Azimuthal is a funny word that means bearing or direction. Benjamin Edes Harrison very intentionally selected this map projection in 1941 to illustrate his claim that "the entire conflict pivots around the U.S."
You'll notice that the further away you get from the center, the more distortion you see. Take a look at misshapen Australia for example. Edes noted that this projection has little distortion in the northern hemisphere and that it doesn't break up the lands or seas in conflict during WWII.
His little spinning girl helps further imagine the map made with centrifugal force.
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This map is part of our upcoming digital exhibition “Bending Lines: Maps and Data from Distortion to Deception” and is used to help explain projections and distortion. Opens online on May 27th: leventhalmap.org/bending-lines
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[Image Description: Projection of the globe with the North Pole at the center and the continents bending around the edges. The second image is of a girl wearing a globe as a skirt demonstrating that as she spins the continents get distorted.]
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Details from: Harrison, Richard Edes, "The World Divided." Fortune Magazine. August 1941. 48-49. Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection, Cornell University.
Bending Lines Exhibition Opening
Join us for 𝘼𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝘽𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙇𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨: 𝘾𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨, streaming on May 27 at 1pm to explore the many ways that maps and visual data are used to manipulate information and truth. Register Now: bit.ly/2Z6buIp
Hosted by Leventhal Center’s curator Garrett Dash Nelson, this interactive series will feature conversations with guests about the upcoming 𝘽𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙇𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨: 𝙈𝙖𝙥𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘿𝙖𝙩𝙖 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝘿𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 exhibition.
Boston's Golden Semi-Circle
Now, more than ever, it is crucial to look critically at maps and data, and the objectives of the creator. Is this a simple map of I-95 in Boston, or is there something more that the mapmaker was trying to achieve?
When the Greater Boston Business Magazine published this map, developers were scrambling to buy up land in the suburbs as the Massachusetts economy shifted. The title of the map encapsulates an optimistic view of the development: “Panoramic View of Boston Showing Golden Semicircle.” The Route 128 corridor in suburban Boston is highlighted around the periphery of the city creating this 'golden semi-circle,' and locations of prime industrial parks are highlighted along the highway.
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Coming soon: 𝘽𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙇𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨: 𝙈𝙖𝙥𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘿𝙖𝙩𝙖 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝘿𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 will explore the many ways that maps and visual data have been used for centuries to manipulate information and truth. Opens online on May 27th.
Want to learn more and join in the conversation? Tune in to our series of live talks, 𝘼𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝘽𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙇𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨: 𝘾𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨, a series of interactive events hosted by Leventhal Center’s curator Garrett Dash Nelson, and featuring guests who give context to the exhibition's themes and content.
Learn more about the exhibition and the series of live talks here: bit.ly/2Z6buIp
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[Image description: Map of eastern Massachusetts, focused on a pictorial illustration of Boston. The city is surrounded by a i-95, a highway, highlighted in yellow with industrial parks represented by orange dots.]
Detail from: Greater Boston Business Magazine. "Panoramic view of Boston showing golden semicircle." Map. 1959.
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Greater Boston Business Magazine. "Panoramic view of Boston showing golden semicircle." Map. 1959.
Happy #dayofdh2020, a celebration of the Digital Humanities!
At the Leventhal Map & Education Center, we believe that the Geohumanities offer some of the best opportunities to learn, think, and experiment at the intersection between digital tools and humanistic inquiry. By bringing together cartography, geography, design, art, history, and computer programming, we are working to understand space and place in new ways.
Here's a fun animation of sixteen maps in our Atlascope collection spinning like a pinwheel around the intersection of Boylston and Dartmouth streets. Digital humanities methods can be used to grapple with serious scholarly questions and connect with new audiences. But there is also a role for beauty, serendipity, and wonder, as well.
Check out https://dhcenternet.org/initiatives/day-of-dh/2020 for more DH Day activities.
Our final National Poetry Month post presents a poem by Miroslav Holub (1923–1998), a Czech poet and immunologist. Albert Szent-Györgyi, the storyteller in his poem, was part of the Hungarian resistance in World War II. Szent-Györgyi survived the war, eventually emigrating to the United States and continuing his research at Woods Hole. He was part of the team of scientists that identified vitamin C, experimenting on, of course, paprika.
What does the poem say to us about problem-solving? About finding our way? About faith? About the relationship between science and poetry? And, of course, about maps?
Brief Thoughts on Maps
Albert Szent-Györgyi, who knew a lot about maps
according to which life is on its way somewhere or other,
told us this story from the war
due to which history is on its way somewhere or other:
The young lieutenant of a small Hungarian detachment in the Alps
sent a reconnaissance unit out into the icy wasteland.
It began to snow
immediately, snowed for two days and the unit
did not return. The lieutenant suffered: he had despatched
his own people to death.
But the third day the unit came back.
Where had they been? How had they made their way?
Yes, they said, we considered ourselves
lost and waited for the end. And then one of us
found a map in his pocket. That calmed us down.
We pitched camp, lasted out the snowstorm and then with the map
we discovered our bearings.
And here we are.
The lieutenant borrowed this remarkable map
and had a good look at it. It was not a map of the Alps
but of the Pyrenees.
Goodbye now.
Translated by Jarmila and Ian Milner
as published in the Times Literary Supplement 3908 (February 4, 1977), pg. 118
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/miroslav-holub
[Image description: an animation of two sections of two different European maps showing mountainous areas fading in and out of each other, the colors are subdued beige and greens. There are threads of rivers running through each detail.]
#NationalPoe
Our final National Poetry Month post presents a poem by Miroslav Holub (1923–1998), a Czech poet and immunologist. Albert Szent-Györgyi, the storyteller in his poem, was part of the Hungarian resistance in World War II. Szent-Györgyi survived the war, eventually emigrating to the United States and continuing his research at Woods Hole. He was part of the team of scientists that identified vitamin C, experimenting on, of course, paprika.
What does the poem say to us about problem-solving? About finding our way? About faith? About the relationship between science and poetry? And, of course, about maps?
Brief Thoughts on Maps
Albert Szent-Györgyi, who knew a lot about maps, �according to which life is on its way somewhere or other, �told us this story from the war �due to which history is on its way somewhere or other.
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, who knew a lot about maps
according to which life is on its way somewhere or other,
told us this story from the war
due to which history is on its way somewhere or other:
The young lieutenant of a small Hungarian detachment in the Alps
sent a reconnaissance unit out into the icy wasteland.
It began to snow
immediately, snowed for two days and the unit
did not return. The lieutenant suffered: he had despatched
his own people to death.
But the third day the unit came back.
Where had they been? How had they made their way?
Yes, they said, we considered ourselves
lost and waited for the end. And then one of us
found a map in his pocket. That calmed us down.
We pitched camp, lasted out the snowstorm and then with the map
we discovered our bearings.
And here we are.
The lieutenant borrowed this remarkable map
and had a good look at it. It was not a map of the Alps
but of the Pyrenees.
Goodbye now.
Translated by Jarmila and Ian Milner
as published in the Times Literary Supplement 3908 (February 4, 1977), pg. 118
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/miroslav-holub
[Image description: an animation of two sections of t
Maps are one of the most important tools for understanding how diseases spread—and they have been for many years. In fact, mapmaking was intimately connected to the rise of public health and epidemiology.
Here’s the first interactive map story from a new tool we’re building here at LMEC that allows us to annotate and narrate maps from our digital collections. This story is about how maps were used in Boston to track the cholera epidemics of the nineteenth century. Visit http://geoservices.leventhalmap.org/projects/mapping-disease-boston to read the whole story.
We’re going to be releasing more map stories like these in the next few weeks as we ramp up our digital interpretation during the time that our gallery is closed. Whether in your home classroom, remote seminar, or just from the comfort of your couch as you practice social distancing, we hope you’ll enjoy this new way to explore our maps.
[Image description: a video showing maps and accompanying captions animated in a slideshow-like manner.]
Mechanical Map
The boundaries of the United States transformed during the 19th century, often through violent means. Mapmaker James Ives created this mechanical map to help people, especially students, visualize these changes. The base map labels the tribes that occupied different regions, while the layers represents the territorial growth of the United States. The mechanized pieces of this cartographic puzzle include the colonies in 1776, the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and the Gadsden Purchase in 1853. ⠀
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This map tells a story of the seemingly inevitable process of expansion and emphasizes nation-building by treaties rather than the violence of war. In fact, American expansion is full of broken treaties and violent displacements. Rather than moving mechanically and smoothly out of the way of westward expansion, Native groups fought hard to stay on their ancestral lands. The ease with which the switches flip in this video is misleading, and belies a complicated and bitter history often swept under the rug when discussing land purchases in the United States.⠀
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[Video description: A beige map of the continental United States labeled with the names of tribes who lived there before European settlement. A hand moves switches at the bottom of the map, and new colorful shapes cover up the Native names with the state boundaries of the US.]
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Ives, James T.B. Historical Map Showing the Successive Acquisitions of Territory by the United States of America. New York, 1896. Courtesy of Barry MacLean Collection.⠀
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#maps #nooneisillegalonstolenland #stolenland #trailoftears #westwardho #ndns #ndnseverywhere #settlercolonialism #magnificentcollections #ig_libraries #librariesofinstagram #americatransformed
Happening now! Lakou Ayiti with Jean Appolon Expressions in the Children’s Library @bplboston #whoweare
Happy Friday, #map lovers! I’ve been having some fun trying out the LMC Map Warper tool on our new website. This tool allows you to #georeference historic maps with precise, modern day maps. Here is my first attempt at overlaying the 1892 Bromley Real Estate Atlas “Atlas of the city of Boston: Charlestown: plate 1” onto modern day Charlestown. If you’d like to try your hand at georeferencing, create a login and check out the easy-to-follow “How to Georeference” video on our website at https://collections.leventhalmap.org/georeferencing. I promise if I can do it, you can do it! — Erin, Gallery Attendant @bplmaps
George Washington Bromley and Walter Scott Bromley, “Atlas of the city of Boston: Charlestown: plate 1,” 1892. https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:m900r763r
#maps #georeferencing #GIS #cartography #georeference #geography #atlas #Boston #Charlestown #library #libraries #librariesofinstagram #BPLmaps #BostonPublicLibrary
Today we made anemometers with our friends @bluehillobservatory. Next up: make your own weather kites in the Commonwealth Salon @bplboston today, 4/19 from 1-2pm!
Join us & the Cambridge Science Festival for some weather and geography fun today until 2pm! The augmented reality sandbox is a crowd favorite.
Join us for Travel Tuesday today at 4:30 as we make mappy Valentines, explore Shakespeare's romances, and map romantic adventures!
Thanks to a comedy of scheduling errors, we will also be exploring our national parks. So come by and enjoy a wide variety of kid-friendly map activities!
A hearty thank you to our gallery intern Jill for making these fabulous mapentines!
Work field trip! We visited our friends at the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center to talk about our upcoming exhibition, "Regions and Seasons: Mapping Climate through History." We've got some very cool stuff on the forecast, so stay tuned!
Happy Holidays from @bplmaps to you!
We will be closed today and tomorrow for the holiday, but we'll be up and running again on Tuesday, December 27.
Wheeeeee! A volvelle—also known as a wheel chart, which isn’t as fun to say—is a paper slide chart with rotating parts. The one you see here is an astronomical chart, and is one of many appearing in Sir Robert Dudley’s Dell’Arcano del Mare (On the Mystery of the Sea). We’ve written about Dudley before: the illegitimate son of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, he became a privateer at the age of twenty, and made a habit of pestering Spanish ships for the glory of Queen Elizabeth I. The lad also happened to be a brilliant navigator, and Dell'arcano is widely considered the first sea atlas of the world. Published between 1645 and 1646, the six-volume work is packed with Dudley's expansive knowledge of navigation, shipbuilding, and astronomy (and lots and lots of spinning volvelles).
Sir Robert Dudley, "Alla serma. sigra. principsa. d'Vrbino Grandvchessa di Toscana sva sigra. d: Roberto Dvdleo Dvca di Northumbria,” Dell'arcano del mare, v. 1, (Francesco Onofri, 1647).
The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library is dedicated to the creative educational use of its cartographic holdings, which extend from the 15th century to the present.
