Theme

Urbanism

Featured Items

Detail of a hand colored lithograph shows enslaved Black people planting sugar cane in an open field.

[Post-emancipation Life]

Ladies' Society for Promoting the Early Education of Negro Children
1833-1837
Detail of a colored manuscript atlas shows a coastal region and labels in Latin. Other details include drawings of castles and mountains.

[Portolan atlas] / Vesconte de Maiolo ciuis Janue conposuy

Vesconte Maggiolo
1511
Detail of a printed book shows title page with manuscript notations at the top of the page.

A summary history of New-England

Hannah Adams
1799
Detail of engraved, hand colored print of Quebec City shows fortifications, churches and cathedral, statehouse, ships, and dwellings. Also includes title reading "Quebec, the Capital of New France" and other text in English.

Quebec: The Capital of New France

Thomas Johnston
1759
Detail of an engraved map of Azilia shows a castle in the center of the city, surrounded by farms and four quadrants.

A plan representing the form of setling the districts, or county divisions in the Margravate of Azilia

1717
Detail of an engraved city plan of Queretaro shows numbered blocks in the city layout.

Ordenanza que para la division de la m. noble y leal ciudad de Santiago de Queretaro en cuarteles menores, creacion de alcaldes de ellos, y reglas para su gobierno.

1796
Detail of a manuscript map shows coastal profiles and women or mermaids holding the flags of Ireland, Scotland, and England.

Mountserrat island, ms. 1673

William Blathwayt
1673
Detail of hand colored, engraved map of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania shows roads, rivers, and settlements. Text in English labels features.

A map of Philadelphia and parts adjacent..

Nicholas Scull
1752

Related

Image of an artificial flower clock, with two hands emerging from clouds on either side holding a numbered circle, and a thorn stemming from the flower's circle pointing at the time.
Fellow's Talk

Earthquakes and Timekeeping Practices in New England, 1600-1800

map showing water, volcanoes, the sun, mountaintops, waterways and towns

Bodies of Water/Bodies at Work

Summer - Fall 2018
photograph of John F López, assistant professor of art history at UC Davis, fellow at the John carter brown library for eight months
Our Fellows

John F. López, NEH Fellow

March 8, 2018
detailed manuscript plan of the city of Montevideo in present-day Uruguay, including location and names of inhabitants of the town, location of churches, fortifications, dwellings, gardens, and some topographical details
Collections Up Close

Montevideo: A City Between Empires

Fabrício Prado September 1, 2008

See Also

Map

Travel Literature and Fictional Accounts