A History of America in 100 Maps
I’m proud to announce that my new book–A History of America in 100 Maps–is now available in the US! It is co-published by the British Library Press and the University...
Civil War maps Posts
The Coast Survey maps of slavery: new discoveries!
In April I was privileged to deliver the Vorhees Lecture in the History of Cartography at the Library of Virginia. Our theme was Civil War mapping, and the Library organized...
Sherman’s Christmas gift to Lincoln
On December 22, 1864–150 years ago this week–Sherman telegraphed President Lincoln a brief but powerful message, “I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah.” Sherman...
How Sherman’s march helped Lincoln win in 1864
We’ve just survived another election season, with the attendant (and often hyperbolic) claims that the nation’s future hinges on the outcome. In the aftermath, it seems fitting to recall another...
An interactive map of slavery
Lincoln Mullen has just posted a wonderful interactive map of slavery in the United States. His inspiration begins with the 1861 Coast Survey map of slavery, which identified the ratio...
Mapping the progress of the Union Army
One of the most intriguing cartographic developments in the nineteenth century was the effort to map the past. Experiments with historical mapping can be found in the eighteenth century, but...
Mapping early Colorado and the University of Denver
On February 25 I delivered an address on the University of Denver campus to commemorate the 150th anniversary of our institution. My goal was to go beyond the history of...
Mapping the threat of slavery, in German!
In early January I had the privilege of visiting the map collection of “PJ” Mode in New York City. PJ has acquired hundreds of maps around the theme of persuasive...
Newly discovered anti-slavery map
Last weekend I was at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware for a symposium on historic maps. While there I met several map collectors and dealers, including Tom Hall, the curator...
Civil War Louisiana, measured and mapped
My last post examined a map of Georgia and Alabama made by the Office of the Census during the Civil War, located in the National Archives. This map of Louisiana...