clair055

One of the maps available from The Atlas of True Names Take a look at the map I posted above.    Notice something strange?    This map is from The Atlas of True Names. This site….. The Atlas of True Names …..is a truly unique resource.   The website states its purpose is to reveal the etymological roots, or original meanings, of the familiar terms on today’s maps of the World, Europe, the British Isles and the United States……The ‘True Names’ of 3000 cities, countries, rivers, oceans and mountain ranges are displayed on these four fascinating maps, each of which includes a comprehensive index of derivations. You can read more about the site from The New York Times or from Spiegel Online .   Apparently these maps have been around since 2008, but I’m just now seeing them.   Yes, I know that’s hard to believe, but somehow I overlooked them. You can order the maps here . So, instead of me telling you how I would use them in the classroom…….....

I discovered early on in my teaching career that I couldn’t get my point across to students without a map.    I had pull-down maps in my classroom, but I rarely used them because they were mounted over my white boards, and they would cover up other information students needed access to    The mounted maps rarely had the information I needed to show students at the time as well, so I would just draw a quick outline of the United States on the board, fill the map in with whatever I was teaching at the time, and then move on. Recently, I ran across a map source I was unaware of – a resource used by historical researchers, city planners, preservationist, genealogists, and even sociologists. I’m speaking of Sanborn Maps – maps that were created from 1867 to 1970 detailing town and building information for approximately 12,000 towns and cities in the United States. The Sanborn Company was founded by Daniel A. Sanborn in 1867.   The original purpose of the maps was fo...