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Posted by: Ed Redmond
According to lore, the very first Thanksgiving was celebrated in what is today Plymouth, Massachusetts. The location owes its name to the English port of Plymouth where the settlers, also referred to as Pilgrims, began their transatlantic voyage. The Mayflower set sail in September 1620 and arrived near Cape Cod, Massachusetts in December 1620. After …
Posted in: 17th century cartography, 18th century cartography, American History
Posted by: Ryan Moore
At 11 am on November 11, 1918, the long and terrible fighting that was known as the Great War ended. The final hour of the final day of World War I, as it is known today, was documented by the United States Army on a large 36″ x 32″ map sheet. The mapmakers used a …
Posted in: Military History
Posted by: Julie Stoner
In Part 1 of this post, we discussed the Amazon River in South America as a contender for the title of the longest river on Earth. While arguments have been made by some cartographers that the Amazon should be given this distinction, it is traditionally held by most that the longest river in the world …
Posted in: Exploration, Physical Geography, Series: Extremities of the Earth
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
The Library of Congress is proud to celebrate GIS Day on Wednesday, November 14th, with a morning of engaging talks and discussions on the theme of “GIS in K-12 Education: from Data to STEM.” We are pleased to feature Representative Bruce Westerman (AR-4), who will speak about the Geospatial Data Act and the role of …
Posted in: Events
Posted by: Julie Stoner
The Amazon or the Nile? The debate over which deserves the title of longest river is centuries old. Determining the world’s longest river is not a simple matter of using a measuring tape to find the distance! In this new post in our Extremities of the Earth series, we will explore these two mighty waterways …
Posted in: Exploration, Physical Geography, Series: Extremities of the Earth
Posted by: John Hessler
In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true. –Guatama Buddha Recently, the Library of Congress’ Geography and Map Division, acquired a rare eighteenth century carving of a Theravada Buddhist cosmography that originally came from Myanmar (formerly known …
Posted in: 18th century cartography, Asian History
Posted by: Ryan Moore
The signature of the American botanist who helped bring the famous Japanese cherry blossom trees to the United States was discovered by this author on a 1901 map of Japan. David Fairchild (1869-1954) traveled the world on behalf of the U.S. government and introduced more than 200,000 varieties of crops and plants to this country. …
Posted in: Asian History
Posted by: John Hessler
This post is about research conducted by the author, in conjunction with Dr. Tana Villafana, Research Chemist and Spectroscopist, from the Preservation Research and Testing Division, and with Rosemary Ryan, Archaeological Research Fellow, at the Library of Congress. The research is part of a larger project to characterize and study all of the Mesoamerican jade …
Posted in: Exploring the Early Americas, Kislak Collection, Series: Excavating Archaeology
Posted by: John Hessler
This is a guest post by Rosemary Ryan, an Archaeological Research Fellow at the Library of Congress. Rosemary is a student at Towson University specializing in Forensic Anthropology and Archaeology. Her research at the Library is in support of the Exploring the Early Americas exhibit and the Jay I. Kislak Collection, which comprises of more …
Posted in: Exploring the Early Americas, Kislak Collection, Series: Excavating Archaeology