Map Library

By guest blogger Diana Rivera

Chicana/o Latina/o Studies Subject Specialist, Michigan State University Libraries

The area known as New Mexico was previously part of the Spanish crown and then Mexico where over 140 land grants were issued between 1692 and 1846 (Williams, 104). These grants provided individuals, towns and groups land and water rights for private and communal use primarily along the Rio Grande river basin. After the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848, Mexico ceded almost half of its land for $15,000,000 in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty...

This map is an interesting early attempt to embed complex statistical information into map form. It shows us the countries of origin of new immigrants to each state and the occupations of the adult male immigrants (women and children were categorized as “no occupation”). Michigan saw the influx of 20,920 immigrants that year with the largest groups coming from Finland, Scandinavian countries, and Poland.

The report’s author, Sargent, was no friend...

This map is clearly copied directly from a larger map made in 1698 by Father Louis Hennepin. Le Beau could have chosen any number of newer and more accurate maps to illustrate his story, but he or his publisher chose this 40-year old map.

LeBeau was a bored clerk working in an office in New France. He was no mapmaker and no explorer, but rather an exile banished from France for being a “libertine.” LeBeau escaped his fate and hitched a ride back to...

In 1865, Michigan’s mineral resources were just beginning to make a mark on the world. The western movement of people and wartime reliance on northern transportation routes drew attention to Michigan’s newly convenient resources including iron ore, copper, and salt.

The map at first glance is typical of its day, highlighting land divisions and railroad routes. But drawn over it in light lines are the boundaries of major geologic features of Michigan, which had recently been...