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Posted by: Carlyn Osborn
By the end of 1847, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) had put down roots near the Great Salt Lake in present day Utah. Originally organized by Joseph Smith in 1830, the LDS Church and its adherents continuously moved their headquarters for over a decade: from the Burned Over District in New …
Posted in: American History, Borders
Posted by: Carlyn Osborn
In honor of Women’s History Month this March, Worlds Revealed is featuring weekly posts about the history of women in geography and cartography. You can click on the “Women’s History Month” category see all related posts. Anna van Westerstee Beek (also spelled “Beeck”) was born in 1657 in The Hague, a coastal city in the …
Posted in: Biography, Borders, City Histories, Women's History
Posted by: Ryan Moore
The North Korean capital city Pyongyang has both a storied and troubled history. Among the reasons it fascinates, plain curiosity rises to the top of list, because the North Korean government has largely closed off the country from the rest of world since the end of the Korean War in 1953. Correspondingly, accurate maps of …
Posted in: Asian History, Borders, City Histories
Posted by: Carlyn Osborn
Today’s guest post is by Anthony Páez Mullan, a cartographic reference specialist in the Geography and Map Division at the Library of Congress. He specializes in the historical cartography of Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Iberian Peninsula and is a co-author of the “Luso-Hispanic World in Maps.” The Library of Congress recently acquired an important …
Posted in: Borders, Exploration, Exploring the Early Americas, Guest Posts, Hispanic American History, Manuscripts
Posted by: Ryan Moore
Today’s guest post is by Ryan Moore, a Cartographic Specialist in the Geography and Map Division. Mr. Moore earned a Master’s degree in History from Cleveland State University and a Master’s of Library Science from Kent State University. He is the chief editor and a contributor for the Division’s journal, The Occasional Papers. He teaches …
Posted in: Big Data and Visualization, Borders, Events, Geographic Information Science
Posted by: Carlyn Osborn
Today, across Iowa’s 99 counties, friends, foes, families, and neighbors are casting their votes in the 2016 Iowa Caucus. The Iowa Caucus has been the first major electoral event in the Presidential nominating process since 1972, but Iowa has a much longer history than that. Let’s take a look at some of the historical factors …
Posted in: Borders
Posted by: Carlyn Osborn
Please join us for a book talk featuring the Chief of the Geography and Map Division, Ralph Ehrenberg, and Smithsonian Institution curator emeritus Herman J. Viola as they discuss their latest work, “Mapping the West with Lewis and Clark” (Levenger, 2015). The authors will present and sign copies of their book on Tuesday, January 19, …
Posted in: Borders, Events, Exploration
Posted by: Carlyn Osborn
Stretching nearly 2,000 miles from the Pacific Coast to the Gulf of Mexico, the Mexico-U.S. border is the world’s single most crossed international boundary. With over a billion dollars worth of goods moving between the countries every day and 11 million people living within the border region, the history of the Mexico-U.S. boundary line is worth …
Posted in: American History, Borders, Exploration, Hispanic American History