Mapping Magic–and Mayhem–in Jazz Age Harlem
In 2016, the Beinecke Library at Yale University paid $100,000 to add Elmer Simms Campbell’s energetic profile of interwar Harlem to its celebrated collection of black history and culture. The...
art and cartography Posts
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...
New online collection of “persuasive” maps
Cornell University has just posted an online collection of “persuasive” maps owned by Paul J. “PJ” Mode, who has been building this collection for years. Some might describe these as “propaganda” maps,...
New exhibit of pictorial maps!
This week the University of Denver will open an exhibit of pictorial maps drawn from the private collection of Wes Brown. The exhibit is curated by Rebecca Macey, and located in...
An imaginary map of temperance
In the archives of the American Antiquarian Society lies a strange and captivating map with an even more unlikely story. The map dates to 1838, though this copy was printed...
Schoolgirl maps from the early republic
I’ve been preoccupied lately with student manuscript maps, generally made by girls between 11 and 18 attending one of the many female academies of the American northeast between 1800 and 1830. “Map...
How an artist reinvented the map in WWII
More Americans came into contact with maps during the Second World War than in any previous moment in American history. From the elaborate and innovative inserts in the National Geographic to the...