Web articles
and commentaries on specific topics
in the History of Cartography
9. The Americas
(The only online bibliography for the history of cartography. The
monthly additions are indicated thus, e.g. {March
2002} at the end of the
entry. Since the symbols { } are not used elsewhere, you can search on
those elements [enter Ctrl+F], e.g. 2002} will find entries added
at any time in that year)
Please notify any corrections or additions to the editor, Tony
Campbell:
Make sure to consult its copyright statement
before using any of the texts below
America (early maps) (facsimiles
of about 25 articles on early nautical charts, the mapping of America, etc., by Ernest-
Théodore Hamy; select 'Recherche' and enter 'hamy' under 'auteur', and choose TIFF or PDF
format via 'Téléchargement de l'ouvrage' - from the Bibliothèque nationale de France's
"Gallica") {December, 2003}
America's west coast
(full, searchable text (but not the charts), from the California Digital Library, of:
Howse, Derek, and Norman J. W. Thrower, editors A Buccaneer's Atlas: Basil Ringrose's South
Sea Waggoner. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1992). [The atlas is in the
National Maritime Museum and the charts will be added 'soon' to their Charts Online) {March, 2004}
Discovery of America. 'Cosmografías americanas' (five texts relating to
the discovery and early mapping of America, available [in their entirety?] in very large pdf
files, by Apian, Herrera y Tordesillas, Ortelius, Ptolemy and Waldseemüller - Memoria Chilena)
{January, 2006}
Discovery of America. ‘El Segundo Viaje Colombino’ (includes Capítulo XVII: ‘Descubrimientos geográficos del segundo viaje colombino
y su reflejo en la cartografía’; complete text in pdf, in sections, of the doctoral thesis by
María Montserrat León Guerrero - Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, 2002) {March, 2005}
'The Gulf
Stream' (by James C. Hobbs, accompanying the 2002 exhibition at the
Bienes Center for the Literary Arts, Broward County Libraries Division
(Ft. Lauderdale)) {August, 2002}
'Itinera per Indias Occidentales' (access to the much enlarged, but
only medium resolution, images of maps relating to the Americas is via a 'subject' [i.e. geographical area] option, spread over
many screens; or enter 'cartografia' into 'Word search' (which produced descriptions of
228 items - those with a globe symbol having an image); site also in Italian - a joint
project involving the collections of the Biblioteca Angelica, Rome and the Biblioteca
Nacional "José Martì", Havana) {January, 2004}
’Mapping America: 500 Years of
Cartographic Depictions’ (texts introducing a selection of seven small scans from the exhibit at Vassar College Libraries,
February-May 2007: Ronald D. Patkus, ‘Maps and Atlases Relating to America in the Vassar College Library’; Philippe Thibault,
‘Studying Historical Maps in the Vassar Classroom’; Mary Ann Cunningham, ‘Contemplating the Art of Cartography’) {February,
2007}
'Raisz’s History of American Cartography Timelines' (providing links, for educational purposes, to Raisz's 1937 timecharts:
'Surveys & official maps' and 'Private cartography' - John Krygier's 'Making Maps: DIY Cartography' blog) {September, 2007}
+ North America.
'Cartes d'Amérique du Nord' [Part of: 'Cartes des Amériques dans les
Collections de la Bibliothèque Albert Ier, Bruxelles', 1992 - with a
description and bibliography for each map] {October 2000}
North America. 'Explorers, Surveyors and Mappers'
(notes on the explorations and mapping of David Thompson and Alexander Mackenzie by Mark Cheves in the American Surveyor 29
May 2007, with a link to the full illustrated article in pdf form)
{May, 2007}
North America.
'Mapping the French Empire in North America' (arranged in four illustrated sections, "A
Virtual Exhibit based on selections from Buisseret, David. Mapping the French Empire in North
America: An Interpretive Guide to the Exhibition Mounted at the Newberry Library on the
Occasion of the 17th Annual Conference of the French Colonial Historical Society (Chicago: The
Newberry Library, 1991")) {July, 2005}
North America. 'The Story of Maps: Mesoamerica in North America' (notes, by
Roberto Rodriguez and Patrisia Gonzales, accompanying an exhibition in 2004 at the Charles E.
Young Research Library, UCLA, with, about half-way down, a list of 'Maps on Display at UCLA Exhibit';
this starts with the J. Disturnell Mapa de los estados unidos de Méjico (1847), whose
reference to the Hopi and to the ancient Aztec homeland (Aztlán) prompted the exhibit and the
note) {January, 2006}
North
America. Velasco Map. 'The So-Called "Velasco Map": A Case of Forgery?' (on the MS map of
the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, by David Y. Allen in: Coordinates:
Online Journal of the Map and Geography Round Table, American Library Association, ser. A,
no.5 (February 14, 2006)) {February, 2006}
Canada. ArchiviaNet: On-line research tool. 'Maps, plans and charts' (a
searchable database, of approximately 50,000 early maps, plans and charts
from the 16th century up to the 1980s, about 1,500 of them supplied with
images [further images will be added annually] - Library and Archives Canada) {September, 2003}
Canada - British
Columbia. (a 133-page pdf inventory of the collection of 1,865 maps (predominantly 1880-1930), formed by
R.C. (Bob) Harris, relating to historical trails and events concerning the fur trade, gold rushes, Royal
Engineers and early mining - Special Collections Division, University of British Columbia Library) {February,
2008}
Canada - British Columbia.
'Historicalmapsbc.ca' ('a database of all historical maps covering the area of what is now
British Columbia up to joining Confederation in 1871' - a work in progress, originally compiled
by Bruce I. Ward and R.C. (Bob) Harris, to which images will be added) {January, 2006}
Canada. 'Colonial
Archives' (searching Keywords for map found descriptions of 53 items, from the
Vatican and other non-Canadian repositories, held as microfilm in the Library and Archives Canada) {January, 2004}
Canada. 'Conflict on the Connecticut' (Alec McEwen - Mercator's World 6:5,
2001 - about the Republic of Indian Stream, in an area claimed by both the US and Canada)
{September, 2001}
Canada. 'Explorers, Surveyors and
Mappers' (13-page illustrated pdf article by Marc S. Cheves in The American Surveyor
July-August 2006, featuring particularly David Thompson and Alexander MacKenzie)
{September, 2006}
Canada.
'Fortified Towns of New France' (commentary by Daniel Scalberg, 1989, on six slides, about
Québec, Montreal and Louisbourg - Newberry Library Slide Set #12) {April, 2006}
Canada. 'The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents: Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit
Missionaries in New France 1610-1791' (Vol. LVII. Lower Canada, Iroquois, Ottawas
1672-1673 (Cleveland, 1899), edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites, computerized transcription by
Tomasz Mentrak. The title continues: 'The Original French, Latin, and Italian Texts, with
English Translations and Notes; Illustrated by Portraits, Maps, and Facsimiles'. A 318-page
book, though the maps seem not to have been captured) {September, 2006}
Canada.
'Mapping the French Empire in North America' (arranged in four illustrated sections, "A
Virtual Exhibit based on selections from Buisseret, David. Mapping the French Empire in North
America: An Interpretive Guide to the Exhibition Mounted at the Newberry Library on the
Occasion of the 17th Annual Conference of the French Colonial Historical Society (Chicago: The
Newberry Library, 1991"). {July, 2005}
Canada -
Newfoundland and Labrador (a searchable bibliography, describing
'printed and manuscript maps of Newfoundland and Labrador in libraries
and archives in Newfoundland,
other parts of Canada, the United States, and England' - Alberta Auringer
Wood) {November, 2001}
Canada - Saint-Pierre &
Miquelon ('Cartographie des îles Saint-Pierre et Miquelon du XVIe au
XIXe siècle: toponymie et représentation variées d'une balise cartographique
de la côte atlantique' - illustrated with diagrams, etc., a paper delivered
at ICHC 2003, by Marc A. Cormier) {July, 2003}
Canada.
Velasco Map. 'The So-Called "Velasco Map": A Case of Forgery?' (on the MS map of the
northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, by David Y. Allen in: Coordinates:
Online Journal of the Map and Geography Round Table, American Library Association, ser. A,
no.5 (February 14, 2006)) {February, 2006}
+ online exhibitions
* works with a theoretical (often literary) dimension
Academic cartography. 'A History of Twentieth-Century American Academic
Cartography' (Robert McMaster and Susanna McMaster, in 'Exploratory
Essays Initiative: Twentieth-Century Cartography' (edited by Mark Monmonier
and David Woodward) - pdf version of the chapter in the special issue of
Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 29:3 (July 2002))
{September, 2003}
Cities & Towns. 'Early Cities of the Americas' (articles on: Baltimore, Boston,
Charleston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Amsterdam, New Orleans, Philadelphia,
Quebec City, Salt Lake City, Saint Louis, Santa Fe, San Francisco,
Washington, D.C. - Common-place The Interactive Journal of Early American
Life, Vol. 3:4 (2003)) {August, 2003}
Civil War. 'History of Mapping the Civil War' (an illustrated essay, arranged
under the following headings: Prewar Mapping, Union Mapping, Confederate Mapping, Field
Mapping, Official Battlefield Maps, Commercial Mapping, and Postwar Mapping - reproduced from
Civil War Maps: an Annotated List of Maps and Atlases in the Library of Congress,
compiled by Richard W. Stephenson, 2nd edition (Washington: Library of Congress, 1989)). [Also here].
{November, 2005}
Coasts. ‘Notes on the Coast of the United States’ (eight memoirs, covering the east and
Gulf coasts, written in 1861 by the Blockade Strategy Board, with links to the related charts -
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) {March, 2005}
Cold War. 'American Cartographic Transformations during the
Cold War' (John Cloud, in 'Exploratory Essays Initiative: Twentieth-
Century Cartography' (edited by Mark Monmonier and David Woodward) - pdf
version of the chapter in the special issue of Cartography and Geographic
Information Science, 29:3 (July 2002)) {September, 2003}
Indian.
'Powhatan’s Deerskin Mantle with Shell Map, ca. 1608' (a web essay with texts and comment
on the "ornamental deerskin cloak, with shell beadwork symbolically mapping the balance of
power among southeastern Indians of the Chesapeake tidewater region", with illustrations
including the White and de Bry maps of Virginia - Deborah Taylor-Pearce) {July, 2005}
Lewis & Clark. 'On This Day With Lewis and
Clark' (a lesson plan, using scans of a range of early maps from different collections for historical exercises - National
Endowment for the Humanities) {December, 2007}
‘Maps &
Atlases’ (‘WWW-VL: History: USA: Maps & Atlases’ - a gateway site, with links
classified by date, subject and area, maintained by George Laughead Jr) {March, 2005}
NARA. National Archives & Records Administration ('Inventories, Preliminary Inventories,
and Special Lists': search on 'map' for links to published leaflets on various aspects of NARA's
cartographic holdings - U.S. National Archives & Records Administration) {March, 2004}
National
Parks. 'Mapping the National Parks' (includes the following texts: About the Collection, A
Brief History of Mapping the National Parks, Selected Bibliography, Related Resources -
Library of Congress, 'American Memory')
'NOAA History' (biographical
sketches, 'Stories and Tales', 'Tools of the Trade', etc. - National Oceanic & Atmospheric
Administration) {September, 2006}
Panoramic Maps. 'Bird's Eye Views' (illustrated article by Tom McKay, in: Exchange
(newsletter published by the Office of Local History at the Wisconsin Historical Society), 29,
2 (1987) - updated 2002) {July, 2002}
Road maps. 'Road and
Roadmap Links' (the first place to look for links relating to US roads - Road Map
Collectors Association) {November, 2005}
Road maps. 'American Promotional Road Mapping in the
Twentieth Century' (James R. Akerman, in 'Exploratory Essays Initiative:
Twentieth-Century Cartography' (edited by Mark Monmonier and David Woodward)
- pdf version of the chapter in the special issue of Cartography and
Geographic Information Science, 29:3 (July 2002)) {September, 2003}
Road maps. 'Cartophile's Home Page'
(reminiscences from Don Shorock about time working as a cartographer for various US oil
companies) {April, 2006}
Soils (select 'Soils.enl' for a database, searchable by keyword, of
soil maps published prior to 1950 from the State University of New York
at Stony Brook's nationwide collection - compiled by Jessica McEachern
under the supervision of David Allen) {December, 2002}
Surveying
(a series of online articles in Backsights - Surveyors Historical Society)
{March, 2006}
Surveying.
Professional Surveyor Magazine (since March 1996, the monthly magazine has included a
'History Corner', usually featuring a United States subject) {January, 2006}
Timelines. 'Raisz’s History of American Cartography Timelines' (providing links, for educational purposes, to Raisz's 1937
timecharts: 'Surveys & official maps' and 'Private cartography' - John Krygier's 'Making Maps: DIY Cartography' blog)
{September, 2007}
'U.S. General Land Office Survey Plat Maps' (illustrated
article by Deborah Kmetz, in: Exchange (newsletter published by
the Office of Local History at the Wisconsin Historical Society), 37, 3
(1995) - updated 2002) {July, 2002}
'USGS
Geography Fact Sheets' (includes, e.g., 'Historical Mapping', 'Looking for an Old Aerial
Photograph', 'Using Maps in Genealogy' - see also Booklets (e.g.
'Topographic Mapping')) {April, 2006}
'Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way' (one of the 'Popular
Cartography Exhibits' from the 2004 Reading Popular Cartography Seminar at the Hermon Dunlap
Smith Center for the History of Cartography, Newberry Library, Chicago) {September, 2005}
'Zoom into Maps' ('Maps help us make sense of our world';
'Analyzing a Map'; 'What can be learned from historic maps?' -
introductory texts accompanying the Library of Congress's 'American
Memory' site, illustrated with high resolution MrSID images) {May,
2003}
I am looking for volunteer 'link-scouts' for individual states or US regions. If you might be interested please contact the editor of this page, Tony Campbell:
+ online exhibitions
* works with a theoretical (often literary) dimension
United States - California.
'Three Monuments, One Initial Point' (about the fixing by Col. Henry Washington of the
Initial Point for all future cadastral surveys in southern California in 1852, by Michael A.
Duffy, originally in the California Surveyor 135 (Sept. 2002)) {June, 2006}
United States - California.
‘Union Map Catalog’ (select ‘Images & Stories/Union Catalogue’ for a searchable catalogue
of 3,200 maps, each accompanied by an image of the whole map, some with details, of California
and the West, from three collections (the Huntington Library, the Pasadena Museum of History and
the Altadena Historical Society) developed by Bill Warren and Mario Einaudi; along with images
of 10 notable maps, ranging from the World to California, with descriptions - California Map
Society) {March, 2005; updated September 2005}
United States - Colorado. 'Hayden Survey maps inventory' (a listing, with sample illustrations, of the contents of the Geological and Geographical Atlas of Colorado and portions of adjacent territory, by F.V. Hayden, 1877 - Center of Southwest Studies) {May, 2005}
United States - Florida.
Ives's Memoir, 1856 (the 9-page 'Memoir to accompany a military map of the peninsula of
Florida, south of Tampa Bay, compiled by Lieut. J.C. Ives, Topogl.Engineers'; accompanied by a
'locator' map of 1891-5) {August, 2005}
United States - Illinois - Chicago (the 'Chicago Region Map Collection (Newberry Library)' includes over 750 items described as part of the 'Newberry Library Cartographic Catalog')
+ United States - New
England. The "Percy Map". The
Cartographic Image of New England and Strategic Planning during the
Revolutionary War: An examination of the Douglass-Jefferys-Green Map of
the Most Inhabited Part of New England (1755) - with a
cartobibliography (Matthew H. Edney - Osher Map Library exhibition)
United States - New England.'Reisbeschrijvingen Nieuw-Nederland'
(click on the title-screen map and you are taken to Visscher's
Novi
Belgii, which has at least 14 hotspots leading to explanatory notes,
in Dutch - forming part of 'De Wereld van Peter Stuyvesant')
United States - New
York State. Bibliographies from Stony Brook University (click the 'Advanced Search' banner for access to a series of
bibliographies searchable by keyword, with numerous links to digital
images, see: 2. nysmaps.enl - 'a fairly comprehensive bibliography of
New York State Maps produced before 1830' [David Allen]; 3. Specmaps.enl
- 'a list of New York State maps in the Dept. of Special Collections at
Stony Brook University. Approximately 1700 maps, mostly published
between 1830 and 1940' [David Allen with additions and revisions by
Kristen Nyitray]; 4. Digimaps.enl - 'database with links to digital
images of New York State Maps on the Web. Searchable version of Map
Collection's "New York State Map Pathfinder"' [Jessica McEachern under
supervision of David Allen]; 5. Docmaps.enl - '2,196 maps from New York
State legislative documents prior to 1940' [Jessica McEachern under
supervision of David Allen]; 6. Soils.enl - '1,492 soil maps published
prior to 1950 from Stony Brook's nationwide collection' [Jessica
McEachern under supervision of David Allen]). [Older version available here] {December, 2002}
United States - North Carolina (select 'Cartography and Exploration' for four footnoted
articles, by W.P. Cumming, et al., from the North Carolina Historical Review - North
Carolina Office of Archives & History) {May, 2005}
United States. 'North Carolina Colony and State Maps' (a sizeable collection, arranged
apparently randomly because in call number order, with links to images. NB. some are
redrawings; others seem to be facsimiles - evidently from the North Carolina State Archives) {June, 2006}
United States - Ohio -
Cleveland. ‘Cleveland Cartography’ ("Information about historical and contemporary maps and
map-related happenings in and about Cleveland and the Western Reserve region of northeastern
Ohio", including ‘History (of local maps)’ - William C. Barrow, Cleveland State University
Library) {October, 2004}
United
States - Pennsylvania. 'Descriptive List of the Map Collection:
Manuscript Group 11' (brief descriptions of 953 items in 8
categories, reproducing and supplementing: Martha L. Simonetti,
Descriptive List of the Map Collection in the Pennsylvania State
Archives {click on the title to access the listing} (Harrisburg:
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1976) - Pennsylvania State
Archives) {August, 2002}
United
States - Virginia. 'Powhatan’s Deerskin Mantle with Shell Map, ca. 1608' (a web essay with
texts and comment on the "ornamental deerskin cloak, with shell beadwork symbolically mapping
the balance of power among southeastern Indians of the Chesapeake tidewater region", with
illustrations including the White and de Bry maps of Virginia - Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
{July, 2005}
United States
- Virginia. 'Virginiana' (a bibliography on the state's history,
including 'Maps, Place Names, Boundary Changes, Gazetteers'; also a
related page for Southern History
- Gordon W. Miller, James Madison University) {February, 2003}
United States - Washington
State. 'History Link' ('Online Encyclopedia of Washington State
History', brief historical notes, searchable via decade or topic, e.g.
Cities & Towns, Exploration, Maritime) {May, 2003}
United States - West. ‘Union
Map Catalog’ (select ‘Images & Stories/Union Catalogue’ for a searchable catalogue of 3,200
maps, each accompanied by an image of the whole map, some with details, of California and the
West, from three collections (the Huntington Library, the Pasadena Museum of History and the
Altadena Historical Society) developed by Bill Warren and Mario Einaudi; along with images of
10 notable maps, ranging from the World to California, with descriptions - California Map
Society) {March, 2005; updated September 2005}
United
States - Wisconsin. 'County Atlases' (article by Tom McKay, in:
Exchange (newsletter published by the Office of Local History at
the Wisconsin Historical Society), 31, 2 (1989) - updated 2002)
{July, 2002}
United
States - Wisconsin. 'State Highway Maps' (article by Tom McKay, in:
Exchange (newsletter published by the Office of Local History at
the Wisconsin Historical Society), 32, 4 (1990) - updated 2002)
{July, 2002}
United States -
Wisconsin. 'Turning Points in Wisconsin History' (searching for 'map' found 2003 items,
many of them being mentions on single pages of digitised books, while selecting Map Collection found 386 items
[again several being text]; with associated images - Wisconsin Historical Society)
{February, 2006}
+ 'Cartes d'Amérique
centrale et d'Amérique du sud' [Part of: 'Cartes des Amériques dans les Collections de la
Bibliothèque Albert Ier, Bruxelles', 1992 - with a description and bibliography for each map]
{October 2000}
Cities. 'Early
Cities of the Americas' (articles on: Havana, Lima, Mexico City,
Paramaribo, Potosi - Common-place The Interactive Journal of Early American
Life, Vol. 3:4 (2003)) {August, 2003}
Gulf of Mexico and West Indies. 'The Third Coast: Echoes of Exploration and Discovery' (about three Spanish charts [and one English copy] covering the Gulf of Mexico and the
Caribbean Sea, published by the Dirección de Hidrografía, 1805-21 - Katherine R. Goodwin,
Special Collections Division, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, in The
Compass Rose 17:1 (Fall 2003)) {January, 2004}
Antonio de Herrera Historia General (Madrid, 1601) ('UNLV Libraries' One Millionth
Volume, April, 2004'; commentary by Peter Michel, accompanied by medium res. maps of the 'south
west' (mostly covering Mexico) - University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries){November, 2005}
'Aztec Math
Decoded, Reveals Woes of Ancient Tax Time' (about Aztec land surveying methods, by Brian Handwerk for National
Geographic News, April 3, 2008 - summary of a subscription article in Science,4 April 2008, *20*, 5872,
pp.72-77){April, 2008}
'The Story of Maps: Mesoamerica in North America' (notes, by Roberto
Rodriguez and Patrisia Gonzales, accompanying an exhibition in 2004 at the Charles E. Young
Research Library, UCLA, with, about half-way down, a list of 'Maps on Display at UCLA Exhibit';
this starts with the J. Disturnell Mapa de los estados unidos de Méjico (1847), whose
reference to the Hopi and to the ancient Aztec homeland (Aztlán) prompted the exhibit and the
note) {January, 2006}
Guatemala. 'Conquerors’ hopes dashed' (a
brief note on the 'Lienzo de Quauhquecholla', identified by Florine Asselbergs as the first map of Guatemala, documenting 'a
campaign of conquest through Guatemala by the Spanish conqueror Jorge the Alvarado in 1527-1529' - Netherlands Organisation for
Scientific Research, 2004) {December, 2007}
Cuba. 'The World of
1898: the Spanish-American War' (clicking on 'Maps' leads to selections for Cuba, the
Philippines and Puerto Rico, which in turn lead to map descriptions and images from the
Library of Congress 'American Memory Collection') {January, 2004}
Brazil. 'Cartas, Plantas,
Esboços e Projectos: Cartografia Militar Portuguesa dos Séc. XVIII a XX' (you can search
in English, Portuguese or Spanish [select from 'língua' and then click on 'Base bibliográfica
geral'] for about 12,000 full descriptions [mostly of cartographic items in Portuguese
and of Portugal but with others relating to Spain (particularly the frontier areas), Brazil,
the African possessions, etc.]; there is no geographical index but you can enter a place-name
(in its Portuguese form) under 'Word/Palavra' ['Brasil' found 92 items, 'Brazil' 18] - Projecto
SIDCARTA, Direcção dos Serviços de Engenharia) {April, 2006}
Colombia. 'Cartografía
historica de Colombia' (leading to five illustrated texts: 'Cartografía del Tolima Grande', 'Cartografía histórica del Alto
Magdalena', 'Cartografía histórica del Cesar', 'Cartografía histórica de los territorios boyacenses', and 'Chocó en la
cartografía histórica' (by Luis Fernando González) - La Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango del Banco de la República) {November, 2007}
Galapagos. 'History and
Discovery on the Web' (by John Woram, explaining the author's
innovative Galápagos maps website - Society for the History of
Discoveries annual meeting, September 2001) {February, 2002}
