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.
The Library of Congress holds an extensive collection of maps that have been printed, drawn and embroidered on cloth. This post features a few examples of textile maps held in the Geography and Map Division.
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.
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.
The Geography and Map Division collections include vibrant nineteenth century maps showcasing brand new American communities and promises of the "good life" to prospective lot or home buyers. This post explores the common themes and fascinating details of these highly artistic maps designed to lure investment.
Florence Bascom broke barriers in the 19th century as a leading geologist of her time. This post discusses her life and career with the United States Geological Survey including the geologic maps she made which are in the Geography and Map Division collections.
In the early years of the Maryland colony, Lord Baltimore's name referred to his estates, an entire county, and a port town that would one day become the third largest city in the United States... 30 miles northeast of its current location.
The Geography & Map Division recently digitized an important set of maps of Austria-Hungary. In this post, we explore these 19th- and early 20th-century maps and the layers of history and language that they contain.
