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...
19th-century images Posts
Mapping Sherman’s March
I recently came across one of the earliest attempts by the Superintendent of the Census to incorporate census data onto a map, made during the Civil War. The map is...
The nation’s first electoral map
A few weeks ago I was working through the massive 1883 Statistical Atlas of the United States,and found what I believe is the first attempt to map election returns in...
Lincoln, maps, and the invasion of East Tennessee
In the spring of 1863–exactly 150 years ago–the Coast Survey was in the midst of an effort to comprehensively map the rebellion on a series of regional maps at a...
New exhibit of historic maps at the University of Denver
This week the University of Denver will open its remodeled library, although the building has been renamed the “academic commons.” The new space is beautiful, and will include an exhibit...
Mapping the efficiency of slave labor
Recently I wrote a piece for the Disunion series on Edward Atkinson, who creatively used a map to demonstrate the inefficiency of slave labor. Atkinson is perhaps best known for...
The future of thematic mapping?
Several people have sent me this population map, made by Brandon Martin-Anderson, which represents one dot for each person counted in the 2010 U.S. Census. The link takes you to...
The legacy of Francis Amasa Walker: graphic, infographic, and cartographic
This past week I wrote a piece for Fast Company Design about the legacy of Francis Amasa Walker. As the Superintendent of the 9th Census in 1870, Walker took the...
Civil War maps at the Library of Congress
On November 12th I was lucky enough to catch the opening of the new Civil War exhibit at the Library of Congress. Thanks to the curatorial work of Ed Redmond...
The many maps in Spielberg’s “Lincoln”
I just saw Steven Speilberg’s film “Lincoln,” and was amazed by the space given to maps on the set. The maps are never referenced directly, for the plot of the...