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Posted by: Meagan Snow
North of the Snake River in southeast Washington State sits the Palouse: a region of rolling hills, (somewhat mythical) giant earthworms, and fertile loess soils. This post discusses the unique geology of this region using maps found in the Geography & Map Division.
Posted in: 20th century cartography, American History, Physical Geography
Posted by: Abraham Parrish
Interview with Dr. Shouraseni Sen Roy, the Geography and Map Division's latest Phillip Lee Phillips Society Fellow, who has just finished her 8-week stint here at the Library of Congress to conduct research on her topic of historical analysis of transformations in the Sundarbans Delta.
Posted in: 18th century cartography, 19th century cartography, 20th century cartography, Asian History, Physical Geography
Posted by: Julie Stoner
This blog post discusses the project done this summer during a Junior Fellowship at the Geography and Map Division. The post highlights Marie Tharp’s 1957 Physiographic Diagram of the Atlantic Ocean, other physiographic diagrams from the G&M collections, and why Tharp chose this kind of map in particular to depict the ocean floor.
Posted in: 20th century cartography, Guest Posts
Posted by: Carissa Pastuch
On June 30, 2025, the Library of Congress launched its new catalog system for all research centers. This post will highlight the new public-facing online catalog and provide tips and best practices for search and discovery of cartographic materials in the Geography and Map collections. The catalog is the main access point for the Library's collections, including map collections.
Posted in: Events, Geography and Map Division
Posted by: Julie Stoner
While working as a Junior Fellow this summer, Champ Turner worked with a collection of maps of Brazil. In this blog post, he tells the story, through maps, of an expedition taken by Teddy Roosevelt and Cândido Rondon in 1913 down the River of Doubt in the Brazilian Amazon.
Posted in: 20th century cartography, Exploration, Guest Posts, South American History
Posted by: Meagan Snow
The Geography & Map Division recently acquired a rare collection of maps showing the locations of television and movie filming locations in Los Angeles, California from the 1980s. This blog post explores the cartographic and cultural value of these exceedingly unique and eminently practical maps of Los Angeles.
Posted in: 21st century cartography, American History, Guest Posts
Posted by: Lena Mattson
On July 1, 1957, an unprecedented period of global scientific collaboration known as the International Geophysical Year began. Artificial satellites were launched, planetary weather observations were made for the first time, the understanding of plate tectonics was established, and more. Learn how the Army Map Service played a critical role during the IGY, providing the calculations that launched the U.S. into the space race.
Posted in: 20th century cartography, Big Data and Visualization, Exploration
Posted by: Amelia Raines
This blog post is an interview with Robert Morris, G&M’s recently retired acquisitions specialist. Robert worked in the division for almost 40 years, building the division’s collections and shaping its collection development policies through the decades.
Posted in: Geography and Map Division, Guest Posts
Posted by: Amelia Raines
For several hundred years, the term "Tartary" - or its Latin version, Tartaria - appeared on European maps, usually floating somewhere between Eastern Europe and China. This post explores the etymology of the place name and the various regions to which it referred.
Posted in: 15th century cartography, 16th century cartography, 17th century cartography, 18th century cartography, 19th century cartography, Asian History, Borders, European History