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Joseph A. Caldwell. Caldwell's Illustrated Historical Combination Atlas of Clarion County, Pennsylvania . . . (Condit, Ohio: J.A. Caldwell, 1877; G1263.C6 C2 1877) (map, 48; illustration, 92). Geography and Map Division.

One of the largest houses in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, belonged to the Widow Kribbs, shown in this beautifully colored county landownership atlas dated 1877. Although she owned just fifty acres fronting on Beaver Turnpike, shown in cartographic form in the upper right corner of the map of Licking township, the view of Mrs. Kribbs's farm and the caption describing it alert us to her wealth. We learn that she had eighteen oil wells in her front yard, a source of considerable income. The affluence of the area, owing to the discovery of oil on many county properties, is emphasized by engravings of handsome houses on farms whose loveliness is marred only by the appearance of oil rigs. Other illustrations convey contradictory information about women. Despite their affluence in terms of land holdings, oil wells, buggies drawn by fine horses, and their spectacular dwellings, women in Clarion County are demonstrably less important than men. An image is included that clearly reflects the cultural value placed on male children: a tree appears with the notation that beneath it stood the house that was the birthplace of the first white male child born in the county, with an extensive genealogy of his family. No record exists for the first female child born there. The illustrations also clearly differentiate between male and female activities. Women parade around carrying parasols; men are out buying new buggies. Gendered spaces and activities are revealed and reinforced by the visual material that is used to emphasize the information found on the maps.

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A map comparing women's limited ownership of land and property around the world is typical of plates appearing in The State of Women in the World Atlas, published in 1997. Through maps and graphic comparisons, various aspects of a topic such as this are explored. Most of the plates use additional tables or pictorial material to make comparisons within the United States or to elaborate on how the U.S. data relate to those for the rest of the world.

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"Uterine Cancer Rates in South Dakota, by County, 1953-1987." The State Cancer Control Map and Data Program of the National Cancer Institute (Uncataloged digital data set--inquire at reference desk). Geography and Map Division.

The State Cancer Control Map and Data Program of the National Cancer Institute, using data from 1953 to 1987, is an example of a GIS software package using statistical data that were developed by the National Institutes of Health. It produces customized maps based on cancer rates for males and females for each state down to the county level. Selected parameters for making this map, which highlights the dramatically high rate of uterine cancer in a single county of South Dakota, were for the state, the type of cancer, and all women. Although the program can differentiate between racial groups, this group of settings reveals that Shannon County stands apart from the rest of the state with regard to uterine cancer. The county is the home of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation located near the historical site of Wounded Knee. These kinds of maps reveal differences in health status and health care delivery and can be used in making health and environmental policy decisions.

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A. G. Ruxton, surveyor. "Map of the Old Portion of the City surrounding the Plaza, Showing the Old Plaza Church, Public Square, the First Gas Plant and Adobe Buildings, Los Angeles City." March 12, 1873 (manuscript, n.p.). Geography and Map Division.

Although many maps in the Geography and Map Division indicate property owners of different ethnic origins and give considerable information about them, this map of Los Angeles is unusual in showing a comparatively large number of women owners in a relatively small geographical area. The map is an important resource for studying Hispanic and mestizo women in an urban borderland.

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Taxation Maps Bureau Territory of Hawaii. Tax map (first division, zone 4, section 3, plat 28, sheet 228 [Honolulu],193-; G4381 G47svarH5). Geography and Map Division.

Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Native Hawaiian, and the usual mix of surnames found in other parts of the United States reflect the great diversity of the population of Hawaii. Many women's names appear on this map, some with their maiden names. Emily Costa, Jane (Chung) Chung, Grace Louis Emery, Lucy K. Chillingworth, and Mildred E. (Heath) Easton are named, as well as Lucille Miyamoto, who appears to have inherited property equally with her male siblings who are listed as minor children.

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April 1899 Reno Nev. Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for Reno, Nevada, April 1899 (Sheet no. 5). Geography and Map Division.

Chinatown, seen in the lower right corner of sheet no. 5 for Reno, Nevada, 1899, is an area of the city associated with activities such as gambling, drinking, and prostitution. The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps provide sufficient information to define neighborhoods, including residential areas with large homes indicative of relative affluence, and to identify gender-related activities.

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"Within Sight of the White House." Map from unknown Washington, D.C., newspaper, 1890s (G3851.E625 189-.W5). Geography and Map Division.

The area shown on this map clipped from a District of Columbia newspaper in the 1890s, where General Joe Hooker's troops camped during the Civil War, is referred to as "Hooker's Division."

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Dorothea Dix Lawrence. Folklore Music Map of the United States from the Primer of American Music [New York: Hagstrom Co., 1946] (Single Map File, "U.S. Pictorial, 1946"). Geography and Map Division. Copyright © Hagstrom Map Company, Inc., NY, Lic. no.: H-2194.

With the drawings on the Folklore Music Map are a few words from the lyrics of the folk song that they illustrate. Bayou ballads, Creole folk songs, early California music, songs of the open range, Louisiana folk music, folk hymns, African American spirituals, and songs for children are included. One of the best maps in the division's collections for illustrating American diversity, this map was drawn by a woman and half of the many sources listed in the bibliography on the map were written by women.

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Peter Foster. "Diagram of the South Part of Shaker Village, Canterbury, N.H." Colored manuscript map (Vault; G3744.S5 1849). Geography and Map Division.

Peter Foster, author of the beautifully colored map of part of the Shaker Village of Canterbury, New Hampshire, described his method: "The artist who drew this diagram, not being acquainted with any rules of drawing, hopes it will be sufficient apology for the imperfections which may be found. It is not drawed from any measurement of scale, but the buildings are placed nearly in their natural situation." The image is available online at <http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3744s.ct000129>. Similar drawings exist for Shaker communities in Maine and other parts of the country. See Robert P. Emlen, Shaker Village Views: Illustrated Maps and Landscape Drawings by Shaker Artists of the Nineteenth Century (Hanover, N. H.: University Press of New England, 1987; G1201.E423 E7 1987 G&M).

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Shell Road Map: Pennsylvania (Chicago: H. M. Goushá, 1933). Title Collection. Geography and Map Division. Printed with permission of Shell and Rand McNally.

As the popularity of the automobile grew during the middle decades of the twentieth century, a new form of map became increasingly available. Primarily distributed by oil companies, road maps were found in almost every car in America. Their graphic designs illustrate life in America, particularly changes in society brought about by the widespread use of the automobile, including the growing independence of women.

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"Map of the world with the most recent discoveries." Manuscript map drawn by Mary Van Schaack of Kinderhook, New York, 1811 (G3200 1811 .V2 Vault). Geography and Map Division.

The Geography and Map Division has in its collections two maps by Mary Van Schaack (n.d.), drawn twenty-two years apart, indicating that world geography was a long-term interest of Van Schaack. The earlier work, a hand-colored manuscript map outlining the countries of the world, is pictured here.

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Alvaro F. Espinosa (USGS), Wilbur Rinehart (World Data Center), and Marie Tharp (Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University). Seismicity of the Earth, 1960-1980. ([Washington: Office of Naval Research?], 1981). Tharp Collection (uncataloged). Geography and Map Division. Copyright © 1981 by Marie Tharp and Rebecca M. Espinosa. Used by permission.

Marie Tharp and Bruce Heezen's work proved that the ocean's Atlantic Ridge extended into the Arctic, went around the tips of both Africa and South America, and joined with similar structures in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, confirming that the Atlantic Ridge is part of a continuous set of ridges existing at the Earth's plate boundaries for over forty thousand miles. The geographers' work supported and confirmed the theory of plate tectonics, explaining earthquakes, volcanic activity, and changing formations on the ocean floors. This example of a base map, World Ocean Floor Panorama, originally published in 1977, shows the work of Heezen and Tharp, interpreted for publication by Heinrich Berann, an artist who worked with them over a long period of time. It superimposes new data on the seismicity of the Earth to illustrate clearly how earthquakes follow the Earth's shifting plates.

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Emma Lee Aderholt and assistants. Bird's Eye View of the Campus of the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (Greensboro, N.C.: Jos. J. Stone & Co., n.d.). Fair Collection (no. C433). Geography and Map Division.

Sponsored by the Home Economics Club, this map of the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina was drawn by Emma Lee Aderholt "and assistants." Its scale is indicated by an inchworm saying, "I'm measuring as fast as I can," a bow to the stereotypically masculine domains of measurements and mathematics. Around the border of the map are illustrations of "then and now" showing how things have changed since the college was founded--where women once rode horses to college, they now travel by automobile, train, boat, or airplane. A scene showing women in caps and gowns notes that their graduation day will be a sad one. The colorful, detailed images show both a sense of humor and a deep attachment to alma mater.