Dr. Harris was a man of many talents. During his lifetime he wrote several other books including a novel, books of poetry, several songs, a cantata, and produced a movie.
He traveled and spoke extensively raising money for his missionary work in Taiwan and then later Hong Kong.

Charlotte Harris Rees has spoken at the Library of Congres, Washington, DC; the National Library of China, Beijing; Malaysia; Switzerland; London; Canada; Australia; Macau; and across the USA, (see her schedule for some of the locations) as well as on television, and National Public Radio about the early arrival of the Chinese to America. For the past 14 years she has done extensive research on this topic.

In January 2003 amid worldwide debate about whether the Chinese reached America before Columbus, Charlotte (initially a skeptic) recalled her father’s book on this topic and wondered whether he could have been right. Together with her brother, Hendon III, she took the Harris Map Collection to Dr. John Hebert, Chief of Geography and Maps at the Library of Congress. The maps were there for three years while they were studied.

From 2003 until his death in late 2013, Charlotte was advised in her research and writing by Dr. Cyclone Covey, Professor Emeritus of History at Wake Forest University, who for 60 years studied the relationship of ancient American history to the Chinese classic Shan Hai Jing.

Charlotte is the third of the seven Harris siblings. She lives in Virginia with her husband.

The History of Cartography, to which Charlotte was directed at the Library of Congress, states that the date of origin of this style map is unknown. It further tells that 72 percent of the place names on this map are from the Shan Hai Jing. However, the History of Cartography contends that while China, Korea, and Japan in the center of the map are real those countries on the outer rim are imaginary.

Harris believed that the additional place names were added during the many times the maps were copied over the years. He believed that the "mother map" of this style was the long lost map that at one time accompanied the Shan Hai Jing. That would make the original copy of the map to be from 2200 B. C.

By the time of his death Dr. Harris was aware of 23 other similar maps of this style (in addition to his seven) in prestigious museums and collections around the world. He correctly surmised that there were probably a few more. In effect, the true meaning of these maps has been hidden for years - right in plain sight.

The Harris maps were printed from wood block. Most are on mulberry-bark paper and are written in classical Chinese. Although varying in ages they have only minimal differences. The oldest of the Harris maps are believed to be from the Ming dynasty. The map books themselves are Korean but the world map in each book is a Chinese map.

Click the map above for a higher resolution image