Please see Cartography - Calendar of
Events for a current calendar of events.
Click here
for archive of past events.
January 7, 2026 - London (Online) The Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, London invites you to watch the British Archaeological Association lecture live on YouTube at 5:30pm. Dr David Harrison (retired Clerk of the House of Commons) will discuss Mapping England and Wales in the Late Middle Ages: roads, transport infrastructure and key destinations. This lecture focuses on the evidence for the major national roads of England and Wales in the late Middle Ages and the key destinations they linked, including accounts from contemporary travellers, itineraries, maps, and the surviving bridges. It pinpoints the major cities and towns that the roads connected, as well as great monastic houses, palaces, and castles in use during the period 1450-1500. It also marks historic battlefields—many clustered along the main north-south routes.
January 15, 2026 - Chicago You are invited to join the Chicago Map Society for a special program at the Newberry Library; 5:30 p.m. – social hour (delicious finger food and light refreshments), 6:00 p.m. – presentation by Wendy Sheppard, John Mellor, Barb Clausen, and Jared Streeter from the mapping unit at the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). They will discuss How Illinois Maps Itself: the history of mapping at IDOT, the current official State of Illinois highway map, the 100th anniversary of Route 66 map for the celebration in 2026, and IDOT’s move towards interactive maps.
January 15, 2026 - Oxford Maps have played a central role in our understanding of what and where 'the north' is. At the same time, for much of history the northernmost reaches of our world have been difficult to navigate and verify – from mythical islands on medieval maps to the itineraries of Arctic explorers in the 19th century. This has inspired inventive mapping strategies, as well as ongoing struggles to define what constitutes believable cartographic information. In conversation with Samuel Fanous, Charlotta Forss (Associate Professor in History at Södertörn University, Stockholm) will share a cartographic journey across six centuries, exploring the rich and sometimes contentious history of how mapmakers have understood and processed knowledge about a region they described as ‘the north’. Mapping the North / Myth, Exploration, Encounter will be held at 13.00–14.00 (GMT) in the Weston Library. Booking is essential. For further details, please contact: <nick.millea(at)bodleian.ox.ac.uk> or 01865 287119.
January 16-17, 2026 - Milan The 10th Milan Map Fair returns: the international fair of antique cartography and city views in the heart of Milan. The exhibition will showcase its precious specimens at the Rotonda del Pellegrini, Via delle Ore n. 3, a short walk from the Duomo. The international fair dedicated to cartography and antique prints, which, due to the importance of the pieces offered, has established itself as the most important in Italy, will host dealers from all over Italy and important European and US exhibitors. Hours: January 16 – 2:30 PM/6:00 PM - January 17 – 10:30 AM/5:00 PM. Admission is free.
January 20, 2026 - Denver (Hybrid) The Rocky Mountain Map Society will meet at 5:30 PM MT in History Colorado, 1200 N Broadway. In 1860, Jefferson Territory overlapped Utah, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Kansas. Federal law included territories in the decennial census, providing more flexibility in counting residents than states received. Census data was originally collected to allocate representatives and manage taxation. Today, online census records provide detailed insights into families, communities, and migration. Census takers sometimes made mistakes but rarely missed entire settled areas. Nancy Prince will discuss The Influence of Four 1860 Territorial Censuses on the Development of the Colorado Map. Please register and get a free ticket for entry to History Colorado for this event, or click here when meeting starts for the Zoom conference (no registration required for Zoom).
January 22, 2026 – Washington (Online) Hosted by the Washington Map Society, this Zoom meeting is presented in partnership with the California, Chicago, New York, Philip Lee Phillips, Rocky Mountain, and Texas Map Societies. Anyone interested in participating in the meeting must RSVP to John Docktor at washmap(at)gmail.com in order to receive the meeting ID and passcode. Meeting will start at 7:00 PM Eastern Time, 6:00 PM Central Time, 5:00 PM Mountain Time, and 4:00 PM Pacific Time. Mark Giordano (Vice Dean for Undergraduate Affairs and Professor of Geography, Georgetown University) will discuss Teaching Geopolitics with Maps. Georgetown University’s “Map of the Modern World” is likely the largest class in the world that still uses maps to teach geopolitics and world affairs. The current instructor will provide examples of how historic and contemporary maps and custom cartography are used to engage students in global issues and help them understand international challenges from multiple perspectives.
January 22, 2026 - Wiliamsburg The Williamsburg Map Circle is pleased to announce that our own Bill Barker (Retired Archivist from the Mariner's Museum) will be speaking on the topic of Manuscript British Track Charts from the Napoleonic Wars currently in the Collection of the Mariners' Museum Library. He will be presenting his talk at 5PM at The Williamsburg Landing, APA Auditorium. Please RSVP to Ellen Spore <ellen.spore(at)gmail.com>.
January 24, 2026 - Chicago Join us 12:00pm–3:00pm for our winter NewberryFest, designed to help both new and returning visitors learn more about the Newberry. This year's cartography-focused event will lean into our extensive collection of maps from across time and place and take over the first floor of the library, providing unique opportunities for engagement, education, and enjoyment! NewberryFest is a free and open to all. Come face-to-face with extraordinary maps and related items from our collections and have your questions answered by our expert librarians and curators. Learn from our map curator about how to find and enjoy materials in our collection in Ruggles Hall from 12 to 12:30pm.
January 24, 2026 - Lucerne The Historical Society of Central Switzerland will hold a Central Swiss History Day 2026 – Map History from Central Switzerland. Renowned speakers will present contributions to the map history of Central Switzerland, including a guided tour of the Central and University Library of Lucerne and refreshments during breaks. Click here to register; registration deadline: January 9, 2026.
January 27, 2026 - New York (Online) Jonah Rosenberg, new President of the New York Map Society and head of rare books at Arader Galleries, will speak at 7:00pm (ET) about Dutch Gold: Mapping Dominance in the 17th century, the first in a planned lecture series by Jonah. Dutch (and adjacent) mapping is the gold-standard for the 17th century, and the atlases of the Golden Age are among the most eagerly sought cartographic prizes. Rosenberg will survey the charts, put them in the context of exploration and in printmaking in the era, and share some highlights of the Arader Gallery collections. RSVP to <kapochunas(at)gmail.com> to receive a Zoom link nearer the day.
January 28-30, 2026 - London Do you have an interest in the history of a specific place, landscape and/or historical theme? Would you like to learn more about the evolution of cartography, including how to use old maps in your research? With a focus on mapping practices in Britain and Western Europe between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries, this new 3-day Historic Maps: Interpreting Stories of Place / Discovery Course 1 will introduce you to our vast range of physical map collections, historical maps and topographical rare books. Course is offered by Institute of Historical Research.
January 29, 2026 – London (Hybrid) We're very pleased to invite you to this year's Maps and Society lectures in the history of cartography, hosted by the Warburg Institute. Meetings will start at the usual time of 5pm (GMT) on selected Thursdays. All meetings are free and take place online and in person. For those attending in person, meetings will be held in the Teaching Suite at the Warburg Institute and will be followed by refreshments. For those wishing to attend online, please register online in advance to receive a Zoom link on the day. Elizabeth Chant (University of Warwick): Road Maps, Leisure Travel and Petro-modernity in 20th Century Argentina. Any enquiries, please email <c.delano-smith(at)sas.ac.uk> or <philip.jagessar(at)kcl.ac.uk>.
January 30, 2026 - Killingworth, Connecticut Did you miss Brian Tims’s other talk? Join with the Connecticut Map Society for this encore presentation of Antique Map Collecting 101: Foxing, soiling, and worm holes, oh my! as Brian travels the state in the name of maps. Meeting will be at 6pm in Killingworth Library, 301 Route 81. Click here to view the event on the library’s website and to pre-register (after December 5).
February 6, 2026 - Edinburgh - Ever wondered what secrets lie in a map? Or wanted to go behind the scenes of a major collection? Do you just love maps? Join with the National Library of Scotland, Causewayside Building, for the Map Festival, a day dedicated to all things cartographic. Discover the amazing maps and aerial photographs held by: Edinburgh City Archives, Historic Environment Scotland, National Collection of Aerial Photography, National Library of Scotland, National Records of Scotland, and University of Edinburgh. This is a hands-on event for everyone. This is a free drop-in event between 10:30AM to 4:00PM.
February 9, 2026 - London (Online) The Map Curators’ Group of the British Cartographic Society will hold its annual business meeting at 2pm on Teams. If you would like attend, or have any items for the agenda, please contact <martin.davis(at)cartography.org.uk> or <debbie.hall(at)cartography.org.uk> by Friday 6th February. We will send a meeting link and any papers in advance.
February 10, 2025 - Perth (Hybrid) A Mapping Identities: Visual Depictions of Scotland conference will be held 9am-6pm at UHI Perth. The research project is a collaboration between The University of the Highlands and Islands Institute for Northern Studies and our partners from the National Library of Scotland and Landscape Research Group. Though the purpose of a map may superficially be merely functional, educational or descriptive, the very act of its production will have necessitated some level of selectivity. Such selectivity can include the features presented, the scale used, where the map is centered, the annotations used and where boundaries and borders are placed. This project asks why and how such choices are made and how these choices have impacted the way that geography, cosmology, history, geology and identity has been perceived in Scotland. Registration required.
February 10, 2026 - Washington (Online) Curious about our nautical chart collections? Please join Geography and Map Division staff, Library of Congress, for a virtual orientation to our nautical charts and resources, 3:00-4:00 pm (Eastern)! The first half of this orientation session will give an introduction to nautical charts, their history, and their uses. The second part of the orientation will highlight the various nautical chart holdings found within the division and how to search for and view these maps. After the presentation, staff look forward to answering additional questions from attendees. Register for this session here!
February 12, 2026 - Oxford (Online) The 33nd Annual Series Oxford Seminars In Cartography run from 4.30pm to 6.00pm (UK time) via Zoom Webinar. Camille Serchuk (Southern Connecticut State University) in conversation with Elizabeth Baigent (School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford) will talk about Map Readings – ‘Lies of the Land: Painted maps in Late Medieval and Early Modern France'. Click here to book your place. For further details please contact: Nick Millea <nick.millea(at)bodleian.ox.ac.uk>, Map Librarian, Bodleian Library, Broad Street, Oxford, OX1 3BG; Tel: 01865 287119. The Oxford Seminars in Cartography are supported by: The Friends of TOSCA / The Bodleian Libraries / The School of Geography and the Environment / The Charles Close Society / Lovell Johns Ltd.
February 12, 2026 - Philadelphia (Hybrid) Emanuele Lugli (Stanford University & the 2025-2026 Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies and the Center for Italian Studies Fellow in Italian Manuscript Studies) will talk about The Fabrication of Borders: Tailoring and Cartography in Early Modern Europe. In early modern Europe, fashion and cartography shared far more common ground than is usually acknowledged. Popular costume books, much like geographical atlases, helped shape emerging ideas of nationhood, while maps disseminated notions of local dress across the world. Yet despite these shared aims, the connection between the two fields has gone largely unnoticed. This talk argues that this overlooked convergence is precisely where fashion, as we understand it, first took shape. Lecture will be held 5:15 - 6:30 pm EST at Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, 6th Floor, 3420 Walnut Street. Register for in-person or online attendance.
February 17, 2026 - New York (Online) New York Map Society Secretary Andrew Kapochunas has, for over a decade, helped people find an image of their ancestral village on an antique map. After recent presentations to JewishGen’s LitvakSIG group and the St. Louis Genealogical Society he’s decided to show How to find any village in Central and Eastern Europe on an antique topographical map to a map audience. In this Zoom lecture, at 7:00pm (ET), he will explain the step-by-step process he himself follows as he searches for images of three towns with which he has deep personal connections. RSVP to <kapochunas@gmail.com> to receive a Zoom link nearer the day.
February 19, 2026 – Chicago Hybrid) You are invited to join the Chicago Map Society for a special program at the Newberry Library; 5:30 p.m. – social hour (delicious finger food and light refreshments), 6:00 p.m. – presentation by Kris Butler Drink Maps. Take a journey through drunken Victorian Britain told through maps made to convince law makers to stop granting liquor licenses. A “drink map” may sound like a pub guide, yet it refers to late 19th century maps designed to shock people by showing at a glance the numerous places where alcohol could be purchased. Did these lovely temperance tools inspire anger – or did they just make people thirsty? Admire lovely examples while hearing the story. Click here for Zoom registration.
February 19–21, 2026 - San Francisco The Renaissance Society of America will hold its 72nd Annual Meeting at the San Francisco Hilton Union Square. Ricardo Padrón, Asa Mittman, and Dan Terkla will be having a panel Premodern Mapping Today. They are planning to have papers which address any aspect of mapping in the premodern world (pre-1700), from any mapping tradition. Additional information from Ricardo Padrón <padron(at)virginia.edu>.
February 19, 2026 – Washington (Online) Hosted by the Washington Map Society, this Zoom meeting is presented in partnership with the California, Chicago, New York, Philip Lee Phillips, Rocky Mountain, and Texas Map Societies. Anyone interested in participating in the meeting must RSVP to John Docktor at washmap(at)gmail.com in order to receive the meeting ID and passcode. Meeting will start at 7:00 PM Eastern Time, 6:00 PM Central Time, 5:00 PM Mountain Time, and 4:00 PM Pacific Time. This meeting is arranged in conjunction with the Rocky Mountain Map Society. Whether a trail map of a serene forest or a plot of historical markers in a bustling city, maps help us understand and connect to the spaces we inhabit, creating a feeling of topophilia, or “love of place”. In this talk Astrotopophilia: A Love of Place with Maps of Space, Sam Cartwright (PhD candidate, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder) will trace the history of planetary cartography from the earliest telescope sketches to today’s high-resolution imagery and explore the indelible link between maps and humanity’s fascination with space.
February 24, 2026 - Cambridge (Online) The Cambridge Seminars in the History of Cartography will meet at 5.30pm UK time. Adrian Webb will discuss Churchill’s secret chart-makers All are welcome. Click here for Zoom link. Please send an email to <events(at)emma.cam.ac.uk> if you wish to join the mailing list. For any enquiries, please contact Sarah Bendall at <sarah.bendall(at)emma.cam.ac.uk>, tel. 01223 330476.
February 26, 2026 – London (Hybrid) We're very pleased to invite you to this year's Maps and Society lectures in the history of cartography, hosted by the Warburg Institute. Meetings will start at the usual time of 5pm (GMT) on selected Thursdays. All meetings are free and take place online and in person. For those attending in person, meetings will be held in the Teaching Suite at the Warburg Institute and will be followed by refreshments. For those wishing to attend online, please register online in advance to receive a Zoom link on the day. Bob Headland (Scott Polar Research Institute): Cartographical Conundrums and Antarctic Sovereignty. Hakluyt Society Speaker. Any enquiries, please email <c.delano-smith(at)sas.ac.uk> or <philip.jagessar(at)kcl.ac.uk>.
February 26, 2026 - Nacogdoches, Texas (Online) Dominating the mouth of the Mediterranean, every medieval Islamic Istakhrian map of the Mediterranean, North Africa, and Spain from the 11th century onwards has a thus-far unidentified mythical mountain-island named Jabal al-Qilâl located between the straits that separate Spain and North Africa. Karen Pinto will speak at a meeting of the Society for History of Discoveries from 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM (CST). She will discuss Jabal al-Qilâl: Unraveling the Mystery of the Mythical Mountain Island Guarding the Mouth of the Mediterranean in Premodern Islamic Maps. This lecture takes place over Zoom. Registrants will be sent the link before the lecture. You can register for the event here.
February 26, 2026 - Oxford (Hybrid) The Bodleian Libraries are delighted to announce the second Sunderland Collection Symposium: MAPS Digital / Analogue. This day-long event (9.15–16.00) will take place in the Sir Victor Blank Lecture Theatre at the Weston Library, and live streamed on Zoom. Click here for required registration to attend either in person or online.
February 26, 2026 - Washington Join us at the Library of
Congress (Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street SE) from 5pm to
8pm for Celebrate Topographic Mapping, a special Live! at the
Library event reaching new heights in terrain mapping! This event
will feature a collections display, interactive games and crafts, and
a talk by Tom Patterson, retired cartographer with the US National
Park Service, on the history of topographic mapping
techniques.
5pm to 8pm in the Great Hall: Learn
the basics of orienteering, express your artistry with watercolor
landscape painting, and help build a collaborative terrain model of
the hills around Tombstone, Arizona! (tickets here)
6:30pm
to 7:30pm in LJ-119: Tom Patterson, “From Airbrush to AI: A
Talk on Cartographic Relief” (tickets here)
5pm
to 6:30pm; 7:30pm to 8pm in LJ-113: Display of topographic collection
items from across the Library (this display will be closed from
6:30pm to 7:30pm during Tom Patterson’s talk).