The following is a guest post by Margherita Pampinella, an Associate Professor of Italian at Towson University in Maryland. An expert in the poetry of Dante, I introduced her to this collection of completely unstudied manuscripts and cadastral surveys several years ago and she was hooked. Since that time she has spent countless hours deciphering the …
Today’s guest post is by Hannah Stahl, a Library Technician in the Geography and Map Division. Hannah received her undergraduate degree with honors in English and a minor in Medieval and Renaissance Studies from the University at Albany, SUNY. Her first exposure to the Geography and Map Division was as an intern, where she worked …
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 …
Today’s guest post was written by Katje Lattik, Archaeological Research Intern in the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress, who works with the Pre-Columbian objects in the Jay I. Kislak Collection of the Archaeology and History of the Early Americas. Katje was a 2015 Library of Congress Junior Fellow with a strong …
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 …
Today’s guest post was written by Graham Atkinson, a Research Volunteer in the Geography and Map Division, who works with the Pre-Columbian objects in the Jay I. Kislak Collections. He received his doctorate in mathematics from Oxford University, and has spent most of his career applying mathematical and statistical techniques to health care. Graham also …
Please join us for a book talk with Dr. Geoffrey Martin, a leading historian of American geography, who will discuss his latest work, On the History of the Book — American Geography and Geographers: Toward Geographical Science (Oxford, 2015). In addition to Dr. Martin’s presentation, the Geography and Map Division will provide a small exhibit featuring rare …
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, …
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) noticed something odd as Deputy Postmaster General for the American colonies in London: mail took much longer travelling west across the Atlantic than it did travelling east. Several weeks longer, in fact. In a 1746 letter, Franklin ascribes this anomaly to an effect of the Earth’s rotation, making an eastward journey faster …
