Hells Kitchen Canyon SE Utah 7.5 Minute Series (2014)
The USGS map of Hells Kitchen Canyon in southeast Utah.
United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey
Heohrafichna karta zemelʹ, de zhyvut Ukraint͡si - Geographic Map of Ukrainian-Inhabited Lands
Created in the same year as many of the other maps in the exhibition, this map is a map of France, and includes the region of modern day Belgium unified as one country with the rest of France. This map, unsurprisingly, was created by a French cartographer. To the North of Belgium there is a unique boundary line symbol that on the key is said to meant "division generale de la France" meaning "general division of France." However this boundary line isn't present to the east where France borders Germany. This could be explained by the fact that in this map the Rhine River defines France's border, and this cartographer chose not to overlap symbols for the River and the boundary. The boundary line seen to the North of Belgium however, reappears in the south surrounding France's conquered territory in Italy. Perhaps this border symbols signifies some level of insecurity about the border of this newly conquered territory. But if so, this insecurity is subtle, and the region of Belgium is, to this French cartographer, very much part of France.
History of the epidemic spasmodic cholera of Russia
This map shows how the cholera epidemic spread across the world from 1817-1831. The only cities labeled on the map are places at which cholera was recorded during the epidemic, clearly showing the impressive geographical range the epidemic reached. This map is particularly interesting because it aims to depict change over time, by including the date at which cholera was first recorded at that specific place on most of the labels. It is not initially very easy to determine where the epidemic originated and the path it took because there is no guide other than the dates, so you have to read all the labels to get a sense of the narrative that the map is telling – it is not very visually obvious. Assessing the path of transmission of a disease is key in identifying the mechanism by which it is spread, and this map is an excellent example of an attempt to better understand cholera, laying the pathway for the discovery of waterborne transmission in the next 20-30 years.
Book: "History of the epidemic spasmodic cholera of Russia :including a copious account of the disease which has prevailed in India, and which has travelled, under that name, from Asia into Europe, illustrated by numerous official and other documents, explanatory of the nature, treatment, and prevention of the malady"
Home Owners' Loan Corporation, Home Loan Security Map ("Redlining" Map) of Cleveland, 1933
Home loan Residential Security Maps were developed in the early 1930s by a New Deal (federally-sponsored) corporation established for the purpose of home refinance. The Home Owners' Loan Corporation created by the Roosevelt administration was initiated to prevent home foreclosure in the United States. Though the actual agency was not liable for "redlining" it did provide regulatory structure for racial bias in the private mortgage industry. A common definition of redlining states that it is the practice of denying or limiting financial services in certain neighborhoods based on racial or ethnic composition without regard to applicants’ creditworthiness. It refers to the red line (red frame) used to mark communities where financial institutions were not likely to invest. HOLC was a part of the Federal Housing Administration’s portfolio.
Transportation via waterways was crucial in the 18th century Hamburg region. Therefore, this map recorded waterways in details. Following the blue color wash, readers can easily identify most of the waterways. Furthermore, the map showed the ebb and flow of the Elbe river, which was useful for navigation. However, the information about the depth of water was not provided. Although the color wash did show a gradation, it seems that the function of the gradation was only to distinguish water from land. (The parts close to the coasts were painted in dark blue, and the parts far from the coasts were painted in light blue.) As the map did not have a legend, three details about waterways need further investigation: (1) A few waterways were not colored. Does it simply mean that these waterways were too narrow to color during printing, or does it have further implications? For example, these waterways may be impassable for larger boats. (2) On the western part of the map, two dotted lines were drawn adjacent to land. The meanings of these lines need to be clarified. (3) In the inset at the upper-right corner, something looks like the alluvium was depicted.
This layer includes the flags drawn on the map representing different imperial claims to the space and the text explicitly labeling regions as Spanish, English, and Anglo-American possessions.
Index of Hamburgum celeberrima libera imperii et Hanseatica civitas ac opulentissimum emporium circa ostium Albis ad mare septentr = Hamburg eine weltberühmte Freye Reichs und Hansee- auch Reiche u. Volkreiche Handels statt an der Elb nicht Weit von der Nord See
Index of Prospect und Grundriss der Keiserl. Freyen Reichs und Ansee Stadt Hamburg samt ihrer Gegend / edirt durch Ioh. Bapt Homann in Nürnberg
This layer contains the places where people lived, in either permanent or temporary settlements. The settlements represented include both indigenous and colonial presences. A representation of these two type of settlements could give Spanish readers of the map a better sense of what land was still 'available,' and a stronger understanding of the socio-political dynamics at play in different regions.