A plan of the west line or parallel of latitude, which is the boundary between the provinces of Maryland and Pensylvania

Image file

Plan of the Maryland and Pennsylvania boundary

Caption

Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, World Digital Library.

Catalog notes

A disputed colonial boundary becomes a precisely described line in this plan of Mason and Dixon’s survey. Published in Philadelphia in 1768, it records the westward boundary and the lines separating Maryland from the Three Lower Counties on Delaware. The narrow strips of terrain, scales and decorated cartouches show how a difficult field survey was translated into a printed legal and geographic record. It connects the history of surveying with the lasting significance of boundaries.

Original catalog record, source and attribution