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 โBending Lines: Maps and Data from Distortion to Deceptionโ 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 Opening Day
Now open: ๐ฝ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐จ: ๐๐๐ฅ๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐ง๐ค๐ข ๐ฟ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ค๐ง๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฟ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ, a new exhibition by the Leventhal Map and Education Center. Visit the online exhibition here: bit.ly/36j1kpv
Opening day kicks off our series of curator talks: ๐ผ๐ฃ๐๐ก๐๐จ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฝ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐จ: ๐พ๐ช๐ง๐๐ฉ๐ค๐ง ๐พ๐ค๐ฃ๐ซ๐๐ง๐จ๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ. Tune in today at 1pm EST to join the comnversation and explore the many ways that maps and visual data are used to manipulate information and truth. โ
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Streams live on our page: www.facebook.com/bplmaps
and on YouTube: bit.ly/3ea2Nku
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Curator Garrett Dash Nelson will be welcoming guest Maggie Owens, Principal Research Analyst and Planner for the City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department, and the creator of one of the โData Storiesโ maps commissioned for ๐ฝ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐จ, our online exhibit that opens today (bit.ly/2ziVLLG).โ
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#BendingLines #VirtualTalk #OnlineExhibition
Bending Lines Exhibition Opening
Join us for ๐ผ๐ฃ๐๐ก๐๐จ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฝ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐จ: ๐พ๐ช๐ง๐๐ฉ๐ค๐ง ๐พ๐ค๐ฃ๐ซ๐๐ง๐จ๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ, 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 Centerโs curator Garrett Dash Nelson, this interactive series will feature conversations with guests about the upcoming ๐ฝ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐จ: ๐๐๐ฅ๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐ง๐ค๐ข ๐ฟ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ค๐ง๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฟ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ 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: โPanoramic View of Boston Showing Golden Semicircle.โ 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: ๐ฝ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐จ: ๐๐๐ฅ๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐ง๐ค๐ข ๐ฟ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ค๐ง๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฟ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ 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. โ
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Want to learn more and join in the conversation? Tune in to our series of live talks, ๐ผ๐ฃ๐๐ก๐๐จ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฝ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐จ: ๐พ๐ช๐ง๐๐ฉ๐ค๐ง ๐พ๐ค๐ฃ๐ซ๐๐ง๐จ๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ, a series of interactive events hosted by Leventhal Centerโs curator Garrett Dash Nelson, and featuring guests who give context to the exhibition's themes and content. โ
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Learn more about the exhibition and the series of live talks here: bit.ly/2Z6buIpโ
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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.]โ
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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 (1923โ1998), a Czech poet and immunologist. Albert Szent-Gyรถrgyi, the storyteller in his poem, was part of the Hungarian resistance in World War II. Szent-Gyรถrgyi 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-Gyรถrgyi, 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 (1923โ1998), a Czech poet and immunologist. Albert Szent-Gyรถrgyi, the storyteller in his poem, was part of the Hungarian resistance in World War II. Szent-Gyรถrgyi 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-Gyรถrgyi, who knew a lot about maps, ๏ฟฝaccording to which life is on its way somewhere or other, ๏ฟฝtold us this story from the war ๏ฟฝdue 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 spreadโand they have been for many years. In fact, mapmaking was intimately connected to the rise of public health and epidemiology.
Hereโs the first interactive map story from a new tool weโre 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.
Weโre 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 youโll 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. โฃโ
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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. โฃIn 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.โฃโ
โฃโ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โฃโ
[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.โฃโ
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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 Childrenโs Library @bplboston #whoweare
Happy Friday, #map lovers! Iโve 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 โAtlas of the city of Boston: Charlestown: plate 1โ onto modern day Charlestown. If youโd like to try your hand at georeferencing, create a login and check out the easy-to-follow โHow to Georeferenceโ video on our website at https://collections.leventhalmap.org/georeferencing. I promise if I can do it, you can do it! โ Erin, Gallery Attendant @bplmaps
George Washington Bromley and Walter Scott Bromley, โAtlas of the city of Boston: Charlestown: plate 1,โ 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 volvelleโalso known as a wheel chart, which isnโt as fun to sayโis 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 Dudleyโs DellโArcano del Mare (On the Mystery of the Sea). Weโve 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,โ 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.
