white the [/] PRINCIPAL PLACES of the [/] KNOWN WORLD [/] are [/] ACCURATELY laid down [/] with the traced attempts [/] of CAPTAIN COOK to [/] discover a Southern continent [/] by [/] JAMES WILSON [/] 1811."

James Wilson was born March 15, 1763, to James and Eleanor Hopkin Wilson, of Londonderry, New Hampshire, Wilson was a farmer and a blacksmith before he became interested in geography, perhaps due to reading almanacs. He became fascinated with European globes after a visit to Dartmouth College. Largely self-taught in cartography and geography, Wilson obtained an 18 volume Encyclopedia Britannica and moved to Bradford, Vermont to study at the Bradford Academy in 1796 and produced his first an experimental globe, a wooden sphere covered in paper and pen and ink drawings. He attempted to study engraving with James Akin in Boston and Newburyport but was rejected. A few years later he headed to New Haven, Connecticut to study with engraver Amos Doolittle, who had published the first American geography book in 1784, Jedediah Morse's "Geography Made Easy."

By 1810, was he had a growing family and was producing and selling accurate and aesthetically pleasing globes and advertising them as more affordable than any imported from London. As a blacksmith, Wilson was able to produce his own presses, lathes, and other tools and produced the early globes from home. His globes were produced in pairs: terrestrial and celestial and were advertised in three sizes: 20", 16", and 13." The 13” globe appears to have been most popular as several have survived and was documented as having been sold for $50.00 in Boston in 1813. He exhibited his globes in Boston in 1814, and soon became a commercial success. He established a second “artificial globe manufactory” in Albany, NY in 1818, bringing his sons Samuel and John into the managing and manufacturing of J Wilson & Sons the NY shop and youngest son David drawing and engraving maps. The Wilsons recognized the growing demand from schools, so began producing globes in the smaller more affordable sizes of 13.5", 9" and 3". By the 1830s, globes were no longer a luxury but a necessary piece of equipment for most schools, though they varied in quality and cost, but the company was fulfilling much of the need. In 1827, Wilson displayed his globes before Congress hoping to obtain an official endorsement. Unfortunately, Wilson’s sons died in 1827 and 1833, and David's son Lavallette, who drew maps as a successful surveyor, was not interested in the business. In 1833, Cyrus Lancaster, who had joined the firm in 1826, took over Wilson's business and married into the family. James Willson died March 26, 1855, in Bradford, Vermont.

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