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Marthe Rajchman

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Marthe Rajchman

Marthe Rajchman (1910–1964) was a Polish cartographer and graphic designer.[1][2] Rajchman was an internationalist who was considered a relatively famous cartographer, known for the "high standards of clarity, simplicity and accuracy" of her work. She published most of her work between 1938 and 1944.[1] Throughout 1938, she published a series of maps for various authors, the first being Shiela Grant Duff's book Europe and the Czechs.[1] In 1939, she married and the family moved first to Johannesburg then the US where she created maps documenting the geopolitical geography of World War II and then later migrated to South America, then later the Middle East and Southern Europe as he husbands job moved location. In each place she would take commissions as the opportunity presented. In 1951 she contracted cancer but continued to work, returning to the USA in 1961 where the family settled. She died three years later.

Life

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Rajchman was the second daughter of bacteriologist Ludwik Rajchman[1] who was the founder of UNICEF[3] and Marja Bojanczyk, a physician whom he married in 1905. Her older sister was Irene May Rajchman and her younger brother was Jan Roman Aleksander Rajchman. Her uncle was Aleksander Rajchman, a prominent Polish mathematician and her aunt was Polish independence activist and historian of education pedagogist Helena Radlińska [pl].[4]

Rajchman completed her secondary education at the International School of Geneva where she was influenced by Paul Dupuy,[2] who believed that cartography and geography should be taught on an internationalist basis. After attending L'Ecole and graduating in 1928, she studied piano at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève for two years before deciding to study geography at the Sorbonne matriculating in 1931 and graduating in 1934.[1]

In May 1939, Rajchman married Polish diplomat Vincent Czarnowski who was Vice-Consul of the Polish Consulate in Johannesburg. In 1940, the couple emigrated to the United States with their baby son, Jan.[1] In the US, Rajchman published a number of maps that detailed the geopolitical geography of World War II. When her husband was appointed to a position in the Pharmaceutical company Sterling Drug, the demands of the work meant the family moving to many different places including Monterrey in Mexico in 1944, then Guadalajara, then onto Córdoba in Argentina in 1946. This was followed by a spell in Buenos Aires before they moved to Cairo in 1955, Tehran in 1956 and finally Athens in 1958.[1] She continued to take commissions.

In 1951 Rajchman was diagnosed with cancer but survived. In 1952, she attended the International Geographical Congress held by the International Geographical Union. In 1961, the family moved back to the US in a apartment in Princeton, New Jersey.[1]

Bibliography

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  • Duff, Shiela Grant (1938). Europe and the Czechs. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books. OCLC 1122314. Rajchman prepared 9 maps for the book.[5] Rajchman prepared 9 maps for Duff.[1]
  • Hudson, G. F.; Rajchman, Marthe; Salter, Arthur (1942). An explanatory atlas of the Far East. London: Faber and Faber Limited. OCLC 1868022.[6] Rajchman created 33 maps for this atlas.[1]
  • Mowrer, Edgar Ansel (1938). Mowrer in China. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. OCLC 4599706. Rajchman created 6 maps for Mowrer.[1]
  • Mowrer, Edgar Ansel; Rajchman, Marthe (1942). Global war : an atlas of world strategy. New York: W. Morrow. OCLC 459675549. Rajchman created 10 maps for her atlas.[1]
  • Pringle, J. M. D.; Rajchman, Marthe (1939). China struggles for unity. London: Penguin Books Limited. OCLC 1112520600. Rajchman created 69 maps for this atlas along with 8 charts.[1]
  • Rajchman, Marthe (1941). A new atlas of China : land, air and sea routes. New York: John Day Company (for Asia Magazine). OCLC 864558.[7] Rajchman created 10 maps for her atlas.[1]
  • Rajchman, Marthe (September 1942). "Map of Colonial Possessions". Democracy and World Affairs. III (4). New York: Free World Inc: 318–324.
  • Rajchman, Marthe (1944). Europe, an atlas of human geography. New York: William Morrow and Company. OCLC 399636.[8] Rajchman created 61 maps for this atlas.[1]
  • Radó, Alexander; Rajchman, Marthe (1938). The Atlas of To-day and To-morrow. London: Victor Gollancz. OCLC 17856203.[9] Rajchman created 209 maps for Radó's "The atlas of to-day and to-morrow" which included Choropleth maps.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Heffernan, Mike; Thorpe, Benjamin (12 May 2021). The political cartographies of Marthe Rajchman (Video). The Oxford Seminars in Cartography: Women and Maps. Oxford: The University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 30 August 2024.
  2. ^ a b Legg, Stephen; Heffernan, Mike; Hodder, Jake. "Marthe Rajchman". Spaces of Internationalism. University of Nottingham, Royal Geographical Society, Arts and Humanities Research Council. Archived from the original on 28 April 2024. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  3. ^ Carol, Bellamy (1996). "Fifty years for children". The State of the World's Children 1996. Oxford [England]: Oxford University Press for UNICEF. p. 43. ISBN 0-19-262747-3. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  4. ^ Lepalczyk, Irena; Marynowicz-Hetka, Ewa (2003). "Helena Radlinska: A Portrait of the Person, Researcher, Teacher and Social Activist". In Hering, Sabine; Waaldijk, Berteke (eds.). History of social work in Europe (1900-1960): female pioneers and their influence on the development of international social organizations. Opladen: Leske + Budrich. pp. 71–77. ISBN 978-3-8100-3635-3.
  5. ^ Legg, Stephen; Heffernan, Mike; Hodder, Jake. "Europe and the Czechs". Spaces of Internationalism. University of Nottingham, Royal Geographical Society, Arts and Humanities Research Council. Archived from the original on 28 April 2024. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  6. ^ Ainger, E. (June 1943). "An Explanatory Atlas of the Far East and Global War. An Atlas of World Strategy". International Affairs. 19 (12): 654. doi:10.2307/3026056. JSTOR 3026056.
  7. ^ Rajchman, Marthe (May 1942). "A New Atlas of China--Land, Air and Sea Routes". The Far Eastern Quarterly. 1 (3): 308. doi:10.2307/2049204. JSTOR 2049204.
  8. ^ Carter, George F. (September 1945). "Europe: An Atlas of Human Geography. Marthe Rajchman". The Quarterly Review of Biology. 20 (3): 307. doi:10.1086/394983.
  9. ^ E.H.C. (1 January 1939). "The Atlas Of To-Day And To-Morrow". International Affairs. 18 (1): 118. doi:10.1093/ia/18.1.118a.