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Posted by: Meagan Snow
This blog post from the Geography & Map Division explores illustrated comics created by US federal government agencies to introduce the public to new geographic data technologies and file formats in the late 20th century.
Posted in: 20th century cartography, American History, Big Data and Visualization, Geographic Information Science
Posted by: Lena Mattson
Sanborn Map Company fire insurance surveyors successfully mapped many thousands of cities and towns across North America, but they were often viewed with suspicion by locals and they were not granted access to every building they sought to map. This post describes what happened when they were refused, and the creative ways they could sometimes get around property owners’ reservations about their work.
Posted in: 20th century cartography, American History, Reference Tools
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: 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
Posted by: Cynthia Smith
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.
Posted in: 19th century cartography, 20th century cartography, 21st century cartography, American History, Asian History, European History, Military History
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