BTAA-GIN Collection Stories

By Laura Kane McElfresh Featured Item: The Adventures of Mark Twain What is the item? Pictorial map of the life and works of Mark Twain, a.k.a. Samuel Langhorne Clemens. This map was issued by Warner Brothers Pictures to promote their biographical movie, The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944). The map's border features images from the biopic, starring Fredric March and Alexis Smith as Samuel Langhorne and Olivia Langdon Clemens.  What BTAA Library submitted the item? University of Michigan Interesting tidbits: The map illustrates Clemens' extensive travels across and beyond the United States Shows his connections to some unexpected places -- such as Bear Creek, near San Antonio, TX Cities that figure prominently in Clemens' life and career are marked with stars on the map Both appearances of Halley's Comet during Clemens' lifetime are commemorated Caption: The map is illustrated with events in Samuel Clemens' life and characters from his writings. Where can I find...

By Jaime Martindale, Map and Geospatial Data Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison Coming soon from the University of Wisconsin-Madison:  Official State Highway Map Digital Collection A digital archive of the “Official State Highway Map” of Wisconsin has recently been completed by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT).  Dating back to 1916, the state highway map collection contains 82 unique editions (some single year, others spanning two years.) The print editions were digitized by the American Geographical Society Library (AGSL) at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Wisconsin State Historical Society (WHS) and the WisDOT Cartography Division to create a comprehensive collection of digital maps in both PDF and TIFF formats.  The digital map files will be archived by the Robinson Map Library at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.   Official State of Wisconsin Highway Map, 1916 (PDF by WHS)   Wisconsin’s earliest...

By Laura Kane McElfresh, Cartographic Metadata Librarian, University of Minnesota Final preparations for the third annual BTAA GIS Conference are underway! With technical infrastructure and support from the Big Ten Academic Alliance headquarters office, the Planning Committee is pleased to present this slate of programs on geospatial applications in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and medicine. The conference will feature a map gallery plus lightning talks, three papers sessions, and two panels on GIS careers and professional development, centered around a keynote presentation by Tanya Ruka and Rudo Kemper of  Native Land Digital . The day begins at 9:00 AM CST/10:00 AM EST with lightning talks on a variety of geospatial topics. Two papers sessions follow: "Justice and Social Geography" at 10 AM Central (11 AM Eastern), and "Climate and Carbon" at 11:15 AM (12:15 PM Eastern). After a break for lunch, the conference will reconvene at 1:00 PM CST (2:00 PM ...