A Map of the Most Inhabited parts of New England Containing the Provinces of Massachusetts bay and New Hampshire, with the Colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island, from The North American Atlas
William Faden, English, 1750 - 1836
after Braddock Mead (alias John Green), English, about 1729 - 1757
about 1774 (image first drawn about 1755)
Hand colored engraving and etching on four sheets of paper
Overall: 38 3/4 × 42 in. (98.4 × 106.7 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Marilyn Brunson in memory of James L. Brunson
PR.2001.32.1
Geography
Place Made: England, United Kingdom, Europe
Period
1600-1800
Object Name
Research Area
Not on view
Inscriptions
Engraved, in cartouche, lower right, above pictorial vignette of Pilgrims landing at Plymouth accompanied by an allegorical figure of Liberty: A Map of / the moft Inhabited part of / NEW ENGLAND, / containing the PROVINCES of / MASSACHUSETTS BAY and NEW HAMPSHIRE, / with the COLONIES of, / CONECTICUT [sic] AND RHODE ISLAND, / Divided into Counties and Townships / The whole compofed from Actual Surveys and its Situation adjusted by. / ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS. / November 29th. ["th" superscript above period] 1774. Publifhed accoding to Act by Thos. ["s" superscript above period] Jefferys geographer to His Royal Highnefs the Prince of Wales near Charing Crofs.
Label
Printed just before the start of the American Revolution, this map was among the first to offer a sense of the geography of New England. Based on earlier surveys of the English territories in the region, the map continued to be printed until the 1790s. The edition of London-based publisher Thomas Jefferys included an inset of Boston harbor as well as greater delineation of the growing towns and cities in the area. Through various printings of the map, first the British and then the newly formed American governments could promote their claims to territorial ownership. Focused on colonial settlements, the map excludes recognition of longstanding Indigenous stewardship of the land. Parts of northern New Hampshire and Maine, for instance, falsely appear devoid of settlement. How do maps and painted landscapes shape our understanding of a place?
From the 2026 exhibition Nurturing Nationhood: Artistic Constructions of America, 1790-1940, curated by Haely Chang (Jane and Raphael Bernstein Associate Curator of East Asian Art), Evonne Fuselier (Hood Museum Board of Advisors Mutual Learning Fellow), Michael Hartman (former Jonathan Little Cohen Curator of American Art), Elizabeth Rice Mattison (Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art), and Ashley B. Offill (Curator of Collection
Course History
FILM 48, SART 17, The Map, Mary Flanagan, Summer 2012
FILM 48, SART 17, The Map, Mary Flanagan, Summer 2013
HIST 9.1, Empires and Colonies in North America, Paul Musselwhite, Fall 2014
GEOG 7.13, New England’s People and their Landscapes, Past and Present, Abigail Neely, Spring 2015
Exhibition History
Nurturing Nationhood: Artistic Constructions of America, 1790-1940, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; February 7-August 29, 2026.
Published References
William P. Cumming, British Maps of Colonial America (The University of Chicago Press, 1974).
Provenance
Donald A. Heald, Rare Books, New York; purchased by Mr. and Mrs. J. Brunson, December 30, 1986; given to present collection, 2001.
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