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Category: Geography and Maps

One woman watches as another examines with a magnifying glass an ornate, decorative image on a printed page

Native Americans in the First World War and the Fight for Citizenship

Posted by: Danna Bell

While searching through our collections for maps to use for display in the exhibition Echoes of the Great War: American Experiences of World War I, I found one among our uncatalogued holdings that caught my attention. As the title states, it is a map presenting the role of North American Indians in the World War.

One woman watches as another examines with a magnifying glass an ornate, decorative image on a printed page

Learning Beyond the Original Purpose with Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps

Posted by: Cheryl Lederle

In the November/December 2017 issue of Social Education, the journal of the National Council for the Social Studies, our “Sources and Strategies” article features a 1910 map of South San Francisco, San Mateo County, California. The map was created for the unique purpose of documenting estimated fire hazards, and resides in the Sanborn Map Collection, part of an ongoing digitization project at the Library of Congress.

One woman watches as another examines with a magnifying glass an ornate, decorative image on a printed page

The Mind of the Mapmaker: Purpose and Point of View in Maps

Posted by: Danna Bell

In the January/February 2016 "Sources and Strategies" article in Social Education, the journal of the National Council for the Social Studies, Cheryl Lederle and I focus on helping students understand cartographers’ purpose through comparing two 16th century maps: Americae sive quartae orbis partis nova et exactissima descriptio by Diego Gutierrez and page 18 of Theatrum orbis terrarium by Abraham Ortelius.

One woman watches as another examines with a magnifying glass an ornate, decorative image on a printed page

Primary Sources in Science Classrooms: Mapping the Ocean Floor, Marie Tharp, and Making Arguments from Evidence (Part 2)

Posted by: Danna Bell

Textbooks and teachers often tell students about German scientist Alfred Wegener who went public in 1912 with his theory of continental drift. The scientific community did not widely accept Wegener's ideas during his lifetime and often derided colleagues who entertained the theory. Wegener passed away in 1930. Even as Marie Tharp was creating maps in the 1950s, scientists were actively constructing ideas and compiling evidence related to seafloor spreading and magnetic striping.

One woman watches as another examines with a magnifying glass an ornate, decorative image on a printed page

Primary Sources in Science Classrooms: Mapping the Ocean Floor, Marie Tharp, and Making Arguments from Evidence (Part 1)

Posted by: Danna Bell

What might a map from 1977, a poster from 1944, and a newspaper article from 1915 have in common with three twentieth century wars and the theory of plate tectonics? These three digitized artifacts in the Library of Congress’s collection have quite a bit in common when it comes to the emergence of evidence supporting a key theory in Earth science.