Walter W. Ristow was born in La Crosse in 1908. He received a bachelor’s degree in geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1931 and a master’s degree from Oberlin. After completing his doctoral studies in 1937, Ristow was named chief of the map division of the New York City Library. During World War II he also worked for the U.S. Military Intelligence preparing geographical information for air strikes in the Far East. Ristow was employed by the Library of Congress in 1946 and was made Chief of the Map Division in 1968. He retired in 1977. During his career Ristow wrote many articles on map librarianship and the history of maps and mapmaking.
