Guides to the Collections

Special Presentations and Themes

Special online presentations, which may be based on a published cartobibliography, an exhibition, or a topic of special interest provide unique views and interpretations of the division’s cartographic materials. These online presentations are organized into seven themes noted below. Within these broad theme areas, the numerous special presentations highlight topics of particular interest or importance.

Themes (U.S. and non-U.S.)

• Map Collections of the Library of Congress (All available digitized items from 1500-2003)
• General Maps (Maps that are larger than a city or town, but not categorized by any particular theme)
• Cities and Towns
• Conservation and Environment
• Cultural Landscapes
• Discovery and Exploration
• Military Battles and Campaigns
• Transportation and Communication

Special Online Presentations

• Afghanistan, A Selection of Historical Maps
• Agnese Atlas (1544)
• American Colonization Society Collection: Maps of Liberia 1830-1870
• American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies 1750-1789
  • Rochambeau Map Collection
• American Women [direct link to the Geography and Map chapter]
• Civil War Maps
  • Hotchkiss Map Collection
  • Sherman Map Collection (Scheduled for 2005)
• Contemporary Maps (1960--Present)
• Geographical Fun Atlas (1868)
• Gutiérrez - Map of America (1562)
• Indian Land Cessions in the U.S. (1784-1894) [direct link to 67 U.S. maps]
• The Luso-Hispanic World in Maps - a cartobibliography
• National Atlases: Presenting the Nation's Cultural Geography
• Macau: a Selection of Cartographic Images
• Mapping the National Parks
• Maps in Our Lives
• Ortelius Atlas (1570)
• Panoramic Maps 1847-1929
• Places in the News Archive (Maps that appeared in Places in the News)
• Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age: Nineteen- and Early-Twentieth-Century Perspectives
• Railroad Maps Collection 1828-1900
• Waldseemüller 1507 Map of the World
• George Washington: Surveyor and Mapmaker
• World War II Military Situation Maps (June 6, 1944 to July 26, 1945)

Maps in other Library of Congress online venues

The Geography and Map Division collaborates with other divisions in the Library of Congress (LC) to educate traditionally, as well as digitally. Maps in other LC online venues provides a listing of electronic surrogates to these Exhibits and Global Gateways.

• 1492: An Ongoing Voyage (Exhibit)
• The African-American Mosaic: African-American Culture and History (Exhibit)
• The American Treasures of the Library of Congress (Exhibit)
• Ancient Manuscripts: From the Desert Libraries of Timbuktu (Exhibit)
• The Atlantic World: America and the Netherlands (Global Gateway)
• Earth as Art: a Landsat Perspective (Exhibit)
• France in America (Global Gateway)
• In the Beginning Was the Word: The Russian Church and Native Alaskan Cultures (Exhibit)
• John Bull & Uncle Sam: Four Centuries of British-American Relations (Exhibit)
• Language of the Land: Journeys into Literary America (Exhibit)
• Los Angeles Mapped (Exhibit)
• Islamic Manuscripts from Mali - [Timbuktu in Space and Time - Maps]
• Meeting of Frontiers (Russia and the United States) (Global Gateway)
• The Portuguese in America (Exhibit)
• Religion and the Founding of the American Republic (Exhibit)
• Rivers, Edens & Empires: Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of America (Exhibit)
• Scrolls from the Dead Sea: The Ancient Library of Qumran and Modern Scholarship (Exhibit)
• Spain, the United States, & The American Frontier: Historias Paralelas (Global Gateway)
• Temple of Liberty: Building the Capitol for a New Nation (Exhibit)
• Thomas Jefferson (Exhibit)
• Witness and Response: September 11 Acquisitions at the Library of Congress (Exhibit)
• The Wizard of Oz: An American Fairy Tale (Exhibit)
• The World Treasures of the Library of Congress: Beginnings (Exhibit)

Collection Connections

Collection Connections provide activity ideas for using the online collections to develop critical thinking skills. Part of The Learning Page, Collection Connections feature teacher created lesson plans based on online primary resources at the Library of Congress.

• Civil War Maps
• Exploration & Explorers
• Maps of Liberia
• National Parks Maps
• Panoramic Maps
• Railroad Maps

Cartobibliographies and Finding Aids

Cartobibliographies and collection finding aids provide bibliographic descriptions or listings of individual maps, as well as citations for use in locating maps in the G&M collections. They are generally based on a theme, time period, or geographic areas. For more information regarding searching and viewing Encoded Archival Description (EAD) finding aids, go to EAD at the Library of Congress.

Online Finding Aids & Encoded Archival Documents (EADs)

• The Luso-Hispanic World in Maps (Cartobibliography)
• Oregon Department of Transportation City Maps (EAD)
• Herold J. Wiens Collection - China, 1942-1952 (EAD)

• Atlantic Neptune Collection (EAD)
• Maps of Ireland (Cartobibliography)
• Snyder Collection (EAD)

Examples of Other Published Works

• A List of Geographical Atlases in the Library of Congress, with Bibliographical Notes (1909, expanded in: 1914, 1920, 1958, 1963, 1973)
• United States Atlases; a Catalog of National, State, County, City and Regional Atlases in the Library of Congress, and Cooperating Libraries (1950, expanded in: 1953)
• Maps showing Explorer's Routes, Trails and Early Roads in the United States; an Annotated List (1962)
• Land Ownership Maps; a Checklist of Nineteenth Century United States County Maps in the Library of Congress (1967)
• Ward Maps of United States Cities: a Selective Checklist of Pre-1900 Maps in the Library of Congress (1975)

[Special Presentations and Themes | Maps in other LC online venues | Collection Connections | Cartobibliographies and Finding Aids]