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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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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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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At the end of the fifteenth century, simplified versions of medical charts featuring an image of the “Zodiac Man” began to appear in Books of Hours. The Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division contains many examples of these printed editions, one of which uses a skeleton in place of the Zodiac Man.
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Today we celebrate a saint who was never canonized and who wanted to live in solitude and prayer. Saint Bruno was a Carthusian monk who took great steps to find a quiet place to live in spite of being asked to assist the Pope in Rome.
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The Borgia world map is described in this post. The map was made during the 15th century by an unknown cartographer. In 1794, the map was purchased at an antique store in Portugal by Cardinal Stefano Borgia.
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Miller Jaquet, Junior Fellow in the Geography and Map Division, explores the cartography of West Africa and what maps reveal about power, politics, and how we got HERE.
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This post features selected maps that were created under the auspices of the Federal Writers’ Project.
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