The twisted history of political mapping
We live in what is endlessly described as an era of unprecedented partisanship, with Americans polarized into red and blue camps and no convergence in sight. But much of the...
19th-century images Posts
A radically different kind of west
In the decades after the Civil War, Americans rushed headlong into the west. By 1890 Kansas and Nebraska had over a million inhabitants, and over six million lived in the...
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...
Alexander von Humboldt: master of infographics
Last month I presented a paper at the Nebenzahl Lectures on the History of Cartography in Chicago. My subject was cartographic innovation during the early American republic — essentially the...
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...
The earliest American attempt to chart climate?
Last week I was delighted to find what I believe is the earliest American attempt to chart patterns of climate and its effect upon agriculture and vegetation, drawn by Simeon...
Mapping vice in San Francisco
David Rumsey has uploaded a rare 1885 map of San Francisco that represents the height of the anti-Chinese movement in California. The map accompanied a lengthy report of the city’s...