Featured News Articles
Showing 1 - 8 of 8 total news articles
Soldiers of Production: Lansing and the Arsenal of Democracy
January 29, 2026
Kathleen Weessies
This online exhibit highlights Lansing’s critical but often overlooked role in World War II industrial production. Focusing on companies such as Oldsmobile, REO, Motor Wheel, and Nash‑Kelvinator, explore the interactive map to discover stories of how the region became a vital hub in America’s wartime manufacturing effort. The website was developed by Michael Rodriguez and Kasey Wilson.
Pirates, Industry and War: 18th Century British Magazine Maps
January 29, 2026
Kathleen Weessies
Pirates, Industry and War: 18th Century British Magazine Maps explores how early British magazines used maps to illustrate current events, military conflicts, and imperial interests for an educated 18th‑century readership. Drawing from the MSU Maps & Geospatial Services Collection, the maps reveal what places and events captured public attention. The featured maps were generously donated to MSU by Ronald Dietz.
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.
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.
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: 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.
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.
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.