This is a guest post by Jackie Coleburn, Rare Book Cataloger at the Library of Congress. Did Philip Lee Phillips study Peter Parley geography books when he was a child? This is a detail of his personal history we may never know. Philip Lee Phillips (1857–1924) was the first Superintendent of Maps when the Hall of Maps and Charts was established in 1897, when the Library of Congress moved into its own building, now the Thomas Jefferson Building. We can safely assume that Mr. Phillips knew of Peter Parley, a pseudonym of children’s writer Samuel G. Goodrich (1793–1860). Goodrich’s well-illustrat ..read more

During the 19th century Paris underwent a major urban renewal. I am focusing on some of the maps that were published before, during, and after the renovation of Paris. Before the renovation, the residents of central Paris suffered from cholera epidemics, overcrowding and a high infant mortality rate. The Bievre River, which flowed into the Seine, was contaminated with waste from tanneries and butcher shops. The streets of Paris had not been updated since the Middle Ages and were too narrow for traffic circulation. Central Paris was a place of civic unrest. During the revolutions of 1848 the re ..read more

The Geography and Map Division is excited to share the publication of our latest interactive map, showcasing the Climatological Database for the World’s Oceans (CLIWOC), a fascinating database of digitized European ship logbook entries from 1750 to 1850. Our visualization lets you explore this data by ship nationality and provides voyage and weather details for individual logbook entries. The database, digitally acquired by the Library of Congress and available for download, provides a global view of colonial maritime expansion and detailed climatological recordings for this period of history ..read more

Henry G. Lyons. The Cadastral Survey of Egypt 1892–1907. National Printing Department. Cairo. 1908. Geography and Map Division. In 1899, British geologist Henry G. Lyons (1864–1944) began a systematic reassessment of the cadastral surveys conducted in Egypt under Ottoman Turkish rule. His updated survey was built upon 90 years of work—starting in 1813 when Muʿallim Ghali, a finance minister appointed by Muhammad ʿAli Basha (1769–1849), reorganized the finances of Egypt to optimize taxation. Acting on that mandate, Ghali ordered an official survey of the land. He subsequently used the survey to ..read more

This afternoon, please join Geography and Map Division staff for a virtual orientation focused on maps and genealogy! Date: Tuesday, April 11, 2023 Time: 3:00-4:00 pm (Eastern) Location: Zoom Register for this session here! Reference librarians Amelia Raines and Julie Stoner will present an introduction to the Library of Congress Geography and Map collections. This orientation session will focus on resources for genealogists like land ownership atlases and fire insurance maps. Join us to explore a treasure trove of cartographic resources and learn how to access them in person and onl ..read more

In 1798, James Rennell, an English cartographer primarily known for his maps of British territories in India and South Asia, published A map shewing the progress of discovery & improvement, in the geography of North Africa. This map combined geographical information gathered from sources spanning more than 1.5 millennia, from recent explorers all the way back to Claudius Ptolemy, who wrote his Geographia in approximately 150 CE. A world map based on Ptolemy’s Geographia. Typus orbis descriptione Ptolemaei. [Gaspard Trechsel], [1541]. Geography and Map Division.Rennell’s map was compiled pr ..read more

In retrospect, I find it somewhat ironic that when I graduated from college, I was not given a copy of Dr. Seuss’s Oh, the Places You’ll Go, a gift that is now common for graduates as they set out upon new paths. No, I did not receive my own copy of the book, which is rather funny considering the path that I wound up traveling down landed me in a singular place that opened the door to a multitude of other locations across time and space. You are likely already aware that here in the Geography and Map Division (G&M) we hold maps and cartographic materials of not just the US, but the entire ..read more

Women have made significant contributions to the field of cartography throughout history. In celebration of Women’s History Month I have chosen to write about the noted 19th century cartographer, educator, and historian, Eugenia Almira Wheeler Goff. Eugenia Wheeler was born in 1844 in North Clarkson, New York. Her family moved to Winona, Minnesota when she was fifteen years old. She graduated from the state Normal school in 1869; after graduation Eugenia worked as an educator and teacher trainer in various Minnesota institutions. In 1876 Eugenia Wheeler created an atlas titled Minnesota, Its G ..read more

On this date 230 years ago, Samuel Houston, the man who would come to share his name with one of the United States’ largest cities, was born. I knew very little of Sam Houston, or Texas history more broadly, having grown up in northern Virginia where mentions of Texas prior to the Civil War are seldom made, and the Alamo is hardly remembered let alone part of the curriculum. However, despite this oversight in my education, what I do have is a born and bred Texan as a partner, which has led me to seek to learn more about his home state. Whether you are a Texan or not, I compel you to read on an ..read more

Elmer Simms Campbell’s pictorial night-club map showing Harlem’s hotspots for entertainment, dining, and drinking appeared as a centerfold in the January 18, 1933, edition of the short-lived weekly Manhattan Magazine. His work was an important contribution to Harlem’s cultural renaissance—it serves as a time capsule—the itinerary and guide of a typical Friday night at the peak of the Harlem Renaissance. The copy in our map collections includes the entire folded weekly. It appeared on pages 7 to 10 in Volume One, Number One of Manhattan—Weekly for Wakeful New Yorkers. January 18, 1933. It appe ..read more