At the end of the 19th century, William Frederick Cody, more popularly known as “Buffalo Bill,” achieved global celebrity through his “Wild West Show,” which toured the United States and Europe, presenting a romanticized portrayal of the American West.  Before his touring shows, Cody was infamous for his skill hunting buffalo to feed railway workers during the construction of the Kansas Pacific Railroad. His “Wild West Show” cemented his celebrity, allowing him to perform for England’s Queen Victoria and meet the Pope. Beginning in 1892, his European tours took a decade-long hiatus, and h ..read more

This week’s post features the qibla compass pictured above. This remarkable geographical instrument was recently added to the Geography and Map Division’s collections. The qibla is the direction of the Sacred Mosque in Mecca where Muslims turn for prayer. A qibla compass, also known as a qibla indicator, is used to find the direction of the Kaaba, a stone building located in the courtyard of the Sacred Mosque. Mekka : View of the holy mosque from the east minaret. In the foreground the Zamzam house, behind that the Kaaba. B. (Bernhard) Moritz. 1916. Prints and Photographs Division. The qibla c ..read more

Join us online May 2, 2024, for a Spring Presentation with two conversations on indigenous cartography. At 3:00pm Lauren Beck, Canada Research Chair in Intercultural Encounter and Professor of Visual and Material Culture Studies at Mount Allison University, Canada, will discuss Extractive Place Naming Practices in Early Modern North America. At 5:00pm S. Max Edelson, Professor of History, University of Virginia, will discuss Catawba Cartographies: Remapping the Indigenous Southeast, ca. 1670-1733. The Spring Presentation is held in support of the Geography and Map Division mission to expand en ..read more

Last summer, I attended a course at the Rare Book School entitled Material Foundations of Map History, 1450-1900. Taught by distinguished map scholar Matthew Edney, the course explored the materiality of maps in all their forms. I found the course fascinating, educational, and stimulating; since attending, I’ve been inspired to delve deeper into the physical and material aspects of maps as objects, and to improve my understanding of common – and less-common – methods of map printing and production. Fortunately, I couldn’t ask for a better vantage point to explore the history of mapmaking ..read more

Ahupua’a are types of land divisions from ancient Hawai’i that typically ran from the mountains (mauka) towards the sea (makai) containing a cross section of island resources needed to support a community led by an ali’i ‘ai (chief) and managed by a konohiki (overseer and tax collector). Alexander, W.D., Map of the Island of Hawaii, Hawaiian Islands, 1886, Geography and Map. In the above, ahupua’a can be identified in large capital letters on land in the mauka to makai orientation (generally from a coastal point toward the center of the island). Ahupua’a were the main type of land division alt ..read more

Antonio García Cubas is recognized as one of the most skilled and accomplished cartographers in Mexican history. Out of his extensive body of work, which serves to chronicle Mexican geography through the country’s rapid modernizations of the late 19th century, one of García Cubas’s most visually memorable works may be the Atlas pintoresco é histórico de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos from 1885. García Cubas was born in 1832 in Mexico City, where he would spend his career. Orphaned at a young age, he grew up to study geography and became a member of the Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadístic ..read more

At the southern end of the Appalachian Highlands sits the Warrior, Cahaba, and Coosa coal fields, situated in an area natively occupied by the Cherokee and Muskogean-speaking tribes in present-day Alabama. In 1819 the state of Alabama was admitted to the Union out of Mississippi Territory, and the map below, produced by John Melish in 1820, details what was known about the area around the time of the state’s founding. Cherokee lands were demarcated to the east, with Chickasaw lands to the west. Towards the center of the state is Black Warrior Town, a Creek settlement marked on the map as “burn ..read more

Venus, one of the brightest planets in the night sky, was observed by people throughout history. The planet was given various names by ancient astronomers. In this post I am sharing maps of Venus dated from the 1700s to the early 1990s. Giovanni Domenico Cassini, an astronomer and topographer, observed the planets in our solar system from the mid 1600s until his death in 1712. He played a crucial role in the establishment of the Paris Observatory in 1671. Featured above is an illustration from an atlas that was published in 1754 by Nicolas de Fer. The illustration shows an image of Venus based ..read more

Hâcı Ahmed. Kemâliyle nakş olunmuş cümle cihan numûnesi. 1795. Geography and Map Division. This Valentine’s Day we wanted to do something romantic for our readers and bare our oversized heart-shaped map for all to see. This beautiful heart-shaped (or cordiform projection) map is one of 24 impressions made in 1795. The original map and accompanying geographic treatise were carved into six cherry wood blocks in 1559–60, but were confiscated and forgotten before they could be printed. It wasn’t until the late-18th century that the blocks resurfaced in the Council of Ten Archives and maps were pr ..read more

Curious about our collections? Please join Geography and Map Division staff tomorrow for a virtual orientation to our collections and resources! Date: Tuesday, February 13, 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 Geography and Map collections at the Library of Congress. This orientation session, aimed at the general public, will highlight a wide range of cartographic formats and subject matter. The focus of the session will be on maps and online resour ..read more