Map Library

In 1951 the State Library of Michigan, then in the Cass Building, was set on fire.  State workers rushed to save as many water logged items as possible.  In the picture above Michigan Department of Transportation workers are using irons to flatten maps.  The recovery efforts were featured in Life Magazine.

Actually, freezing waterlogged books & papers is about the best thing you can do to stop mold and disintegration until someone can deal with the items.  The fire happened during sub-freezing temperatures.  Nowadays when library items are soaked from sprinkler systems, we rent...

We have five GIS and map related workshops coming up for Spring Semester 2017! They are free and all are welcome to attend (including community members).

Introduction to QGIS: Make a Simple Map with Vector Data - January 30 (Beaumont West)

Learn the basics of QGIS, the free open source geospatial software - this workshop will demonstrate how to make a choropleth (color shaded) map and place graduated symbols on it, load shapefiles and .csv table files into QGIS, join data to spatial information and edit features. Register here.

QGIS 2: Georeferencing - February 6th (...

Ionia, Ionia County, Michigan Terr’y. Published by Pendletons Lithography in Boston in 1835, probably for Nathaniel Brown.

This map shows a thriving town site.  The only problem was that it was a complete fiction.  The real Ionia, Michigan, Seat of Ionia County, had been placed two miles west of this site in 1833.

At the time the map was made in 1835, half of the square-mile section had been purchased by Chicago-based land speculator Nathaniel Brown.  The other half was still owned by the Federal Government.  Brown had the idea of a sawmill anchoring a community that...

Beginning in the nineteenth century, immigrants to Michigan massively changed the landscape through logging, farming, draining wetlands, building roads, cities, and planting managed landscapes.  Prior to that Native Americans used fire and other methods to alter the landscape, though on a much smaller scale.  When you stand in your front yard, the 'natural' vegetation you see is likely quite different from what stood in 1800 especially if you live in the southern part of the state.  So what kinds of trees or other landcover naturally grew in your area long ago?  A group of scholars teamed...