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Category: 20th century cartography

A photo of the Jno. Glidden ship as it sinks.

Lost at Sea: The Treasure Maps of the Library of Congress

Posted by: Cynthia Smith

A picture of a skull and crossbones marks the location of a special collection in the Geography and Map Division. The collection consists of wreck charts published by U.S. federal government agencies, treasure maps made by famous cartographers during the 18th and 19th centuries, and treasure maps published by commercial companies during the mid -20th …

From Childhood Fancy to Space Age Discovery

Posted by: Julie Stoner

This is a guest post by Geography and Map Division summer intern, Wayne Hastings, who worked on processing and housing the John Parr Snyder Collection. Imagine this. During the summer of 1972, the United States was in the midst of one of the most wildly impressive eras of technological and scientific development – the Space …

single sheet map from series

Early 20th Century Survey of Egypt Provincial Series Now Online

Posted by: Carissa Pastuch

In 1899, British geologist Henry G. Lyons (1864–1944) began a systematic reassessment of the cadastral surveys conducted in Egypt under Ottoman Turkish rule. His updated survey was built upon 90 years of work—starting in 1813 when Muʿallim Ghali, a finance minister appointed by Muhammad ʿAli Basha (1769–1849), reorganized the finances of Egypt to optimize taxation. …