Persuasive Maps

 –  are maps intended primarily to influence opinions and beliefs rather than to communicate objective geographic information. They are meant to convey a message. Persuasive maps can be divided into intentional and unintentional.

The Archives and Special Collections has a few persuasive maps. Most are dated from the homesteading period and are from land companies, railroad companies, and immigration bureaus trying to convince people to obtain land in a particular area.

I did find one persuasive map on a subject other than land sales. It is a 1916 map on South Dakota water conservation projects produced by a group called Call-to-Action. I will keep looking. Please let me know if you see a persuasive map in in our collections.

To view a wide-ranging collection of persuasive maps, see:

PJ Mode Collection. Cornell University Library | Division of Rare & Manuscript Collections. https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/ (accessed March 18, 2020).

Sources:

Tyner, Judith Ann. Persuasive cartography: an examination of the map as a subjective tool of communication. University of California, Los Angeles Ph.D. Geography Dissertation, 1974.

Reformers & visionaries, scoundrels & incendiaries: 250 years of persuasive mapping. Catalog 3. Boston: Boston Rare Maps. 2019.