The Geography & Map Division recently digitized an important set of maps of Austria-Hungary. In this post, we explore these 19th- and early 20th-century maps and the layers of history and language that they contain.
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The Geography and Map Division has thousands of topographic maps in its collections but some have a unique take on the rest of the category. This blog post highlights several maps and models that stand out as being different in form and shape from other topographic maps including a chocolate bar map, a pop up map, and a map made of compressed paper among others.
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100 years after the events of the Boston Tea Party, two wealthy septuagenarian sisters from Glastonbury, CT found themselves fighting against taxation without representation. The curious case involves the seizure and auctioning of their pet cows, including two calves named Martha Washington and Abigail Adams.
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The Library of Congress has launched a new project to improve the text supporting keyword searches in Chronicling America. Read about our recent work and future plans to make this valuable historical collection easier to explore.
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In our current era, we tend to glorify the author and hold the original text in high esteem. We regard Shakespeare with particular reverence, and his text is held aloft as the sacrosanct work of genius. But this was not always the case. In fact, an altered edition of Romeo and Juliet was widely printed and preferred over Shakespeare’s authoritative text for over a century.
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In the early years of the Maryland colony, Lord Baltimore’s name referred to his estates, an entire county, and a port town that would one day become the third largest city in the United States… 30 miles northeast of its current location.
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Join the Geography and Map Division and Philip Lee Phillips Society for this free in-person event, taking place on Thursday, May 8, 2025, from 1:15 PM to 4:15 PM in the Jefferson Building. Together we will will explore the significance of map surrounds through engaging talks about cartographic self portraits and the watermarks in the William Hacke atlas, along with a themed display.
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On April 21, 1775, The New-Hampshire Gazette and Historical Chronicle published an article titled “Bloody News,” reporting the first hostilities of what would become the Revolutionary War. On April 19, 1775, British troops fired on the men of the Lexington Company who had already begun to disperse, beginning an unplanned and bloody battle. The descriptions …
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One hundred years ago, on April 10, 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald celebrated the publication of what he considered to be his greatest work of literature, The Great Gatsby. He had high hopes for the novel’s success in both sales and critical reception. “It will sell about 80,000 copies,” he supposed, “but I may be wrong.” In fact, he was wrong twice.
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Curious about our collections? Please join Geography and Map Division staff next week for a virtual orientation to our collections and resources!
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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.
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Happy Giant Bible Day! On April 4, 1952, philanthropist and bibliophile, Lessing J. Rosenwald (1891-1979) donated the Giant Bible of Mainz to the Library of Congress. He made this gift exactly five hundred years after the manuscript’s scribe first put quill to parchment. In keeping with Rosenwald’s commitment to encouraging broad cultural engagement with the history of the illustrated book, the Library’s digitization allows book lovers near and far to encounter every page of this important and evocative manuscript.
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The following is a guest post by Regan Chambers-Kleiner who recently interned at the Library in the Serial and Government Publications Division as a part of the Archives, History and Heritage Advanced Internship Program (AHHA). From September to November, I worked as an intern with the Library’s AHHA program. My project was to review and …
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A closer look at the Library’s copy of the Eliot Algonquian Bible (1663) reveals a connection to the local history of the greater Washington area. Family birth and death inscriptions within the Bible show that it was once owned by the famous Gaither family of Gaithersburg in Montgomery County, Maryland. How and when did it arrive at the Library? Read this post to learn more.
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For centuries, there have been unconventional beliefs about the shape of the Earth. This post provides a historical overview of alternative theories about the Earth’s form.
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This fall, the Serial and Government Publications Division’s Archives, History, and Heritage Advanced (AHHA) intern, Jala Robertson, researched and wrote 10 research guides about African American and Hispanic American people and groups using the Chronicling America Historic American Newspapers database. Take a look at Robertson’s guides on Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe, the Tuskegee Airmen and more!
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During the 19th century in both England and America, physical fitness became an important aspect of structured health and education programs. In 1880, recognizing the public’s growing interest in the use of dumbbells and clubs, New York City champion strongman Guss Hill (1858 – 1937) made his publishing debut with an early exercise book.
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Learn about the development of the oscillating scan mirror (a key component of Virginia Norwood’s multi-spectral scanner), which made Landsat I a success, changing the science of earth observation forever. The development of the oscillating scan mirror is documented in the “Virginia Norwood Papers,” a new collection in the Geography & Map Division of the Library of Congress.
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In Chronicling America’s new interface, the image viewer provides tools to help you inspect and interactive with each individual newspaper page. Here are our top five tips for navigating, clipping, and sharing!
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Join us on Tuesday, February 11 at 3pm Eastern for a virtual orientation to GIS and geospatial resources at the Library of Congress.
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In the digital age, we have all been spoiled by the ease with which we can share our written ideas with others, but let’s take a moment to appreciate the skill, time, and resources that were once required to bring a text into print. This post examines the processes involved in operating a printing press in the 15th-18th centuries.
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The Rare Book and Special Collections Division will partner with the Library’s “By the People” crowdsource transcription project and Pennsylvania State University’s Douglass Day initiative to transcribe the contents of the African American Perspectives Collection. Read on to learn more about Douglass Day, transcription, and other efforts to preserve and share the collection assembled by Daniel Murray, a legendary figure in the history of the Library of Congress.
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Most American cities are encompassed by one or more counties and overlap with them in jurisdiction, but there are 41 unique cases known as independent cities, and 38 of them are in Virginia. Read more to learn why!
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This post will explore how to use the unique features of a newspaper title record to find detailed information about historic newspapers in the Chronicling America digital collection.
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In our second post on Chronicling America’s new interface, learn how to browse newspapers at the title level, and use the interactive map.
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During the hand press era, composing the text of a book was among the most technical elements of the printing process. This post describes the labor involved in typesetting and imposition.
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This post highlights some of the maps that were scanned and made available on the Library website in 2024.
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2024 was another busy year for the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. As a way of reflecting on this past year and looking forward to the next, we are here sharing some new resources as well as past memories. Happy 2025!
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Chronicling America has a new look! This post explores how to use the advanced search features and how to limit your search by title, date, language, and ethnicity.
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In creating Consider the Consequences! authors Doris Webster (1885-1967) and Mary Alden Hopkins (1876-1960) were toying with a new idea: write a book that provided readers with narrative options. The result was the first choice-based novel ever printed as well as the precursor to the Choose Your Own Adventure book series that would become popular later in the 20th century.
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An exploration of map scales and comparative areas, from miles and representative fractions to…the Midwest?
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Though ice skating has been around for centuries, it only came into its current form and fashion in the mid-19th century and was still taking shape as a professional and competitive sport when Charlotte Oelschlägel (1898 – 1984) wrote The Hippodrome Skating Book in 1916.
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December 8, 2024 marked the 150th anniversary of the 1874 transit of Venus, the phenomena when Venus crosses between the Earth and the Sun. The event prompted many countries to plan scientific expeditions to the areas directly beneath the travel line in hopes of getting the best view. Read about how the transit was anticipated in the daily news!
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Most of us learned in school that Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, which is not entirely accurate. He is, however, conventionally credited with inventing the process of mass-producing individual pieces of type. These innovations in moveable type allowed for books to be efficiently produced in large quantities and revolutionized the human ability to share ideas. This post explains the multi-step process of mass-producing metal letters to be used in printing texts.
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This post features maps of the World’s Columbian Exposition that took place in 1893. Images of a guide map, souvenir maps, floor plans, and bird’s eye views are included in the post.
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This post covers the cultural geographic origins and spread of the gift giver figure through various maps.
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Before today’s thin, brittle paper made from wood pulp became standard, paper was handcrafted by experts using linen rags as the essential material. This post explains the process by which rag paper was made in Europe for centuries.
Read MoreCurious about our collections? Please join Geography and Map Division staff next week for a virtual orientation to our collections and resources!
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Historic newspapers have a wealth of fun puzzles. Try your hand at these number puzzles and riddles and let us know if you’ve solved them!
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The deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean can be found about 100 miles north of Puerto Rico, in a trench where two tectonic plates meet. This post discusses the Puerto Rico Trench’s unique geology and efforts to map it.
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Learn about the early history of the Women’s Bureau, including the maps they produced to make the case for establishing standards for women in the workplace.
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An interview with researcher Caleb Franz who utilized the collections at the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room for his new book “The Conductor: The Story of Rev. John Rankin, Abolitionism’s Essential Founding Father.” Read about his researcher experience, cool discoveries, and tips and recommendations for navigating the collections.
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Mary Renault (pseudonym of Eileen Mary Challans) was a British lesbian writer best known for her widely read historical-fiction novels set in ancient Greece.
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This blog post highlights unusual maps found in the Geography and Map Division collections including a chart of port cities, a history of the Civil War, and a railroad organization chart.
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This post highlights the Rochambeau map collection, which was purchased by the Library of Congress in 1883.
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In Anglophone communities during the 16th – 18th centuries, a common custom was for book owners to add in their book a note of ownership in either English or in Latin. The Rare Book and Special Collections Division holds a number of examples of these notes that offer a curious study for those interested in historical linguistics.
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This blog post examines the history of Marvel comic book characters Agatha Harkness and Wanda Maximoff and their relationship to the witches’ road featuring titles from the comic book collection at the Library of Congress
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Celebrate Geography Awareness Week and GIS Day at the Library of Congress on Thursday, November 21st from 5pm to 8pm with Mapping Our World, a special Live! at the Library event diving into ocean mapping and exploration! This event will feature a collections display, interactive games and crafts, and a talk by Dr. Vicki Ferrini of Columbia University on the history of ocean mapping.
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