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Category: American History

Transporting Literacy, Prosperity, and the American Dream: The Seaboard Air Line Railway at the Turn of the 20th Century

Posted by: Abraham Parrish

The Seaboard Air Line Railway (SAL) was a prominent passenger and freight railway in the south in the late 19th and beginning 20th centuries.  Headquartered in Portsmouth, VA, the rail line’s primary backbone connected southern states starting in Virginia and southward to the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida.  Started in 1832 with its earliest predecessor, …

Detail of manuscript map of part of Henrico and Chesterfield Counties showing topography and some landowners' names.

More Places in Civil War History

Posted by: Amelia Raines

This post is a compilation of the Places in History series written by G&M staff in 2011 and 2016, which explores maps produced during the Civil War, their creation, and the geography they depict. Previous blog posts based on that series can be seen under Places in Civil War History. Mapping Slavery According to the 1860 …

Southern Lands, Explorers, and Bears – Oh My!

Posted by: Amelia Raines

The story of the naming of America has been told before – not surprisingly considering the object central to the story, Martin Waldseemüller’s 1507 world map, is one of the most important treasures in the Geography and Map Division. The name was bestowed by the mapmaker to show his support for Amerigo Vespucci’s argument that …

Photograph of a small book showing a map unfolded while still attached to the binding of the book. A ruler on the table shows that the unfolded map is longer than 12 inches.

Reading between the Gridlines

Posted by: Amelia Raines

A few weeks ago, I had the wonderful opportunity, thanks to generous funding from the Philip Lee Phillips Society and the Library of Congress Professional Association, to attend the Material Foundations of Map History, 1450-1900, course held by the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia. The course was taught by Matthew Edney, Osher …