This map depicts a stretch of suburban commercial landscape in Chandler, Arizona with strip malls, big box stores, parking lots, gas stations, and fast food restaurants rendered in precise detail. Every element is accounted for: the drive-through, parking lot stripes, even turning lanes. Walmart, Fry’s, IKEA, Ross, Staples, In-N-Out, Chevron, Starbucks, and a dozen other […]
Daniel made this map as a boy, copying it from a Shell road map of Ghana and coloring it in with crayon. He labeled the country’s regions and towns as best he could, working from the reference. At the time, Daniel was helping out Mark, a fisheries advisor from the UK who had recently arrived […]
Samantha’s map of her Vermont neighborhood centers on a large green field ringed by roads, with a bunch of fun things to explore: a pond, a stream, a sinkhole, and even a snake island. All of these features are carefully labeled alongside her house, the woods, the dinosaur hills, and the chicken coop. The circular […]
Samantha was a third grader in Colchester, Vermont when she drew this map of Maui and Lanai shortly after a visit to Hawaii. The islands are rendered in layered greens surrounded by swirling blues, with an impressive number of place names packed in including Haleakala Crater, the Seven Sacred Pools, the Garden of the Gods, […]
Ben was a fifth grader and avid hiker when he drew this remarkably detailed topographic map of Franconia Notch, New Hampshire. Dense hand-rendered contour lines fill the page, with dozens of labeled peaks, trails, brooks, ponds, and roads including Mt. Lafayette, Mt. Lincoln, the Kancamagus Highway, and Tripoli Road, all recorded with the kind of […]
Dylan from the Netherlands sent us two maps that are perfect to share with you this week (as Father’s Day is just around the corner here in the US). This map comprises the main component of a game designed by Dylan and his son Sam. The two created it in 2003 when Sam was nine-years-old. […]
Michael sent us this map that his son Eli (age 8) recently drew of their home town, Munster, Indiana. We absolutely love this map and hope Eli continues to draw them. The detail is really impressive. Go ahead, compare it with Google maps. We’d definitely prefer to use Eli’s map the next time we’re in […]
Ghadah sent this amazing map drawn by her son. She writes, “Since visiting your website a few weeks ago, I have been hounding my 13-year-old son, Yousef Abu-Ghazaleh, to search his drawings for the maps he used to sketch, and this one is his favorite. Although he mostly draws his favorite continent, South America, by […]
The other day I received an envelope from an anonymous person in the Philadelphia area. Inside was this map along with the following note: “My sister sent this to me along with the latest pictures of her kids. No explanation about the map, but I hope Matt found the treasure.”
Like all good objects in the HDMA collection, there’s a reason for considering the map beyond simple geographic navigation – the value is often the story behind the piece of paper. Here, a collaboration between Mark and his son, Brian, gives us a glimpse at the dynamics of a father/son relationship. Twenty-two years after drawing […]
Jean shared with us some maps of the United States drawn by her son Hunter when he was in second grade. The first map highlights Hunter’s home state of Iowa with a large smile. We’re not sure if he is aware that his state slogan used to be “You Make Me Smile” until it was […]