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  1. Dartmouth Libraries
  2. Research Guides
  3. Dartmouth Libraries Guides
  4. Cartography/History of Cartography
  5. United States

Cartography/History of Cartography

This research guide will help you find books, print journals and other resources about Cartography. Cartography studies the history of maps and mapmaking and interpretation of maps.
  • Introduction
  • Understanding maps
  • Finding books
  • Finding journals & magazines
  • More cartographic resources
  • History of cartography
    • United States
    • South America
  • Projections
  • Geovisualization
  • Art & cartography
  • History through maps
  • Societies, etc.
  • Digital mapping
  • Animated maps
  • Map humor
  • Web mapping This link opens in a new window
  • Google Earth & Maps
  • Map Mashups
  • Citing cartographic information
  • Geographic Information Systems This link opens in a new window
  • Maps & Atlases This link opens in a new window
  • Scholarly communication This link opens in a new window

Call number ranges

If you want to physically browse the shelves, here are some of the call number ranges for United States Cartography. Most of these books are located on Berry Level 4. The maps are in the Evans Map Room.

Call number range What's there
G 1200 - 1204 Atlases of the United States
   G 1220 - 1224 Atlases of New Hampshire
G 3700 - G 3702 Maps of the United States
   G 3740 - G 3744 Maps of New Hampshire
GA 197.5 - 198 Cartographers
GA 281 Globemakers in the U.S.
GA 405 - 405 History of cartography of the U.S.
    GA 438 History of cartography of New Hampshire
    GA 471 - 1776 Other regions/countries

Keeping up with Cartography/GIS journal literature

Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for Cartography or GIS? And do you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's, you can download and read the articles you want from the journals for which we have subscriptions.

You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.

Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's also available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.

Introduction

This page highlights resources for Cartography of the United States of America.

Cartography is the production and study of maps and charts. It is a system of information which is used to communicate something of the real world to other people; the map is a model, to be decoded by the map reader; see Lloyd (1989) AAAG 79, 1.

Mayhew, S. (2015). Cartography. In A Dictionary of Geography. : Oxford University Press. Retrieved 7 Nov. 2016.

In the Library's collections

Below are useful subject headings for searching the online catalog for items on the cartography of the United States. Don't forget to look at the list of related subject headings too.

  • cartography united states
  • united states historical geography
  • indian cartography
  • cartographers united states
  • cartography america

Introductory reading(s)

  • Cover artThe history of cartography by J.B. Harley and David Woodward, eds.
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry GA 201 .H53 1987
    A multi-volume set covering the history of Cartography by region and time.
  • Cover ArtHistory of cartography: cartography in the traditional African, American, Arctic, Australian, and Pacific societies by David Woodward; G. Malcolm Lewis, eds.
    • Open Access Icon
    • E-Book
    Call Number: eBook
    ISBN: 9780226907284
    Publication Date: Vol. 2, Book 3
    Although they are often rendered in forms unfamiliar to Western eyes, maps have existed in most cultures. In this latest book of the acclaimed History of Cartography, contributors from a broad variety of disciplines collaborate to describe and address the significance of traditional cartographies. ...
  • Cover artWeaving a national map: review of the U.S. Geological Survey concept of the national map by National Research Council (U.S.)
    • On Campus or VPN
    • E-Book
    Call Number: eBook
    ISBN: 9780309087476
    Weaving a National Map draws on contributions to a September 2002 workshop and the U.S. Geological Survey's "vision" document for The National Map, envisioned by the USGS as a database providing "public domain core geographic data about the United States and its territories that other agencies can extend, enhance, and reference as they concentrate on maintaining other data that are unique to their needs."

Selected book titles

  • Kleiner Atlas amerikanischer Überempfindlichkeiten by Franz Reitinger
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry GA 405.5 .R4 2008
    ISBN: 9783854153795
  • Cover artMapping the nation: history and cartography in nineteenth-century America by Susan Schulten
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry GA 405.5 .S38 2012
    ISBN: 9780226740683
    In the nineteenth century, Americans began to use maps in radically new ways. For the first time, medical men mapped diseases to understand and prevent epidemics, natural scientists mapped climate and rainfall to uncover weather patterns, educators mapped the past to foster national loyalty among students, and Northerners mapped slavery to assess the power of the South.
  • Cover artThe mismapping of America by Seymour I. Schwartz
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry GA 405 .S32 2003
    ISBN: 9781580461290
    Maps have always been powerful instruments for the dissemination of information. Symbolizing the world, identifying landmasses and waterways, and defining our borders, maps help to create the context in which we live and the history that we study. At times, in projecting information, maps initiate or perpetuate errors. At times, explorers and cartographers have depicted fancies rather than facts, and wishes rather than wisdom. Maps have misinformed! The Mismapping of America presents and analyzes the significant cartographic errors that have shaped the history of the United States. Perhaps the most blatant error is the very name "America," that honors Amerigo Vespucci, who not only never set foot on North American soil, but also played no significant role in the discovery of South America. ...
  • Cover artRepresenting the Republic: mapping the United States, 1600-1900 by John Rennie Short
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry GA 405 .S56 2001
    ISBN: 9781861890863
    Representing the Republic provides an intriguing account of the mapping of America from its colonial origins to 1900. The most significant maps and mapmakers are discussed in a survey that begins with the first European mappings of New Netherlands in the early seventeenth century and concludes with the Rand McNally atlases of the 1890s. ...
  • Cover artRevolution: mapping the road to American independence 1755-1783 by Richard H. Brown; Paul E. Cohen
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry Oversize G 1201 .S26 B76 2015
    ISBN: 9780393060324
    Historians of the Revolutionary War in America have been fortunate in their resources: few wars in history have such a rich literary and cartographic heritage. The high skills of the surveyors, artists, and engravers who delineated the topography and fields of battle allow us to observe the unfolding of events that ultimately defined the United States.
  • Cover artSoundings: the story of the remarkable woman who mapped the ocean floor by Hali Felt
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry Popular Science GA 407 .T43 F45 2012
    ISBN: 9780805092158
    Her maps of the ocean floor have been called "one of the most remarkable achievements in modern cartography", yet no one knows her name.
  • Cover artStonewall's Prussian mapmaker: the journals of Captain Oscar Hinrichs by Richard Brady Williams, ed.
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry E 605 .H63 2014
    ISBN: 9781469614342
    Prussian-born cartographer Oscar Hinrichs was a key member of Stonewall Jackson's staff, collaborated on maps with Jedediah Hotchkiss, and worked alongside such prominent Confederate leaders as Joe Johnston, Richard H. Anderson, and Jubal Early.
  • << Previous: History of cartography
  • Next: South America >>
  • Last Updated: May 14, 2025 12:07 PM
  • URL: https://researchguides.dartmouth.edu/cartography
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