Albert Ruger (1829-1899)
Albert Ruger was the first to achieve success as a panoramic artist. The
collections of the Library's Geography and Map Division contain 213 city
maps drawn or published by Ruger or by Ruger & Stoner. The majority came
from Ruger's personal collection, which the Library purchased in 1941 from
John Ramsey of Canton, Ohio. Before this accession, there were only four
Ruger city plans in the Geography and Map Division. Born in Prussia in 1829,
Ruger emigrated to the United States and worked initially as a mason. While
serving with the Ohio Volunteers during the Civil War, he drew views of Union
campsites, among them Camp Chase in Ohio and Stephenson's Depot in Virginia.
He continued to draw after the war, and his prints include a famous lithograph
of Lincoln's funeral car passing the statehouse in Columbus, Ohio.1
By 1866, Ruger had settled in Battle Creek, Michigan, where he began his
prolific panoramic mapping career by sketching Michigan cities. Full descriptions
of many Ruger views of Michigan cities are contained in John Cumming's A
Preliminary Checklist of 19th Century Lithographs of Michigan Cities and
Towns. Urban communities in some twenty-two states and Canada, ranging from
New Hampshire to Minnesota and south to Georgia and Alabama, were sketched
by Ruger. He continued his activity into the 1890s, moving his business to
Chicago, Madison, and St. Louis as he sought new markets. In the late 1860s,
Ruger formed a partnership with J. J. Stoner of Madison, Wisconsin, and together
they published numerous city panoramas. Ruger was particularly productive
during the 1860s; in 1869 alone, he produced more than sixty panoramic maps.
In addition to city plans, he drew views of university campuses, among them
Notre Dame, Shurtleff College, and the University of Michigan. Albert Ruger
died in Akron, Ohio, on November 12, 1899.
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