Theme

History of Science

Featured Items

Detail of a hand colored map, engraved in copper, shows Latin text.

Claudii Ptolemaei Cosmographaie [sic]

Ptolemy
1477
Detail from a printed text shows questions and follow-up answers about astronomy.

An astronomical and geographical catechism. For the use of children.

Caleb Bingham
1795
Detail of an engraved map shows the direction of flow of the "Golfe de Floride." Other text in French labels nearby landmarks such as "Isles de Bahama.'

The Gulf Stream flowing northwards…

Benjamin Franklin
1778
Detail of a printed book shows text in English reading "Appendix" at the top of the page.

Medical Inquiries and Observations

Benjamin Rush
1789
Detail of a printed book shows a full-page map and text at the of the page reading "America."

Historia Mundi: or Mercator’s Atlas...

Gerhard Mercator
1635
Detail of a hand colored manuscript map shows villages labeled in Spanish such as "Pueblo de S. Pablo" and "Pueblo de Huitziltzinco." Churches, trees, and bodies of water are also included in the map.

El presente mapa demuestra la cituacion, plano, y repartimiento, que en la actualidad tienen los arroyos, que bajan de Sierra Nevada…

Felipe de Zúñiga y Ontiveros
1770
Detail of a printed text shows an astronomical circular diagram and text in English.

An account of the observation of Venus upon the sun...

Benjamin West
1769
Detail of gold JCB stamp on black binding.

Principall navigations, voiages, and discoveries of the English nation

Edward Wright
1598

Related

agave or maguey

Atlantic Materia Medica

Winter - Spring 2007
men work inside a mine

Subterranean Worlds: Under the Earth in the Early Americas

Spring - Summer 2015
a Mohawk man teaches children in a schoolhouse

Controlling Colonial Impressions

May-October 2019
map showing water, volcanoes, the sun, mountaintops, waterways and towns

Bodies of Water/Bodies at Work

Summer - Fall 2018
printed title page of a religious text in Algonquian and English
Collections Up Close

A healthy conversion: John Eliot, Robert Boyle, and the Algonquians

January 1, 2019
16th century charts documenting the calculations of solar and lunar calculations
In House

Eclipses in Print

October 24, 2018
Our Fellows

Fresh Ink: A Not-So-New World by Chris Parsons

September 11, 2018
19th century illustration of chichona bark, quina, cascarilla, Jesuit's Bark plant
In House

Exploring Quina in the JCB Collections

April 12, 2018

See Also

America

Ethnography