"Maps of The Queens Jazz Trail, The Harlem Renaissance, and The East Village. Published by Ephemera Press, Brooklyn, NY. "
Reviewed By Matt Knutzen, New York Public Library, Cartographic Perspectives; Journal of the North American Cartographic Information Society , Winter 2003


Ephemera Press has produced three touring maps related to the rich cultural landscape of New York City…The first, The Queens Jazz Trail, A Full-Color Illustrated Map is in its second edition…The front side is an illustrative hand drawn map “poster” depicting famous jazz artists and their homes in Queens while the back has a short essay about the importance of Queens as New York City jazz musician’s borough of choice and an address listing of their residences…The portraits and the small drawings of buildings give this map a very human touch while the texts, both on the map and on the reverse side are quite informative...diverse symbology and lucid categorization lends itself to a clearly defined visual hierarchy…The overall effect is an easily understood thematic map.

The next map is the Harlem Renaissance Map Poster Guide; One Hundred Years of History, Art and Culture ….For those readers who are visually inclined, there’s the pictorial map. The well rendered pictures of people, buildings, and other sites help tie the history of the Harlem Renaissance into the landscape of Harlem, personalizing and humanizing the history and the geography of the area. The work is clearly the result of extensive research, planning, and execution of complex graphic and cartographic design. …(the back of the map) is a well organized tool for those interested in touring the sites of the era within present day Harlem

The final map is The East Village, A Map, Guide and Wall Poster Exploring the History of New York City’s Most Creative Neighborhood…The front cover depicts an old tenement in front of which are standing a caricature of the proto punk band The Velvet Underground with Nico. The map title is stylized to appear as graffiti art evoking the rebellious, countercultural East Village. On the back a short text asks us to “Use the map to resurrect the East Village’s glorious and romantic past”.… This is a very useful map for those interested in the counterculture as it exists in the East Village…as with the other maps reviewed, it provides a personal connection between the user and history and geography of the neighborhood…All three of Ephemera Press’ maps represent a clearly significant contribution to the historic and geographic record of New York City. This is particularly relevant given the rapid pace of change within that environment.