New members and visitors are always welcome to attend these
events.
Please submit your meeting notices to John W. Docktor
<phillymaps(at)gmail(dot)com>
Exhibition announcements can
be found at Cartography
- Calendar of Exhibitions.
Click here
for archive of past events.
May 5, 2026 - Cambridge (Online) The Cambridge Seminars in the History of Cartography will meet at 5.30pm UK time. Juliette Dumasy, Université d’Orléans, will discuss The rise of local cartography in Europe, 12th-14th century. All are welcome. Please register for the talk and the Zoom link will be sent to you. 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.
May 7, 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. Anthony Terry (Independent Researcher): The Derrotero Ingles: Unravelling the Mysteries of an early 18th Century English Waggoner in Peru. Any enquiries, please email <c.delano-smith(at)sas.ac.uk> or <philip.jagessar(at)kcl.ac.uk>.
May 12, 2026 - Denver (Hybrid) The Rocky Mountain Map Society will meet at 5:30 PM MT in Martin Room, on the 4th floor, History Colorado. In 1539 the Spanish conquistador de Soto embarked on an entrada into the Southeast US. He encountered an extensive Mississippian civilization that preceded the Indigenous nations of the southeast now recognized as the Creek (Muscogee), Choctaw, Cherokee and Chickasaw. Nearly 120 years later exploration by the British in the Carolinas and the French on the Mississippi river resulted in colonization and broad claims of sovereignty by both European nations in addition to historic Spanish claims. Stephen Hoffenberg will evaluate the cartographic content, the historical context and the legacy of three manuscript maps that reflected those explorations and shaped cartographic knowledge of the southeast in published maps for almost two hundred years. Registration is required. Click here when meeting starts for online access.
May 14, 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. Dan Cole (former GIS Coordinator, Smithsonian Institution, and Research Cartographer, National Museum of Natural History) will discuss A Cartographic History of Indian-White Government Relations during the Past 400 Years. This presentation offers a historical cartographic examination of Indigenous-EuroAmerican interactions within the United States. It investigates the contributions of governmental, academic, and tribal mapping efforts, integrating these perspectives with various findings. This paper is an updated version of Cole's keynote presentation at the Federal Bar Association's Indian Law Conference in Santa Fe during 2012.
May 15, 2026 - Aberystwyth (Hybrid) This year's Carto-Cymru - The Wales Map Symposium will be held at the National Library of Wales. Our theme this year is “Mapping a world of change” – Exploring how maps help us understand our changing environment - past, present and future- and measure our impact on the world around us. We have speakers from Environment Systems, the Welsh Government's Data Science Unit, the Office for National Statistics, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales and the National Library. Click here for further details about the talks and free tickets.
May 18, 2026 -Boston (Online) Join Dr. Katherine McDonough at 2:00 PM for a conversation about how machine vision technology can change the way we find and understand maps, co-hosted by Boston Public Library Digital Services and the Leventhal Map & Education Center. With examples from collections in the US and the UK, she will walk through how collaborations between librarians, historians, and AI researchers are reshaping what we can do with maps once they are digitized. Register for free.
May 20, 2026 - Boston Join with Leventhal Map & Education Center, 700 Boylston Street, at 5:00pm to celebrate the launch of Andy Woodruff's new book, Boston in 50 Maps! Andy will walk us through some of the book's most lively maps, which cover topics ranging from The Great Molasses Flood to Viking Leif Erikson’s supposed (and dubious) route to the area. This event is free, though registration is required.
May 21, 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. – John Scheckter will discuss Our 3 Majors Killed Here: Public and Private Maps of World War I. After the Australian Imperial Force evacuated Gallipoli in 1915, Major R. F. Fitz-Gerald acquired a souvenir map of the battle zone, and marked it with symbols and captions to show his own experience there. We will look closely at this map, its origins and purposes, and at Fitz-Gerald’s continued practice of overwriting and annotating documents, as he transformed mass-produced, often banal, public records of war into meaningful, even therapeutic, personal memoranda of survival. Click here to register for Zoom link.
May 21, 2026 - Stanford To commemorate our 10th anniversary, join with the David Rumsey Map Center for a presentation from Solomon Hsiang of the Doerr School of Sustainability's Global Policy Lab from 2:00-4:00pm. His talk, The Aerial History Project: studying human development with 1.7 million aerial photos, will delve into the international effort to restore, digitize, stitch, and study a massive collection of aerial photography collected by the United Kingdom beginning in 1946 across 65 countries in the then British Empire. Click here to reserve a spot.
May 22, 2026 - Boston From wagon trails to railroad networks, from tenement blocks to national portraits, maps offer a uniquely rich window into the many dimensions of migration. This From The Vault collection brings together nine maps made between 1846 and 1959 that track the movement of people at every scale, from the overland emigrant heading west to the immigrant neighborhood taking shape block by block. Their makers range from railroad companies and publishers to settlement house reformers and immigrant communities mapping themselves. Together they show that cartography has actively shaped who moves, who stays, and whose story gets told. This free showing will be hosted in the Leventhal Map & Education Center, Central Library in Copley Square, with a Library staff member available to answer questions. Drop in any time between 2:00 pm–4:00 pm. No reservation is required.
May 26, 2026 - London (Online) Mark your calendars to attend the 2026 International Map Collectors' Society Malcolm Young annual lecture, to be given by Professor Lauren Beck (Professor, Visual & Material Culture Studies, Mount Allison University, New Brunswick, Canada). At 6:00 pm UK (BST) time she will speak about Sovereign Cartographies: Canada and its Margins. Dr. Beck explores how the idea of “Canada” has been constructed and contested through cartography. From its origins in the French imagination in 1535 to present-day geopolitical pressures in the Arctic, Canada’s borders have often been shaped by forces beyond its own territory. Registration is required.
June 4, 2026 - Denver (Online) The Society for History of Discoveries is pleased to host Andrea Duffy for our next virtual lecture! Andrea captivated us at the Annual Meeting in Denver with her presentation on exploration in treacherous mountain ranges. Now she will present additional research related to her new book, “The Nature of Empire: The Environmental Dimensions of Imperialism, 1800-Present,” which investigates the increasing desire of man to "conquer" the extremes of nature through expeditions of geographical exploration. Stay tuned for more information.
June 4, 2026 - Oxford (Online) The 33nd Annual Series Oxford Seminars In Cartography run from 4.30pm to 6.00pm (UK time) via Zoom Webinar. Jean-Marc Besse (L’École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) will discuss Geography and Catholic censorship in Europe at the end of the sixteenth century. 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.
June 4, 2026 – Windsor The International Map Collectors' Society is planning a visit to Eton College. Additional information to be announced.
June 6, 2026 – London The Annual General Meeting of the International Map Collectors' Society will be held at Royal Geographical Society, Additional details to be announced.
June 6-7, 2026 - London The largest Antique Map Fair in Europe, established 1980, is the London Map Fair. It will be held in the Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore. Saturday 12.00 pm to 7.00 pm and Sunday 10.00 am to 6.00 pm.
June 9, 2026 – Washington (Online) The Geography & Map Division, Library of Congress, will have a Geography & Map Virtual Orientation: Mapping America’s 250th Anniversary with Graphics A250 from 3-4pm. Join the Geography and Map Division online to discover some of our many collection materials related to the 250th anniversary of the United States (A250), from Revolutionary War battle maps, to George Washington’s property maps, to Lewis and Clark’s exploration maps. In celebration of this milestone, learn about our A250-themed partnership with the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS). The partnership will make American Revolution era maps available in multiple accessible formats with audio narration for context and description. The virtual orientation will focus on the process to make the maps accessible and the access points to the maps on the NLS website. There will be time at the end for Questions and Answers. Click here for Zoom registration.
June 13, 2026 - New York The New York Map Society will feature -- for current members and their guests only -- Kris Butler (past president of the Boston Map Society, current board member, Washington Map Society), author of "Drink Maps in Victorian Britain" as part of its Summer Social. Meteing will be at 2:00 pm at Arader Gallery, 1016 Madison Avenue. Appetizers and refreshments -- including beer, of course -- will be served. Reserve your spot(s) by RSVPing <kapochunas(at)gmail.com>.
June 18, 2026 - Oxford (Online) The 33nd Annual Series Oxford Seminars In Cartography run from 4.30pm to 6.00pm (UK time) via Zoom Webinar. JNick Bolton (CEO, Ordnance Survey) will discuss Ordnance Survey: twenty-first-century National Mapping Agency. 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.
June 20, 2026 - Stanford (Hybrid) The Northern California Annual Meeting will be held at David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford University Library from 10:30am-3:00pm. The meeting is open to all to attend either in-person or virtually. Registration will open soon.
June 23, 2026 - Denver (Hybrid) The Rocky Mountain Map Society will meet in Martin Room, 4th floor, History Colorado Center. at 5:30 PM MT. This discussion covers Linda Kozloff-Turner’s project “Gone, But Not Forgotten,” a Boulder County Centennial Farm Documentary featuring photographs and stories from still-operating Centennial Farms. It includes 1880s maps, such as Drumm's, original land ownership details, and accounts of the women who kept these farms in their families for over a century. Registration is required for in-person attendance. Click here when meeting starts for Zoom attendance.
June 25, 2026 - New York (Online) The New York Map Society, in anticipation of July 4th's 250th anniversary celebration, features Stephen J. Hornsby on his book "Picturing America: The Golden Age of Pictorial Maps." Lecture starts at 7:00 pm New York (EDT) time. RSVP < kapochunas(at)gmail.com> for a Zoom invite.
July 7-11, 2026 – Prague & Brno The 31st International Conference on the History of Cartography will have as its primary venue the main building of the Faculty of Science, Charles University, Albertov 6. The theme is Bridging the Past and Present in Cartography. Click here for preliminary program. Additional information from <ichc2026(at)hiu.cas.cz>.
July 29-August 1, 2026 – St. John's, Newfoundland The Society for the History of Discoveries annual conference will be held at Memorial University. Wednesday, July 29 we will have a reception and presentation in the evening. Panels will run all day Thursday and Friday, with the Annual Banquet Thursday evening. The conference theme is Islands of Discovery. This interdisciplinary conference seeks to examine the multifaceted history and ongoing process of island exploration. Click here for additional details and to register. On Saturday, August 1st, we will have an optional tour of the major historic and cultural sites of St. John's. We will be taking a private bus tour of St. John's through Legend Tours Ltd. To book your spot and read more about the tour, please follow this link here.
August 11, 2026 – Washington (Online) The Geography & Map Division, Library of Congress, will have a Geography & Map Division Virtual Orientation from 3-4pm. Reference librarians will present an introduction to the Geography and Map collections at the Library of Congress. This general orientation session will highlight a wide range of cartographic formats and subject matter. The focus of the session will be on search and discovery of maps and electronic resources in the Library’s new online catalog. Topics covered will also include search tips and tricks, research and collection guides, ways to engage with the collections online, and how to prepare for a future trip to the reading room. After the presentation, staff look forward to answering additional questions from attendees. Click here for Zoom registration.
September 1-4, 2026 - London (Hybrid) The Royal Geographical Society-IBG Annual International Conference 2026 will be chaired by Professor Peter Hopkins (Newcastle University, UK), on the theme of Geographies of inequalities: toward just places. The conference will take place in the Society and Imperial College London, and online.
September 8-9, 2026 - Edinburgh The Map Curators’ Group of the British Cartographic Society will have a workshop on 8 September and the British Cartographic Society will hold its annual conference on 9 September. More details will be published shortly.
September 10, 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. It is arranged with the assistance of the New York Map Society. 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. Andrew Kapochunas (New York Map Society Secretary) will show us How to find an image of ancestral Eastern- or Central-European towns on antique topographic maps.
September 12, 2026 - Amsterdam The third Amsterdam Map Fair will be held at the National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam from 10.00 – 17.00. Free entry to The Maritime Museum, 33 national and international antiquarian map dealers will sell antique nautical charts, maps, atlases, globes and prints. With three lectures.
October 1-2, 2026 – Arlington, Texas The 15th biennial Virginia Garrett Lectures on the History of Cartography, Frozen Frontiers: 500 Years of Mapping Antarctica, will take place in the Central Library at the University of Texas at Arlington. Additional details and registration will be available in June 2026.
October 3, 2026 – Arlington, Texas The fall meeting of the Texas Map Society will take place in the Central Library at the University of Texas at Arlington. This event is conjoined with the Virginia Garrett Lectures on the History of Cartography and will focus on Antarctic cartography. Additional details and registration will be available in August 2026.
October 3, 2026 - Sint-Niklaas, Belgium The Brussels Map Circle will be having an excursion to Map-Mercator. More information coming soon.
October 7-10, 2026 - Denver The Western Association of Map Libraries annual conference will be held at Denver Public Library, 10 W 14th Ave.
October 8, 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. It is arranged with the assistance of the Rocky Mountain Map Society. 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. Chris Lane (retired Philadelphia Print Shop West owner and appraiser Antique Road Show) will discuss Mapping Philadelphia.
October 13, 2026 – Washington (Online) The Geography & Map Division, Library of Congress, will have a Geography & Map Virtual Orientation: GIS and Geospatial Resources from 3-14pm. Join us for a virtual orientation that aims to provide an overview of the geospatial resources of the Geography & Map Division, including an introduction to geographic information systems (GIS), spatial data formats, and the geospatial activities of the Division. This session will be followed by a Q&A session with GIS specialists. Click here for Zoom registration.
November 9-13, 2026 - Tokyo and Kyoto The International Map Collectors' Society has been invited by the Japan Map Society to participate in a conference, Early interactions between the Western world and Japan seen through historical maps, that they would host for international guests with most of the program in English. A pre-symposium tour is planned on 8 November to Nikko and a post-symposium tour is planned for 14-15 September to Kyushu; Japan's most southerly island. Program and registration details are available online.
November 18 - 21, 2026 - Istanbul In commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Kitāb-ı Bahriye, the International Piri Reis and Maritime History Symposium will be held at Piri Reis University. The symposium aims to address the life and works of Piri Reis within their historical context through a multilayered perspective. The symposium will address, through an interdisciplinary approach, topics such as the reflections of Mediterranean-centered maritime experience in the Kitāb-ı Bahriye, Ottoman cartography, the circulation of knowledge during the Age of Geographical Discoveries, maritime strategies in the Mediterranean, and global maritime activities in the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean.
December 5, 2026 - Brussels Save the date for the next conference of Brussels Map Circle which will focus on nautical cartography!
2027
September 8-12, 2027 – Amsterdam The International Map Collectors' Society will be holding their International Symposium around the weekend of the Amsterdam Map Fair. Dates are tentative and more information to come.
2028
Summer 2028 – Oxford The 32nd International Conference on the History of Cartography will be held in Oxford. Exact dates and additional details to be announced.