The Chicago Map Society is the oldest map society in North America, and has held monthly meetings at The Newberry since 1976. We typically meet the third Thursday of every month during the academic year (September through June). Meetings start at 5:30 p.m. with a social half-hour, followed by an hour presentation on a cartographic subject of interest to our membership. Our meetings are open to the public, but to help defray expenses, non-members are asked for a small donation at the door.

In addition to our monthly meetings, the Society occasionally sponsors field trips to view local private and institutional collections; we have published several books that feature cartography in the Chicago area; and, we often provide speakers for area cartographic events. We also support worthy cartographic projects, such as The History of Cartography Project, an important research, editorial, and publishing venture at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Information on our future meetings can be found under Upcoming Events; please visit the Meeting Archives for descriptions of our past meetings. You may learn more about our header image here.