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Posted by: Tim St. Onge
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.
Posted in: 19th century cartography, American History, City Histories
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
Among our collection of "bird’s-eye view" maps of U.S. and Canadian cities created from the late 19th to early 20th centuries, the work Augustus Koch in particular stands out for his artistry, geographic range, and incredible cartographic detail. His maps and historical newspaper clippings relating to his work attest not only to his mastery of the form but the value of panoramic maps in instilling civic pride.
Posted in: 19th century cartography, City Histories
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
The Panoramic Maps Collection, one of our most popular collections, features more than a thousand beautifully illustrated “bird’s-eye-view” maps of towns and cities across the United States, Canada, and even some internationally. To celebrate this collection, we are excited to launch View from Above: Exploring the Panoramic Map Collection, an interactive map that makes browsing …
Posted in: 19th century cartography, 20th century cartography, American History, City Histories, Geographic Information Science
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
There are some maps that, at first look (or second, or one-hundredth), seem to offer more questions than answers. It can surely be said that the map of nationalities in New York City, part of a series of maps from the Tenement House Committee of 1894, is one such curiosity. Looking closer at its historical …
Posted in: 19th century cartography, American History, City Histories
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
Los Angeles is world famous for its sunny beaches and Hollywood glamour, but did you know that the California metropolis has a long history as a booming oil city? At both large and small scales, maps help tell the stories of this often forgotten part of the Los Angeles’s past and present. The first commercially …
Posted in: City Histories
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
The following post is by Kim Edwin, a library technician in the Geography and Map Division. Since coming to the Washington, D.C. area and joining the Geography and Map Division, I have enjoyed learning about the early history of our nation’s capital through maps and place names. In studying maps from the city’s early years …
Posted in: Borders, City Histories
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
The oldest set of federally placed monuments in the United States are strewn along busy streets, hidden in dense forests, lying unassumingly in residential front yards and church parking lots. Many are fortified by small iron fences, and one resides in the sea wall of a Potomac River lighthouse. Lining the current and former boundaries …
Posted in: Borders, City Histories
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
The 2016 Summer Olympics kicks off next week with over 10,000 athletes and many more tourists and attendees from around the world descending on the host city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rio de Janeiro is a sprawling metropolis with a population of 6 million people, situated along the Atlantic Ocean. But like the saying …
Posted in: City Histories, Exploration
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
It is almost a cliché to say, but today, in 2016, maps are everywhere. The barriers to geographic information have come down so that anyone with internet access or a smart phone can see maps of the world in incredible detail. But the wide availability of maps to people of all walks of life is …
Posted in: City Histories