What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 4:30pm Tuesday 9am - 4:30pm Wednesday 9am - 4:30pm Thursday 9am - 4:30pm Friday 9am - 4:30pm

American Geographical Society Library

Home
United States
Milwaukee, WI
American Geographical Society Library

Call Directions Website

The American Geographical Society Library (AGSL), one of the premier collections of its kind in North America, contains over 1.3 million items.

The American Geographical Society Library (AGSL), one of the premier collections of its kind in North America, contains over 1.3 million items supporting instruction, research and outreach at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and around the world. The collection contains maps, atlases, books periodicals, film media and digital data files. Its scope is worldwide with coverage from the 15th century to the present. Its resources have been used to produce an ongoing series of digital collections, including an award winning website on Afghanistan, a comprehensive site on world transportation and collections featuring unique photographic documentation of such places as Tibet, the Republic of Georgia, Korea and World War II Poland. The AGSL offers scholarly programs for the campus and local community throughout the year and welcomes visiting scholars from across the US and the world.

10/12/2026

Today is Indigenous People's Day,
The AGSL acknowledges in Milwaukee that we are on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee homeland along the southwest shores of Michigami, North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes, where the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnickinnic rivers meet and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida and Mohican nations remain present.
Maps and photographs from our collections attempt to capture the complex and rich history of Native America, and we hope that you take time today to reflect upon the roles we all play in the histories and realities of colonial expansion and native sovereignty in the United States.

Photos 1 & 3: From Crow Nation in Crow Agency, between 1934 and 1969, from the Clarence W. Sorensen Collection
Photos 4 & 5: From Window Rock Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, between 1934 and 1969, from the Clarence W. Sorensen Collection
Photo 2: Navajo woman with children in Monument Valley, ca. 1950s, from the Harrison Foreman Collection
Map 1: Native American nations: traditional names & locations, Aaron Carapella, 2021.
Map 2: Central Great Lakes native lands c.1800 & today / the Ways Great Lakes Native Culture & Language, a production of Wisconsin Media Lab, 2013.
Map 3: Indigenous peoples of North America, 1500 CE / Maps.com., 2021
Map 4: Indian land cessions, Sam B. Hilliard; cartographic design by Dan Irwin and staff of the Southern Illinois University Cartographic Laboratory, 1972.
Maps 5 & 6: Indian land areas judicially established 1978, Geological Survey (U.S.) and Indian lands areas / compiled by the Handbook of North American Indians (Smithsonian Institution) in cooperation with the Bureau of Indian Affairs ; prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey., 1992

10/09/2026

New Exhibit(s) Alert! 🚨
Did you know the AGSL has four (4!!) exhibits up around the library right now?
From pop-up exhibits for Latine Heritage Month (in the AGSL through next week) and Native American Heritage Month (in the Grind exhibit cases on the first floor though November) to our longer-running You Are Here transit cartography exhibit in the AGSL through February 2027 and March on Milwaukee: The Civil Rights Struggle in 1967-1968 on the 4th floor made in collaboration with UWM Archives & Special Collections – we have so many places you can come see curations of our collections!!
We’re open 9am-4:30pm Monday-Friday!

10/08/2026

Congratulations to the Milwaukee Brewers on their NLDS win! On to the NLCS.

This poster is technically an aerial photograph, taken during Game 5 of the 1982 World Series at County Stadium. Us here at the AGSL are root, root, rooting for our home team (the Brew Crew) to make it all the way! Go !

10/01/2026

Today is International Coffee Day! ☕
These photographs from our collection, taken by Robert Platt, Clarence Sorensen, and Harrison Forman in the 1930s-1960s, showcase the coffee growing, harvesting, processing, roasting, milling, packaging, and brewing processes in coffee-producing hubs around the world! Cozy up with your morning cup and enjoy this peek into the coffee-making process ☕❤

Photo 1: Colombia, farmer tending coffee seedlings at Fredonia agriculture school, from the Clarence W. Sorensen Collection
Photo 2: Colombia, workers picking coffee beans at Fredonia agriculture school, from the Clarence W. Sorensen Collection
Photo 3: El Salvador, workers separating coffee beans at market, from the Harrison Forman Collection
Photo 4: Ecuador, man using shovel to spread drying coffee beans, from the Clarence W. Sorensen Collection
Photo 5: Brazil, farmer winnowing beans in southern Brazil, from the Clarence W. Sorensen Collection
Photo 6: Brazil, women examining coffee beans at warehouse in Londrina, 1962, from the Clarence W. Sorensen Collection
Photo 7: Venezuela, horse pulling wheel coffee crusher in Escuque, 1933, from the Robert S. Platt Collection
Photo 8: Angola, filling bags with coffee for export in Luanda, 1961, from the Harrison Forman Collection.
Photo 9: Brazil, man testing samples at Brazilian Coffee Institute in Londrina, 1962, from the Clarence W. Sorensen Collection
Photo 10: Italy, barista working with machine in café in Fondo, from the Clarence W. Sorensen Collection

☕

09/28/2026

This Wednesday, the AGSL is happy to host the first Academic Adventures lecture of the school year!

"We use maps to locate places, people, and things, but maps also use us to create stories, project an idea, or shape how we think. Maps, mapmakers, and map readers are in a dynamic relationship with more uncertainty than you know until you stop and ask, where am I? This talk walks through how maps create a place in our mind or reinforce ideas about a place that may or may not be true."

Come find out more this Wednesday, 3pm-4pm in the AGSL -- all are welcome!

09/26/2026

Our Doors Are Open!! Come in and see our new exhibits until 5pm this evening! If you aren’t able to make it today — you can find us here Monday-Friday 9am-4:30pm📍
Historic Milwaukee, Inc.

09/24/2026

Happy World Maritime Day! ⚓
This global day of recognition aims to emphasize the importance of international shipping industries, but we here at the AGSL also want to highlight the importance of maritime travel in the history of pre-modern cartography! From wind-reliant vessels used to explore the open oceans to steam ships navigating our waterways, the boats featured in this post come from Hendrick Hondius's 1636 atlas and our digital collections.

⛴🛳⛵🚢⛴🛳⛵🚢⛴🛳⛵🚢⛴🛳⛵🚢

Photo 1: United States, barge on Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in Chicago, 1947, from the Clarence W. Sorensen Collection
Photo 2: Japan, SS President Wilson heading toward junk, between 1931-1932, from the Robert L. Pendelton Collection
Photo 3: Venezuela, boats at the bank of Orinoco River, 1923, from the Robert S. Platt Collection
Photo 4: Haiti, loaded barges moving away from shore of Petit Goâve, 1933, from the Robert S. Platt Collection
Photo 5: India, men rowing boat near ship Great Eastern at port in Kolkata, from the Clarence W. Sorensen Collection

⛴🛳⛵🚢⛴🛳⛵🚢⛴🛳⛵🚢⛴🛳⛵🚢

09/21/2026

We’re excited to welcome you inside the American Geographical Society Library during . Stop in for a quick visit or stay for the day to explore campus and enjoy free giveaways. Register and plan your day: historicmilwaukee.org/uwm

09/18/2026

Did you know that September is National Rice Month?
Although this holiday is celebrated in the U.S. to highlight the importance of rice in American agriculture and economies, rice cultivation can be found on every continent (except Antarctica!), in over 120,000 varieties. The most widely consumed staple food for over half of the world’s population, the AGSL's digital photograph collection contains hundreds of images documenting every step of rice growing, harvesting, threshing, packaging, and eating - enjoy! 🍚🌾❤

Photo 1: Laborers transplanting rice on rice paddy in Kochi, India, from the Clarence W. Sorensen Collection
Photo 2: Workers harvesting rice in Bali, Indonesia, from the Harrison Forman Collection
Photo 3: Workers harvesting and threshing rice, China, 1973, from the Harrison Forman Collection
Photo 4: Farmers using machine to thresh rice, Japan, 1950, from the Harrison Forman Collection
Photo 5: Farmers winnowing at Experiment Rice Station in Pathum Thani Changwat (Thailand), 1937, from the Robert Larimore Pendleton collection
Photo 6: Worker operating rice mill, Myanmar, 1960s or 1970s, from the Harrison Forman collection
Photo 7: Men filling sacks in rice mill, Bangkok, Thailand, from the Harrison Forman collection.
Photo 8: Woman measuring rice at market, Philippines, between 1959 -1961, from the Harrison Forman collection
Photo 9: Trio of rice workers at lunch, Hong Kong, 1955, from the Clarence W. Sorensen Collection
Photo 10: Child eating rice with chopsticks, Japan, from the Clarence W. Sorensen Collection

🍚

09/15/2026

From now until October 15th, the AGSL and UWM Archives and Special Collections will be hosting pop-up exhibits commemorating Latine Heritage month! Come on up to the 3rd floor of the Golda Meir Library anytime between 9am and 4:30pm to check them out!❤❤❤

Address

2311 E Hartford Avenue
Milwaukee, WI
53211

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 4:30pm
Tuesday	9am - 4:30pm
Wednesday	9am - 4:30pm
Thursday	9am - 4:30pm
Friday	9am - 4:30pm

Telephone

+14142296282

Website

https://uwm.edu/libraries/AGSL/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when American Geographical Society Library posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want your university to be the top-listed university in Milwaukee?