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Posted by: Cynthia Smith
Featured below is a map known as the “Map with Ship.” The map was donated to the Library of Congress in 1943 by a retired merchant and author named Marcian F. Rossi. Marcian Rossi was born in Italy in 1870. He moved to the United States during the 1880s. The Rossi family inherited a collection …
Posted in: Asian History, European History, Exploration
Posted by: Meagan Snow
Many have debated whether the Amazon or Nile is the world's longest river. This blog post explores a time period in American history in which there was another contender: the Missouri River.
Posted in: 19th century cartography, American History
Posted by: Amelia Raines
Please join Geography and Map Division staff tomorrow for a virtual orientation to our collections and resources! Date: Tuesday, June 13, 2023 Time: 3:00-4:00 pm (Eastern) Location: Zoom Register for this session here! Reference librarians Cynthia Smith and Julie Stoner will present an introduction to the Geography and Map collections at the Library of Congress. This orientation …
Posted in: Events, Geography and Map Division
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
Applications are now open for Philip Lee Phillips Society Fellowship at the Library of Congress. Scholars of the history of cartography, Geographic Information Science (GIS), digital humanities or related fields are encouraged to apply for this fellowship utilizing the collections of the Geography and Map Division.
Posted in: Geography and Map Division
Posted by: Carissa Pastuch
This is a guest post by Jackie Coleburn, Rare Book Cataloger at the Library of Congress. Did Philip Lee Phillips study Peter Parley geography books when he was a child? This is a detail of his personal history we may never know. Philip Lee Phillips (1857–1924) was the first Superintendent of Maps when the Hall …
Posted in: American History, Guest Posts
Posted by: Cynthia Smith
During the 19th century Paris underwent a major urban renewal. I am focusing on some of the maps that were published before, during, and after the renovation of Paris. Before the renovation, the residents of central Paris suffered from cholera epidemics, overcrowding and a high infant mortality rate. The Bievre River, which flowed into the …
Posted in: 19th century cartography, City Histories, European History
Posted by: Carissa Pastuch
This is a guest post by Rachel Trent, Digital Collections and Automation Coordinator in the Geography and Map Division. The image below is of a TIFF file, but not just any TIFF. Hidden inside are coordinates that bind the image to a specific place on Earth. For every pixel in the image, an estimated latitude …
Posted in: Geographic Information Science, Guest Posts
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
Our new interactive map showcases the Climatological Database for the World's Oceans 1750-1850, an exciting digital acquisition of the Library of Congress.
Posted in: Big Data and Visualization, Exploration, Geography and Map Division
Posted by: Carissa Pastuch
In 1899, British geologist Henry G. Lyons (1864–1944) began a systematic reassessment of the cadastral surveys conducted in Egypt under Ottoman Turkish rule. His updated survey was built upon 90 years of work—starting in 1813 when Muʿallim Ghali, a finance minister appointed by Muhammad ʿAli Basha (1769–1849), reorganized the finances of Egypt to optimize taxation. …
Posted in: 20th century cartography, Middle East and North African History