Maps of Berlin Available from Ball State University Libraries

Maps in the News:  Berlin

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library houses a collection of over 140,000 maps, atlases, gazetteers, and other cartographic resources.  The GRMC includes historic and modern maps of cities and countries around the world, including Berlin, Germany.

Handy laminated tourist maps of the city are available for circulation from the GRMC, including the National Geographic Destination Map of Berlin (top map above, click to enlarge). The map shows the location of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche) next to the site of the truck attack at a Christmas market on December 19.

The GRMC also includes historic maps of Berlin from World War II.  The U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) published city plans of Berlin in 1943.  The middle map above is a map of the district boundaries of Berlin published by the OSS in 1943 based on a provisional map from 1938.  The GRMC also has maps from the War Office in Great Britain dating back to World War II.

The Collection also includes maps that depict the city separately as East Berlin and West Berlin.  The bottom map is East Berlin published in 1972.  The pale red outline identifies the location of the Berlin Wall.  On the legend of the map, the wall is labelled only “State boundary.”  The legend of the map is published in German, Russian, French, and English.  The popular Brandenburg Gate is labelled as “Brandenburger Tor” just along the Berlin Wall.

Maps from the GRMC circulate for two weeks or longer.  For more information about the unique cartographic resources at Ball State University Libraries, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Holiday Hours in the GIS Research and Map Collection

“Yes the library is open over the semester break.”

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) will be open regular hours from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm today, December 19, through December 22.  The GRMC will open at 8:00 am on Friday, December 23 and close at 3:00 pm.

The GRMC will be closed on Monday, December 26, and Tuesday, December 27; it opens for regular hours 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on Wednesday and Thursday.  The GRMC closes again at 3:00 pm on Friday, December 30.  The GRMC will be closed on Monday, January 2, and reopen for regular hours on Tuesday, January 3 at 8:00 am.

University Libraries hours during the semester break are listed here:

Pearl Harbor Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Pearl Harbor 75^th Anniversary in Maps

Tomorrow marks 75 years since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, initiating the U.S. involvement in World War II.  The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) includes a large collection of maps of Pearl Harbor and other important places during the war.

The GRMC includes a large collection of World War II-era Army Map Service maps of strategic cities and other locations around the world that were critical in war planning.  A collection of World War II newspaper maps, World News this Week, are also available in the GRMC.

The map of Pearl Harbor (above, click to enlarge) was published by National Geographic to commemorate the 60^th anniversary of the attack and is available for circulation from the GRMC.  The map includes an aerial photograph of Battleship Row and the Navy Yard taken three days after the Japanese attack.  Oil from the sunken and damaged ships can be seen streaming through the harbor.  The map details what happened to each of the battleships on that day, including a description of the 1,100 lives lost on the Arizona.  The verso of the map shows the Pacific Theater of World War II.

Maps from the GRMC circulate for two weeks or longer.  For more information about using cartographic resources, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.