How the Golda Meir Library is the “X” marking the spot for a hometown treasure featuring one of the world’s largest map and globe collections

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) — Behind an unassuming door inside the Golda Meir Library at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee sits a collection filled with centuries of stories, secrets, and snapshots of how people once understood the world.

The American Geographical Society Library at UWM is home to nearly two million items, including more than 630,000 maps, hundreds of globes, and nearly one million photographs dating back centuries.

“We’re actually the second biggest map and geography library in the United States,” said Georgia Brown, the library’s public services librarian and interim head.

For Brown, the fascination with maps began early.

“I’ve always loved geography, and I’ve always loved maps,” Brown told CBS 58’s Ellie Nakamoto-White. “There’s literally a picture of me on my dad’s lap as a baby where we’re both pointing at something in an atlas, so I joke that I was born for this job.”

The collection spans the globe — and time itself.

Brown said the oldest item dates back to 1452, while the newest materials are from 2026.

“So everywhere in the world is on a map in our collection,” Brown said. “Which is also kind of shocking just to be in a room where you can look for anywhere in the world and know where it is and study it and learn from it and research it just from the stuff in our drawers.”

Among the treasures is a hand-painted world map from 1452, created on animal skin and centered around Jerusalem, reflecting how Europeans viewed the world at the time.

The Red Sea is painted red, and inscriptions in Venetian Italian warn that some regions were “too cold to live here” or “too hot to live here.”

Other pieces reveal how maps can blend geography with art, culture, and storytelling.

One favorite in the collection is the “Atlanta Hip Hop Map,” created by a cartographer who listened exclusively to Atlanta rap artists for years and mapped every location referenced in their songs.

Brown said it helps visitors rethink what maps can be.

“I think most people think maps, and they think old, kind of boring,” Brown said. “But then they look at this, and they’re like, ‘Oh, I recognize these artists. I listen to this person.’”

The library also houses maps decorated with sea monsters, oversized Italian reproductions detailed with gold leaf, and even globes printed in foreign languages and Braille.

“So you wouldn’t be able to tell which countries they are, but you’d be able to tell what’s an island, what’s a mountain range,” Brown said.

The American Geographical Society itself was founded in New York City in 1851 by wealthy New Yorkers interested in exploration and geography.

But by the 1970s, the organization was struggling financially and needed to sell its massive collection.

“And they put out a bid to institutions across the United States, asking who wants this collection, so it was just kind of up for grabs,” Brown said.

At the same time, UWM happened to have strong support for geography programs.

Brown said the UW System president and UWM chancellor were both geographers, while faculty members pushed to bring the collection to Milwaukee.

The collection officially arrived in 1978 and opened to the public three years later.

Today, researchers from around the world visit Milwaukee to study the archives.

But Brown hopes more local residents discover the hidden resource in their own backyard.

“Everybody’s got their geography journey,” Brown said. “Whether they’re just having fun or trying to hit some hard-hitting questions.”

And for anyone curious enough to wander through the doors, she says there are entire worlds waiting to be explored.

“People should come take a look!”