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Posted by: Cynthia Smith
This post summarizes the Great Fire of London that occurred in 1666 and the plans that were proposed for rebuilding the city.
Posted in: 17th century cartography, City Histories, European History
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
Santo Domingo is the largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean islands and the oldest continuously inhabited, European-established city in the Americas. Maps spanning over five hundred years of colonial contestation in the region provide a powerful account of the city’s historical importance for European colonial ambitions in the New World.
Posted in: 16th century cartography, 17th century cartography, 18th century cartography, 19th century cartography, City Histories, Military History
Posted by: Meagan Snow
Using materials from the Geography & Map Division's Frederick Doyle Papers, this post explores the role NASA’s Apollo Transforming Printer played in creating maps of the moon from panoramic photographs.
Posted in: 20th century cartography, American History, Celestial Mapping, Geographic Information Science
Posted by: Abraham Parrish
A background of cartographer Dr. John Mitchell and how he produced one of the most significant maps of North America in the 18th century.
Posted in: 18th century cartography, American History
Posted by: Carissa Pastuch
I recently saw a public library Instagram reel that explained the breakdown of an entire call number of a book—using the Dewey Decimal System. The video pointed out that the demystification of these call number codes can be incredibly helpful to our users. If users can de-code the sequence, they can unlock how to find, …
Posted in: Reference Tools
Posted by: Amelia Raines
Pierre Charles L’Enfant did not design Washington in a vacuum. A unique city within American urban planning history, Washington was both informed by its predecessors—mostly European capitals—and an inspiration for its successors, both domestic and foreign. This blog post traces D.C.’s influences from London to Brasilia, using the Library of Congress’s diverse collection of globe-spanning maps to place L’Enfant’s Washington, D.C., within a longer history of city and town planning.
Posted in: 18th century cartography, 19th century cartography, 20th century cartography, City Histories, Guest Posts
Posted by: Carissa Pastuch
At the dawn of the 20th century, hundreds of U.S. citizens dreamed of starting a new life—and a new U.S. territory—on Cuba’s Isle of Pines at what would be known as the McKinley Colonies. A newly cataloged collection of promotional plat maps for this short-lived project shows just how big the founders’ ambitions were, and the role maps played in selling the idea.
Posted in: 20th century cartography, American History, Guest Posts
Posted by: Amelia Raines
The Harlem Hellfighters, an African-American regiment of the US Army, recently received the Congressional Gold Medal to honor their service during World War I. Explore their story through these maps from the Geography & Map Division.
Posted in: 20th century cartography, African American History, American History, European History, Military History
Posted by: Julie Stoner
This is a guest post written by G&M summer intern, Elizabeth Dorokhina. This post explores maps of the Trans-Siberian Railway, especially, how cartography shows more than just a limited geographical area, but political, social and economic issues across the world.
Posted in: 20th century cartography, Asian History, Guest Posts