RONALD E. GRIM, PHD

Cartographic Consultant
Ronald Grim has over 40 years of experience cultivating three of the nation's most prestigious map collections at the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and the Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library. Ron offers expert direction and consultation for your cartographic treasures.

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MAP HISTORY AND PROVENANCE

Deepen your knowledge with professionally conducted geographic and cartographic research

Providing background context for understanding the compilation and production of individual maps or building map collections, using standard cartographic histories and cartobibliographies, online resources, and institutional records. Survey book and map collections for missing maps.

EXHIBITION PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Develop your successful cartographic exhibition or event

Assisting institutions and individuals in preparing map-related exhibitions, especially focusing on crafting a storyline, developing object lists, and researching and writing introductions and captions. Advise on adding map content to more general exhibitions.

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE

Grow your collections in the right direction

Consulting in developing overall acquisition policy and determining collection maintenance priorities for private or institutional collections.

CARTOGRAPHIC AND GEOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

Be informed and up-to-date about the decisions you make for your collections

Conducting research on cartographic and geographic topics, using cartographic and related resources in the Washington, DC area, especially at the National Archives and Library of Congress, supplemented by online cartographic databases and digital collections.

NOTEWORTHY EXHIBITIONS

Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of America.

Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building (July-November 2003).

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Journeys of the Imagination: An Exhibition of World Maps and Atlases.

McKim Exhibition Gallery, Boston Public Library (April – August 2006).

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Boston and Beyond: A Bird’s Eye View of New England.

Changing Exhibition Gallery, Boston Public Library (January – June 2008).

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Torn in Two: 150th Anniversary of the Civil War.

McKim Exhibition Gallery, Boston Public Library (May – December 2011); travelled to Grolier Club, New York City (February – April 2012), Ford’s Theater, Washington, DC (December 2011-February 2012), and Osher Map Library, Portland, ME (April-August 2013).

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Unconventional Maps.

Leventhal Map Center Gallery, Boston Public Library (October 2011 –March 2012).

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America Votes: Mapping the Political Landscape.

Leventhal Map Center Gallery, Boston Public Library (April – November 2012).

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We Are One: Mapping America’s Road from Revolution to Independence.

McKim Exhibition Gallery, Boston Public Library (May –November 2015); travelled to Colonial Williamsburg (March 2016-January 2017) and New-York Historical Society, New York City (November 2017-March 2018).

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America Transformed: Mapping the Nineteenth Century.

Leventhal Map Center Gallery, Boston Public Library (May 4, 2019 – May 10, 2020).

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Three short videos featuring Ron created by the Choices Program at Brown University discussing how to think about and teach with maps.

Who are you and what do you do?

Reading maps: What is a map?

Reading maps: Visual design elements

Podcast featuring Ron as part of Conversations at the Washington Library at Mount Vernon (No. 149, recorded March 12, 2020).

Charting a Geographer’s Career with Ron Grim.

CONNECT WITH RON

Have a project in mind? Send Ron a message and he'll get back to you shortly.

Phone Interviews Custom Research Site Visits Keynote Speeches