Imago Mundi MS 47-72

Life and career

Eila Muriel Joice Campbell (1915-94) began her working life as a teacher at various girls' schools. During this time she graduated in Geography from Birkbeck College in 1941. In 1945 she was appointed assistant lecturer at Birkbeck, rising in 1948 to lecturer, and in 1963 to Reader in Geography. In 1970 she became Professor of Geography and Head of Department. She retired in 1981.

An appreciation by several authors, with a select bibliography, was published in Imago Mundi vol 47 (1995), pp 6-12. Eila Campbell also has an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004). This says that she 'published few scholarly articles, expending much of her time and effort on Imago Mundi'.

Work for Imago Mundi

Eila Campbell started work for Imago Mundi in 1947, as one of Leo Bagrow's two English 'Corresponding Editors'. (The other one was RA Skelton.) However her correspondence from this period virtually stops, abruptly, in 1950. Either the later papers are lost or, equally likely, she refused to correspond with Bagrow any longer. (According to the Oxford DNB, Bagrow had treated her 'very much as a hired help'. This is borne out by her papers.) Thereafter she appears to have confined herself to editing and proof-reading, leaving the letter-writing to Skelton.

She became English 'Corresponding Editor' again in December 1967, working with Koeman and Skelton. Early in 1971 she was chosen to succeed Koeman, with the title of General Editor (later Executive Editor), and it was agreed that she would take over from issue XXVI onwards, late in 1972. In the event, she prepared the copy for XXVI, but this did not go to press until 1973 because of delays affecting XXV, the Skelton memorial volume. She also assisted Mrs Gepkens with this volume, after pressure of work rendered Koeman unavailable.

She was a Director of Imago Mundi Limited from 1971, and became Chairman in June 1979.

Eila Campbell's arrival as General Editor coincided with a major change in the financial basis of Imago Mundi. From the early 1960s up to and including issue XXVI, the Editor and Directors of Imago Mundi Limited were responsible for producing each issue in a form fit for publication. Nico Israel in Amsterdam then printed it (using a contractor), published it, marketed it, and gave Imago Mundi a royalty. Unfortunately Israel's printer had little English, so that after Koeman retired as Editor it was necessary to retain the bilingual Mrs Gepkens in Utrecht as Assistant Editor, to oversee the printing process. This arrangement cost more than the royalties received.

In October 1972 therefore it was decided that from volume 27 onwards, Imago Mundi would become the annual volume of 'The International Society for the History of Cartography', with a membership of regular subscribers, and be issued free to members. Israel was given one year's notice, to expire in May 1974. Headley Brothers, of Ashford, Kent, were appointed as the new printers.

A serious cash flow problem arose in October 1974. Unpaid royalties still in the hands of Nico Israel, with whom Imago Mundi was in dispute, left insufficient funds to pay Headleys when their bill should fall due. A crisis was averted when an anonymous guarantor, known only to Eila Campbell, promised the necessary funds. Some time later it became clear that the guarantor had been Eila Campbell herself.

For around twenty years, from issue XXVI ('1972', actually 1973) to issue 44 (1992), Eila Campbell produced annual volumes to a high standard, a period of great stability for Imago Mundi. However late in October 1992 she broke her leg getting off a bus. Medical complications then rendered her largely incapable of further work, and early in 1993 she sought the assistance of Catherine Delano Smith of Nottingham University as Co-Editor. In the event, Catherine Delano Smith produced issues 45 (1993) and 46 (1994) more or less single-handed, and has remained Editor ever since (2010).

In November 1993 Eila Campbell resigned as Chairman of Imago Mundi Limited. She died suddenly on 12 July 1994.

Eila Campbell's Imago Mundi papers

Eila Campbell's Imago Mundi papers were rescued from her house during her last illness and after her death by her brother Peter. He passed them either to Catherine Delano Smith, the new Editor, or to Tony Campbell (no relation), who succeeded Eila as Chairman of Imago Mundi Limited in 1993.

Her papers are much more extensive than those of the other editors and officers, and appear to be largely complete, except for her early years as Editor, 1972-81. She may have destroyed these early papers as each issue was published.

Eila Campbell's filing was simple. She kept current letters in monthly folders in alphabetical order by correspondent. Only a few long-running projects were kept together across the months or years. By the early 1990s, infirmity was undermining this system, and her papers were becoming increasingly chaotic. Domestic items (e.g. utility bills, and free offers for cat food) came to be mixed with the Imago Mundi material. These have been discarded. There are also many vouchers from the 1980s onwards for the costs of material sent through the post. Eila Campbell's standard of living may have been suffering from the effects of inflation, so that it was important to claim back all editorial expenses. There were also multiple copies of many printed items, and a great many duplicate photocopies, especially of outgoing correspondence. (In the 1980s Eila Campbell became increasingly cranky about postal services and their reliability.) This dross too has been discarded.

In short, Eila Campbell's Imago Mundi papers were in a mess by the time of cataloguing, and very difficult to use for research. They have therefore been re-sorted wholesale into a new order, as below. An attempt at some date to merge into one sequence all the papers for the late 1940s and 1950s of Bagrow, Skelton and Eila Campbell has also been dismantled.

For cataloguing purposes Eila Campbell's editorial papers 'end' at 31 December 1992, even though in intervals of better health she continued with a little editorial work. Letters of 1993 are to be found amongst the editorial papers of Catherine Delano Smith. The only exception is Eila Campbell's file of papers as a Director of Imago Mundi Limited, MS 58.

Eila Campbell was involved in many cartographic and map collecting groups and societies besides Imago Mundi. Her Imago Mundi papers contain numerous notices or advertisements published by them. These have been left in situ, to indicate her academic and social network.

The British Library Map Room also holds Eila Campbell's personal papers unconnected with Imago Mundi. Inevitably, there is overlap between the two collections. Her personal papers were listed several years before her Imago Mundi papers, so that some items which might have been better placed here, in her Imago Mundi papers, were listed among her personal papers instead.