This post features a qibla compass that was recently acquired for the collections of the Geography and Map Division. The qibla compass was made in Turkey during the Ottoman Empire.
Join us online May 2, 2024, for a Spring Presentation with two conversations on indigenous cartography. At 3:00pm Lauren Beck, Canada Research Chair in Intercultural Encounter and Professor of Visual and Material Culture Studies at Mount Allison University, Canada, will discuss Extractive Place Naming Practices in Early Modern North America. At 5:00pm S. Max Edelson, …
Copperplate printing was a major method of map production for several hundred years. This post explores the history of printing maps with engraved copper plates, featuring several example maps and photographs of copper plates from the Geography and Map Division collections. This is the first post in a new series about map printing and creation, Fabricating the World.
Mauka to Makai: The Ahupua'a of Hawai'i explores the ancient Hawaiian land division system which utilized a cross section of island resources in strips of land running from the ocean to the mountains. Many examples of these biogeographic and geologic resources are covered with Hawaiian nomenclature.
This post details the broad history of coal and iron-ore deposit in Alabama, including the founding and building of Birmingham and the use of convict labor in the mines.