Notice: Beginning Tuesday, January 21st, all MSU all students, staff, and faculty must scan their MSU ID to access the MSU Library building between 10:00 pm – 7:30 am on Sunday - Thursday.
Notice: Beginning Tuesday, January 21st, all MSU all students, staff, and faculty must scan their MSU ID to access the MSU Library building between 10:00 pm – 7:30 am on Sunday - Thursday.

Featured News Articles

Showing 1 - 6 of 6 total news articles
Map of MSU's 1863 land grant

MSU's 1863 Land Grant

September 09, 2024

Kathleen Weessies

What land was actually behind MSU's Land Grant? See an interactive map of the actual land parcels selected through the 1862 Morrill Act program.
A man in a black suit

John Farmer, Mapmaker

August 06, 2024

John Farmer was Michigan’s most astonishing mapmaker. His accurate and detailed maps of Michigan, dating 1825-1859 coincided with an enormous influx of settlers.
A man in a car and a map

Footpath to Freeway

August 06, 2024

Michigan maps evolved in step with the development of the road system and showed advances such as named roads and numbered state and federal routes. Publishers include map giants Rand McNally and Gousha who supplied oil companies with their ubiquitous freely distributed road maps.
On the Grid text on a map

On the Grid: 20th Century Transformations in the Roles and Technology of Military Mapping

August 06, 2024

Collaborative global mapping practices in the 20th century were transformed by military interests, specifically the immediate need to provide soldiers with the ability to accurately translate their surroundings to a map.
A women with feathered cap standing with a hand raised

Clason Road Map & Atlas Site

August 06, 2024

Clason Map Company published some of the earliest road maps and atlases in the United States. Clason typically did not place dates or even date codes on their products. This website is an attempt at providing a guide to dating these maps.
Map of Michigan

Michigan’s Legal Boundaries

August 06, 2024

Michigan’s legal boundary extends into four of the Great Lakes to include almost 40,000 square miles of water, comprising 40% of Michigan’s area. Since statehood, eight challenges to the boundary have resulted in adjustments that relinquished territory to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ohio, but gained territory from Canada.