❗Applications are open for our Small Grants program!❗
Are you working on a scholarly project that would come alive for the public through an interactive digital publication?
Apply by Monday, May 18, 2026 at 5 pm ET using this link: buff.ly/XD0xutQ
How can AI help institutions make millions of historic photographs more accessible and interesting to public users? 📸
This program is co-hosted by BPL Digital Services and the Leventhal Map & Education Center.
Register for the event here: buff.ly/WAXM9hk or tune in via YouTube at buff.ly/7Oco3jU
⛈️ Big storms may impact us today with transportation delays and snow days, but weather and climate have always affected how people think, act, and live.
Read the full article here: buff.ly/B4PamSZ
Learn more about our Small Grants program here: buff.ly/gQykYoj
Take a walk through the over a quarter million maps in the LMEC's collection with our Associate Curator during this segment on WCVB, Boston local news📺
The LMEC hosted a WCVB crew for a quick overview of our collection, exhibitions, and more.
Watch the segment here: buff.ly/OFSZZN6
The Leventhal Center will be open from 1-5pm on Tuesday, February 24 due to the severe weather.
The Leventhal Center and all BPL locations will be closed on Monday, February 23 for a snow emergency.
Throughout history, color has been used on maps for a number of different reasons 🎨
This free showing will be hosted Friday, February 27 in the Learning Center with a staff member from the Leventhal Center available to answer questions. Drop in any time between 2PM - 4PM. No reservation is required
map lovers, it has come to my attention that the @bplmaps.bsky.social has this fun online Atlascope, where they've uploaded old MA maps and then have layered them to explore.
www.atlascope.org
I am told, Worcesterites, that they just added an additional Worcester one.
What does a draft of beer reveal about the geography of our city?
You'll learn about how today's brewers draw on neighborhood histories to craft place-based identities, and consider questions about the city's relationship to industry, memory, and reuse. Read the full article here: buff.ly/I6aosHi
Join William Rankin in discussion with Catherine D’Ignazio for a conversation about his new book, Radical Cartography.
Lunch will be served and registration is required to attend. Register here: buff.ly/g9ixwIM
Many of these parks are crucial elements of Boston’s stormwater removal system, helping with flood risk mitigation and rainwater drainage. The vegetation in these areas also produces clean air and provides shade, mitigating the impact of urban heat island effects.
This led to the creation of the Boston Natural Areas Network, a nonprofit tasked with acquiring and maintaining "urban wilds" and other greenways. Although many privately owned areas were eventually developed, the city continues to benefit from the work spurred by the Urban Wilds report.
This 1976 illustrated map highlights large areas of open space which became known as the "urban wilds." The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) had begun to pay attention to the threat of development in these ecosystems as part of a report during the middle 1970s.
Have you ever heard of Boston’s "urban wilds?"🌲
Which of Boston’s urban wilds is your favorite and why?
Maps: Boston Redevelopment Authority, "Boston urban wilds" (1976): buff.ly/4DW50EW, Boston Redevelopment Authority, "These areas have significant amounts of flora [...]" (1976): buff.ly/BkddEfU
Maps: Albert F. Poole, "Bird's eye view of the village of Hyannis, Barnstable County, Mass" (1884): buff.ly/oyXqg9a, Mélanie Elisabeth Leonard, "A map of Cape Cod" (1926): buff.ly/aFDrCIx
Though kettle chips will no longer be manufactured in Hyannis, there's much more to find on a map of town, with its long history as a summer destination.
Cape Cod Potato Chips originated in Hyannis in 1980 and has been operating out of their current factory there since 1985. But the time has come for the Cape to say goodbye to this local favorite.
In this From The Vault collections showing, take look at the personal favorites of the staff at the Leventhal Center and learn about the multitude of reasons these maps have captured our attention amongst our collection of over 250,000 maps.
Maps have so much to offer—from the rich history behind their creation and visual perspectives of familiar places and so much more. While the staff at the LMEC have a special place in our hearts for all of our maps, there are just a few that each of us love the tiniest bit more than the others.
It's the season of love and that means sharing the maps the Leventhal Center loves with the public!🥰 🗺️
This free showing will be hosted Friday, February 13 in the Learning Center. Drop in any time between 2:00PM - 4:00PM. No reservation is required.
Learn more about octopus maps in our exhibition Bending Lines: buff.ly/Gj0eL6A
The propaganda motif of an octopus often represents a meddling and overreaching imperial power, but has also been used in racist tropes about control and influence.
What other animals have you seen used in political cartoons, and what do they symbolize?
These "serio-comic" maps, a popular style of political cartoon, both depict Russia as a octopus pulling various nations into its sphere of influence. The main purpose of these maps is not to accurately depict geographic features, but rather to use geography as the background to a political argument.
Are octopuses secretly evil? The creators of these maps seem to think so! 🐙
Maps: Fred W. Rose, "Serio-comic war map for the year 1877" (1877): buff.ly/DPVNkMd, Kisaburō Ohara, "A humorous diplomatic atlas of Europe and Asia" (1904): buff.ly/hIRdF9c
#bpl #LMEC #maps
By the 20th century, digital technologies had replaced the older, manual mapmaking processes of copperplate engraving and lithography. However, visual techniques first developed in the mid-19th century, such as shading variations, were still employed in thematic maps.
Stay warm out there!
This map illustrates monthly average temperatures for the United States from 1931–1960 using isotherms and a color scale from cold blues to warm reds.
The large map in the center shows daily mean high and low temperatures during January, April, July and October for major cities across the country.
Yes, New England has had COLD winters before ... 🧊❄️🥶
Map: U.S. Geological Survey, "Mean monthly average temperature" (1986): buff.ly/rEUu47f
#bpl #LMEC #maps #bostonmaps #localhistory #bostonhistory #bostonmuseum #thingstodoinboston #bostontourism
The mountain’s summit, with precisely-drawn buildings, road, and railroad, is the central focus. The landscape around the summit is then distorted into a circular projection. This visually-rich map would have drawn visitors up to the top of New England's highest peak.
Although described as a bird’s-eye view, this colorful presentation provides a fish-eye or 360º panoramic perspective. It projects the topography of Mount Washington from a single vantage point directly above the mountain.
You've never seen Mt. Washington like this 🤩🗻
Check out our virtual reality immersive view of this panorama: buff.ly/TdcHrjH
Map: George H. Walker & Co.; Boston and Maine Railroad, "Birds-eye view from summit of Mt. Washington; White Mountains, New Hampshire" (1902): buff.ly/bW4XfJO
